Risk of preeclampsia in of women who underwent chorionic villus sampling

OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk of preeclampsia in women who underwent chorionic villus sampling (CVS). STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective, single-center, cohort study. All consecutive singleton gestations who underwent chorionic villus sampling from January 2014 to January 2016 were included in the study. The primary outcome was the incidence of preeclampsia. Subgroup analysis in women with beta thalassemic trait was performed. Logistic regression, presented as adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with the 95% of confidence interval (CI), was performed. RESULTS: Five hundred forty-seven women who underwent CVS, and 1532 women who did not were analyzed. Women who underwent CVS had a significantly lower risk of preeclampsia (4.4 versus 8.0%; aOR 0.53, 95%CI 0.34-0.83), and late-onset preeclampsia (3.3 versus 6.1%; aOR 0.52, 95%CI 0.31-0.87). No statistically significant differences were found in preeclampsia with severe features, early-onset preeclampsia, and preterm birth (PTB). Women who underwent CVS due to thalassemic trait had a lower incidence of preeclampsia compare to those women who did not undergo CVS (3.3 versus 8.0%; aOR 0.39, 95%CI 0.14-0.87), while no differences were found comparing women who underwent CVS due to thalassemic trait with women who underwent CVS due to other reasons. CONCLUSIONS: Women who underwent first trimester CVS had a lower risk of preeclampsia compared to those who did not

Fetal heart rate monitoring and neonatal outcome in a population of early- and late-onset intrauterine growth restriction

AIM: The early-onset intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is associated with severe placental insufficiency and Doppler abnormalities. The late-onset IUGR is associated with mild placental insufficiency and normal Doppler velocimetry. The computerized cardiotocographic (cCTG) monitoring is used to evaluate the fetal well-being in pregnancies complicated by IUGR. Our aim was to investigate the cardiotocographic characteristics of IUGR fetuses and to identify every cCTG difference between Healthy and IUGR fetuses. METHODS: Four hundred thirty pregnant women were enrolled starting from the 28th week of gestation until the time of delivery: 200 healthy and 230 IUGR fetuses. Fetal heart rate (FHR) baseline (FHR), short-term variability (STV), long-term irregularity (LTI), delta, interval index (II), approximate entropy (ApEn), high frequency (HF), low frequency (LF), movement frequency (MF), LF/(HF + MF) ratio (LF/(HF + MF)) and number of decelerations were examined. Newborn baby data were also collected. RESULTS: The parameters of short- and medium-term variability discriminate between IUGR and healthy fetuses before 36 weeks including FHR, STV, LTI and delta discriminate between each subgroup of IUGR were compared to each one of the other two (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: cCTG is a useful tool for the evaluation of chronic hypoxemia, which causes a delay in the maturation of all components of the autonomic and central nervous system. However, cCTG requires integration with fetal ultrasound and Doppler vessels evaluation to improve the ability to predict the neonatal outcome

Effects of exercise during pregnancy in women with short cervix: Secondary analysis from the Italian Pessary Trial in singletons

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate effects of exercise during pregnancy in asymptomatic singleton pregnancies without prior spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB) but with short transvaginal ultrasound cervical length (TVU CL). STUDY DESIGN: This is a secondary analysis of the Italian Pessary Trial for the Italian Preterm Birth Prevention (IPP) Working Group. In the original prospective randomized controlled trial asymptomatic singleton pregnancies without prior SPTB but with TVU CL ≤ 25 mm at 18 0/6-23 6/7 weeks were randomized into 1:1 ratio to either cervical pessary or no pessary. During their follow-up visits, women were asked about their activity. For the purpose of this secondary analysis, women were classified in the following groups, using the information obtained in the follow-up visit one month after randomization: 1) Exercise group, defined as women performing exercise ≥2 days a week for ≥20 min each day. 2) No exercise group, defined as women performing exercise <2 days a week for ≥20 min each day. The primary outcome of this secondary analysis was PTB < 37 weeks. RESULTS: 300 women were included in this analysis. 99 (33.0%) were included in the exercise group. 201 (67.0%) were included in the no exercise group. Of the 201 women in the no exercise group, 90 (44.8%) affirmed that they had reduced their activity after the diagnosis of short cervix despite the research staff recommendations, while the other 111 (55.2%) women performed a sedentary life style even before the diagnosis of short cervix. PTB < 37 weeks occurred in 22 women (22.2%) in the exercise group, and 66 women (32.8%) in the no exercise group (aOR 0.65, 95% CI 0.33-1.03). CONCLUSION: In asymptomatic singleton pregnancies with short cervix, performing exercise ≥2 days a week for ≥20 min each day does not increase the risk of PTB but is indeed associated with a non-significant reduction in PTB < 37 weeks by 32%

Comprehensive genomic resources related to domestication and crop improvement traits in Lima bean

Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.), one of the five domesticated Phaseolus bean crops, shows a wide range of ecological adaptations along its distribution range from Mexico to Argentina. These adaptations make it a promising crop for improving food security under predicted scenarios of climate change in Latin America and elsewhere. In this work, we combine long and short read sequencing technologies with a dense genetic map from a biparental population to obtain the chromosome-level genome assembly for Lima bean. Annotation of 28,326 gene models show high diversity among 1917 genes with conserved domains related to disease resistance. Structural comparison across 22,180 orthologs with common bean reveals high genome synteny and five large intrachromosomal rearrangements. Population genomic analyses show that wild Lima bean is organized into six clusters with mostly non-overlapping distributions and that Mesomerican landraces can be further subdivided into three subclusters. RNA-seq data reveal 4275 differentially expressed genes, which can be related to pod dehiscence and seed development. We expect the resources presented here to&nbsp;serve as a solid basis to achieve a comprehensive view of the degree of convergent evolution of Phaseolus species under domestication and provide tools and information for breeding for climate change resiliency

Sample-Pooling Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 Detection among Students and Staff of the University of Sannio

Since the beginning of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, it has been clear that testing large groups of the population was the key to stem infection and prevent the effects of the coronavirus disease of 2019, mostly among sensitive patients. On the other hand, time and cost-sustainability of virus detection by molecular analysis such as reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) may be a major issue if testing is extended to large communities, mainly asymptomatic large communities. In this context, sample-pooling and test grouping could offer an effective solution. Here we report the screening on 1195 oral-nasopharyngeal swabs collected from students and staff of the Università degli Studi del Sannio (University of Sannio, Benevento, Campania, Italy) and analyzed by an in-house developed multiplex RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2 detection through a simple monodimensional sample pooling strategy. Overall, 400 distinct pools were generated and, within 24 h after swab collection, five positive samples were identified. Out of them, four were confirmed by using a commercially available kit suitable for in vitro diagnostic use (IVD). High accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were also determined by comparing our results with a reference IVD assay for all deconvoluted samples. Overall, we conducted 463 analyses instead of 1195, reducing testing resources by more than 60% without lengthening diagnosis time and without significant losses in sensitivity, suggesting that our strategy was successful in recognizing positive cases in a community of asymptomatic individuals with minor requirements of reagents and time when compared to normal testing procedures

Genome-wide analysis of copy number alterations led to the characterisation of PDCD10 as oncogene in ovarian cancer

: Copy Number Alterations (CNAs) represent the most common genetic alterations identified in ovarian cancer cells, being responsible for the extensive genomic instability observed in this cancer. Here we report the identification of CNAs in a cohort of Italian patients affected by ovarian cancer performed by SNP-based array. Our analysis allowed the identification of 201 significantly altered chromosomal bands (70 copy number gains; 131 copy number losses). The 3300 genes subjected to CNA identified here were compared to those present in the TCGA dataset. The analysis allowed the identification of 11 genes with increased CN and mRNA expression (PDCD10, EBAG9, NUDCD1, ENY2, CSNK2A1, TBC1D20, ZCCHC3, STARD3, C19orf12, POP4, UQCRFS1). PDCD10 was selected for further studies because of the highest frequency of CNA. PDCD10 was found, by immunostaining of three different Tissue Micro Arrays, to be over-expressed in the majority of ovarian primary cancer samples and in metastatic lesions. Moreover, significant correlations were found in specific subsets of patients, between increased PDCD10 expression and grade (p < 0.005), nodal involvement (p < 0.05) or advanced FIGO stage (p < 0.01). Finally, manipulation of PDCD10 expression by shRNA in ovarian cancer cells (OVCAR-5 and OVCA429) demonstrated a positive role for PDCD10 in the control of cell growth and motility in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo. In conclusion, this study allowed the identification of novel genes subjected to copy number alterations in ovarian cancer. In particular, the results reported here point to a prominent role of PDCD10 as a bona fide oncogene

Impact of COVID-19 in gynecologic oncology: a Nationwide Italian Survey of the SIGO and MITO groups

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused rapid and drastic changes in cancer management. The Italian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SIGO), and the Multicenter Italian Trials in Ovarian cancer and gynecologic malignancies (MITO) promoted a national survey aiming to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on clinical activity of gynecologist oncologists and to assess the implementation of containment measures against COVID-19 diffusion. Methods: The survey consisted of a self-administered, anonymous, online questionnaire. The survey was sent via email to all the members of the SIGO, and MITO groups on April 7, 2020, and was closed on April 20, 2020. Results: Overall, 604 participants completed the questionnaire with a response-rate of 70%. The results of this survey suggest that gynecologic oncology units had set a proactive approach to COVID-19 outbreak. Triage methods were adopted in order to minimize in-hospital diffusion of COVID-19. Only 38% of gynecologic surgeons were concerned about COVID-19 outbreak. Although 73% of the participants stated that COVID-19 has not significantly modified their everyday practice, 21% declared a decrease of the use of laparoscopy in favor of open surgery (19%). However, less than 50% of surgeons adopted specific protection against COVID-19. Additionally, responders suggested to delay cancer treatment (10%-15%), and to perform less radical surgical procedures (20%-25%) during COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: National guidelines should be implemented to further promote the safety of patients and health care providers. International cooperation is of paramount importance, as heavily affected nations can serve as an example to find out ways to safely preserve clinical activity during the COVID-19 outbreak