Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Janine Zoellkau, Laura Swiderski, Alexander Schmidt, Friederike Weschenfelder, Tanja Groten, Dirk Hoyer, Uwe Schneider
Summary: This study found that gestational diabetes can alter fetal autonomic control, increase fetal vagal tone, and have a positive correlation with maternal blood glucose levels and birth weight. However, there wasn't a significant correlation between fetal movement index and birth weight, but it did attenuate the positive correlation between maternal blood glucose levels and birth weight.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Jarle Urdal, Kjersti Engan, Trygve Eftestol, Solveig H. Haaland, Benjamin Kamala, Paschal Mdoe, Hussein Kidanto, Hege Ersdal
Summary: This study investigated the changes in fetal heart rate (FHR) towards the end of labor using data from 3711 labors in a low and low-middle income country. Results showed a significant drop in median FHR in the last 150 minutes before birth for all outcome groups, along with an increased spread in FHR over time during labor. The findings suggest that earlier intervention may potentially save lives, particularly for neonates in the perinatal mortality group.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING ONLINE
(2021)
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
H. J. Odendaal, E. Kieser, I. C. Crockart, L. T. Brink, C. Du Plessis, D. G. Nel
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the value of quantifying accelerations of the fetal heart rate as a proxy for fetal movements. The results showed that calculating acceleration parameters of the fetal heart rate during pregnancy can provide useful information for evaluating fetal development.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY AND REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Carolina Lopez-Justo, Adriana Cristina Pliego-Carrillo, Claudia Ivette Ledesma-Ramirez, Hugo Mendieta-Zeron, Miguel Angel Pena-Castillo, Juan Carlos Echeverria, Jorge Rodriguez-Arce, Jose Javier Reyes-Lagos
Summary: The study aimed to characterize the asymmetry differences of beat-to-beat FHR accelerations and decelerations in preterm and term fetuses during active labor. It found that fetuses during moderate premature labor may experience more decaying R-R trends and a lower magnitude of decelerations compared to term fetuses, suggesting differences in the maturity of the fetal cardiac autonomic nervous system.
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Deirdre J. Murphy, Declan Devane, Eleanor Molloy, Yulia Shahabuddin
Summary: This study evaluates the use of fetal scalp stimulation (FSS) as a second-line test for assessing fetal well-being during labor. The results suggest that there is uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of FSS and further high-quality studies are needed to assess its safety and efficacy.
COCHRANE DATABASE OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Biophysics
Dirk Hoyer, Alexander Schmidt, Adelina Pytlik, Lukas Viehofer, Hernani Goncalves, Celia Amorim-Costa, Joao Bernardes, Diogo Ayres-de-Campos, Silvia M. Lobmaier, Uwe Schneider
Summary: This study investigates the transferability of established electrophysiological HRV indices to CTG recordings during the fetal maturation period. The results show that CTG can provide indices related to long-term regulation and models using HRV indices calculated from CTG allow for the identification of maturational age and discriminate fetal growth restriction (FGR) with almost similar precision as electrophysiological means. Further validation is needed to confirm the diagnostic potential of these CTG-specific HRV indices in monitoring fetal developmental disturbances.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT
(2021)
Article
Physiology
Yoshiyuki Kasahara, Chihiro Yoshida, Masatoshi Saito, Yoshitaka Kimura
Summary: This study measured ECG signals of mouse fetuses to evaluate the development of heart rate and autonomic nervous activity at different stages, finding that fetal heart rate significantly increased at E18.5, accompanied by reduced parasympathetic activity. It suggests that parasympathetic activity rather than sympathetic activity affects fetal heart rate, and the decrease in parasympathetic activity towards the end of pregnancy could lead to the observed increase in fetal heart rate.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Physiology
