Influence of Branching Patterns and Active Contractions of the Villous Tree on Fetal and Maternal Blood Circulations in the Human Placenta

In the human placenta, fetal blood circulates in the blood vessels of the villous tree while maternal one circulates in the intervillous space, the surroundings of the villous tree. Previously, the computational model of the villous tree, whose stem villi actively contract because of the contractile cells, has been developed. The result of the computation indicated that the displacement caused by the contraction would be helpful for the fetal and maternal circulations and can be combined with the other measurements for blood circulations in the placenta. Hypoxia in the placenta is classified into the following categories: preplacental hypoxia, uteroplacental hypoxia, and postplacental hypoxia. The number and the form of the terminal villi are altered by hypoxia. Assuming that increase in the terminal villi causes a higher shear elastic modulus of the placenta, this villous tree model is useful to estimate the influence of hypoxia on the blood circulations. In this chapter, how these three types of hypoxia influence the blood circulation in the placenta by the aforementioned computational model are discussed. While preplacental hypoxia and uteroplacental hypoxia would cause similar displacement in large regions, postplacental hypoxia would do vice versa. All the types might make the fetal and maternal blood circulations difficult

Cerebrovascular Anatomy, Neuropathology, Clinics of Stroke: Endovascular Treatment, Decompressive Craniectomy

Stroke, a disease of millions, and a financial burden for many more is still challenging health sciences, as we greatly increase our efforts to better understand stroke pathogenesis, early diagnose, prevent and treat high risk and major risk factors we still need to update our clinical and surgical skills in treating stroke event and its aftermath. Use of applied anatomical and physiological knowledge should apply the same everywhere, and based on these standard principles we should be able to predict the early course of stroke neuropathology and its potential consequences. Updated new guidelines of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r-tPA) indications should help in early intervention when correct diagnosis is promptly made, but as the list of contraindications as well has changed staff neuroscientists should consider all possible medical and or surgical options for treatment. With prompt actions to try to reinstate perfusion we should always try to do so within the first 4 h, and having a maximal additional 2 h in reserve to consider surgical therapeutic options (should the clinic/unit’s infrastructure allow it). Treatment modalities, therapeutic/endovascular and or surgical (embolectomy, bypass, decompression) are the alternatives among which we should wisely chose to treat our patients based on the best medical practice not in the skills of the individuals performing each or either procedure. It is of critical importance to know when surgery should be performed, how to calculate craniotomy size, what are the intra-, extra-cranial surgical landmarks and when should we put the bone back in cases of decompression. We should be able to correctly predict at what extent volume and intracranial pressure values will change by the size of decompressive craniectomy and its effect on the patient’s prognosis. Clinic is the best indicator for timing of surgical decompression as it is the sole determinant of any other treatment option, and what high risk and major risk factors are present (if any) at the time of diagnosis will predict the clinical outcome of the patient, but not the age (which should not be the limit)

Active Deformation in the Tunic of <em>Halocynthia roretzi</em>: How the Tissue Composed of Cellulose Responds to Stimuli and Deforms

Halocynthia roretzi, belonging to class Ascidiacea, has highly pure and crystalline cellulose Iβ, and sulfated chitin in its tunic. Cells, including hemocytes in the open circulatory system, are scattered in the tunic. The tunic, which maintains its thickness by continuous proliferation and removal, can be classified into active tissues. Recently, it has been reported that various stimuli, such as mechanical stimuli and changes in the mechanical environment, could cause active deformations of the tunic without changes in the characteristics of the tissue structure, which would be associated with influx and efflux of water. In this chapter, the system associated with active deformation, tissue structure and flux of water in the tunic is shown, with reference to the previous reports

Histological Properties of the Chorionic and Basal Plates and Maintenance of the Mechanical Environment in the Human Placenta

