Association between abnormal uterine artery pulsatility index and the risk of fetal congenital heart defects: a hospital-based cohort study.

To explore the associations between high uterine artery pulsatility index (UtA-PI) values and congenital heart disease (CHD) risk and whether they differed between singleton and multiple pregnancies. This hospital-based cohort study involving 52,047 pregnant women who underwent prenatal examinations from 2012 to 2016. Infants born to the included pregnant women were followed until 42 days after birth to identify those with CHDs. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate the associations of high right UtA-PI (> 95th percentile) values with maternal preeclampsia and fetal CHDs. Logistic regression analyses were conducted using path analysis models to quantify the effect of high right UtA-PI values on fetal CHD risk. A total of 42,552 women and 43,470 infants (147 with CHDs) were included. Preeclampsia risk was associated with a high right UtA-PI in singleton-pregnant women (adjusted PR, 3.01; 95% CI 2.57-3.52). CHD risk was marginally associated with a high right UtA-PI in singleton-pregnant women (adjusted PR, 2.26, 95% CI 1.03-4.95). Considering only two factors, 96.0% of the fetal CHD risk was mediated by preeclampsia in singleton-pregnant women, while 93.8% of the risk was related to a high right UtA-PI in multiple-pregnant women. A high right UtA-PI was marginally associated with an increased fetal CHD risk in singleton-pregnant women and might play an important role in multiple-pregnant women. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings given the high loss to follow-up rate.

Roles of NAD in Protection of Axon against Degeneration via SIRT1 Pathways.

Axonal degeneration is a common pathological change of neurogenical disease which often arises before the neuron death. But it had not found any effective method to protect axon from degeneration. In this study we intended to confirm the protective effect of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), investigate the optimal administration dosage and time of NAD, and identify the relationship between silence signal regulating factor 1 (SIRT1) and axonal degeneration. An axonal degeneration model was established using dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons injured by vincristine to observe the protective effects of NAD to the injured axons. In addition, the potential contribution of the SIRT1 in axonal degeneration was also investigated. Through the 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, immunochemistry staining, axons counting and length measuring, transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation, we demonstrated that NAD played an important role in preventing axonal degeneration. Further study revealed that the expression of SIRT1 and phosphorylated Akt1 (p-Akt1) was up-regulated when NAD was added into the culturing medium. Taking together, our results demonstrated that NAD might delay the axonal degeneration through SIRT1/Akt1 pathways.

TNF-α increases bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell migration to ischemic tissues.

The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of TNF-α on rat mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and to assess feasibility of MSC transplantation to repair ischemic injury. In this study, adhesion molecules and cell specific surface markers on MSCs were measured after exposure to different concentrations of TNF-α. MSCs stimulated with varying concentrations of TNF-α were cultured with aortic endothelial cells, and the adhesion rate was measured. MSCs were then stimulated with an optimum concentration of TNF-α as determined in vitro, and injected intravenously into rats with ischemic hind limb injury. The number of MSCs in muscle samples from the ischemic area was counted. The results showed that (1) TNF-α induced a concentration-dependent increase in VCAM-1 expression in MSCs, whereas the expression of L-selectin, ICAM-1 and VLA-4 did not change significantly. Expression of MSC-specific antigens was unchanged. (2) MSCs pretreated with 10 ng/ml TNF-α showed significantly increased adhesion to endothelial cells in vitro, and accumulated to a greater extent in the areas of ischemic damage in rat hind limbs. We were able to conclude that TNF-α has no effect on expression of MSC-specific markers, but can increase the expression of VCAM-1 on rat MSCs. Suitable concentrations of TNF-α can promote MSC adhesion to endothelial cells and migration to damaged tissue.