IFPA meeting 2016 workshop report I: Genomic communication, bioinformatics, trophoblast biology and transport systems

Workshops are an important part of the IFPA annual meeting as they allow for discussion of specialized topics. At IFPA meeting 2016 there were twelve themed workshops, four of which are summarized in this report. These workshops covered innovative technologies applied to new and traditional areas of placental research: 1) genomic communication; 2) bioinformatics; 3) trophoblast biology and pathology; 4) placental transport systems

Robustness of superconductivity to structural disorder in Sr0.3(NH2)y(NH3)1−yFe2Se2

The superconducting properties of a recently discovered high-Tc superconductor, Sr/ammonia-intercalated FeSe, have been measured using pulsed magnetic fields down to 4.2 K and muon spin spectroscopy down to 1.5 K. This compound exhibits intrinsic disorder resulting from random stacking of the FeSe layers along the c axis that is not present in other intercalates of the same family. This arises because the coordination requirements of the intercalated Sr and ammonia moieties imply that the interlayer stacking (along c) involves a translation of either a/2 or b/2 that locally breaks tetragonal symmetry. The result of this stacking arrangement is that the Fe ions in this compound describe a body-centered-tetragonal lattice in contrast to the primitive arrangement of Fe ions described in all other Fe-based superconductors. In pulsed magnetic fields, the upper critical field Hc2 was found to increase on cooling with an upward curvature that is commonly seen in type-II superconductors of a multiband nature. Fitting the data to a two-band model and extrapolation to absolute zero gave a maximum upper critical field μ0Hc2(0) of 33(2)T. A clear superconducting transition with a diamagnetic shift was also observed in transverse-field muon measurements at Tc≈36.3(2)K. These results demonstrate that robust superconductivity in these intercalated FeSe systems does not rely on perfect structural coherence along the c axis

Soft Chemical Control of Superconductivity in Lithium Iron Selenide Hydroxides Li1–x_{1–x}Fex_x(OH)Fe1–y_{1–y}Se

Hydrothermal synthesis is described of layered lithium iron selenide hydroxides Li$_{1–x}$Fex(OH)Fe$_{1–y}$Se (x$\sim$0.2; 0.02 < $y$ < 0.15) with a wide range of iron site vacancy concentrations in the iron selenide layers. This iron vacancy concentration is revealed as the only significant compositional variable and as the key parameter controlling the crystal structure and the electronic properties. Single crystal X-ray diffraction, neutron powder diffraction, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements are used to demonstrate that superconductivity at temperatures as high as 40 K is observed in the hydrothermally synthesized samples when the iron vacancy concentration is low ($y$ < 0.05) and when the iron oxidation state is reduced slightly below +2, while samples with a higher vacancy concentration and a correspondingly higher iron oxidation state are not superconducting. The importance of combining a low iron oxidation state with a low vacancy concentration in the iron selenide layers is emphasized by the demonstration that reductive postsynthetic lithiation of the samples turns on superconductivity with critical temperatures exceeding 40 K by displacing iron atoms from the Li$_{1–x}$Fe$_x$(OH) reservoir layer to fill vacancies in the selenide layer

Exercise and Physical Therapy Interventions for Children with Ataxia: a systematic review

The effectiveness of exercise and physical therapy for children with ataxia is poorly understood. The aim of this systematic review was to critically evaluate the range, scope and methodological quality of studies investigating the effectiveness of exercise and physical therapy interventions for children with ataxia. The following databases were searched: AMED, CENTRAL, CDSR, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov, EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE, PEDro and Web of Science. No limits were placed on language, type of study or year of publication. Two reviewers independently determined whether the studies met the inclusion criteria, extracted all relevant outcomes, and conducted methodological quality assessments. A total of 1988 studies were identified, and 124 full texts were screened. Twenty studies were included in the review. A total of 40 children (aged 5-18 years) with ataxia as a primary impairment participated in the included studies. Data were able to be extracted from eleven studies with a total of 21 children (aged 5-18 years), with a range of cerebellar pathology. The studies reported promising results but were of low methodological quality (no RCTs), used small sample sizes and were heterogeneous in terms of interventions, participants and outcomes. No firm conclusions can be made about the effectiveness of exercise and physical therapy for children with ataxia. There is a need for further high-quality child-centred research

The impact of an "equal opportunities" ideological framework on coaches’ knowledge and practice

