HLA gene expression is altered in whole blood and placenta from women who later developed preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a multi-system disease that significantly contributes to maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. In this study, we used a non-biased microarray approach to identify dysregulated genes in maternal whole blood samples which may be associated with the development of preeclampsia. Whole blood samples were obtained at 28 weeks of gestation from 5 women who later developed preeclampsia (cases) and 10 matched women with normotensive pregnancies (controls). Placenta samples were obtained from an independent cohort of 19 women with preeclampsia matched with 19 women with normotensive pregnancies. We studied gene expression profiles using Illumina microarray in blood and validated changes in gene expression in whole blood and placenta tissue by qPCR. We found a transcriptional profile differentiating cases from controls; 236 genes were significantly dysregulated in blood from women who developed preeclampsia. Functional annotation of microarray results indicated that most of the genes found to be dysregulated were involved in inflammatory pathways. Whilst general trends were preserved, only HLA-A was validated in whole blood samples from cases using qPCR (2.30 ± 0.9 fold change) whereas in placental tissue HLA-DRB1 expression was found to be significantly increased in samples from women with preeclampsia (5.88 ± 2.24 fold change). We have identified that HLA-A is up-regulated in the circulation of women who went on to develop preeclampsia. In placenta of women with preeclampsia we identified that HLA-DRB1 is up-regulated. Our data provide further evidence for involvement of the HLA gene family in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia

Differential expression of microRNA-206 and its target genes in pre-eclampsia

Objectives: Pre-eclampsia is a multi-system disease that significantly contributes to maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. In this study, we used a non-biased microarray approach to identify novel circulating miRNAs in maternal plasma that may be associated with pre-eclampsia. Methods: Plasma samples were obtained at 16 and 28 weeks of gestation from 18 women who later developed pre-eclampsia (cases) and 18 matched women with normotensive pregnancies (controls). We studied miRNA expression profiles in plasma and subsequently confirmed miRNA and target gene expression in placenta samples. Placental samples were obtained from an independent cohort of 19 women with pre-eclampsia matched with 19 women with normotensive pregnancies. Results: From the microarray, we identified 1 miRNA that was significantly differentially expressed between cases and controls at 16 weeks of gestation and 6 miRNAs that were significantly differentially expressed at 28 weeks. Following qPCR validation only one, miR-206, was found to be significantly increased in 28 week samples in women who later developed pre-eclampsia (1.4 fold change ± 0.2). The trend for increase in miR-206 expression was mirrored within placental tissue from women with pre-eclampsia. In parallel, IGF-1, a target gene of miR-206, was also found to be down-regulated (0.41 ± 0.04) in placental tissue from women with pre-eclampsia. miR-206 expression was also detectable in myometrium tissue and trophoblast cell lines. Conclusions: Our pilot study has identified miRNA-206 as a novel factor up-regulated in pre-eclampsia within the maternal circulation and in placental tissue

Die von den HI-LO- und Aerobic-Tanz-Programmen bewirkten Veränderungen in motorischen Fähigkeiten und morphologischen Eigenschaften bei jungen Frauen

