While the visuomotor system is known to develop rapidly after birth, studies have observed spontaneous activity in vertebrates in visually excitable cortical areas already before extrinsic stimuli are present. Resting state networks and fetal eye movements were observed independently in utero, but no functional brain activity coupled with visual stimuli could be detected using fetal fMRI. This ...

The ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity of rat intestines, liver, and brain was found to vary dramatically as animals develop and age. Unusually high activity was present in the small intestines of adult animals. The ODC activity of the small intestines approximated that of fetal tissues and of regenerating rat liver. Putrescine, spermine, and spermidine levels of fetal and adult animal tiss...

It has been shown previously in a number of systems that after an extended block of activity, synaptic strength is increased. We found that an extended block of synaptic activity at the mouse neuromuscular junction, using a tetrodotoxin cuff in vivo, increased synaptic strength by prolonging the evoked endplate current (EPC) decay. Prolongation of EPC decay was accompanied by only modest prolon...

Stem/progenitor cells from multiple tissues have been isolated based on enhanced activity of cytosolic aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzyme. ALDH activity has emerged as a reliable marker for stem/progenitor cells, such that ALDH(bright/high) cells from multiple tissues have been shown to possess enhanced stemness properties (self-renewal and multipotency). So far though, not much is known abou...

Spontaneous rhythmic neuronal activity is generated in the developing vertebrate nervous system. The patterned activity spreads diffusely throughout the fetal neuraxis. Here we demonstrate the ability of the fetal rat spinal cord and medulla to generate and transmit robust rhythmic patterns in the absence of synaptic activity. Regular rhythmic discharges were produced by fetal tissue bathed in ...

Spontaneous rhythmic neuronal activity is generated in the developing vertebrate nervous system. The patterned activity spreads diffusely throughout the fetal neuraxis. Here we demonstrate the ability of the fetal rat spinal cord and medulla to generate and transmit robust rhythmic patterns in the absence of synaptic activity. Regular rhythmic discharges were produced by fetal tissue bathed in ...

In vitro microsomal formation of primary metabolites of indinavir (CRIXIVAN, MK-0639, L-735,524), an HIV protease inhibitor, were qualitatively similar among the different developmental stages in humans, although the fetal liver had a lower capability to form the metabolites than the pediatric and adult liver. The lower activity of fetal liver was mainly owing to a decrease in the Vmax values. ...

Although cardiotocography (CTG) is the most commonly used method in perinatal monitoring. there are still some difficulties surrounding its interpretation. In many cases an unequivocal diagnosis is not possible without additional physiological information. The reasons may be either physiological or due to shortcomings of existing instrumentation. A typical example is shown in Figure 1, where th...