Can routine commercial cord blood banking be scientifically and ethically justified?

4 pages.Debates the issue of whether or not cord blood should be saved on a regular basis

Amniotic pressure in disorders of amniotic fluid volume

Amniotic pressure (AP) has been assumed to be raised in both oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios, but has not previously been measured. The aims of this thesis were (i) to characterize AP in human pregnancies with normal amniotic fluid volume (ii) to compare with this AP in pregnancies with abnormal amniotic fluid volume and (iii) to investigate the relationship of abnormal AP with the complications of disorders of amniotic fluid volume. AP was measured during invasive procedures by a fluid manometry system attached to a needle positioned within the amniotic cavity. In pregnancies with normal amniotic fluid volume, AP increased with advancing gestation, but was not related to amniotic fluid volume. In comparison, AP was significantly higher in pregnancies with polyhydramnios and lower in those with oligohydramnios, the degree of abnormality in AP correlating with the severity of derangement in amniotic fluid volume; furthermore, AP returned towards normal with drainage and infusion of fluid respectively. In polyhydramnios, amniotic pressure was negatively correlated with fetal pO2 and pH, suggesting that raised AP may impair uteroplacental perfusion. In pregnant sheep however, fetal acid/base status was unaltered when AP was acutely elevated by amnioinfusion. In human pregnancies complicated by severe oligohydramnios, restoration of amniotic fluid volume did not alter the incidence of fetal breathing movements or Doppler indices of umbilical artery downstream resistance; together with the finding of low AP, these results challenge the concept of fetal compression in oligohydramnios that has become widely accepted in the literature. In order to determine whether lung hypoplasia in oligohydramnios is caused by low amniotic pressure disturbing the tracheal-amniotic pressure gradient, fetal sheep were subjected to chronic pharyngeal drainage at subamniotic pressures, but this had no effect on lung development. That tracheal drainage affects lung development was confirmed, but no evidence for this effect being via a reduction in fetal breathing could be obtained. It is concluded that amniotic pressure is elevated in polyhydramnios and reduced in oligohydramnios

Boundary Spanning Competencies and Information System Development Project Success

Information System Development (ISD) relies on cross-functional teams with distinct cultures and nonoverlapping knowledge. Developing a shared understanding of the business needs and associated IS solutions by drawing upon these disparate knowledge sets is critical for project success. We adopt a “practice” view of system development, which emphasizes the relevance of knowledge boundaries between different communities in a system development process. We extend this perspective by testing the impact of different forms of boundary-spanning competencies and practices on ISD success. By analyzing 136 ISD projects in a global US automotive OEM, we show that the presence of boundary spanning roles, acculturative processes, and cross-domain knowledge and experience acquisition are significant factors positively affecting IS development success. We also demonstrate that facilitative boundary spanning roles - ambassador, coordinator, and scout - moderate the relationship between accumulated IS business domain knowledge and ISD success and that IS business competence is determined by acculturation among IS teams, and the technical competence of the IS team. This suggests that IS teams with low levels of business domain knowledge may be able to mitigate this deficit by exhibiting boundary spanning behaviors to enhance the flow of information across the knowledge boundaries

Time domain computational modelling of 1D arterial networks in monochorionic placentas

Published versio

Update of the keratin gene family: evolution, tissue-specific expression patterns, and relevance to clinical disorders.

Intermediate filament (IntFil) genes arose during early metazoan evolution, to provide mechanical support for plasma membranes contacting/interacting with other cells and the extracellular matrix. Keratin genes comprise the largest subset of IntFil genes. Whereas the first keratin gene appeared in sponge, and three genes in arthropods, more rapid increases in keratin genes occurred in lungfish and amphibian genomes, concomitant with land animal-sea animal divergence (~ 440 to 410 million years ago). Human, mouse and zebrafish genomes contain 18, 17 and 24 non-keratin IntFil genes, respectively. Human has 27 of 28 type I "acidic" keratin genes clustered at chromosome (Chr) 17q21.2, and all 26 type II "basic" keratin genes clustered at Chr 12q13.13. Mouse has 27 of 28 type I keratin genes clustered on Chr 11, and all 26 type II clustered on Chr 15. Zebrafish has 18 type I keratin genes scattered on five chromosomes, and 3 type II keratin genes on two chromosomes. Types I and II keratin clusters-reflecting evolutionary blooms of keratin genes along one chromosomal segment-are found in all land animal genomes examined, but not fishes; such rapid gene expansions likely reflect sudden requirements for many novel paralogous proteins having divergent functions to enhance species survival following sea-to-land transition. Using data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, tissue-specific keratin expression throughout the human body was reconstructed. Clustering of gene expression patterns revealed similarities in tissue-specific expression patterns for previously described "keratin pairs" (i.e., KRT1/KRT10, KRT8/KRT18, KRT5/KRT14, KRT6/KRT16 and KRT6/KRT17 proteins). The ClinVar database currently lists 26 human disease-causing variants within the various domains of keratin proteins

