[THE CONTENT OF SOME ESSENTIAL MICRONUTRIENTS IN INFANTS WITH LOW BIRTH WEIGHT WITH INTRAUTERINE HERPES INFECTION].

UNLABELLED: To study the comparative aspect of the content of certain essential trace elements in the blood serum of infants with low birth weight, identify the clinical signs of deficiency. The study involved 127 infants, of which 69 constituted the main group and 58 infants constituted the comparison group. All newborns were identified haematological and biochemical blood tests, some Essential micronutrients (copper, selenium, zinc). Laboratory diagnosis of microelement composition of blood was determined by mass spectrometry with inductively coupled argon plasma (ICP-MS). The analysis of some essential trace elements was diagnosed copper and selenium deficiency in all newborns. Mean while neonatal treatment group indicators selenium, copper are lower, than similar nutrients infants in the control group. The zinc content in both groups mostly within the normal parameters. Thus, the level of essential micronutrients (copper, selenium) in the blood serum of newborn infants in the study group and the control group was below the reference value, indicating that insufficient intake data trace in the fetus located in the mother's womb. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. In the diagnosis of various diseases in newborns with low birth weight should take into account the level of serum essential micronutrients (copper, selenium). 2. In the appointment of the underlying disease treatment in these infants need to be borne in mind also correct micronutrient deficiencies.

Lack of association between folate receptor autoantibodies and conotruncal congenital heart defects.

Conotruncal cardiac defects are partially prevented by maternal folic acid supplementation. However, the biochemical mechanism is unknown. Maternal autoantibodies to folate receptors, previously associated with increased risk for neural tube defects, also may account for this effect. This study aimed to examine the titers of folate receptor-blocking autoantibodies in mothers of children with conotruncal congenital heart defects and to compare them with those in the general population. Serum samples were obtained from 22 women whose pregnancies were complicated by conotruncal congenital heart malformations. Groups of samples were analyzed for autoantibodies against [(3)H] folic acid-labeled folate receptors, quantitative amounts of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM autoantibodies to the folate receptor, and for ability to block-bind folic acid to receptors. No elevated levels of antibodies binding to [(3)H] folic acid-labeled folate receptors were found. No difference was found in antifolate receptor alpha-IgG or IgM median levels between cases (261 vs. 240 µg/mL) and control subjects (773 vs. 924 µg/mL). There was no increased blocking of folic acid binding between cases [0.69 ng/mL; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.006-0.01] and control subjects (0.69 ng/mL; 95 % CI, 0.003-0.013). Although epidemiologic evidence suggests that periconceptual folic acid may prevent many conotruncal congenital heart defects, the current study suggests that this effect is unlikely to be explained by the presence of maternal autoantibodies to folate receptor. These data suggest that a strategy of screening women for such autoantibodies will not identify a high-risk group of women to target for supplemental folic acid to prevent congenital heart defects.

Fetal intraperitoneal injection of immunoglobulin diminishes alloimmune hemolysis.

We report a case of severe fetal anemia associated with maternal anti-M antibody that was treated by direct injection of pooled human immunoglobulin into the fetal abdominal cavity. Four treatments at a dosage of 2 g per-kg estimated fetal body weight were performed, and no side effects were observed. A healthy baby girl was delivered transvaginally at 38 weeks, with neither exchange transfusion nor phototherapy required. Follow-up over 12 months found no indications of anemia or developmental delay in the child. This is believed to be the first report of fetal anemia in a blood-type-incompatible pregnancy being treated successfully with only direct immunoglobulin injection into the fetus. The immunoglobulin may have functioned as a neutralizing antibody causing the anemia to improve.

Effect of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccination of the dam on PCV2 replication in utero.

The aims of this study were to determine if porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccination of the dam is effective in preventing fetal PCV2 infection and reproductive failure. Twelve pregnant, PCV2-naïve sows were randomly divided into four groups, with three sows in each group. Group 1 sows served as noninoculated, nonvaccinated negative controls, group 2 sows were vaccinated with a commercially available PCV2 vaccine at 28 days of gestation and were not inoculated, group 3 sows were vaccinated at 28 days of gestation and inoculated with PCV2b at 56 days of gestation, and group 4 sows were inoculated with PCV2b but were not vaccinated. Serum samples from all sows were collected weekly throughout the gestation period, and sows were allowed to farrow naturally. At parturition, sow colostrum samples, presuckle serum samples, and tissues from the piglets were collected. Reproductive failure was not observed under the study conditions. PCV2 vaccination induced PCV2-specific immunoglobulin G and serum neutralizing antibodies in sows from groups 2 and 3 and prevented detectable PCV2 viremia in the dams after challenge. In group 3, PCV2 DNA was detected in colostrum samples, fetuses, and live-born pigs; however, microscopic lesions and PCV2-specific antigen were not present in any of the fetuses in this group. The results from this study indicate that vertical transmission of PCV2 can occur in PCV2-vaccinated dams.

Antibody repertoire development in fetal and neonatal piglets. IV. Switch recombination, primarily in fetal thymus, occurs independent of environmental antigen and is only weakly associated with repertoire diversification.

