Estudio de factores bioquímicos, antropométricos y séricos durante la gestación en una cohorte de tipo longitudinal en el Hospital Engativá, Bogotá

Durante la gestación, en la mujer se producen profundos cambios adaptativos a nivel fisiológico y antropométrico, lo cual indica que los parámetros de atención en salud primaria y a nivel clínico basados en muestras de mujeres no gestantes sanas no necesariamente son útiles para tomar decisiones de atención en salud durante la gestación. Por lo tanto, el presente estudio tiene como fin describir algunos de estos cambios a lo largo de la gestación, así como se plantea definir intervalos de referencia fisiológicos de variables antropométricas, bioquímicas y clínicas durante el embarazo. Metodología: el presente trabajo tiene dos componentes metodológicos, el primero es un estudio observacional longitudinal tipo cohorte y el segundo un estudio de casos y controles anidado en la cohorte longitudinal. El estudio parte de una muestra longitudinal de 440 mujeres gestantes aparentemente sanas que asistieron al Hospital Engativá en la ciudad de Bogotá, quienes aceptaron participar en el estudio. En el primer componente, se seleccionaron dentro del grupo de referencia 142 mujeres con embarazos de curso normal y se contó además con un grupo control de 47 mujeres no gestantes sanas. Se establecieron intervalos de referencia fisiológicos para cada variable en tres periodos de la gestación y a los tres meses postparto, al igual que se construyeron curvas de distancia para cada variable de acuerdo a la edad gestacional. En el segundo componente, se describen los cambios del biomarcador sérico adipsina a lo largo de la gestación, para lo cual se incluyeron como controles 54 mujeres con embarazos de curso normal y las 47 mujeres no gestantes y como casos 18 mujeres gestantes que desarrollaron preeclampsia. Resultados: se reportan los intervalos de referencia y curvas de distancia para las siguientes variables: índice de masa corporal (IMC), proteína C reactiva, glucosa, insulina, índice HOMA-IR, perfil lipídico y tensiones arteriales durante los tres trimestres de la gestación, así como a los 3 meses postparto y en un grupo de mujeres no gestantes. Se observa que los datos de todas las variables muestran diferencias estadísticamente significativas en algún periodo de la gestación o incluso a lo largo de toda la gestación en comparación con el grupo de mujeres no gestantes y los datos postparto. Además, se muestra que los niveles séricos de adipsina son más bajos en las mujeres gestantes sanas cuando se comparan con los niveles de las mujeres no gestantes; sin embargo, tales niveles aumentan en el periodo postparto. Asimismo los niveles séricos de adipsina son significativamente altos en el tercer periodo de gestación en las mujeres con preeclampsia. Conclusiones: este estudio piloto contribuye al conocimiento de la fisiología de la gestación y presenta una propuesta de intervalos fisiológicos de referencia y curvas de distancia de variables antropométricas, bioquímicas y clínicas a lo largo de la gestación, los cuales podrían convertirse en una futura herramienta usada como referente para identificar aquellas mediciones que se alejan de la distribución de referencia como una posible alerta temprana de algún tipo de anormalidad en la mujer gestante.Abstract. During pregnancy, profound maternal adaptive changes occur at a physiological and anthropometric level. This suggests that the usual clinical parameters utilized in primary health care based on samples of healthy non-pregnant women are not necessarily useful to take make clinical decisions during pregnancy. Therefore, this study aims to describe some of these changes throughout gestation and define reference intervals of physiological, anthropometric, biochemical and clinical variables during pregnancy. Methodology: This paper consists of two methodological components. The first is a longitudinal observational cohort study and the second a nested case-control study in the longitudinal cohort. The study is a longitudinal sample of 440 apparently healthy pregnant women who attended the Engativa Hospital in Bogota and agreed to participate in the study. The first component included 142 women who were selected in the reference sample group with a normal pregnancy course and an additional control group of 47 healthy nonpregnant women. A physiological reference interval for each variable was established in the three periods of pregnancy and three months postpartum. Distance curves for each variable according to gestational age were built. In the second component, the changes in serum biomarker adipsin were determined throughout gestation in a sample of 54 women with normal pregnancies and 47 nonpregnant women as controls and as cases 18 pregnant women who developed preeclampsia. Results: The reference intervals and distance curves for the following variables are reported: body mass index (BMI), C-reactive protein, glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR index, lipid profile and blood pressures during the three trimesters and at 3 months postpartum and in the nonpregnant group. It should be noted that all variables show statistically significant differences at some period of gestation or even throughout pregnancy compared to nonpregnant group and postpartum data. Also, serum levels of adipsin are lower in healthy pregnant women when compared with levels nonpregnant women; however, such levels increase in the postpartum period. Adipsin serum levels are significantly higher in the third period of gestation in women with preeclampsia. Conclusions: This pilot study contributes to the understanding of the physiology of gestation and presents a proposal for physiological reference intervals and distance curves of anthropometric, biochemical and clinical variables throughout gestation. This could become a future tool used as a reference to identify those measurements that deviate from the reference distribution. In practice, it could be used as a possible early warning of clinical abnormalities in pregnant women.Maestrí

