165 research outputs found
Efficient fetal-maternal ECG signal separation from two channel maternal abdominal ECG via diffusion-based channel selection
There is a need for affordable, widely deployable maternal-fetal ECG monitors
to improve maternal and fetal health during pregnancy and delivery. Based on
the diffusion-based channel selection, here we present the mathematical
formalism and clinical validation of an algorithm capable of accurate
separation of maternal and fetal ECG from a two channel signal acquired over
maternal abdomen
Impact of Chronic Fetal Hypoxia and Inflammation on Cardiac Pacemaker Cell Development.
Chronic fetal hypoxia and infection are examples of adverse conditions during complicated pregnancy, which impact cardiac myogenesis and increase the lifetime risk of heart disease. However, the effects that chronic hypoxic or inflammatory environments exert on cardiac pacemaker cells are poorly understood. Here, we review the current evidence and novel avenues of bench-to-bed research in this field of perinatal cardiogenesis as well as its translational significance for early detection of future risk for cardiovascular disease
Autism spectrum disorder: a neuro-immunometabolic hypothesis of the developmental origins
Fetal neuroinflammation and prenatal stress (PS) may contribute to lifelong
neurological disabilities. Astrocytes and microglia play a pivotal role, but
the mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that via
gene-environment interactions, fetal neuroinflammation and PS may reprogram
glial immunometabolic phenotypes which impact neurodevelopment and
neurobehavior. This glial-neuronal interplay increases the risk for clinical
manifestation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in at-risk children. Drawing on
genomic data from the recently published series of ovine and rodent glial
transcriptome analyses with fetuses exposed to neuroinflammation or PS, we
conducted a secondary analysis against the Simons Foundation Autism Research
Initiative (SFARI) Gene database. We confirmed 21 gene hits. Using unsupervised
statistical network analysis, we then identified six clusters of probable
protein-protein interactions mapping onto the immunometabolic and stress
response networks and epigenetic memory. These findings support our hypothesis.
We discuss the implications for ASD etiology, early detection, and novel
therapeutic approaches.Comment: Supplemental Table and Data:
https://github.com/martinfrasch/ASD_origins_hypothesis. arXiv admin note:
text overlap with arXiv:1812.06617 | This is a different study with related
research context (relevance to ASD
First evidence that intrinsic fetal heart rate variability exists and is affected by hypoxic pregnancy.
KEY POINTS: We introduce a technique to test whether intrinsic fetal heart rate variability (iFHRV) exists and we show the utility of the technique by testing the hypothesis that iFHRV is affected by chronic fetal hypoxia, one of the most common adverse outcomes of human pregnancy complicated by fetal growth restriction. Using an established late gestation ovine model of fetal development under chronic hypoxic conditions, we identify iFHRV in isolated fetal hearts and show that it is markedly affected by hypoxic pregnancy. Therefore, the isolated fetal heart has intrinsic variability and carries a memory of adverse intrauterine conditions experienced during the last third of pregnancy. ABSTRACT: Fetal heart rate variability (FHRV) emerges from influences of the autonomic nervous system, fetal body and breathing movements, and from baroreflex and circadian processes. We tested whether intrinsic heart rate variability (iHRV), devoid of any external influences, exists in the fetal period and whether it is affected by chronic fetal hypoxia. Chronically catheterized ewes carrying male singleton fetuses were exposed to normoxia (n = 6) or hypoxia (10% inspired O2 , n = 9) for the last third of gestation (105-138 days of gestation (dG); term ∼145 dG) in isobaric chambers. At 138 dG, isolated hearts were studied using a Langendorff preparation. We calculated basal intrinsic FHRV (iFHRV) indices reflecting iFHRV's variability, predictability, temporal symmetry, fractality and chaotic behaviour, from the systolic peaks within 15 min segments in each heart. Significance was assumed at P < 0.05. Hearts of fetuses isolated from hypoxic pregnancy showed approximately 4-fold increases in the Grid transformation as well as the AND similarity index (sgridAND) and a 4-fold reduction in the scale-dependent Lyapunov exponent slope. We also detected a 2-fold reduction in the Recurrence quantification analysis, percentage of laminarity (pL) and recurrences, maximum and average diagonal line (dlmax, dlmean) and the Multiscale time irreversibility asymmetry index. The iHRV measures dlmax, dlmean, pL and sgridAND correlated with left ventricular end-diastolic pressure across both groups (average R2  = 0.38 ± 0.03). This is the first evidence that iHRV originates in fetal life and that chronic fetal hypoxia significantly alters it. Isolated fetal hearts from hypoxic pregnancy exhibit a time scale-dependent higher complexity in iFHRV.British Heart Foundatio
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