G. Coata

Erythrocyte membrane composition in pregnancy-induced hypertension : evidence for an altered lipid profile

Objective To investigate whether the increased membrane fluidity postulated as a possible contributing factor to the hypertensive states of pregnancy is related to the lipid composition of the erythrocyte membrane.

Management of postmenopausal osteoporosis

More than 25% of postmenopausal women are at risk of osteoporosis. In order to avoid its consequences, it is necessary to find an appropriate prevention and/or treatment. We studied: (1) 15 postmenopausal women treated with percutaneous estradiol (50 micrograms/24 h) plus MPA (10 mg/10 days/month); (2) 15 postmenopausal women treated with synthetic calcitonin nasal spray at the daily dose of 100 IU; (3) 10 postmenopausal women treated with nandrolone decanoate (50 mg every 3 weeks); (4) 10 postmenopausal women treated with ipriflavone (600 mg/day); and (5) 10 postmenopausal women treated with sodium fluoride (20 mg) plus calcium (600 mg). Clinical examination, bone mass measurement (total BMD), hematochemical and urinary parameters of bone metabolism (calcium, urinary hydroxyproline, PTH) and growth factors (as IGF-I and TNF-beta) were evaluated. After 6 months of therapy, a complete prevention of bone resorption was achieved. In agreement with current literature, we observed that the various therapeutic approaches have all some positive effect on BMD, with different results on pain, blood biochemical parameters and growth factors concentrations.

Caspase 3 activation and PARP cleavage in lymphocytes from newborn babies of diabetic mothers with unbalanced glycaemic control.

Several epidemiological studies showed that gestational diabetes mellitus is the most frequent metabolic disorder of pregnancy, the pathogenesis of which has yet to be completely clarified.

Diagnostic accuracy of non‐invasive prenatal sex determination: a large‐scale study

Non-invasive prenatal determination of fetal sex offers a promising alternative to invasive diagnosis of X-linked diseases and fetal disorders of ambiguous genitalia (1–4). Using free-fetal DNA (ffDNA) from maternal plasma (5) and different detection systems for Y chromosome (6–9), researchers achieved high diagnostic accuracy in fetal sex prediction during the first trimester of pregnancy without excluding variable percentage of false positives (FP) and false negatives (FN) (10, 11). We previously showed higher performance of DYS14 than SRY detection system without reaching an optimal diagnostic accuracy because of the low percentage of FN and FP (12). The aim of this study was to enhance the performance of our DYS14 detection system by introducing new key elements, increasing the volume of maternal plasma for DNA extraction and employing innovative interpretation criteria of results. Finally, we audited the overall diagnostic accuracy on a large-scale study to verify whether the new protocol ensured the correct fetal sex determination. We analyzed, in two different phases, plasma samples from 513 women at 10–15 weeks of gestation. During the first non-blinded phase, we established the best threshold value (TV) to discriminate male and female fetuses and, in the second blinded phase, we applied it to assess its diagnostic performance. Fetal sex was verified with the analysis of karyotype or confirmed with phenotype at birth. The study was approved by our Regional Ethical Committee. Genomic DNA was extracted from maternal plasma (500 μl in the first and 1000 μl in the second phase) using QIAmp DSP Virus kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 7300 detection system (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) using DYS14 detection system to measure the quantity of ffDNA (three replicates for each maternal sample) and telomerase reverse transcriptase detection system as a quality control. Real-time PCR [quantitative PCR (qPCR)] reaction was set up as previously described (12). Results were expressed as median values with range for a descriptive statistics and analyzed by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calculated by spss software 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL), to set the TV, in terms of ffDNA concentration and number of DYS14positive replicates. Karyotype or phenotype at birth revealed that among the 115 pregnant women analyzed in the first phase of study, 55 delivered one daughter and 60 one son. By evaluation of qPCR results (Table 1), we set our first TV by analysis of ROC curve calculated using the number of DYS14-positive replicates (data not shown). However, the TV was not satisfactory, except for samples with 0, 1 or 2 DYS14-positive replicates that were clearly identified as female fetus. Only one sample from a male pregnancy had 0 DYS14-positive replicates. The critical point was the interpretation of those results with three DYS14-positive replicates, as they occurred in either female or male pregnancies. Two samples from female pregnancy gave three positive replicates but with a very low ffDNA concentration, whereas all the samples from male pregnancy gave three DYS14-positive replicates with elevated ffDNA concentration (Table 1). Therefore, we built a new ROC curve combining ffDNA concentration and the number of DYS14positive replicates and selecting only those samples with three DYS14-positive replicates (2 from female and 59 from male pregnancies). We individuated the best ffDNA concentration value as 1.42 GE/ml as it allowed us to reach a 100.00% diagnostic sensitivity [95% (confidence interval) CI: 93.9–100.0] and 100.00% diagnostic specificity (95% CI: 19.3–100.0) (Fig. 1). In the second phase of study, karyotype or phenotype at birth revealed that 208 delivered a son and 190 a daughter.