The human placenta is covered with the chorionic and basal plates, which face the fetal and maternal sides, respectively. Each plate shows its own characteristics in tissue structure so that these plates would have quite different mechanical properties: The mechanical environment of the placenta would be dependent on its position, a fetal side or maternal side. In the meantime, considering that the blood circulations in the placenta, the fetal blood flows in the blood vessels, which pass through the umbilical cord, chorionic plate, and villous trees, and the maternal blood flows in the blood vessels in the basal plate and intervillous space. The chorionic and basal plates would be necessary for the fetal and maternal blood circulations, respectively. In this chapter, the influence of the chorionic and basal plates on the mechanical environment of the placenta, and the fetal and maternal blood circulations, is explained

Mechanical Environment in the Human Umbilical Cord and Its Contribution to the Fetal Circulation

The fetal blood flow in two arteries and one vein of the human umbilical cord could be influenced by the conditions of the fetal growth and placenta that the evaluation of the blood flow pattern by ultrasound Doppler velocimetry is important. That is, the mechanical environment in the umbilical cord should be kept to maintain the blood flow suitable for good fetus growth. In this chapter, a human umbilical cord model for finite analysis, based on the mechanical and histological characteristics is proposed. Considering that the active force production by hyaluronan, proteoglycan, smooth muscle cells, and myofibroblasts could influence the mechanical environment in the umbilical cord, the computation with the proposed model was carried out in order to evaluate the influence. The changes in the mechanical environment caused by the active force production and their influences on the fetal blood flow through the pressure rise and drop in the arteries of the umbilical cord are introduced

Unconscious Biases Affect Women and Mothers

The purpose of this study is to sketch unconscious biases that affect women and mothers. As a result of this study, the following points become clear: (1) Unconscious biases also inform social norms and roles in women’s dress and makeup. Women accept them unconsciously. (2) The unconscious bias that “childcare is the responsibility of women” is still strong today. Therefore, mothers tend to feel guilt about their children. Mothers also hesitate to leave their children at daycare as a rest for themselves. (3) The unconscious bias that “childcareis the responsibility of women” causes various forms of maternal guilt. However, previous studies have not shown that mothers who work have a negative effect on their children’s development. These unconscious biases have been created by the social environment and culture and have an impact on the formation of our values and stereotypes. We need to think about the issues that women and mothers face by recognizing our unconscious biases.本稿は，日本発達心理学会第30回大会ラウンドテーブルで行った話題提供がもとになっている

Evaluating and utilizing weak interactions in biologically relevant systems

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-89).by Yoko Kato.Ph.D

Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Intracranial aneurysms represent the most common etiology of nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage. Management of intracranial aneurysms must be meticulous and tailor made for each patient. Various strategies in the management include main artery ligation, aneurysm neck occlusion, wrapping or coating, clipping or coiling. This article presents an overview on subarachnoid hemorrhage, patho-physiology, investigations, a management guideline and outcome in intracranial aneurysms

Clinical Factors Associated with Sperm DNA Fragmentation in Male Patients with Infertility

Objective. The clinical factors associated with sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) were investigated in male patients with infertility. Materials and Methods. Fifty-four ejaculates from infertile Japanese males were used. Thirty-three and twenty-one were from the patients with varicoceles and idiopathic causes of infertility, respectively. We performed blood tests, including the serum sex hormone levels, and conventional and computer-assisted semen analyses. The sperm nuclear vacuolization (SNV) was evaluated using a high-magnification microscope. The SDF was evaluated using the sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCDt) to determine the SDF index (SDFI). The SDFI was compared with semen parameters and other clinical variables, including lifestyle factors. Results. The SDFI was 41.3 ± 22.2% (mean ± standard deviation) and did not depend on the cause of infertility. Chronic alcohol use increased the SDFI to 49.6 ± 23.3% compared with 33.9 ± 18.0% in nondrinkers. The SDFI was related to adverse conventional semen parameters and sperm motion characteristics and correlated with the serum FSH level. The SNV showed a tendency to increase with the SDFI. The multivariate analysis revealed that the sperm progressive motility and chronic alcohol use were significant predictors of the SDF. Conclusion. The SCDt should be offered to chronic alcohol users and those with decreased sperm progressive motility