Maristella Lucchini, Lauren C. Shuffrey, J. David Nugent, Nicolo Pini, Ayesha Sania, Margaret Shair, Lucy Brink, Carlie du Plessis, Hein J. Odendaal, Morgan E. Nelson, Christa Friedrich, Jyoti Angal, Amy J. Elliott, Coen A. Groenewald, Larry T. Burd, Michael M. Myers, William P. Fifer
Summary: This study investigated the effects of prenatal tobacco and alcohol exposure on fetal autonomic regulation, particularly on heart rate, movement, and heart rate variability. Differences were observed in the impact of exposure levels on fetal outcomes between the study sites in South Africa and the Northern Plains region of the United States.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Physiology
Namareq Widatalla, Ahsan Khandoker, Mohanad Alkhodari, Kunihiro Koide, Chihiro Yoshida, Yoshiyuki Kasahara, Yoshitaka Kimura, Masatoshi Saito
Summary: This study examines the association between maternal and fetal heart rate and its importance in fetal development. The analysis of non-invasive electrocardiogram data reveals the similarity in heart rate variability between mothers and infants, which increases as gestational age advances. Furthermore, the study suggests a potential involvement of maternal hormones in regulating this similarity.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Alexane Tournier, Michael Beacom, Jenny A. Westgate, Laura Bennet, Charles Garabedian, Austin Ugwumadu, Alistair J. Gunn, Christopher A. Lear
Summary: The interpretation of FHR patterns is crucial for monitoring fetal well-being during labor, and changes in FHR variability (FHRV) have been considered an indication of fetal compromise. However, there is a lack of systematic evidence to support this observation. This review examines the potential pathways controlling FHRV during labor-like hypoxia and suggests that the parasympathetic system becomes the sole regulator of FHRV once FHR decelerations occur.
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2022)
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Annette Wacker-Gussmann, Janette F. Strasburger, Ronald T. Wakai
Summary: The study found that fMCG contributes significantly to the accuracy and precision of fetal arrhythmia diagnosis and risk assessment, leading to changes in management. Additional findings beyond the referring echocardiogram or alternative diagnoses were seen in a large portion of cases in categories such as tachycardia, bradycardia/AV block, and familial long QT syndrome.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION
(2022)
Article
Biology
Zhixin Zhou, Zhidong Zhao, Xianfei Zhang, Xiaohong Zhang, Pengfei Jiao, Xuanyu Ye
Summary: CTG (Cardiotocography) is an effective tool for assessing fetal status. Doctors assess fetal health mainly by observing FHR (fetal heart rate). This paper discusses the problems of class imbalance and appropriate convolution kernel selection in previous FHR classification studies. A data augmentation method based on ECMN is proposed to address class imbalance, and a one-dimensional long convolutional layer is introduced to calculate the appropriate convolution kernel. Furthermore, an improved residual structure with an attention mechanism called TGLCN is proposed to improve FHR classification accuracy.
COMPUTERS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Eleonora Sulas, Monica Urru, Roberto Tumbarello, Luigi Raffo, Reza Sameni, Danilo Pani
Summary: The NInFEA dataset is the first multimodal early-pregnancy dataset designed for research on antenatal cardiology, providing simultaneous non-invasive electrophysiological recordings and foetal pulsed-wave Doppler. It includes 60 entries from 39 pregnant women between the 21st and 27th week of gestation, with MATLAB snippets for data processing provided.
Article
Pediatrics
Yuda Munyaw, Jarle Urdal, Hege Ersdal, Matilda Ngarina, Robert Moshiro, Ladislaus Blacy, Jorgen. E. E. Linde
Summary: This study aimed to document the changes in heart rate (HR) from one hour before to one hour after normal vaginal deliveries. The HR slightly decreased during the last hour before delivery, rapidly increased within one minute after delivery, and then gradually decreased. These changes reflect the intense contractions and pushing during delivery, as well as the effort to establish spontaneous breathing in the neonates.