This study focuses upon UK professional coaches’ experiences of equity training and the impact of the conceptualisation of equity as a matter of equal opportunities on this education and subsequent coaching practice. The research employs a critical feminist approach to connect the ideological framing of gender equity by sporting organisations to coaches’ ability to understand, identify and manage issues of gender equity, equality and diversity. The discussions are based on interviews with four coaches, Jack, Peter, Charlotte and Tony, who had all recently undertaken equity training, and all of whom represented sports and different stages of the coaching pathway. The data highlights that seeing gender equity through an “equal opportunities” lens results in a narrow conceptualisation of such issues by coaches, fails to challenge dominant and discriminative ideologies, and does not enable coaches to address equity within their practices. Consequently, coaches struggle to understand the importance of and manage such issues. The participants’ experiences reveal that gender relations, intersected principally with religion and ethnicity, underpinned their everyday coaching practices. The findings illustrate the need for sporting organisations to redefine how they approach equality and equity and for a more sophisticated sociocultural educational programme for coaches

Microengineering Approaches To Study The Human Placenta

The placenta is essential to the progression of a successful pregnancy. This specialized organ develops along with the fetus and mediates the transfer of all substances between mother and baby, thus dictating fetal growth and development. Despite its critical importance, there is very little known about the development and physiology of the placenta in utero. The initial steps of placentation early in gestation involve the migration of trophoblasts from the growing placenta into the maternal decidua where they undergo a coordinated process of vasculature remodeling. Abnormal trophoblast invasion can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes or even pregnancy loss. The regulation of this invasion and remodeling is poorly understood due to the lack of predictive research platforms. Throughout the course of pregnancy, the kinetics of placental transport are also crucial. The placenta must effectively and efficiently allocate resources like nutrients between the maternal and fetal circulations. However, it also is the barrier against fetal exposure to potentially harmful xenobiotics, like drugs. There is a need for a platform that can accurately model these transport processes to understand how the placenta controls these dynamics. We have leveraged organ-on-a-chip technology to create biomimetic microsystems that reconstitute these physiological processes of implantation and placental transport. We have first developed a model of the placental barrier, or “placenta-on-a-chip” that recapitulates the multilayered structure of the maternal-fetal interface. This platform was utilized to study i) transplacental transport of glucose and xenobiotics and ii) the effect of hemodynamic shear stress on the placental barrier. Next, we have developed a microphysiological model of implantation to mimic and mechanistically investigate the process of extravillous trophoblast invasion. This platform incorporates key decidual cell types to elucidate their regulatory roles in the process of spiral artery remodeling. The work presented in this dissertation represents a significant contribution to the placental biology community and will improve our fundamental understanding of the placenta

Microengineering Approaches to Study the Human Placenta

The placenta is essential to the progression of a successful pregnancy. This specialized organ develops along with the fetus and mediates the transfer of all substances between mother and baby, thus dictating fetal growth and development. Despite its critical importance, there is very little known about the development and physiology of the placenta in utero. The initial steps of placentation early in gestation involve the migration of trophoblasts from the growing placenta into the maternal decidua where they undergo a coordinated process of vasculature remodeling. Abnormal trophoblast invasion can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes or even pregnancy loss. The regulation of this invasion and remodeling is poorly understood due to the lack of predictive research platforms. Throughout the course of pregnancy, the kinetics of placental transport are also crucial. The placenta must effectively and efficiently allocate resources like nutrients between the maternal and fetal circulations. However, it also is the barrier against fetal exposure to potentially harmful xenobiotics, like drugs. There is a need for a platform that can accurately model these transport processes to understand how the placenta controls these dynamics. We have leveraged organ-on-a-chip technology to create biomimetic microsystems that reconstitute these physiological processes of implantation and placental transport. We have first developed a model of the placental barrier, or “placenta-on-a-chip” that recapitulates the multilayered structure of the maternal-fetal interface. This platform was utilized to study i) transplacental transport of glucose and xenobiotics and ii) the effect of hemodynamic shear stress on the placental barrier. Next, we have developed a microphysiological model of implantation to mimic and mechanistically investigate the process of extravillous trophoblast invasion. This platform incorporates key decidual cell types to elucidate their regulatory roles in the process of spiral artery remodeling. The work presented in this dissertation represents a significant contribution to the placental biology community and will improve our fundamental understanding of the placenta