In previous studies a number of authors have already demonstrated the positive changes in certain dimensions of the anthropological status of female aerobic dancers induced by various treatments of modern aerobic dance programmes. Changes in motor space have been, however, rarely investigated. The authors have attempted in the present paper to define the potential differential training effects of the step (N = 24) and hi-lo (N = 23) aerobic dance programmes and to analyse the changes in the morphological (variables assessing voluminosity of the body and skinfold thickness) and motor (coordination, flexibility, movement frequency) measures of college-aged female participants. The entire programme consisted of a total of 25 separate aerobics training sessions (three times a week; each session of 60 min). Each session encompassed cardio-section routines, which consisted of the experimental aerobic dance programmes (35 min), strength- developing exercises (15 min) and stretching exercises (10 min). The results, obtained by means of ANOVA and discriminant analysis, suggest both programmes resulted in reduced skinfold measures and in improved measures of flexibility, coordination in rhythm and, to a lesser extent, measures of movement frequency. No differential influence of the two programmes of aerobic dance was confirmed.Uvod Programi suvremene aerobike danas su jedan od najpopularnijih oblika rekreativnog tjelesnog vježbanja. U dosadašnjim istraživanjima autori su ukazali na pozitivne promjene pojedinih dimenzija antropološkog statusa vježbaČica pod utjecajem tretmana suvremene aerobike (primjerice, Kravitz i sur., 1993). Međutim, promjene u motoričkim sposobnostima rijetko su se istraživale. Ovaj rad pokušao je ukazati na potencijalne diferencijalne učinke programa step (N = 24) i hi-lo aerobike (N = 23), ali i analizirati promjene u morfološkim (varijable za procjenu voluminoznosti i debljine kožnih nabora) i motoričkim mjerama (koordinacija, fleksibilnost, frekvencija pokreta) u sudionica programa. Metode Ukupan tretman sastojao se od 25 pojedinačnih treninga aerobike (3 puta tjedno). Svaki pojedini trening uključivao je: cardio sekciju koja je sadržavala eksperimentalne programe aerobike (35 minuta), vježbe snage (15 minuta) i vježbe istezanja (10 minuta). Za obradu rezultata korištena je diskriminacijska analiza, kojom je utvrđena značajnost razlika između skupina u motoričkom i morfološkom prostoru u inicijalnom i finalnom mjerenju. Analizom varijance utvrđene su razlike između inicijalnog i finalnog mjerenja za svaku pojedinu skupinu. Rezultati, rasprava i zaključak Diskriminacijskom nalizom nije utvrđena značajnost razlika u motoričkom prostoru u inicijalnom mjerenju (Wilks lambda = 0.45; p > 0.05) ni u finalnom mjerenju (Wilks lambda = 0.42; p > 0.05). Razlike među skupinama nisu uočene ni u morfološkom prostoru, ni u inicijalnom (Wilks lambda = 0.64; p > 0.05) ni u finalnom mjerenju (Wilks lambda = 0.76; p > 0.05). Analiza varijance ukazala je na značajne promjene u morfološkim varfijablama i to u pogledu smanjenja kožnih nabora, ali su izostale značajne promjene u mjerama opsega tjelesnih regija. Iste su promjene uočene i u eksperimentalnoj skupini koja je provodila program step aerobike, kao i u eksperimentalnoj skupini koja je provodila program hi-lo aerobike. U motoričkim su varijablama značajna poboljšanja rezultata uočena u mjerama fleksibilnosti donjih ekstremiteta (u obje grupe), ali ne i u mjerama fleksibilnosti ramenog pojasa. Te se promjene mogu pripisati učincima vježba istezanja koje su se izvodile na kraju svake trenažne jedinice. Nadalje, u mjerama frekvencije pokreta također je došlo do značajnih poboljšanje rezultata, što se vjerojatno može pripisati utjecaju smanjenja potkožnog masnog tkiva na motoričke manifestacije koje se izvode u testiranju frekvencije pokreta. U mjerama koordinacije, a naročito u mjerama koordinacije u ritmu također su uočena značajna poboljšanja rezultata koja su, prema mišljenju autora, nastala zbog interakcijskog djelovanja slijedećih faktora: ● utjecaja promjena morfološke strukture ispitanica na promjene u motorickim manifestacijama koordinacije u ritmu; ● stvarnog napretka u koordinaciji u ritmu. Naime, vrlo je vjerojatno da su promjene u navedenim motoričkim sposobnostima dijelom uvjetovane prvim, a dijelom drugim faktorom. U ovom trenutku ne može se utvrditi koliko je koji faktor doprinio utvrđenim razlikama između inicijalnog i finalnog mjerenja, tim više što je diferencijalnost utjecaja i u ovom pogledu izostala. Odgovore na ova pitanja mogla bi dati daljnja istraživanja koja bi se provela na manje selekcioniranim uzorcima ispitanica. U tom slučaju moguće je da bi veći inicijalni varijabilitet rezultata u pojedinim mjerama omogucio definiranje određenog diferencijalnog utjecaja. U tom bi slučaju bilo moguće, u određenoj mjeri, eliminirati utjecaj morfoloških promjena na promjene motoričkih sposobnosti i time objektivnije definirati promjene u motoričkom prostoru, nastale pod utjecajem različitih programa aerobike.In vielen bisherigen Forschungen wiesen die Autoren auf positive im modernen Aerobic-Training entstandenen Veränderungen einzelner Abmessungen im anthropologischen Status der Aerobic-Tänzerinnen hin, wobei die Veränderungen in motorischen Eigenschaften dagegen selten untersucht wurden. In dieser Arbeit ist man bemüht, die potentiell unterschiedlichen Auswirkungen von Step- (N=4) und HI-LO-Aerobicprogrammen (N=23) festzustellen, aber auch die Veränderungen in morphologischen Eigenschaften (Variablen zur Feststellung von Hörperumfängen und von Dicke der Hautfalten) und motorischen Fähigkeiten (Hoordination, Gelenkigkeit, Bewegungsfrequenz) bei den Programmteilnehmerinnen, die 18 – 21 Jahren alt waren, zu untersuchen. Das Gesamtprogramm bestand aus 25 Trainingseinheiten (3mal wöchentlich je 60 Minuten die Dauer). Jede Trainingseinheit schloss das Cardio-Training ein, das aus experimentalen Aerobic- Tanz-Programmen (35 Minuten), Hraftübungen (15 Minuten) und Dehnungsübungen (10 Minuten) bestand. Die mittels der Varianz- und Diskriminanzanalyse erhaltenen Resultate weisen darauf hin, dass beide Programme sowohl zur Abnahme von Maßzahlen der Hautfalten als auch zur Verbesserung in der Gelenkigkeit und Rhythmus-Hoordination führen aber die Bewegungsfrequenzen nur gering beeinflussen. Heine differenzier- baren Einflüsse zwischen den beiden Aerobic-Tanz-Programmen wurden festgestellt

The Nursing Worklife Model: Extending and Refining a New Theory

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75205/1/j.1365-2834.2007.00670.x.pd