and Implications Using a purebred population of Yorkshire (Y) females, our laboratory recently reported that the ratio of a piglet's weight to that of its placenta (RATIO) varies ≈threefold within a litter. This variation in RATIO is due predominantly to variations in placental weight that are known to be a limiting factor in litter size. It was further determined that selection of boars and gi...

Plasmodium falciparum infection during pregnancy may cause placental malaria and subsequently low birth weight, primarily through the placental sequestration of infected red blood cells. Measuring the burden of malaria during pregnancy usually involves determining the prevalence of placental malaria infection through microscopic examination of placental blood films, a difficult and error-prone ...

Malaria in pregnancy predisposes to maternal anemia and low birth weight (LBW). We examined the possible roles of the cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) in these adverse outcomes. We measured cytokine concentrations in placental, peripheral, and cord blood plasma in relation to malaria parasitemia and placental monocyte accumulation in 276 Malawia...

Pregnant women with asthma are frequently exposed to synthetic glucocorticoids and glucocorticoids are known to reduce fetal growth. The fetus is normally protected from the harmful effects of maternally derived glucocorticoids by the placental enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11beta-HSD2). Whether 11beta-HSD2 inactivates the synthetic glucocorticoids used for asthma treatment...

The zinc concentration of placental tissue and cord blood in sixteen mothers who gave birth to normal babies was measured. The blood volume of each placenta was estimated from measurements of haemoglobin concentration of placental homogenate and cord blood, and, by deduction, the Zn content of blood-free placental tissue was calculated. Results were compared with eleven mothers whose fetuses sh...

Substantial studies indicated that fetal macrosomia was associated with detrimental pregnancy outcomes, and increased susceptibility to metabolic diseases in later life. However, investigations into the association between placental microbiota and fetal macrosomia are limited. We aimed to profile the placental microbiota of fetal macrosomia and study whether they relate to clinical characterist...

Substantial evidence indicated that low birth weight was an independent risk factor for obesity, impaired glucose regulation, and diabetes later in life. However, investigations into the association between low birth weight and placental microbiome in full-term neonates are limited. Placentas were collected from low birth weight (LBW) and normal birth weight (NBW) full-term neonates (gestationa...

The placental weight ratio (PWR) is a health indicator that reflects the balance between fetal and placental growth. The PWR is defined as the placental weight divided by the birth weight, and it changes across gestation. Its ranges are not well established. We aimed to establish PWR distributions by gestational age and to investigate whether the PWR distributions vary by fetal growth adequacy,...

Maternal immunological unresponsiveness has usually been demonstrated with adult tissue allografts. Experiments were first directed to the question of whether maternal reactivity to allogeneic conceptuses parallels that of implants of allogeneic tumor. BALB/c female mice parous by C3H males for one to eight litters and challenged with Tumor 70429 of C3h origin showed increasing unresponsiveness...