Injection of amniotic fluid stem cells ameliorates the acute phase of acute tubular necrosis in animals by promoting proliferation of injured tubular cells and decreasing apoptosis, but whether these stem cells could be of benefit in CKD is unknown. Here, we used a mouse model of Alport syndrome, Col4a5(-/-) mice, to determine whether amniotic fluid stem cells could modify the course of progres...

BACKGROUND Orofacial clefts are usually isolated cases but can be associated with other congenital malformations that are either recognised or unrecognised syndromes. The reported prevalence and pattern of such associated malformations, however, vary among studies. OBJECTIVES To assess the frequencies and aetiologies of congenital malformations and associated medical conditions in children wi...

I read with interest the two case reports by Kwon et al. on ‘‘New Treatment for Band Keratopathy: Superficial lamellar Keratectomy, EDTA Chelation and Amniotic Membrane Transplantation’’ (1). In their article, they describe two cases of calcific band keratopathy (CBK) that were treated with a combination of EDTA chelation, superficial keratectomy and amniotic membrane transplantation. The autho...

Feto-fetal transfusion syndrome is a pathological process unique to diamniotic monochorionic pregnancies. It is the consequence of an unbalanced fetal blood flow through communicating vessels within a shared placenta. When it occurs, a polyuric, hypervolemic recipient twin co-exists with a hypovolemic oliguric donor. The presence of polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios is considered a poor prognos...

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal abnormality and is associated with an extra copy of the chromosome 21. Although several markers are commonly used during pregnancy for the screening of DS, the definitive diagnosis is based on karyotype after amniocentesis, which is an expensive and laborious analysis. S100B is an astrocyte protein which had its gene mapped to the long arm of ch...

Successful fetoscopy using a 9 mm laparoscope was carried out on an 18-week pregnancy of a healthy woman who had had two previous male infants with bilateral double big toes, bilateral ulnar supernumerary digits associated with short segment Hirschsprung's disease, and ventricular septal defect of the heart, a syndrome apparently not previously described. The fetus was found to be normal, but a...

CASE REPORT A 63-year-old man with bilateral conjunctivochalasis presented with tearing, irritation, foreign body sensation and a delayed fluorescein clearance test. After no symptomatic improvement with topical treatment, surgery was carried out, with amniotic membrane transplantation and fibrin sealant. DISCUSSION Conjunctivochalasis is a frequent disorder that shares symptoms with dry eye ...

We describe a case of body stalk anomaly which was diagnosed at 10 weeks of gestation on a dating scan. The fetus was visualized within the exocelomic cavity outside an apparently intact amniotic membrane. The fetus displayed multiple anomalies characteristic of body stalk syndrome including a skull and brain defect, abdominal wall defect, kyphoscoliosis and gross deformities of the lower limbs...

We describe a one-dimensional thin-layer chromatographic method for separating lecithin, sphingomyelin, phosphatidylglycerol, and other phospholipids. The occurrence of phosphatidylglycerol in relation to the lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio is reported for 261 amniotic fluid samples. This compound does not consistently appear until the ratio exceeds about 3.1, and occurs less often in samples from...