Placental thickness as a sonographic biomarker for gestational age among singleton pregnancies

Background: The aim of the study was to exploring the application of placental thickness as a sonographic marker for determining gestational age among singleton pregnant mothers.Methods: This longitudinal, observational study was conducted in obstetrics and gynecology department and department of Radiology, Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical College and Hospital, Ariyur, Puducherry, in antenatal mothers of 11-40 weeks of gestation from 2018 to 2019. The study included 278 normal singleton pregnant women. The details regarding the socio-demographic variables, relevant clinical history and examination, laboratory investigations and ultrasound report containing gestational age, placental thickness measured at the level of cord insertion were documented in a proforma. The sonographic measurements were made using a grey scale real time ultrasound machine Siemens ACUSON x400 with a convex 2-5 mhz probe.Results: The study included 278 pregnant women with a mean age of 25.8±44 years. Majority of them were home makers (n=155, 55.7%) and educated (n=257, 92.4%) and primigravida(n=117, 57.9%).The position of the placenta in majority of the participants was posterior placed (71.6%). The mean gestational age of the studied antenatal women was 28.3±7.2 weeks as per ultrasonogram. Majority of the participants were younger aged between 20 to 30 years of age and very few teenage pregnancies. There was a significant correlation between the gestational age and placental thickness (p<0.001). There was a significant (p<0.001) correlation between placental thickness and femur length (r=0.972).Conclusions: The placental thickness showed significant positive correlation with the gestational age as measured by ultrasonogram. Hence it can be used as a parameter in determining the gestational age

Evaluation of anti-arthritic potential of Leonotis nepetifolia (L.)R.Br. against Freund’s adjuvant induced arthritis

Background: Leonotis nepetifolia (L.)R.Br. (LN) belonging to Lamiaceae family is a tall erect annual weed native to Southern India and tropical Africa used by tribals and folklore traditions in India for cough, fever, stomach ache, skin ailments, kidney diseases, rheumatism and dysmenorrhoea. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the anti-arthritic activity of the traditional dosage form( decoction) as used by the tribals in comparison to a modified dosage form(dry aqueous extract ) of whole plant of LN in experimental animal models. Materials and Methods: Thirty wistar strain albino rats were selected and randomly divided into five groups. Arthritis was induced by Freund’s complete adjuvant (FCA) and then treated with either the decoction of whole plant of LN or the dry aqueous extract for 30 days.The various parameters like paw volume, ponderal changes, serum biochemical parameters and histopathological changes were assessed. The data was analyzed by employing oneway ANOVA followed by Dunnet’s multiple‘t’ test for unpaired data to determine significant difference between groups at P&lt;0.05. Results: In the present study it was observed that dry aqueous extract form of the test drug is having weak activity against primary oedema whereas decoction form did not show any effect on primary oedema. Both forms of test drug have comparable values as standard drug on 25th day in secondary oedema. Conclusion: The findings suggest the beneficial effect of the drug against chronic inflammation and inhibition of periarthritis and osteogenic activity

Effect of silver incorporation on the structural and morphological characteristics of RF sputtered indium oxide films.

Radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtered silver incorporated indium oxide thin films were prepared and their structural and morphological properties were studied using micro- Raman spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Raman modes corresponding to the cubic bixbyite phase of indium oxide were obtained through micro-Raman spectroscopy. AFM images exhibited dense distribution of grains. Elemental analysis using EDS spectra confirmed the presence of indium, silver and oxygen in the prepared films

Genetic analysis of variation in human meiotic recombination

The number of recombination events per meiosis varies extensively among individuals. This recombination phenotype differs between female and male, and also among individuals of each gender. In this study, we used high-density SNP genotypes of over 2,300 individuals and their offspring in two datasets to characterize recombination landscape and to map the genetic variants that contribute to variation in recombination phenotypes. We found six genetic loci that are associated with recombination phenotypes. Two of these (RNF212 and an inversion on chromosome 17q21.31) were previously reported in the Icelandic population, and this is the first replication in any other population. Of the four newly identified loci (KIAA1462, PDZK1, UGCG, NUB1), results from expression studies provide support for their roles in meiosis. Each of the variants that we identified explains only a small fraction of the individual variation in recombination. Notably, we found different sequence variants associated with female and male recombination phenotypes, suggesting that they are regulated by different genes. Characterization of genetic variants that influence natural variation in meiotic recombination will lead to a better understanding of normal meiotic events as well as of non-disjunction, the primary cause of pregnancy loss. © 2009 Chowdhury et al

Association of Impulsivity and Polymorphic MicroRNA-641 Target Sites in the SNAP-25 Gene.

