To determine whether an automated extraction of the brain-tissue region from CT images is useful for the histogram analysis of the brain-tissue region was studied. We used the CT images of 11 patients. We developed an automatic brain-tissue extraction algorithm. We evaluated the similarity index of this automated extraction method relative to manual extraction, and we compared the mean CT numbe...

This letter addresses the problem of fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) extraction. A class of source extraction algorithms is proposed, which uses a combination of two different approaches: Barros’s source extraction approach and Hyvärinen’s fixedpoint approach. The proposed algorithms can rapidly extract the desired FECG with little noise, and can work well in some bad situations. The validity an...

Pyruvate kinase isozymes were studied in normal brain tissue (both fetal and adult) and in meningiomas and malignant gliomas. In fetal brain five different forms could be detected by electrophoresis (K4, K3M, K2M2, KM3, and M4). In adult brain the M4-type, K3M hybrid, and K4-type are present; the M isozyme is largely predominant. Alanine inhibition of pyruvate kinase is in agreement with the el...

OBJECTIVES To assess the inter- and intraobserver reliability of different fetal MRI measurements in cases of fetal brain malformations and to examine the concordance between ultrasonography (US) and MRI findings. METHODS Fetal brain MRIs and US findings of 56 pregnant women were retrieved from the institutional database. Standardized fetal brain MRI measurements were performed by 4 observers...

To determine the cellular adaptations to fetal hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, we examined the time-dependent effects on basal (GLUT-1 and GLUT-3) and insulin-responsive (GLUT-4) glucose transporter proteins by quantitative Western blot analysis in fetal ovine insulin-insensitive (brain and liver) and insulin-sensitive (myocardium, skeletal muscle, and adipose) tissues. Maternal glucose infusio...

Oxidative stress and inflammatory insults are the major instigating events of bacterial intrauterine infection that lead to fetal brain injury. The purpose of this study is to investigate the remedial effects of N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) for inflammation-caused deficits in brain development. We found that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by RAW264.7 cells....

OBJECTIVE We evaluated the neuropsychological outcome of children with proven congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and normal consecutive fetal neurosonographic examinations. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed laboratory and imaging findings of children with congenital CMV infection. The study group consisted of children with a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in amniotic fluid...

Disturbance to early brain development is implicated in several neuropsychiatric disorders including autism, schizophrenia, and mental retardation. Epidemiological studies have indicated that the risk of developing these disorders is enhanced by prenatal maternal infection, presumably as a result of neurodevelopmental defects triggered by cytokine-related inflammatory events. Here, we demonstra...

The involvement of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) in the development of the human brain remains largely unknown. Applying a cloning strategy for detection of intermediate size (50-500 nt) ncRNAs (is-ncRNAs) we have identified 82 novel transcripts in human fetal brain tissue. Most of the novel is-ncRNAs are not well conserved in vertebrates, and several transcripts were only found in primates. Northern...

BACKGROUND Glucocorticoids play a critical role in normative regulation of fetal brain development. Exposure to excessive levels may have detrimental consequences and disrupt maturational processes. This may especially be true when synthetic glucocorticoids are administered during the fetal period, as they are to women in preterm labor. This study investigated the consequences for brain develop...