Intrauterine deaths — an unsolved problem in Polish perinatology

Objectives: The Polish criteria for “intrauterine death” include fetal demise after 22 weeks of gestation, weighing > 500 g and body length at least 25 cm, when the gestational age is unknown. The rate of fetal death in Poland in 2015 is 3:10,000. In 2020, 1,231 stillbirths were registered. Material and methods: An analysis using 142,662 births in the period between 2015–2020 in 11 living in Poland. The first subgroup was admitted as patients > 22 to the beginning of the 30th week of pregnancy (n = 229), and the second from the 30th week of pregnancy inclusively (n = 179). In the case of women from both subgroups, there was a risk of preterm delivery close to hospitalization. Results: It was found that stillbirth in 41% of women in the first pregnancy. For the patient, stillbirth was also the first in his life. The average stillbirth weight was 1487 g, the average body length was 40 cm. Among fetuses up to 30 weeks, male fetuses are born more often, in subgroup II, the sex of the child was usually female. Most fetal deaths occur in mothers < 15 and > 45 years of age. Conclusions: According to the Polish results of the origin of full-term fetuses > 30 weeks of gestation for death in the concomitant antenatal, such as placental-umbilical and fetal hypoxia, acute intrapartum effects rarely, and moreover < 30 Hbd fetal growth restriction (FGR), occurring placental-umbilical, acute intrapartum often

Tyrosine supplementation in chronic experimental uremia

The occurrence of low tyrosine tissue levels in uremic subjects, possibly due to impaired phenylalanine hydroxylation, suggests that tyrosine may be an essential amino acid in uremia. Additional dietary tyrosine may thus re-dress the deficiency. This study examined growth and tyrosine/phenylalanine metabolism in uremic rats during tyrosine supplementation. Rats made uremic (U) by 7 8 nephrectomy were compared to pair-fed (C P) and ad libitum-fed (C A), sham-operated controls. Two sets of each group of rats were studied after 21 days on the resepctive diets: I = Purina Lab Chow; II = same + 3.5% tyrosine. Plasma tyrosine was below normal in U and C P-fed diet I. With diet II, the tyrosine: phenylalanine ratio in U was lower than both C A and C P. In rats fed diet II, the tyrosine: phenlalanine ratio became indistinguishable among the three groups. Growth parameters in U and C P were similar, regardless of the diet. Body weight gain, tibial length, muscle mass, and tissue protein did not improve in uremic animals supplemented with tyrosine. The specific activity of liver phenylalanine hydroxylase in U was not different from C A or C P. However, loss of cortical renal mass appeared to be the major determinant of decreased kidney phenylalanine hydroxylation in experimental uremia. This alteration is likely to be the greatest contributory factor to the alteration of plasma levels of tyrosine and phenylalanine. The data presented do not support a proposed essentiality of tyrosine in uremia

The interaction of Arabidopsis with Piriformospora indica shifts from initial transient stress induced by fungus-released chemical mediators to a mutualistic interaction after physical contact of the two symbionts

BACKGROUND: Piriformospora indica, an endophytic fungus of Sebacinales, colonizes the roots of many plant species including Arabidopsis thaliana. The symbiotic interaction promotes plant performance, growth and resistance/tolerance against abiotic and biotic stress. RESULTS: We demonstrate that exudated compounds from the fungus activate stress and defense responses in the Arabidopsis roots and shoots before the two partners are in physical contact. They induce stomata closure, stimulate reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, stress-related phytohormone accumulation and activate defense and stress genes in the roots and/or shoots. Once a physical contact is established, the stomata re-open, ROS and phytohormone levels decline, and the number and expression level of defense/stress-related genes decreases. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that exudated compounds from P. indica induce stress and defense responses in the host. Root colonization results in the down-regulation of defense responses and the activation of genes involved in promoting plant growth, metabolism and performance. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-015-0419-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A poly(A) ribonuclease controls the cellotriose-based interaction between Piriformospora indica and its host Arabidopsis

Piriformospora indica, an endophytic root-colonizing fungus, efficiently promotes plant growth and induces resistance to abiotic stress and biotic diseases. The fungal cell wall extract induces cytoplasmic calcium [Ca2+]cyt elevation in host plant roots. Here, we show that an elici-tor-active cell wall moiety, released by P. indica into the medium, is cellotriose (CT). CT in-duces a mild defense-like response including the production of reactive oxygen species, changes in membrane potentials and the expression of genes involved in growth regulation and root development. CT based [Ca2+]cyt elevation in Arabidopsis roots does not require BAK1 coreceptor, or the putative Ca2+ channels TPC1, GLR3.3, -2.4 and -2.5 and operates synergistically with the elicitor chitin. We identified an ethylmethane-sulfonate-induced mu-tant ([Ca2+]cyt elevation mutant, cycam) impaired in response to CT, cellooligomers (n = 2, 4-7), but not to chitooligomers (n = 4-8) in roots. The mutant contains a single nucleotide ex-change in the gene encoding for a poly(A) ribonuclease (AtPARN, At1g55870) which de-grades poly(A) tails of specific mRNAs. The wild-type PARN cDNA, expressed under the control of a 35S promoter, complements the mutant phenotype. Our finding of cellotriose as a novel chemical mediator might help to understand the complex P. indica-plant mutual rela-tionship in beneficial symbiosis