Mitral Valve Prolapse in Pregnancy: Modern Concept

This chapter presents the recent literature data data on the problems of etiopathogenesis, cardiac, and obstetric risk of mitral valve prolapsus, as well as the tactics of patients with this pathology. Modern views on the role of genomic, genetic disorders, and metabolomics in violations valvular structures in the etiology and pathogenesis of clinical manifestations of the mitral valve prolapsus. In addition, the data on the peculiarities of pregnancy and childbirth in women with mitral valve prolapsus (miscarriage, cervical incompetence, preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, placental insufficiency, labor anomaly, and postpartum hemorrhage) are studied. However, ambiguous and sometimes conflicting data on the relationship and the incidence of these complications with mitral valve prolapsus require further research to determine the set of diagnostic and preventive measures

Risk Factors for hypospadias in Northwest Russia: A Murmansk County Birth Registry Study

Source at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214213. Background - Hypospadias is the most common congenital anomaly of the penis, but its causes are mainly unknown. Of the risk factors identified, the most plausible are hormonal and genetic. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for hypospadias in Northwest Russia based on registry data. Methods - The study population included male infants registered in the Murmansk County Birth Registry between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2011 (n = 25 475). These infants were followed-up for 2 years using the Murmansk Regional Congenital Defects Registry to identify cases of hypospadias not diagnosed at birth. We used logistic regression analysis to examine the contributions of hypospadias risk factors. Results - Out of 25 475 male infants born during the study period, 148 had isolated hypospadias. The overall prevalence rate was 54.2 (95% CI 53.6–54.8) per 10 000 male infants. Those born to mothers with preeclampsia (OR = 1.65; 95% CI 1.03–2.66) or infant birthweight < 2500 g (OR = 2.06; 95% CI 1.18–3.60) exhibited increased risk for hypospadias. Maternal age, smoking during pregnancy, folic acid intake during pregnancy or hepatitis B surface antigen positivity did not associate with increased risk of hypospadias. Conclusions Combining data from a birth registry with those from a congenital defects registry provided optimal information about the prevalence of hypospadias and its association with low infant birthweight and preeclampsia. These factors have in common changes in hormone levels during pregnancy, which in turn may have contributed to hypospadias development

Under-reporting of major birth defects in Northwest Russia: a registry-based study

Source at https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2017.1366785 .The objective was to assess the prevalence of selected major birth defects, based on data from two medical registries in Murmansk County, and compare the observed rates with those available for Norway and Arkhangelsk County, Northwest Russia. It included all newborns (≥22 completed weeks of gestation) registered in the Murmansk County Birth Registry (MCBR) and born between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2009 (n=35,417). The infants were followed-up post-partum for 2 years through direct linkage to the Murmansk Regional Congenital Defects Registry (MRCDR). Birth defects identified and confirmed in both registries constituted the “cases” and corresponded to one or more of the 21 birth defect types reportable to health authorities in Moscow. The overall prevalence of major birth defects recorded in the MRCDR was 50/10,000 before linkage and 77/10,000 after linkage with the MCBR. Routine under-reporting to the MRCDR of 40% cases was evident. This study demonstrates that birth registry data improved case ascertainment and official prevalence assessments and reduced the potential of under-reporting by physicians. The direct linkage of the two registries revealed that hypospadias cases were the most prevalent among the major birth defects in Murmansk County. Abbreviations: ICD-10, International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision; MCBR, Murmansk County Birth Registry; MRCDR, Murmansk Regional Congenital Defects Registry; MGC, Murmansk Genetics Cente

Income and Wealth Status of Russian and Tomsk Region’s Pensioners

In the article the results of a study of income and material well-being of old generation of Russia and Tomsk Region are presented. Data of Russian federal and regional statistics shows that income of pensioners is growing fast and their wealth status in 2014 can be estimated as acceptable. Analysis of the data of an opinion survey of older people of the Tomsk region does not support this conclusion. According to the regression model in order to achieve a satisfactory standard of living pensioner's income should be at least 13-18 thousand rubles per month, while in 2014 the average pension was lower (about 11-12 thousand rubles). In our opinion state regulation requires further increase in the average pensions, as well as the revision of the minimum consumption basket and minimum needs of subsistence for this group

PhysioZoo: The Open Digital Physiological Biomarkers Resource

PhysioZoo is a collaborative platform designed for the analysis of continuous physiological time series. The platform currently comprises four modules, each consisting of a library, a user interface, and a set of tutorials: (1) PhysioZoo HRV, dedicated to studying heart rate variability (HRV) in humans and other mammals; (2) PhysioZoo SPO2, which focuses on the analysis of digital oximetry biomarkers (OBM) using continuous oximetry (SpO2) measurements from humans; (3) PhysioZoo ECG, dedicated to the analysis of electrocardiogram (ECG) time series; (4) PhysioZoo PPG, designed to study photoplethysmography (PPG) time series. In this proceeding, we introduce the PhysioZoo platform as an open resource for digital physiological biomarkers engineering, facilitating streamlined analysis and data visualization of physiological time series while ensuring the reproducibility of published experiments. We welcome researchers to contribute new libraries for the analysis of various physiological time series, such as electroencephalography, blood pressure, and phonocardiography. You can access the resource at physiozoo.com. We encourage researchers to explore and utilize this platform to advance their studies in the field of continuous physiological time-series analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure, 50th Computing in Cardiology conference in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on 1st - 4th October 202

