This report describes methods to estimate fetal radiation doses from radiation diagnostic examinations, based on survey data from 3 hospitals in southern Sweden. The fetal dose has been calculated with available computer programs and verified by dose measurements inside a female human phantom for conventional X-ray and computed tomography (CT) examinations. Measured fetal doses have been correl...

Analysis of movement activity is important since it enables detection of nonreactive fetal heart rate recordings. The aim of the study was to develop an algorithm for automated detection of the fetal movement activity (actogram), based on analysis of the Doppler ultrasound signal, and to evaluate a reliability of the actogram as a source of information about the fetal movements. Bandpass filter...

Fetal breathing and body movements were simultaneously evaluated in twin pregnancies in order to determine to what extent these activities occur in a synchroneous pattern in both twin fetuses and if fetal position, presentation or sex have an influence on their behavior. Thirty healthy pairs of twins at 34-37 weeks of gestation were studied. Twenty-six percent of fetal body movements and 49% of...

The activity of hematopoietic stem cells in the developing liver of a C57BL/6 mouse embryo was quantified by a competitive repopulation assay. Different doses of fetal liver cells at days 11 to 18 of gestation were transplanted into irradiated mice together with 2 x 10(5) adult bone marrow cells. A long-term repopulation in myeloid-, B-cell, and T-cell lineage by fetal liver cells was evaluated...

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are extensively synthesized by plants, are commonly present in herbs and foodstuffs, and exhibit hepatotoxicity requiring metabolic activation by cytochrome P450 3A to form the electrophilic metabolites-pyrrolic esters. PAs also cause embryo toxicity, but the metabolic profiles of PAs in fetus and placenta have been far from clear. In this study, we determined the ...

T cell precursors from murine fetal liver enter the fetal thymus where they proliferate, differentiate, and mature. These processes are accompanied by changes in the pattern of transcription factors known to control the expression of specific genes. We have monitored the expression of five different transcription factors during mouse fetal thymus ontogeny: nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B, cAMP-resp...

The pattern of preterm fetal growth faltering, normally seen in man, differs from that observed in animals. This type of fetal growth cannot be considered as an adaptation to facilitate birth but is more likely to be due to rapid evolution and imperfect adaptation to the upright posture. The pattern of posture and physical activity during pregnancy may therefore be an important determinant of f...

We recently reported superior right ventricle (RV) performance in response to acute afterload challenge in lambs with a model of congenital heart disease with chronic left-to-right cardiac shunts. Compared with control animals, shunt lambs demonstrated increased contractility because of an enhanced Anrep effect (the slow increase in contractility following myocyte stretch). This advantageous ph...

Fetal lung development progresses in a sex-specific manner with male fetuses exhibiting delayed maturation. Androgens, both exogenous and endogenous, inhibit while epidermal growth factor (EGF) enhances fetal lung development. We hypothesized that one mechanism responsible for the delay in male fetal lung development is an androgen-induced delay in EGF receptor binding activity. We measured EGF...

Kynureninase activity in fetal tissue of rat is two thirds the level of the adult, while kynurenine aminotransferase (L-kynurenine: 2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase, EC. 2. 6. 1. 7) activity could not be observed at all in fetal tissue. The latter began to arise after birth and reached the adult level at 50 g of body weight. This fact suggests that anthranilic acid in fetal tissue might have som...