A positive inotropic responsiveness to serotonin, mediated by 5-HT(4) and 5-HT(2A) receptors, appears in the ventricle of rats with post-infarction congestive heart failure (HF) and pressure overload-induced hypertrophy. A hallmark of HF is a transition towards a foetal genotype which correlates with loss of cardiac functions. Thus, we wanted to investigate whether the foetal and neonatal cardi...

Epidemiological data provide strong evidence for a relationship between undernutrition and life-threatening infection in infants and children. However, the mechanisms that underlie this relationship are poorly understood. Through foetal life, infancy and childhood, the immune system undergoes a process of functional maturation. The adequacy of this process is dependent on environmental factors,...

The high oxygen affinity of foetal versus adult blood is an almost universal characteristic of viviparous vertebrates; a notable exception is the cat (Novy & Parer, 1969). There is also likely to be a difference in the oxygen affinities of foetal and adult blood in the teleostean fish, the seaperch Embiotoca lateralis Agassiz. Our studies of E. lateralis foetal and adult haemoglobins and erythr...

This review is a perinatal pathologist’s approach to the stillbirth with emphasis on the use of molecular techniques. Stillbirths are a heterogeneous group, with diverse aetiologies. The stillbirth investigation needs to be based on a good review of the history, antenatal scans, the autopsy, placental examination and ancillary investigations. Often a multidisciplinary team is required to identi...

Air pollution is the 9th cause of overall disease burden globally. The solid component in polluted air, particulate matters (PMs) with a diameter 2.5 μm or smaller (PM2.5) possess significant health risk to several organ systems. PM2.5 has also been shown cross blood–placental barrier and circulate foetal blood. Therefore, it considered an intrauterine environmental toxin. Exposure during perin...