Characteristic differences and reference ranges for mitral, tricuspid, aortic, and pulmonary Doppler velocity waveforms during fetal life.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to construct reference ranges for time intervals of each component of cardiac flow velocity waveforms in normal fetuses, comparing those variables between right and left ventricles. METHODS: In 359 fetuses at the gestational age of 17-38 weeks, the durations of atrioventricular (AV) valve opening (AVVO), AV valve closure (AVVC), total E- (total-E) and A- (total-A) waves, total ejection time (total-ET), acceleration time (acc-E for E-wave, acc-A for A-wave, and acc-ET for ejection time), and deceleration time (dec-E for E-wave, dec-A for A-wave, and dec-ET for ejection time) were studied cross sectionally. RESULTS: Both right and left acc-E showed the strongest correlations with gestational age (r = 0.478 and r = 0.519, respectively). Left AVVO showed a stronger correlation (r = 0.474) than right AVVO (r = 0.282) and, conversely, right AVVC showed a stronger correlation (r = 0.399) than left AVVC (r = 0.195) with gestational age. Significant differences (all P values <0.001) were observed for all right and left parameters other than total-A and acc-E. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristic differences between right and left ventricles were found in the reference ranges, suggesting the developmental properties of the fetal heart. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Increased annexin A2 expression in the placenta of women with acute worsening of preeclampsia.

BACKGROUND: The aims of present study were to investigate the expression of Annexin A2 in the placenta of patients with preeclampsia (PE) and correlate these data with acute worsening of clinical symptoms. METHODS: Placentas were collected from uncomplicated normal pregnancies (n = 9), PE cases without emergency termination of pregnancy (group 1, n = 6), and PE cases with acute worsening of symptoms necessitating immediate pregnancy termination (group 2, n = 7). Immunohistochemistry data were analyzed quantitatively, and placental mRNA expression was measured by Real-time PCR. RESULTS: Group 2 had a significantly shorter interval between diagnosis and pregnancy termination compared with group 1 (p = 0.002). Birth weight and placental weight in group 2 were significantly lower compared with the normal group (p = 0.006 and p = 0.03, birth weight and placental weight, respectively), whereas there were no differences in gestational age at delivery between the three groups or the severity of high blood pressure and proteinuria between the PE groups. Placental expression of Annexin A2 as determined by immunohistochemistry was significantly higher in both PE groups compared with the uncomplicated pregnancy group (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, groups 1 and 2, respectively). Placental Annexin A2 mRNA expression was significantly elevated in group 2 compared with the normal group (p = 0.002) but did not change in group 1. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to demonstrate increased placental Annexin A2 mRNA expression during the acute phase of PE. Immunohistochemical staining of placental Annexin A2 was high, regardless of PE phase. These findings suggest that worsening of PE might alter Annexin A2 expression at the transcription level.

Pathological findings in a case of failed uterine artery embolization for placenta previa.

The reported success rate of uterine artery embolization (UAE) for obstetrical hemorrhage is more than 90%. We experienced a case of failed UAE for postpartum hemorrhage, although an embolic particle was found pathologically in the uterine vessels without coagulation. A 42-year-old woman (gravida 7, para 2) with placenta previa had genital bleeding at 35 weeks of gestation, and cesarean section was performed. We immediately added UAE aiming to reduce massive bleeding after the cesarean section, successful embolization of the bilateral uterine arteries and internal iliac arteries were confirmed by angiography regardless the vital sign was recovered with an appropriate amount of transfusion; the massive bleeding recurred after 1 hour of UAE. Hysterectomy was performed and pathological findings of the uterus showed that there was no coagulation in the vessels, which was supposed to be observed by the effect of gelatin sponge. In addition, despite the fact that no coagulation was found, only one gelatin sponge was found in 16 slices of the uterine wall specimens. We speculate that thrombotic materials were caught in vasoconstricted vessels triggered by hypovolemic shock due to acute blood loss, and then the gelatin sponge could be washed out after recovering to normalized circulation status leading to recurrent massive hemorrhage.

Electron microscopic analysis of a fusion protein of postsynaptic density-95 and metallothionein in cultured hippocampal neurons.

The subcellular localization of biomolecules at high resolution has traditionally been investigated by combining transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and chemical staining with heavy metals or immuno-based labeling with gold-conjugated antibodies. Here, we employ genetically encoded tags to examine the localization of proteins in transfected cultured cells by TEM. We purified a fusion protein of postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) coupled to three tandem repeats of metallothionein (MT) (PDS-95-3MT) from COS7 cells grown in the presence of Cd2+. PSD-95-3MT was detected as black particles by TEM. To visualize the subcellular localization of PSD-95-3MT, expression constructs encoding this fusion protein were transfected into primary hippocampal neurons cultured in medium containing Cd2+. The subcellular accumulation of PSD-95-3MT and Cd2+ provided excellent contrast in TEM micrographs. To address if genetically encoded tags affect the function of the target proteins, we found that the conjugation of 3MT to PSD-95 did not alter its association with known binding partners. These results demonstrate that 3MT coordinating Cd2+ is a valuable genetically encoded tag to study the localization of proteins by TEM.

Intercalation of amino acids and peptides into Mg-Al layered double hydroxide by reconstruction method.

The intercalation of amino acids and some peptides into Mg-Al layered double hydroxide known as hydrotalcite was examined. Although the intercalation by ion-exchange method was unsuccessful, all the amino acids except for Lys and Arg, and peptides examined could be intercalated into the layered double hydroxide by reconstruction method using Mg-Al oxide precursor. The uptake amounts of amino acids and peptides were 0.9-2.7 mmol per 1 g of LDH. Intercalation compounds were examined by using XRD and solid-state NMR. For Gly, Ala, Ser, Thr, Pro, Asn, Gln, Asp, Glu, and aspartame the intercalation accompanied the expansion of interlayer distance of the solid products, whereas the other amino acids and oligoglycine showed no expansion. The intercalation mechanism and release profile in K(2)CO(3) aqueous solution were also investigated. And the cointercalation of amino acids and peptides into Mg-Al LDH and easy release of amino acids from the LDH layer were found.