From early childhood, Turner syndrome patients have a flattened cranial base, maxillary retrognathism, and short hands. There are, however, no studies that show when these genotype-determined abnormalities occur prenatally. The purpose of the present study was to measure craniofacial profile and hand radiographs of second trimester foetuses with Turner syndrome and compare the results with simi...

Transverse palatine folds or palatal rugae (PR), are asymmetrical and irregular elevations of the mucosa in the anterior third of the palate arranged in a transverse direction on each side of the medial palatal raphae and behind the incisive papilla (IP), located in the mid-sagittal plane [1,2]. Developmentally, palatal rugae are formed in the third month in utero from the hard connective tissu...

The objective of this paper was to study the morphology of the articular disc and analyze the immunohistochemical expression of the marker of type IV collagen in the articular disc of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) of human fetuses of different gestational ages. Twenty TMJ from human fetuses aging from 21 to 24 weeks of intrauterine life were studied. The TMJ were supplied by the Federal Uni...

OBJECTIVE Evidence for the role of first-trimester ultrasound in predicting outcome in twin pregnancies is conflicting. The aim of this study was to determine the association between crown-rump length (CRL) discordance and adverse perinatal outcome in twin pregnancies. METHODS This was a retrospective study of all twin pregnancies of known chorionicity from a large regional cohort over a 10-y...

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between absence of the nasal bone at the 11-14-week ultrasound scan and chromosomal defects. METHODS Ultrasound examination was carried out in 3829 fetuses at 11-14 weeks' gestation immediately before fetal karyotyping. At the scan the fetal crown-rump length (CRL) and nuchal translucency (NT) thickness were measured and the fetal profile was examined for ...

OBJECTIVE To describe the first trimester diagnosis of agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC). METHODS The midbrain and falx cerebri were examined in stored images of the midsagittal view of the fetal brain at 11(+0)-13(+6) weeks' gestation from 15 fetuses with ACC and 500 normal controls. The midbrain diameter and falx diameter were measured and their ratio was calculated. The values in fetus...

The growth pattern of the maxillary sinus was analyzed using 18 human fetuses of both sexes between 9 and 21 weeks of age postconception. The paraffin embedded specimens were cut in series in the frontal and the transversal plane, respectively. The inner surface of the maxillary sinuses was redrawn and surrounded with a digitizer and then the volumes were calculated. A correlation analysis as w...

OBJECTIVE To assess the value of ductus venosus pulsatility index for veins (DV PIV) in screening for aneuploidies at 11-13 weeks' gestation. METHODS Fetal DV PIV was measured in singleton pregnancies undergoing first-trimester screening for aneuploidies. In euploid (n = 44,756) and aneuploid (202 cases of trisomy 21, 72 cases of trisomy 18 and 30 cases of trisomy 13) fetuses, DV PIV was best...

Nonhuman primates are commonly used in cardiovascular research. Increased arterial stiffness is a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis and higher CV risk. We determined the augmentation index (AI) using applanation tonometry in 61 healthy monkeys (59% female, age 1-25 years). Technically adequate studies were obtained in all subjects and required 1.5 +/- 1.3 minutes. The brachial artery provid...

Large amounts of information are systematically generated throughout the course of scientific research and progress. In our case, observations representing the Portuguese population within the central-southern region of Portugal were collected throughout various foetal autopsy procedures. Gestational age (GA) and measured distances and weights of numerous anthropometric features and organs, res...