New Medicines for Tropical Diseases in Pregnancy: Catch-22

Nicholas White and colleagues discuss why it is so important to conduct clinical trials of malaria treatments in pregnancy

Assessing the functional significance of ecstasy-related memory deficits using a virtual paradigm

Rationale/Objectives: Previous research shows that the use of ecstasy results in working memory and executive impairments in some users. The present study sought to assess the functional significance of such deficits using a virtual reality task. Methods: Twenty-three ecstasy-polydrug users and 26 nonusers were recruited. Individuals completed a drug use questionnaire measures of sleep quality and fluid intelligence. Participants also completed a virtual reality executive function task in which they play the role of an office worker for the day completing predefined tasks such as prioritising different activities according to their importance, organising the physical office environment and managing the outgoing mail in accordance with a delivery schedule. Results: MANOVA revealed that ecstasy users performed worse on the virtual reality task overall, and this was due to poorer performance on the planning and selection subscales. Contrary to expectations, ecstasy-polydrug users performed better on the time-based prospective memory subscale. Indices of ecstasy use were correlated with the planning subscale of the virtual task. Conclusions: The present study provides further support for ecstasy/polydrug related deficits in executive functioning. As it is possible that this task is more ecologically valid and relevant to day-to-day activities of many users, previous research finding null results on executive function tasks may have underestimated the impact of ecstasy-polydrug use on executive functioning

Tetrahymena Genome Database (TGD): a new genomic resource for Tetrahymena thermophila research

We have developed a web-based resource (available at ) for researchers studying the model ciliate organism Tetrahymena thermophila. Employing the underlying database structure and programming of the Saccharomyces Genome Database, the Tetrahymena Genome Database (TGD) integrates the wealth of knowledge generated by the Tetrahymena research community about genome structure, genes and gene products with the newly sequenced macronuclear genome determined by The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). TGD provides information curated from the literature about each published gene, including a standardized gene name, a link to the genomic locus in our graphical genome browser, gene product annotations utilizing the Gene Ontology, links to published literature about the gene and more. TGD also displays automatic annotations generated for the gene models predicted by TIGR. A variety of tools are available at TGD for searching the Tetrahymena genome, its literature and information about members of the research community

Labor-associated gene expression in the human uterine fundus, lower segment, and cervix

Background Preterm labor, failure to progress, and postpartum hemorrhage are the common causes of maternal and neonatal mortality or morbidity. All result from defects in the complex mechanisms controlling labor, which coordinate changes in the uterine fundus, lower segment, and cervix. We aimed to assess labor-associated gene expression profiles in these functionally distinct areas of the human uterus by using microarrays. Methods and Findings Samples of uterine fundus, lower segment, and cervix were obtained from patients at term (mean +/- 6 SD = 39.1 +/- 0.5 wk) prior to the onset of labor (n = 6), or in active phase of labor with spontaneous onset (n = 7). Expression of 12,626 genes was evaluated using microarrays ( Human Genome U95A; Affymetrix) and compared between labor and non-labor samples. Genes with the largest labor-associated change and the lowest variability in expression are likely to be fundamental for parturition, so gene expression was ranked accordingly. From 500 genes with the highest rank we identified genes with similar expression profiles using two independent clustering techniques. Sets of genes with a probability of chance grouping by both techniques less than 0.01 represented 71.2%, 81.8%, and 79.8% of the 500 genes in the fundus, lower segment, and cervix, respectively. We identified 14, 14, and 12 those sets of genes in the fundus, lower segment, and cervix, respectively. This enabled networks of coregulated and co-expressed genes to be discovered. Many genes within the same cluster shared similar functions or had functions pertinent to the process of labor. Conclusions Our results provide support for many of the established processes of parturition and also describe novel-to-labor genes not previously associated with this process. The elucidation of these mechanisms likely to be fundamental for controlling labor is an important prerequisite to the development of effective treatments for major obstetric problems - including prematurity, with its long-term consequences to the health of mother and offspring