The epitheliochorial placenta of swine is considered a barrier to Ag and selective transport of IgG, so this species should be an excellent model with which to determine whether switch recombination is Ag dependent. Analysis of Ig levels and Ig isotype profiles in >150 normal and virus-infected fetuses from 38-110 days of gestation (DG) suggested that IgG, IgA, and IgM were most likely the result of de novo fetal synthesis. Although transcripts for IgM could be recovered at DG 50 (114 DG is full gestation) in all major fetal lymphoid tissues, those for IgG and IgA first became prominent at 60 DG in thymus, and transcription and spontaneous secretion became especially pronounced in this organ in older fetuses. Data on transcription, secretion, and serum isotype profiles suggest that although all fetal IgA and IgM may result from de novo synthesis, some IgG may result from low-level selective transport. The complementarity-determining region 3 spectratypes of thymic IgA and IgG transcripts at 70 and 90 days, respectively, were as polyclonal as that of IgM, indicating a broad repertoire of switched B cells although the VDJs transcribed with these switched isotypes in normal fetuses were not diversified in comparison to those from animals exposed to environmental Ags such as age-matched, virus-infected fetuses, colonized isolator piglets, and conventional adults. However, VDJs expressed with switched isotypes were more diversified than those expressed with IgM. Thus, switch recombination in fetal life does not appear to be driven by environmental Ag and is only weakly coupled to VDJ diversification. These findings, and the fact that the oligoclonal IgA and IgM repertoires in a noninductive site of the mucosal immune system (parotid gland) become polyclonal in piglets reared germfree, suggest that initial expansion of the switched cells in the B cell compartment of fetal and neonatal piglets is not driven by environmental Ag.

Outcome of alloimmunized fetuses managed solely by cordocentesis but not requiring antenatal transfusion.

A published algorithm for the frequency of fetal blood sampling in the management of fetal hemolytic disease allows many pregnancies to continue 1-3 months after the last sample until delivery at term. Though the positive predictive value for antenatal anemia is known, the likelihood of either neonatal hyperbilirubinemia or an unexpected anemia (< 30%) is not. The perinatal records of 51 antigen-positive neonates who did not require treatment antenatally were abstracted. As fetuses, these neonates had been prospectively coded as either low risk (pattern 1), moderate risk (pattern 2) or high risk (patterns 3 and 4) for antenatal anemia (hematocrit < 30%) based on their hematocrit, reticulocyte count, and the strength of the direct Coombs' test performed on their first sample. Delivery occurred at 38 +/- 2 weeks. Neonatal complications of hemolytic disease were common. Sixty-four percent required phototherapy, 17% one or more double-volume exchange transfusions, and 13% one or more simple transfusions for late-developing anemia. In all, 29% of neonates received postnatal transfusion therapy. The only correlation between the antenatal hematologic/serologic studies and the need for postnatal transfusion therapy was the strength of the indirect Coombs' test performed on the first fetal blood sample. Two neonates unexpectedly had anemia (4% risk). In the first, the hematocrit at 35 weeks was 40% and the ultrasound 1 week later normal. In one, the algorithm had been erroneously applied. Stability of the hematocrit in fetuses at risk to develop antenatal anemia can be accurately predicted by fetal blood tests performed weeks prior to delivery.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[The use of T-activin for the prevention of congenital influenzal infection in mice and the correction of the immune deficiency]. / Ispol'zovanie T-aktivina dlia profilaktiki vrozhdennoi grippoznoi infektsii u myshei i korrektsii immunodefitsita.

Viremia accompanying influenza infection and the possibility of transplacental passage of the virus into the fetus make it expedient to develop measures for the prophylaxis of intrauterine infection of the fetus in case of influenza during pregnancy. The work presents the optimum scheme of administration of T-activin for prophylactic purposes to pregnant mice with acute influenza infection. Besides, the use of T-activin for immunocorrection in case of established congenital influenza infection in mice is proposed.

Porcine parvovirus: frequency of naturally occurring transplacental infection and viral contamination of fetal porcine kidney cell cultures.

The frequency of naturally occurring transplacental infection of swine with porcine parvovirus (PPV) and one of the possible consequences of such infection--the presence of PPV in cell cultures prepared from fetal tissues--were investigated. Transplacental infection was indicated by the presence of high titers of hemagglutination inhibiting (HI) antibody for PPV in serums of 0-day-old, hysterectomy-derived, colostrum-deprived pigs of 3 of 82 litters. All letters were farm-raised dams. Moreover, cell cultures prepared from 3 of 49 lots of fetal porcine kidneys (FPK) collected from an abattoir during an interval of 14 months were found contaminated with PPV. Because each lot was usually comprised of kidneys from 2 litters, the latter finding suggests that 3 of approximately 98 litters were infected. Prior infection of FPK cell cultures with PPV resulted in only slight interference of replication of other selected viruses; i.e., porcine enterovirus (PEV), pseudorabies virus (PRV), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), and hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (HEV). Moreover, PPV and HEV were propagated in the same cell cultures during 5 serial passages of the viruses. In contrast, when copropagation of PPV and VSV was attempted, PPV was not detected after the 2nd serial passage.