Maternal haemodynamic and haemorrheologic considerations in fetal I.U.G.R.

IUGR is a symptom which has many causes; genetic abnormalities, feto-maternal infections, maternal drug intake, smoking, socio-demographic factors, all are related to fetal IUGR, but the most common underlying cause is the inadequate or inappropriate placental function. This is obvious because placenta plays a central role in fetal nutrition and there is no survival of the fetus in utero without the support of the placenta. The diminished fetal growth rate can be considered äs an intrauterine mechanism of defence against hypoxic damage, because in this way there is a saving of oxygen for the cerebral tissue.

Platelet thromboxane A2 receptor number and function in normal and hypertensive pregnancy.

PROBLEM: Our study evaluated the number and function of platelets for thromboxane A2/prostaglandin H2 (TxA2/PGH2) and the platelet response to TxA2 receptor agonists in normal and hypertensive pregnancy. In addition, correlations between platelet membrane lipid composition and TxA2 receptor number and function were evaluated.

Whole blood viscosity in pregnancy-induced hypertension is correlated to the lipid composition of erythrocyte plasma membrane

Whole blood viscosity (WBV) at high (WBV1 and low (WBV1) shear rates and plasma viscosity (PV) was measured in 10 hypertensive pregnant patients (PIH), in 10 gestational controls (PC) and in 10 non pregnant women (NP). In the same groups cholesterol (C) to phospholipid (P) ratio (C/PL) of the erythrocyte membrane was evaluated. WBV1 was significantly higher in PIH than in the other groups, while neither WBVh or PV were altered. C/PL resulted significantly higher in PIH compared to PC or NP. A positive correlation was found between C/PL and WBV only for the PIH group. We conclude that the abnormal lipid composition of the RBC membrane in PIH may be involved in the altered rheology observed in this condition.

FETAL STEM CELL GROWTH FROM MATERNAL BLOOD FOR A NON INVASIVE GENETIC PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS. 148

FETAL STEM CELL GROWTH FROM MATERNAL BLOOD FOR A NON INVASIVE GENETIC PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS. 148

Erythrocyte membrane composition in pregnancy‐induced hypertension: Evidence for an altered lipid profile

OBJECTIVEnTo investigate whether the increased membrane fluidity postulated as a possible contributing factor to the hypertensive states of pregnancy is related to the lipid composition of the erythrocyte membrane.nnnDESIGNnAn observational case control study.nnnSUBJECTSn30 women with pregnancy induced hypertension, 26 normotensive pregnant women matched for gestational age, and 10 normotensive non pregnant nulliparous women.nnnINTERVENTIONSnErythrocyte membranes were prepared from venous blood samples obtained from all the women.nnnMAIN OUTCOMES MEASURESnLipid analysis, including cholesterol to phospholipids ratio, distribution of phospholipid classes and fatty acid composition of total phospholipids in erythrocyte ghosts.nnnRESULTSnThe cholesterol/phospholipid ratio was significantly higher in the women with pregnancy induced hypertension compared with the normotensive pregnant women (mean 1.24, SD 0.31, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.35 vs mean 0.90, SD 0.09, 95% CI 0.86 to 0.94; P less than 0.01). Normotensive non-pregnant erythrocyte membrane cholesterol/phospholipid ratio was 0.88 (SD 0.11, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.96). The percentage distribution of different phospholipid classes and fatty acid composition was similar in all the four groups.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe increased cholesterol/phospholipid ratio of the erythrocyte membrane found in pregnancy-induced hypertension represents one factor involved in the pathophysiology of this condition and a possible biochemical marker of the disease.