Triglycerides/Glucose and Triglyceride/High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Indices in Normal and Preeclamptic Pregnancies: A Longitudinal Study

Metabolic changes have been correlated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. The aim of the present study is to determine the TyG and TG/HDL-c indices in a cohort of healthy pregnant (n=142), preeclamptic (n=18), and healthy nonpregnant women (n=56). Preeclamptic women were selected from the same cohort. Pregnant women were followed during three periods of pregnancy and postpartum. The results showed a significant increase in the values of TyG and TG/HDL-c (p<0.01) as pregnancy progresses, without significant differences between healthy and preeclamptic women. TyG and TG/HDL-c indices are significantly low in nonpregnant and three months’ postpartum women when compared with each gestational period studied. TyG and TG/HDL-c indices are positively correlated with HOMA-IR in the early and middle pregnancy (p<0.05). Multiple linear regression using the TyG and TG/HDL-c indices as dependent variables showed that TyG index was significantly associated with HOMA-IR, gestational age, HDL-c, TC, LDL, fasting insulin, and mean BP (p<0.001); meanwhile, TG/HDL-c index was only associated with HOMA-IR (p<0.0242) and gestational age (p<0.001). In conclusion, the TyG and TG/HDL-c indices could be useful in monitoring insulin resistance during pregnancy

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels throughout pregnancy: a longitudinal study in healthy and preeclamptic pregnant women

Background: Worldwide there is a high prevalence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) deficiency and has been associated with adverse outcomes during pregnancy. Objective: This is a nested, case–control study in a longitudinal cohort to compare the serum 25OHD levels and other biomarkers throughout pregnancy in a group of 20 preeclamptic women and 61 healthy pregnant women. An additional group of 29 healthy non-pregnant women were also studied during the two phases of the menstrual cycle. Results: Mean 25OHD levels in non-pregnant women were 31.9 ng/mL and 34.9 ng/mL during follicular and luteal phase, respectively (P < 0.01). Mean serum 25OHD levels in healthy pregnant women were 26.5, 30.1 and 31.9 ng/mL, at first, second and third trimester, respectively (P < 0.001). The first trimester levels of 25OHD were lower than those of healthy non-pregnant women (P < 0.001), showing a significant recovery at third trimester. In the group of healthy pregnant women, the 25OHD levels were 25.7 ng/mL and 27.2 ng/mL at 3 and 6 months postpartum, respectively; both values were lower than those observed in the non-pregnant women (P < 0.001). In preeclamptic women, 25OHD serum levels were similar to those of healthy pregnant women; nevertheless, they remained almost unchanged throughout pregnancy. Conclusion: There were no significant differences between healthy and preeclamptic pregnant women in terms of 25OHD levels throughout the pregnancy. Serum 25OHD levels in non-pregnant women were higher during luteal phase compared with follicular phase. The 25OHD levels of non-pregnant women tended to be higher than those of pregnant women

Search for Higgs and ZZ Boson Decays to J/ψγJ/\psi\gamma and Υ(nS)γ\Upsilon(nS)\gamma with the ATLAS Detector