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Jingyu Wang, Jingying Ma, Shenda Hong, Chi Zhang, Jianliu Wang, Linyan Zhang, Xinran Liu, Rui Bai, Xiaosong Dong, Guoli Liu, Fang Han
Summary: In this study, an easy-to-use Fetal heart rate Signal Quality Index (FSQI) was developed to accurately identify and exclude low-quality signals for assessing fetal health. The FSQI algorithm achieved a high overall accuracy of 99.8842% in signal quality classification and significantly reduced incorrectly detected deceleration events.
EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Florian Rakers, Sven Rupprecht, Michelle Dreiling, Christoph Bergmeier, Otto W. Witte, Matthias Schwab
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2020)
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Mahmoud Diab, Rita Musleh, Thomas Lehmann, Christoph Sponholz, Mathias W. Pletz, Marcus Franz, P. Christian Schulze, Otto W. Witte, Klaus Kirchhof, Torsten Doenst, Albrecht Gunther
Summary: The study found that pre-ICH is not an independent predictor for postoperative neurological deterioration or hospital mortality in patients with IE, but postoperative coagulation management is crucial. Additional randomized clinical trials are needed to confirm these conclusions due to the limited number of patients with pre-ICH in this study.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CARDIO-THORACIC SURGERY
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Akash Srivastava, Emanuel Barth, Maria A. Ermolaeva, Madlen Guenther, Christiane Frahm, Manja Marz, Otto W. Witte
GENOMICS PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS
(2020)
Article
Cell Biology
Lei Cao-Lei, Marion I. van den Heuvel, Klaus Huse, Matthias Platzer, Guillaume Elgbeili, Marijke A. K. A. Braeken, Renee A. Otte, Otto W. Witte, Matthias Schwab, Bea R. H. van den Bergh
Summary: Epigenetic changes related to altered behavior and neuropsychiatric disorders are associated with maternal anxiety during pregnancy. The study found a link between maternal anxiety and children's DNA methylation levels, with sex differences and timing effects being highly important. However, DNA methylation was not supported as the underlying mechanism for the impact of maternal anxiety during pregnancy on offspring's behavioral measures.
Article
Neurosciences
Mina Kheirkhah, Philipp Baumbach, Lutz Leistritz, Otto W. Witte, Martin Walter, Jessica R. Gilbert, Carlos A. Zarate, Carsten M. Klingner
Summary: This study using MEG and bootstrapping method found that the greatest differences in brain response to high-arousing emotional and neutral stimuli occur in the right temporo-parietal region. This highlights the essential role of the right hemisphere in emotion processing.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yuanyuan Ji, Dennis Koch, Jule Gonzalez Delgado, Madlen Guenther, Otto W. Witte, Michael M. Kessels, Christiane Frahm, Britta Qualmann
Summary: Ischemic stroke in mice leads to a decline in dendritic arborization of penumbral neurons, which is repaired by the actin nucleator Cobl. The decreased Cobl levels caused by stroke and excitotoxicity are rapidly restored by increased mRNA expression, playing a pivotal role in dendritic arbor repair poststroke. Cobl knockout mice show impaired dendritic repair poststroke, highlighting the crucial role of Cobl in poststroke recovery.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Mahmoud Diab, Marcus Franz, Stefan Hagel, Albrecht Guenther, Antonio Struve, Rita Musleh, Anika Penzel, Christoph Sponholz, Thomas Lehmann, Henning Kuehn, Karim Ibrahim, Marcus Jahnecke, Holger Sigusch, Henning Ebelt, Gloria Faerber, Otto W. Witte, Bettina Loeffler, Michael Bauer, Mathias W. Pletz, P. Christian Schulze, Torsten Doenst
Summary: Establishing an endocarditis network led to earlier referral of patients with fewer pre-operative complications. Adherence to recommendations of the endocarditis team was associated with lower post-operative stroke and in-hospital mortality, as well as improved 5-year survival rates.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Marie-Luise Ederer, Madlen Guenther, Lena Best, Julia Lindner, Christoph Kaleta, Otto W. Witte, Rowena Simon, Christiane Frahm
Summary: Inflammation is believed to play a role in cognitive decline during aging. This study examines the impact of physical activity and social isolation on cognitive function and inflammation in old mice. The results show that voluntary wheel running improves cognitive function, while social isolation has negative effects. Inflammatory markers increase in both the hippocampus and colon during aging, and voluntary wheel running specifically attenuates intestinal inflammation.
