Non-invasive diagnosis of fetal lung immaturity. Ultrasound gray level histogram width (GLHW) tissue characterization was studied in fetal lung. GLHW ratio of fetal lung and liver was multiplied by gestational weeks, and fetal lung immaturity was diagnosed, if the product was less than 29. Ninety six per cent of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) was predicted noninvasively in immatur...

A pregnancy at risk for the Sanfilippo syndrome has been studied in which clear evidence was obtained from the study of amniotic fluid and fetal organs that the fetus was affected. Increased levels ofheparan sulphate were found in amniotic fluid and fetal liver, while electronmicroscopy of cultured fetal fibroblasts and fetal liver showed abnormal cytoplasmic inclusions. 35S04 uptake studies of...

We hypothesized that chronic hypoxia disrupts mitochondrial function via oxidative stress in fetal organs. Pregnant guinea pig sows were exposed to either normoxia or hypoxia (10.5% O2, 14 days) in the presence or absence of the antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Near-term anesthetized fetuses were delivered via hysterotomy, and fetal livers, hearts, lungs, and forebrains harvested. We quanti...

Acute hepatic failure during pregnancy is a life-threatening situation for the mother and fetus and might need a super-urgent liver transplantation. Many pregnancies with positive outcomes are reported after a previous liver transplantation before the pregnancy, but only a few of them are mentioned with transplantation during pregnancy. In these few cases, fetal outcome is mostly adverse. Exper...

The transcriptional modulator Cited2 is induced by various biological stimuli including hypoxia, cytokines, growth factors, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and flow shear. In this study, we report that Cited2 is required for mouse fetal liver development. Cited2(-/-) fetal liver displays hypoplasia with higher incidence of cell apoptosis, and exhibits disrupted cell-cell contact, disorganized sinusoid...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether any common maternal-fetal variable has prenatal predictive value of prosthetic repair in congenital diaphragmatic hernia. METHODS This was a 5-year single-center retrospective review of fetal congenital diaphragmatic hernia referrals. Multiple prenatal variables were correlated with the need for a prosthetic repair. Statistical analyses were by Fisher's exact an...

Hepatic progenitor cells play a major role in regenerating diseased liver. In rodents, progenitors forming hepatocytes or cholangiocytes are identified by the stem cell marker Thy-1. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether progenitor cells expressing Thy-1 could be identified in human fetal liver. Midtrimester human fetal liver was immunostained for Thy-1, cytokeratins 18 and 19, vimenti...

The cytosolic phosphenolpyruvate carboxykinase [PEPCK; GTP:oxaloacetate carboxy-lyase (transphosphorylating), EC 4.1.1.32] gene was isolated from a rat genomic library, and a map of the methylatable sites C-C-G-G and G-C-G-C has been constructed. The extent of methylation of 18 sites in the PEPCK gene in adult liver, kidney, spleen, and heart muscle and in fetal liver has been analyzed using th...

background: methamphetamine (ma) is a potent psychomotor stimulant with high abuse and addictive potential. ma is a neurotoxic drug which is widely abused by females of childbearing age, raising serious public health concerns in terms of exposure of the fetus to the drug. neurotoxic effects of ma on adult are well known, such as dopaminergic nerve terminal degeneration and cell death in regions...

In this study we investigated erythropoiesis and fetal liver protein secretion during late embryonic (Day 24 and Day 30) and early fetal (Day 40) development in pigs from domestic white crossbred (WC) gilts with a normal (intact; INT) or crowded (unilateral hysterectomized/ovariectomized; UHO) uterine environment, or from prolific Chinese Meishan (MS) gilts. Increased fetal weight, fetal liver ...