PhysioZoo: A Novel Open Access Platform for Heart Rate Variability Analysis of Mammalian Electrocardiographic Data

Background: The time variation between consecutive heartbeats is commonly referred to as heart rate variability (HRV). Loss of complexity in HRV has been documented in several cardiovascular diseases and has been associated with an increase in morbidity and mortality. However, the mechanisms that control HRV are not well understood. Animal experiments are the key to investigating this question. However, to date, there are no standard open source tools for HRV analysis of mammalian electrocardiogram (ECG) data and no centralized public databases for researchers to access.Methods: We created an open source software solution specifically designed for HRV analysis from ECG data of multiple mammals, including humans. We also created a set of public databases of mammalian ECG signals (dog, rabbit and mouse) with manually corrected R-peaks (&gt;170,000 annotations) and signal quality annotations. The platform (software and databases) is called PhysioZoo.Results: PhysioZoo makes it possible to load ECG data and perform very accurate R-peak detection (F1 &gt; 98%). It also allows the user to manually correct the R-peak locations and annotate low signal quality of the underlying ECG. PhysioZoo implements state of the art HRV measures adapted for different mammals (dogs, rabbits, and mice) and allows easy export of all computed measures together with standard data representation figures. PhysioZoo provides databases and standard ranges for all HRV measures computed on healthy, conscious humans, dogs, rabbits, and mice at rest. Study of these measures across different mammals can provide new insights into the complexity of heart rate dynamics across species.Conclusion: PhysioZoo enables the standardization and reproducibility of HRV analysis in mammalian models through its open source code, freely available software, and open access databases. PhysioZoo will support and enable new investigations in mammalian HRV research. The source code and software are available on www.physiozoo.com

Анализ биологического возраста по черепу ребенка эпохи каменного века с помощью конусно-лучевой компьютерной томографии

Studying of opportunities of the Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) in an assessment of bone structure and of a tooth formula was an objective for aging of a paleoanthropological finding. Remains of the child of the Stone Age from a cave Staroselye (Crimea) are subjected to examination. Beam research was carried out when using CBCT with individual selection of laying, physics and technology conditions and modes of scanning depending on anatomic accessory and the size of fragments. The images received as a result of CBCT differ in high informational content (from 7.5 to 10.6 pixels/mm), optimum spatial permission, clearness and contrast. The software of CBCT includes parameters and possibility of post-processor processing of images (creation of panoramic, multiplanar and 3D reconstruction). The method allows carrying out the analysis of anthropological material without the need for their destruction that is the extremely important for work with samples of museum collections. Use of a high-informative beam method of CBCT is perspective for the paleoantropological researches.Цель исследования: изучение возможностей конусно-лучевой компьютерной томографии (КЛКТ) в оценке костной структуры, анализе зубной формулы при определении возраста палеоантропологической находки. Экспертизе подвергнуты останки ребенка каменного века из пещеры Староселье (Крым). Лучевое исследование выполнялось при использовании КЛКТ с индивидуальным подбором укладок, физико-технических условий и режимов сканирования в зависимости от анатомической принадлежности и размера фрагментов. Полученные в результате КЛКТ изображения отличаются высокой информативностью (от 7,5 до 10,6 пикселей/мм), оптимальным пространственным разрешением, четкостью и контрастностью. Программное обеспечение КЛКТ включает параметры и возможность постпроцессорной обработки изображений (построение панорамных, мультипланарных и 3D-реконструкций). Метод позволяет проводить анализ антропологического материала без необходимости их разрушения, что крайне важно для работы с образцами музейных коллекций. Использование высокоинформативного лучевого метода исследования КЛКТ является перспективным для палеоантропологических исследований

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three genomic nomenclature systems to all sequence data from the World Health Organization European Region available until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation, compare the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2

A Statistical Method for Exploratory Data Analysis Based on 2D and 3D Area under Curve Diagrams: Parkinson’s Disease Investigation

A statistical method for exploratory data analysis based on 2D and 3D area under curve (AUC) diagrams was developed. The method was designed to analyze electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), and tremorogram data collected from patients with Parkinson’s disease. The idea of the method of wave train electrical activity analysis is that we consider the biomedical signal as a combination of the wave trains. The wave train is the increase in the power spectral density of the signal localized in time, frequency, and space. We detect the wave trains as the local maxima in the wavelet spectrograms. We do not consider wave trains as a special kind of signal. The wave train analysis method is different from standard signal analysis methods such as Fourier analysis and wavelet analysis in the following way. Existing methods for analyzing EEG, EMG, and tremor signals, such as wavelet analysis, focus on local time–frequency changes in the signal and therefore do not reveal the generalized properties of the signal. Other methods such as standard Fourier analysis ignore the local time–frequency changes in the characteristics of the signal and, consequently, lose a large amount of information that existed in the signal. The method of wave train electrical activity analysis resolves the contradiction between these two approaches because it addresses the generalized characteristics of the biomedical signal based on local time–frequency changes in the signal. We investigate the following wave train parameters: wave train central frequency, wave train maximal power spectral density, wave train duration in periods, and wave train bandwidth. We have developed special graphical diagrams, named AUC diagrams, to determine what wave trains are characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases. In this paper, we consider the following types of AUC diagrams: 2D and 3D diagrams. The technique of working with AUC diagrams is illustrated by examples of analysis of EMG in patients with Parkinson’s disease and healthy volunteers. It is demonstrated that new regularities useful for the high-accuracy diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease can be revealed using the method of analyzing the wave train electrical activity and AUC diagrams