Article
Cell Biology
Diana M. Morales-Prieto, Jose M. Murrieta-Coxca, Milan Stojiljkovic, Celia Diezel, Priska E. Streicher, Julian A. Henao-Restrepo, Franziska Roestel, Julia Lindner, Otto W. Witte, Sebastian Weis, Christian Schmeer, Manja Marz
Summary: Extracellular vesicles, specifically small EVs, are involved in neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Aging brains show increased neuroinflammation and glial activation, which can be influenced by EVs. Our study demonstrates that sEVs from aged mice can cross the blood-brain barrier and induce glial cell activation in young animals.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Quratul Ain, Christian W. Schmeer, Diane Wengerodt, Yvonne Hofmann, Otto W. Witte, Alexandra Kretz
Summary: This article presents a practical workflow for the efficient purification of viable neural cells from the mature CNS. The protocol is suitable for acquiring and phenomapping CNS neural cells at different states, including health, physiological and precocious aging, and genetically provoked neurodegeneration. It is a rapid and efficient method that preserves physiological cell proportions and can be applied in various downstream applications.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Rita Musleh, Peter Schlattmann, Tulio Caldonazo, Hristo Kirov, Otto W. Witte, Torsten Doenst, Albrecht Guenther, Mahmoud Diab
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of early surgery on postoperative neurological deterioration and all-cause mortality in patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). The results showed that early surgery was associated with a higher risk of neurological deterioration but not with higher mortality. The 30-day mortality in patients who were denied surgery needs further investigation.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Silvio Schmidt, Madlen Haase, Lena Best, Marco Groth, Julia Lindner, Otto W. Witte, Christoph Kaleta, Christiane Frahm
Summary: Research has shown that late-onset environmental enrichment (EE) can improve cognitive abilities and affect gene expression in the hippocampus of old mice. The positive cognitive effects were reflected by specific changes in the hippocampal transcriptome, with late-onset EE having a greater impact on transcription than age. Some genes that play a role in dendritic spine plasticity and age-related molecular signaling cascades were counter-regulated by late-onset EE. These findings suggest that EE is a promising non-pharmacological intervention against cognitive decline.
Article
Cell Biology
Sidra Gull, Christian Gaser, Karl-Heinz Herrmann, Anja Urbach, Marcus Boehme, Samia Afzal, Juergen R. Reichenbach, Otto W. Witte, Silvio Schmidt
Summary: By using MRI and DBM, we examined the structural changes in the brains of male RccHan:WIST rats. The study found that the overall brain volume increased with age, but there were also divergent local morphologic alterations. The visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortical areas showed shrinkage, while the higher-order brain areas such as the ectorhinal, entorhinal, retrosplenial, and cingulate cortical regions were preserved and grew with age.
Article
Neurosciences
Robert Steinbach, Nayana Gaur, Annekathrin Roediger, Thomas E. Mayer, Otto W. Witte, Tino Prell, Julian Grosskreutz
Summary: This study used the novel D50 model to investigate correlations between diffusion tensor imaging measures and ALS pathology. High disease aggressiveness patients showed specific white matter pathway abnormalities, and there were correlations between disease accumulation and DTI measures, especially in the early stages of the disease.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Juliana Gottschling, Jan Doerendahl, Tino Prell, Julia Karbach, Maxie Bunz, Ingrid Kindermann, Juliane Moussaoui, Frank M. Spinath, Sonja Wedegaertner, Otto W. Witte, Samuel Greiff, Daniel L. Segal
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT
(2020)
