Label-free detection of exonuclease III activity and its inhibition based on DNA hairpin probe.

In this paper, we have developed a label-free and rapid fluorescence assay for the detection of exonuclease III (exo III) activity via thioflavin T (ThT) as the G-quadruplex inducer. In this assay, a hairpin probe (HP) with a 5'-guanine-rich (G-rich) sequence is employed as the substrate for exo III. In the presence of exo III, HP can be digested at 3'-OH termini releasing 5'-G-rich sequence. Then, the 5'-G-rich sequence folds into a G-quadruplex, which can be recognized quickly by the ThT dye resulting in an increase in fluorescence emission. This strategy can detect exo III activity as low as 0.5 U/mL. This assay is simple and of low cost without the requirement of labeling with a fluorophore-quencher pair.

The Impact of Gestational Weight Gain on the Risks of Adverse Maternal and Infant Outcomes among Normal BMI Women with High Triglyceride Levels during Early Pregnancy.

A high maternal triglyceride (mTG) level during early pregnancy is linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes, but the use of specific interventions has been met with limited success. A retrospective cohort study was designed to investigate the impact of gestational weight gain (GWG) on the relationship between high levels of mTG and adverse pregnancy outcomes in normal early pregnancy body mass index (BMI) women. The patients included 39,665 women with normal BMI who had a singleton pregnancy and underwent serum lipids screening during early pregnancy. The main outcomes were adverse pregnancy outcomes, including gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, cesarean delivery, preterm birth, and large or small size for gestational age (LGA or SGA) at birth. As a result, the high mTG (≥2.05mM) group had increased risks for gestational hypertension ((Adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 1.80; 95% CI, 1.46 to 2.24)), preeclampsia (1.70; 1.38 to 2.11), gestational diabetes (2.50; 2.26 to 2.76), cesarean delivery (1.22; 1.13 to 1.32), preterm birth (1.42, 1.21 to 1.66), and LGA (1.49, 1.33 to 1.68) compared to the low mTG group, after adjustment for potential confounding factors. Additionally, the risks of any adverse outcome were higher in each GWG subgroup among women with high mTG than those in the low mTG group. High mTG augmented risks of gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and LGA among women with 50th or greater percentile of GWG. Interestingly, among women who gained less than the 50th percentile of GWG subgroups, there was no relationship between high mTG level and risks for those pregnancy outcomes when compared to low mTG women. Therefore, weight control and staying below 50th centile of the suggested GWG according to gestational age can diminish the increased risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes caused by high mTG during early pregnancy.