Impulsivity is a personality trait of high impact and is connected with several types of maladaptive behavior and psychiatric diseases, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as pathological gambling and mood disorders. Polymorphic variants of the SNAP-25 gene emerged as putative genetic components of impulsivity, as SNAP-25 protein plays an important role in the central nervous system, and its SNPs are associated with several psychiatric disorders. In this study we aimed to investigate if polymorphisms in the regulatory regions of the SNAP-25 gene are in association with normal variability of impulsivity. Genotypes and haplotypes of two polymorphisms in the promoter (rs6077690 and rs6039769) and two SNPs in the 3' UTR (rs3746544 and rs1051312) of the SNAP-25 gene were determined in a healthy Hungarian population (N = 901) using PCR-RFLP or real-time PCR in combination with sequence specific probes. Significant association was found between the T-T 3' UTR haplotype and impulsivity, whereas no association could be detected with genotypes or haplotypes of the promoter loci. According to sequence alignment, the polymorphisms in the 3' UTR of the gene alter the binding site of microRNA-641, which was analyzed by luciferase reporter system. It was observed that haplotypes altering one or two nucleotides in the binding site of the seed region of microRNA-641 significantly increased the amount of generated protein in vitro. These findings support the role of polymorphic SNAP-25 variants both at psychogenetic and molecular biological levels

MTar: a computational microRNA target prediction architecture for human transcriptome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential task in gene regulatory networks by inhibiting the expression of target mRNAs. As their mRNA targets are genes involved in important cell functions, there is a growing interest in identifying the relationship between miRNAs and their target mRNAs. So, there is now a imperative need to develop a computational method by which we can identify the target mRNAs of existing miRNAs. Here, we proposed an efficient machine learning model to unravel the relationship between miRNAs and their target mRNAs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present a novel computational architecture MTar for miRNA target prediction which reports 94.5% sensitivity and 90.5% specificity. We identified 16 positional, thermodynamic and structural parameters from the wet lab proven miRNA:mRNA pairs and MTar makes use of these parameters for miRNA target identification. It incorporates an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) verifier which is trained by wet lab proven microRNA targets. A number of hitherto unknown targets of many miRNA families were located using MTar. The method identifies all three potential miRNA targets (5' seed-only, 5' dominant, and 3' canonical) whereas the existing solutions focus on 5' complementarities alone.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MTar, an ANN based architecture for identifying functional regulatory miRNA-mRNA interaction using predicted miRNA targets. The area of target prediction has received a new momentum with the function of a thermodynamic model incorporating target accessibility. This model incorporates sixteen structural, thermodynamic and positional features of residues in miRNA: mRNA pairs were employed to select target candidates. So our novel machine learning architecture, MTar is found to be more comprehensive than the existing methods in predicting miRNA targets, especially human transcritome.</p

Genomic analyses identify recurrent MEF2D fusions in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Chromosomal rearrangements are initiating events in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Here using RNA sequencing of 560 ALL cases, we identify rearrangements between MEF2D (myocyte enhancer factor 2D) and five genes (BCL9, CSF1R, DAZAP1, HNRNPUL1 and SS18) in 22 B progenitor ALL (B-ALL) cases with a distinct gene expression profile, the most common of which is MEF2D-BCL9. Examination of an extended cohort of 1,164 B-ALL cases identified 30 cases with MEF2D rearrangements, which include an additional fusion partner, FOXJ2; thus, MEF2D-rearranged cases comprise 5.3% of cases lacking recurring alterations. MEF2D-rearranged ALL is characterized by a distinct immunophenotype, DNA copy number alterations at the rearrangement sites, older diagnosis age and poor outcome. The rearrangements result in enhanced MEF2D transcriptional activity, lymphoid transformation, activation of HDAC9 expression and sensitive to histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment. Thus, MEF2D-rearranged ALL represents a distinct form of high-risk leukaemia, for which new therapeutic approaches should be considered

Upregulation of CENP-H in tongue cancer correlates with poor prognosis and progression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Centromere protein H (CENP-H) is one of the fundamental components of the human active kinetochore. Recently, CENP-H was identified to be associated with tumorigenesis. This study was aimed to investigate the clinicopathologic significance of CENP-H in tongue cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>RT-PCR, real time RT-PCR and Western blot were used to examine the expression of CENP-H in tongue cancer cell lines and biopsies. CENP-H protein level in paraffin-embedded tongue cancer tissues were tested by immunohistochemical staining and undergone statistical analysis. CENP-H-knockdown stable cell line was established by infecting cells with a retroviral vector pSuper-retro-CENP-H-siRNA. The biological function of CENP-H was tested by MTT assay, colony formation assay, and Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation assay.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CENP-H expression was higher in tongue cancer cell lines and cancer tissues (T) than that in normal cell and adjacent noncancerous tongue tissues (N), respectively. It was overexpressed in 55.95% (94/168) of the paraffin-embedded tongue cancer tissues, and there was a strong correlation between CENP-H expression and clinical stage, as well as T classification. CENP-H can predict the prognosis of tongue cancer patients especially those in early stage. Depletion of CENP-H can inhibit the proliferation of tongue cancer cells (Tca8113) and downregulate the expression of Survivin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggested that CENP-H involves in the development and progression of tongue cancer. CENP-H might be a valuable prognostic indicator for tongue cancer patients within early stage.</p