A Wireless and Wearable Multimodal Sensor to Non-Invasively Monitor Transabdominal Placental Oxygen Saturation and Maternal Physiological Signals.

Poor placental development and placental defects can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and stillbirth. This study introduces two sensors, which use a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique to measure placental oxygen saturation transabdominally. The first one, an NIRS sensor, is a wearable device consisting of multiple NIRS channels.

Homeostatic Macrophages Prevent Preterm Birth and Improve Neonatal Outcomes by Mitigating In Utero Sterile Inflammation in Mice.

Preterm birth (PTB), often preceded by preterm labor, is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Most PTB cases involve intra-amniotic inflammation without detectable microorganisms, termed in utero sterile inflammation, for which there is no established treatment. In this study, we propose homeostatic macrophages to prevent PTB and adverse neonatal outcomes caused by in utero sterile inflammation.

Oophorectomy Rates in Pediatric and Adolescent Patients with Adnexal Torsion in US Emergency Departments.

Objective: To evaluate oophorectomy rates in pediatric and adolescent patients who presented to a US emergency department with adnexal torsion METHODS: This study was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis utilizing the National Emergency Department Sample data from 2016 to 2018. It included patients younger than 20 years old and of the female sex. International Classification of Diseases Version 10 and ICD 10 Procedure Coding System codes were utilized to define patients with adnexal torsion who underwent adnexal surgery.

Epigenetic implications of socioeconomic status and education on sperm DNA methylation patterns.

Objective: To identify differentially methylated regions and assess epigenetic age and instability scores within each cohort of differing income levels and educational attainment.

Design: Retrospective analysis of epigenetic data.

Setting: University.

Associations of ethnicity, skin tone, and genome-wide sequencing with bone mineral density in adolescents.

Background: Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry reference data designate Black and non-Black categories, as higher BMD has been documented among Black youth. We examined associations of race, skin tone, and genetic factors with bone mineral density (BMD).

Methods: 557 adolescents were followed longitudinally.

Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Risk for Childhood Depression: Role of Executive Functions.

Objective: Offspring of mothers with depression are at increased risk for executive function (EF) deficits and later depressive symptoms, but limited studies have examined EF as an intermediary pathway. This study examined the role of EF in mediating the association between maternal and child depressive symptoms.

Method: Data were from a longitudinal birth cohort comprising 739 participants followed from the antenatal period for 12 years.

The invasion pore induced by .

Obligate intracellular parasites invade host cells to survive. Following host cell contact, the apicomplexan injects proteins required for invasion into the host cell. Here, electrophysiological recordings of host cells acquired at sub-200 ms resolution allowed detection and analysis of a transient increase in host membrane conductance following exposure to .

Maternal Glycemic Status and Longitudinal Fetal Body Composition and Organ Volumes Based on Three-Dimensional Ultrasonography.

Objective: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) increases the risk of fetal overgrowth as measured by two-dimensional ultrasonography. Whether fetal three-dimensional (3D) soft tissue and organ volumes provide additional insight into fetal overgrowth is unknown.

Research Design And Methods: We prospectively evaluated longitudinal 3D fetal body composition and organ volumes in a diverse U.

Molecular evidence that GBS early neonatal sepsis results from ascending infection: comparative hybrid genomics analyses show that microorganisms in the vaginal ecosystem, amniotic fluid, chorioamniotic membranes, and neonatal blood are the same.

Objectives: , or Group B (GBS), is a leading cause of neonatal sepsis. Materno-fetal transmission of the microorganisms present in the lower genital tract/perineum is considered to be the most frequent mode for acquisition of infection. It has also been proposed that, in a subset of cases, GBS causes acute chorioamnionitis, intraamniotic infection, and fetal/neonatal sepsis.

Combining Biomarkers to Improve Diagnostic Accuracy in Detecting Diseases With Group-Tested Data.

We consider the problem of combining multiple biomarkers to improve the diagnostic accuracy of detecting a disease when only group-tested data on the disease status are available. There are several challenges in addressing this problem, including unavailable individual disease statuses, differential misclassification depending on group size and number of diseased individuals in the group, and extensive computation due to a large number of possible combinations of multiple biomarkers. To tackle these issues, we propose a pairwise model fitting approach to estimating the distribution of the optimal linear combination of biomarkers and its diagnostic accuracy under the assumption of a multivariate normal distribution.

Programmed ribosomal frameshifting during mRNA decoding generates a constitutively active mediator of kinesin-1-dependent lysosome transport.

Programmed ribosomal frameshifting is a translational recoding phenomenon in which a proportion of ribosomes are stimulated to slip backwards or forwards on an mRNA, rephasing the ribosome relative to the mRNA. While frameshifting is often employed by viruses, very few phylogenetically conserved examples are known in vertebrate genes and the evidence for some of these is controversial. Here we report a +1 frameshifting signal in the coding sequence of the human gene , encoding the ARL8-dependent, lysosome-kinesin-1 adaptor protein PLEKHM2.

The Diffusion Exchange Ratio (DEXR): A minimal sampling of diffusion exchange spectroscopy to probe exchange, restriction, and time-dependence.

Water exchange is increasingly recognized as an important biological process that can affect the study of biological tissue using diffusion MR. Methods to measure exchange, however, remain immature as opposed to those used to characterize restriction, with no consensus on the optimal pulse sequence(s) or signal model(s). In general, the trend has been towards data-intensive fitting of highly parameterized models.

Food essentialism is associated with perceptions of plant-based meat alternatives possessing properties of meat-based products.

A transition to greater plant-based protein consumption is recognized as a necessity for planetary and human well-being. A critical driver of acceptance of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) is perceived similarity in their sensory and nutritional profiles with conventional animal-based meat. Consumers vary in food essentialism - beliefs that categories of foods have innate and immutable 'essences' that are responsible for their shared properties.