Does the cigarette smoking influence the perinatal outcome?

Cigarette smoking, active or passive, is related to adverse perinatal outcome, and affects breastfeeding. It increases risks of spontaneous abortions, preterm delivery, low birthweight, malformations, placenta previa, abruption. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether cigarette smoking has influence to perinatal outcome. Material : newborns and their mothers admitted to Gynecology&Obstetric Clinic, Skopje, Macedonia. Methods : epidemiological, clinical, statistical. Our results showed high influence of the cigarette smoking to some indicators of perinatal outcome (prematurity, low birthweight, Apgar scores). These finding derive conclusion that cigarette smoking is the most frequent and completely preventable risk factor for the adverse neonatal outcome. Key words: newborn, cigarette smoke, outcome, prematurit

LINE-1 DNA METHYLATION AND CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS IN DOWN SYNDROME

DNA methylation is a key epigenetic mechanism that plays a significant role in regulating gene activity during cardiac development. Congenital heart defects (CHD) are one of the most common abnormalities occurring in 40% -60% of cases with Down syndrome (DS). The main aim of this study was to establish the association of long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) DNA methylation in children with DS and the presence of CHD. The LINE-1 DNA methylation was investigated in peripheral blood lymphocytes on a sample of 42 people with DS by quantification of LINE-1 methylation using the MethyLight method. No significant differences in global DNA methylation were found according to the presence of CHD (P=1.000), but values of LINE-1 DNA methylation were significantly influenced by gender (R2=19.1%; P=0.025). Significant probability of 19.1% was found in women with DS who had lower LINE-1 DNA methylation values than DS male. Gender was a statistically significant predictor of LINE-1 DNA methylation, although the difference was not statistically significant, female subjects had lower LINE-1 DNA methylation values (P=0.068). Further research will clarify the role of lower LINE-1 DNA methylation in the formation of CHD among DS females

LINE-1 DNA METHYLATION AND CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS IN DOWN SYNDROME

DNA methylation is a key epigenetic mechanism that plays a significant role in regulating gene activity during cardiac development. Congenital heart defects (CHD) are one of the most common abnormalities occurring in 40% -60% of cases with Down syndrome (DS). The main aim of this study was to establish the association of long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) DNA methylation in children with DS and the presence of CHD. The LINE-1 DNA methylation was investigated in peripheral blood lymphocytes on a sample of 42 people with DS by quantification of LINE-1 methylation using the MethyLight method. No significant differences in global DNA methylation were found according to the presence of CHD (P=1.000), but values of LINE-1 DNA methylation were significantly influenced by gender (R2=19.1%; P=0.025). Significant probability of 19.1% was found in women with DS who had lower LINE-1 DNA methylation values than DS male. Gender was a statistically significant predictor of LINE-1 DNA methylation, although the difference was not statistically significant, female subjects had lower LINE-1 DNA methylation values (P=0.068). Further research will clarify the role of lower LINE-1 DNA methylation in the formation of CHD among DS females

Inadequate antioxidant protection in preterm babies: possible cause for hyperbilirubinemia

Many illnesses in pre-term infants are thought to be related to the action of reactive oxygen species and it is conceivable that the oxidants play a certain role in the etiopathogenesis of unconjugated hy- perbilirubinemia. We hypothesized that an important factor in the mechanism of oxidative injury in hyperbilirubinemic infants on the first day of life would be increased oxidative stress in relation to antioxidants. For this aim, 43 pre-term infants as well as full-term healthy reference group (A=50) were subjected in the present study. Additionally, pre-terms were divided in: healthy pre-terms (B=25) and hyperbilirubinemic pre-terms (C=18). Perinatal variables (gestational age, birth weight and Apgar score) were recorded, and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity and selenium (Se) levels were measured in umbilical cord blood, immediately after the delivery. The obtained results indicate strikingly lower antioxidant capacity of pre-term infants; they showed significantly lower SOD and GPx activity and Se level, compared to the full-term infants (p<0,001, for all). In the hyperbilirubinemic group, GPx activity and Se levels were found to be significantly lower than those in healthy pre-terms (p<0.001, for both), while SOD showed highly increased enzyme activity (p<0.001). Alterations in enzyme activities were accompanied by a simultaneous significant increase in the bilirubin level (p<0.001). In conclusion, disequilibrium between SOD and GPx activity ratio may represent a marker of oxidative stress in cells of premature infants. Aditionally, this inadequacy of the protection, may cause erythrocyte haemolysis, resulting with hyperbilirubinaemia

Study of the normalized transverse momentum distribution of WW bosons produced in ppˉp \bar p collisions at s\sqrt {s} = 1.96 TeV

International audienceWe present a study of the normalized transverse momentum distribution of W bosons produced in pp¯ collisions, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.35  fb-1 collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider at s=1.96  TeV. The measurement focuses on the transverse momentum region below 15 GeV, which is of special interest for electroweak precision measurements; it relies on the same detector calibration methods which were used for the precision measurement of the W boson mass. The measured distribution is compared to different QCD predictions and a procedure is given to allow the comparison of any further theoretical models to the D0 data