First-trimester fetal neurosonography: technique and diagnostic potential

Most of the brain abnormalities are present in fact also at first trimester but only a few of these are detected at such early stage. According to the current recommendations for the first trimester ultrasound, the fetal head structures that should be visualized are limited to the cranial bones, the midline falx and the choroid-plexus-filled ventricles. Using this basic approach almost all cases of acrania, alobar holoprosencephaly and cephalocele are usually detected, however the majority of the other abnormalities of the fetal central nervous system remain undiagnosed until midtrimester. Such anomalies are potentially detectable if the sonographic study is extended to additional anatomic details which are not currently included in the existing guidelines. The aim of this review article is to describe how to assess the normal fetal brain at first trimester expert multiplanar neurosonography and to demonstrate the early sonographic findings which characterize some major fetal brain abnormalities. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Sars-CoV-2 in pregnancy: Why is it better than expected?

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus disease in December 2019, information specific to pregnancy remains limited and controversial. Based on data from previous reports, it has been noticed that contrary to prior pandemics such as SARS, MERS and H1N1 and although pregnancy is usually considered as a condition of high susceptibility to viral infections, new SARS-CoV2 infection seems to have a more benign clinical course when affecting pregnant women. We speculate that during pregnancy the physiological “silencing” of the Th1 pro-inflammatory response may blunt the cytokines storm which is thought to play a key-role in the pathogenesis of the severe complications of Covid-19

Analysis and interpretation of the impact of missense variants in cancer

Large scale genome sequencing allowed the identification of a massive number of genetic variations, whose impact on human health is still unknown. In this review we analyze, by an in silico-based strategy, the impact of missense variants on cancer-related genes, whose effect on protein stability and function was experimentally determined. We collected a set of 164 variants from 11 proteins to analyze the impact of missense mutations at structural and functional levels, and to assess the performance of state-of-the-art methods (FoldX and Meta-SNP) for predicting protein stability change and pathogenicity. The result of our analysis shows that a combination of experimental data on protein stability and in silico pathogenicity predictions allowed the identification of a subset of variants with a high probability of having a deleterious phenotypic effect, as confirmed by the significant enrichment of the subset in variants annotated in the COSMIC database as putative cancer-driving variants. Our analysis suggests that the integration of experimental and computational approaches may contribute to evaluate the risk for complex disorders and develop more effective treatment strategie

VP55.05: Impact of ultrasound‐guided training in the diagnosis of the fetal occiput position during labour: prospective observational study recruitment

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VP24.05: First trimester evaluation of the fetal aqueduct of Sylvius by 3D ultrasound

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Intrinsically conductive polymers for striated cardiac muscle repair

One of the most important features of striated cardiac muscle is the excitability that turns on the excitation-contraction coupling cycle, resulting in the heart blood pumping function. The function of the heart pump may be impaired by events such as myocardial infarction, the consequence of coronary artery thrombosis due to blood clots or plaques. This results in the death of billions of cardiomyocytes, the formation of scar tissue, and consequently impaired contractility. A whole heart transplant remains the gold standard so far and the current pharmacological approaches tend to stop further myocardium deterioration, but this is not a long-term solution. Electrically conductive, scaffold-based cardiac tissue engineering provides a promising solution to repair the injured myocardium. The non-conductive component of the scaffold provides a biocompatible microenvironment to the cultured cells while the conductive component improves intercellular coupling as well as electrical signal propagation through the scar tissue when implanted at the infarcted site. The in vivo electrical coupling of the cells leads to a better regeneration of the infarcted myocardium, reducing arrhythmias, QRS/QT intervals, and scar size and promoting cardiac cell maturation. This review presents the emerging applications of intrinsically conductive polymers in cardiac tissue engineering to repair post-ischemic myocardial insult

Morfología y estructura de la megaspora Lagenoisporites magnus (Chi y Hills) Candilier et al. 1982 del Carbonífero inferior de Bolivia

Se estudió la morfología y estructura de megasporas asignadas a Lagenoisporites magnus provenientes de la Formación Toregua, Grupo Retama, Tournaisiano medio-tardío de Bolivia. El análisis se realizó con microscopía óptica, fluorescencia y electrónica de barrido. Las megasporas examinadas, en su mayoría comprimidas lateralmente, presentan un cuerpo esferoidal con una gula proximal del tipo hologula. La longitud, incluyendo a la gula, es de 290-510 μm y el ancho de 184-390 μm según el eje ecuatorial.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Morfología y estructura de la megaspora Lagenoisporites magnus (Chi y Hills) Candilier et al. 1982 del Carbonífero inferior de Bolivia

Se estudió la morfología y estructura de megasporas asignadas a Lagenoisporites magnus provenientes de la Formación Toregua, Grupo Retama, Tournaisiano medio-tardío de Bolivia. El análisis se realizó con microscopía óptica, fluorescencia y electrónica de barrido. Las megasporas examinadas, en su mayoría comprimidas lateralmente, presentan un cuerpo esferoidal con una gula proximal del tipo hologula. La longitud, incluyendo a la gula, es de 290-510 μm y el ancho de 184-390 μm según el eje ecuatorial.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

STAN: a reappraisal of its clinical usefulness

The automatic analysis of fetal ECG in labor has been introduced as an adjunct of traditional cardiotocography with the aim to improve the identification of fetuses with intrapartum hypoxia. Several randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses have produced conflicting results, with the most recent randomized controlled trial not demonstrating any improvement in either neonatal outcomes or reduction in operative birth rates. The objective of this review article is to present the state of art about the use of STAN technology in labor ward

VP18.18: Prenatal detection and outcome of coronary artery fistulas: a case series and a systematic review of literature

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