Embarazo y nuevo coronavirus: experiencia global reportada / Pregnancy and novel coronavirus: worldwide reported experience

INTRODUCCIÓN: La Organización Mundial de La Salud ha reportado recientemente que el nuevo foco de la pandemia global de la enfermedad Covid-19 es el continente americano. OBJETIVO: Realizar una revisión de la literatura sobre la experiencia internacional de la pandemia Covid 19 y embarazo. MÉTODO: Se realiza una búsqueda de la base de datos PubMed para las palabras clave Pregnancy / Pregnant / Novel Coronavirus / SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19, desde el 1 de noviembre 2019 hasta el 21 de mayo 2020. RESULTADOS: Un total de 365 artículos fueron inicialmente seleccionados de acuerdo con la estrategia de búsqueda diseñada. El total de artículos revisados de acuerdo con los criterios fueron 42. Las series clínicas seleccionadas acumularon un total de 1098 embarazadas y enfermedad de Covid-19. Las co-morbilidades mas frecuentes fueron hipertensión arterial, diabetes mellitus, obesidad y asma. La mortalidad en relación con el total de pacientes fue de un 1,2 % y la transmisión al recién nacido de 1,7% (15 de 875). CONCLUSIÓN: La información obtenida permite inferir que la presentación clínica de la enfermedad es a lo menos equivalente a la de mujeres de la misma edad no embarazadas. Dada la severidad de la enfermedad por SARS-CoV-2 reportada, las lecciones aprendidas deben ser rápidamente asimiladas y utilizadas en el contexto de la situación nacional epidémica.

INTRODUCTION: The World Health Organization has recently reported that the new focus of the global pandemic of Covid-19 disease is the American continent. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a literature review on the international experience of the Covid 19 pandemic and pregnancy. METHOD: A PubMed database search is performed for the keywords Pregnancy / Pregnant / Novel Coronavirus / SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19, from November 1, 2019 to May 21, 2020. RESULTS: A total of 365 articles were initially selected according to the designed search strategy. The total of articles reviewed according to the criteria was 42. The selected clinical series accumulated a total of 1098 pregnant women and Covid-19 disease. The most frequent comorbidities were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and asthma. Mortality in relation to the total number of patients was 1.2% and transmission to the newborn was 1.7% (15 of 875). CONCLUSION: The information obtained allows us to infer that the clinical presentation of the disease is at least equivalent to that of non-pregnant women of the same age. Given the severity of the reported SARS-CoV-2 disease, the lessons learned must be quickly assimilated and used in the context of the national epidemic situation.

Evaluación ultrasonográfica de la función endotelial en niños y adultos chilenos / Ultrasound assessment of endothelial function in Chilean children and adults

Background: Endothelial dysfunction is an important pathogenetic mechanism in the development of atherosclerosis. Aim: To evaluate endothelial function in Chilean children and adult subjects and to provide normal values of flow mediated dilatation (FMD) in the Chilean population. Subjects and Methods: Flow mediated dilation of the brachial artery was measured by high resolution ultrasonography in healthy children (n=32) and adults (n=69) of both gender, in a group of 8 healthy women during 4 periods of pregnancy and late postpartum, and in 22 men and women with a history of stroke or coronary heart disease. Results: FMD in boys and girls was 9.9±3.6 and 10.0±4.2% respectively (NS). The figures for young women and young men were 11.3±3.8 and 8.6±3.9, respectively (p=0.02); for postmenopausal women and older men, 5.5±6.6 and 7.6±6.7 respectively (NS). During normal pregnancy and postpartum there were no significant changes in FMD. Patients with cardiovascular disease had a FMD of 0.3±5.2%, (p <0.001, with other groups). Conclusions: The present study provides values of FMD in healthy Chilean subjects of different ages, and in patients with coronary heart disease.

Parto prematuroaasociado a colestasia intrahepaica del embarazo: rol del acidoocolico en la modulacion de la via ocitocina-receptor de ot en el miometrio

Se ha reportado una asociación entre CIE y distrés fetal, muerte fetal in utero y síntomas de parto prematuro/parto prematuro. Con la hipótesis que en la CIE el aumento en los ácidos biliares, en particular ácido cólico, activa la vía ocitocina-receptor de ocitocina (OT-ROT) en el miometrio, generando un inicio prematuro del trabajo de parto, evaluamos la sensibilidad miometrial a OT in vitro e in vivo, y la expresión de mRNA en pacientes CIE y controles y la capacidad de ácido cólico para regular la activación de la vía OT-ROT. Las pacientes con CIE mostraron una alta sensibilidad a OT in vivo e in vitro comparado con controles. Al incubar segmentos/células en cultivo de miometrio con ácido se observó una marcado aumento de la sensibilidad contráctil para la OT y un aumento de la expresión celular del mRNA y los niveles de la proteína del ROT. La activación de la vía OT-ROT parece ser el resultado de un aumento de la síntesis/función de RsOT mediada por el ácido cólico. Esto resultados entregan las bases celulares/moleculares que podrían explicar la asociación entre CIE y parto prematuro.

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy is associated with preterm labor and delivery. We hypothesize that in the course of this disease, bile acids activate the oxytocin receptor pathway leading to the premature onset of labor. We evaluated in vitro and in vivo myometrial sensitivity to oxytocin and the oxytocin-receptor expression in patients with cholestasis and control. Furthermore, we evaluated the ability of cholic acid to mediate the activation of the oxytocin-receptor pathway. Patients with cholestasis of pregnancy, compared to controls, required lower doses of oxytocin to elicit 3 uterine contractions in 10 minutes (1.3 ± 0.6 vs 3.6 ± 0.8 Units; p < 0.05) and had lower in vitro ED50 (1.6 x 10_10 M vs 1.0 x 10_8 M; p < 0.05), reflecting higher oxytocin sensitivity. The long-term (24 h) incubation of myometrial strips from control patients with cholic acid (20 µM) markedly increased the sensitivity to oxytocin, but not to endothelin-1 or prostaglandin F2a. The 24 h incubation of cultured myometrial cells with cholic acid increased the expression of oxytocin-receptor at mRNA (northern blot) and protein levels (western blot and immunohistochemistry). Our results demonstrate that in the setting of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, an activation of the oxytocin-receptor pathway occurs. The activation of such pathways seems to be the result of a cholic acid mediated increase in receptor expression, which in turn could explain the increase in the preterm labor and delivery rate observed in this disease.