Study of maternal, fetal and neonatal outcomes in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus in a tertiary care hospital

Background: GDM is defined as carbohydrate intolerance of variable severity with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. Women with gestational diabetes are characterized by a relatively diminished insulin secretion and pregnancy induced insulin resistance primarily present in the skeletal muscle tissue. Normal pregnancy is a diabetogenic state characterized by exaggerated rate and amount of insulin release, associated with decreased sensitivity to insulin at cellular levels. The objective of the study was to study the maternal, the fetal and the neonatal outcomes of treated patients of GDM in present study.Methods: It was a hospital based clinical study. 1000 patients were enrolled between 24-28 weeks of gestation and DIPSI test was performed. Diagnosis of GDM was done using DIPSI criteria. 80 patients were diagnosed with GDM and followed till delivery to study the maternal, fetal and neonatal outcome.Results: Elderly patients, patients with previous history of GDM, patients with family history of diabetes, patients with high BMI and patients with polyhydramnios are at high risk for GDM.Conclusions: Hypertensive disorders and preterm birth are known to be higher with GDM are similar to the non-GDM group suggesting that early diagnosis and prompt treatment and maintaining strict glycemic control by patient may be beneficial. GDM can be managed well on MNT and lifestyle modifications, only few patients required insulin therapy. In spite of appropriate glycemic control, the incidence of macrosomia found to be high in GDM group. Sudden unexplained stillbirth can occur in spite of strict glycemic control. Neonatal complications have occurred despite well glycemic control

Comparative study of capillary blood glucose estimation by glucometer and venous plasma glucose estimation in women undergoing the one step DIPSI test (diabetes in pregnancy study group India) for screening and diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as carbohydrate intolerance of variable severity with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. The importance of GDM is that two generations are at risk of developing diabetes in the future. Aim was to study the merits and demerits of capillary blood glucose estimation by glucometer over venous plasma glucose estimation while performing DIPSI test.Methods: It was a hospital based clinical study. 1000 patients were enrolled between 24-28 weeks of gestation and DIPSI test was performed. Patient was instructed to come irrespective of fasting. 75 g glucose dissolved in 200-400 ml of water and patient was asked to drink in 5 minutes. Venous blood was drawn after 2 hours, capillary blood sugar also was measured at the same time by glucometer.Results: Sensitivity of capillary blood sugar (CBS) method in detecting GDM is 100% as compared to venous plasma glucose (VPG) and specificity is 99.46% as compared to VPG. Considering the agreement between two methods for diagnosis of GDM, equal sensitivity of both methods and small number of false positive cases detected by CBS method, due to almost equal specificity (99.46%), CBS method by glucometer can be recommended as an alternative to VPG method as a screening and diagnostic test for GDM.Conclusions: It is appropriate and feasible to offer capillary blood sugar sampling by DIPSI test for screening and diagnosis of GDM. The prevalence of GDM in our study is 8% by capillary blood sugar sampling and 7.5% by venous plasma glucose sampling according to DIPSI test.

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Differential Expression of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in Different Regions of Normal and Preeclampsia Placentae

Background: Our recent study indicates differential protein levels of neurotrophins and angiogenic factors in various regions of the normotensive and preeclampsia (PE) placenta. These changes may be in a response to differential mRNA expression of neurotrophins. Methods: This study examines the mRNA levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in different regions of the placenta in normotensive control (NC) women and women with PE. Thirty NC women and forty one women with PE (18 delivered at term [T-PE] and 23 delivered preterm [PT-PE]) were included in the study. Placental samples were taken from four regions: central basal (CM), central chorionic (CF), peripheral basal (PM), and peripheral chorionic (PF). The mRNA levels of neurotrophins were measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Results: The BDNF mRNA levels were higher in peripheral fetal region as compared to peripheral basal region in NC (p < 0.05) group, PE group (p < 0.05) and term PE group (p < 0.01). The BDNF mRNA levels were lower in the central basal region of preterm PE group (p < 0.05) as compared to the NC group. Conclusion: The present study indicates that NGF and BDNF are expressed differentially across various regions of the placenta. This has implications for selection of the sampling site in the placenta while carrying out placental studies

Search for intermediate-mass black hole binaries in the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

International audienceIntermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) span the approximate mass range 100−105 M⊙, between black holes (BHs) that formed by stellar collapse and the supermassive BHs at the centers of galaxies. Mergers of IMBH binaries are the most energetic gravitational-wave sources accessible by the terrestrial detector network. Searches of the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo did not yield any significant IMBH binary signals. In the third observing run (O3), the increased network sensitivity enabled the detection of GW190521, a signal consistent with a binary merger of mass ∼150 M⊙ providing direct evidence of IMBH formation. Here, we report on a dedicated search of O3 data for further IMBH binary mergers, combining both modeled (matched filter) and model-independent search methods. We find some marginal candidates, but none are sufficiently significant to indicate detection of further IMBH mergers. We quantify the sensitivity of the individual search methods and of the combined search using a suite of IMBH binary signals obtained via numerical relativity, including the effects of spins misaligned with the binary orbital axis, and present the resulting upper limits on astrophysical merger rates. Our most stringent limit is for equal mass and aligned spin BH binary of total mass 200 M⊙ and effective aligned spin 0.8 at 0.056 Gpc−3 yr−1 (90% confidence), a factor of 3.5 more constraining than previous LIGO-Virgo limits. We also update the estimated rate of mergers similar to GW190521 to 0.08 Gpc−3 yr−1.Key words: gravitational waves / stars: black holes / black hole physicsCorresponding author: W. Del Pozzo, e-mail: [email protected]† Deceased, August 2020