Plos One
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Placenta accreta/increta/percreta is associated with major pregnancy complications and is thought to be becoming more common. The aims of this study were to estimate the incidence of placenta accreta/increta/percreta in the UK and to investigate and quantify the associated risk factors. ⋯ Women with both a prior caesarean delivery and placenta praevia have a high incidence of placenta accreta/increta/percreta. There is a need to maintain a high index of suspicion of abnormal placental invasion in such women and preparations for delivery should be made accordingly.
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Spectral content in a physiological dataset of finite size has the potential to produce spurious measures of coherence. This is especially true for electroencephalography (EEG) during general anesthesia because of the significant alteration of the power spectrum. In this study we quantitatively evaluated the genuine and spurious phase synchronization strength (PSS) of EEG during consciousness, general anesthesia, and recovery. ⋯ The most influential factor for genuine PSS was the type of EEG reference; the most influential factor for spurious PSS was the spectral content. Genuine and spurious PSS showed characteristic temporal patterns for each frequency band across consciousness and anesthesia. Simultaneous measurement of both genuine and spurious PSS during general anesthesia is necessary in order to avoid incorrect interpretations regarding states of consciousness.
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Paraquat poisoning is characterized by multi-organ failure and pulmonary fibrosis with respiratory failure, resulting in high mortality and morbidity. The objective of this study was to identify predictors of mortality in cases of paraquat poisoning. Furthermore, we sought to determine the association between these parameters. ⋯ The analytical data demonstrate that SOFA and mSOFA scores, which are based on the extent of organ function or rate of organ failure, help to predict mortality after intentional paraquat poisoning.
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Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that continuously move, fuse and divide. Mitochondrial dynamics modulate overall mitochondrial morphology and are essential for the proper function, maintenance and transmission of mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). We have investigated mitochondrial fusion in yeast cells with severe defects in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) due to removal or various specific mutations of mtDNA. ⋯ The fusion inhibition observed upon deletion of OXPHOS related genes or upon removal of the entire mtDNA was similar to that observed upon introduction of point mutations in the mitochondrial ATP6 gene that are associated to neurogenic ataxia and retinitis pigmentosa (NARP) or to maternally inherited Leigh Syndrome (MILS) in humans. Our findings indicate that the consequences of mtDNA mutations may not be limited to OXPHOS defects but may also include alterations in mitochondrial fusion. Our results further imply that, in healthy cells, the dominant inhibition of fusion could mediate the exclusion of OXPHOS-deficient mitochondria from the network of functional, fusogenic mitochondria.
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Pokemon (POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor), which belongs to the POK protein family, is also called LRF, OCZF and FBI-1. As a transcriptional repressor, Pokemon assumes a critical function in cellular differentiation and oncogenesis. Our study identified an oncogenic role for Pokemon in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). ⋯ Therefore, Pokemon may also be involved in cell cycle progression in these cells. We confirmed that Pokemon silencing suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma growth in tumor xenograft mice. These results suggest that Pokemon promotes cell proliferation and migration in hepatocellular carcinoma and accelerates tumor development in an Akt- and ERK-signaling-dependent manner.