A search for the decays of the Higgs and $Z$ bosons to $J/\psi\gamma$ and $\Upsilon(nS)\gamma$ ($n=1,2,3$) is performed with $pp$ collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to $20.3\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}=8\mathrm{TeV}$ with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above expected backgrounds and 95% CL upper limits are placed on the branching fractions. In the $J/\psi\gamma$ final state the limits are $1.5\times10^{-3}$ and $2.6\times10^{-6}$ for the Higgs and $Z$ bosons, respectively, while in the $\Upsilon(1S,2S,3S)\,\gamma$ final states the limits are $(1.3,1.9,1.3)\times10^{-3}$ and $(3.4,6.5,5.4)\times10^{-6}$, respectively

Finska tingsdomares bedömningar av partsutlåtanden givna på plats i rätten eller via videokonferens

Professionals within the judicial system sometimes believe they can assess whether someone is lying or not based on cues such as body language and emotional expression. Research has, however, shown that this is impossible. The Finnish Supreme Court has also given rulings in accordance with this demonstrated fact. There has also been previous research on whether party or witness statements are assessed differently in court depending on whether they are given live, via videoconference, or via prerecorded video. In the present study, we investigated how a Finnish sample of district judges (N=47) assigned probative value to different variables concerning the statement or the statement giver, such as body language and emotional expression. We also investigated the connection between the judges’ beliefs about the relevance of body language and emotional expression and their preference for live statements or statements via videoconference. The judges reported assigning equal amounts of probative value to statements given live and statements given via videoconference. However, judges found it easier to detect deception live, and this preference correlated with how relevant they thought body language is when assessing the probative value of the statement. In other words, a slight bias to assess live statements more favorably than statements given via videoconference might still exist. More effort needs to be put into making judges and Supreme Courts aware of robust scientific results that have been the subject of decades of research, such as the fact that one cannot assess whether someone is lying or not based on cues such as body language

Search for Scalar-Charm pair production in pp collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a dedicated search for pair production of scalar partners of charm quarks are reported. The search is based on an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search is performed using events with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets, where the two leading jets are each tagged as originating from c-quarks. Events containing isolated electrons or muons are vetoed. In an R-parity-conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario in which a single scalar-charm state is kinematically accessible, and where it decays exclusively into a charm quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits are obtained in the scalar-charm-neutralino mass plane such that, for neutralino masses below 200 GeV, scalar-charm masses up to 490 GeV are excluded

Search for Higgs and Z Boson Decays to J/ψγJ/\psi\gamma and Υ(nS)γ\Upsilon(nS)\gamma with the ATLAS Detector

A search for the decays of the Higgs and Z bosons to J/ψγ and ϒ(nS)γ (n=1,2,3) is performed with pp collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 20.3 fb-1 collected at s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above expected backgrounds and 95% C.L. upper limits are placed on the branching fractions. In the J/ψγ final state the limits are 1.5×10-3 and 2.6×10-6 for the Higgs and Z boson decays, respectively, while in the ϒ(1S,2S,3S)γ final states the limits are (1.3,1.9,1.3)×10-3 and (3.4,6.5,5.4)×10-6, respectively

Measurement of differential J/ψJ/\psi production cross-sections and forward-backward ratio in p+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of differential cross-sections for $J/\psi$ production in p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV at the LHC with the ATLAS detector are presented. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 28.1 nb$^{-1}$. The $J/\psi$ mesons are reconstructed in the dimuon decay channel over the transverse momentum range $8<p_{\mathrm{T}}<30$ GeV and over the center-of-mass rapidity range $-2.87<y^{*}<1.94$. Prompt $J/\psi$ are separated from $J/\psi$ resulting from $b$-hadron decays through an analysis of the distance between the $J/\psi$ decay vertex and the event primary vertex. The differential cross-section for production of nonprompt $J/\psi$ is compared to a FONLL calculation that does not include nuclear effects. Forward-backward production ratios are presented and compared to theoretical predictions. These results constrain the kinematic dependence of nuclear modifications of charmonium and $b$-quark production in p+Pb collisions