Within the last 13 years hyaluronic acid has been isolated from a variety of sources (1): umbilical cord, vitreous humor, synovial fluid, tumors, and hemolytic streptococci. These mucopolysaccharides all have essentially the same chemical composition, equimolecular portions of acetylglucosamine and glucuronic acid, but vary greatly in viscosity. Hyaluronic acid was first isolated by Meyer and P...

Background: The timing of umbilical cord clamping may affect the need to bloodtransfusion and other morbidities of preterm infants. This study aimed to compare three different cord clamping timing (immediate cord clamping, delayed cord clamping and umbilical cord milking) in preterm infants delivered by cesarean section (CS). <em...

The human umbilical vein, as a readily available stem cell source, is a good alternative to harvest mesenchymal stem cells. Human umbilical cord vein mesenchymal stem cells have recently been isolated and have demonstrated the ability to differentiate into various cell types such as fat, bone, cartilage and neuronal cells. In this study, we have investigated whether human umbilical cord vein me...

BACKGROUND The complex process by which lactation is initiated upon neonate delivery remains incompletely understood. Microvesicles (MVs) can transmit microRNAs (miRNAs) into recipient cells to influence cell function, and recent studies have identified miRNAs essential for mammary gland development and lactation. This study aimed to investigate the expression of lactation-related miRNAs in MVs...

Background & Aims: Maternal anemia in pregnancy is a considerable risk factor for both mother and fetus. Growth retardation, intra uterine fetal death, maternal cardiovascular symptoms and reduction in blood supply are among outcomes of maternal anemia. Since there are different reports about the relationship between low maternal hemoglobin level and low birght weight, the precent study was des...

Zinc levels were determined in human milk and umbilical cord blood samples collected in the Rijeka Clinical Hospital during the period from September 1995 to January 1996. The average concentrations of zinc were 4.98 +/- 2.53 mg/l in breast milk (range: 1.69-11.60 mg/l) and 1.18 +/- 0.21 mg/l in umbilical cord blood (range: 0.87-1.91 mg/l). Results of group comparisons regarding mothers' age, p...

The scarcity of islets for transplantation calls for an alternative sources of islets. The human umbilical cord has been shown to be a reservoir of multipotent stem cells with capacity to differentiate into ectodermal, mesodermal and endodermal lineages. The present investigation deals with isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem sells (MSC) derived from human umbilical cord and thei...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW To review the available clinical and biological advances of umbilical cord blood allogeneic stem cell transplantation in pediatric and adult patients. RECENT FINDINGS Recent large international studies suggested that allogeneic umbilical cord blood transplantation may potentially emerge as the frontline stem cell source for pediatric patients with hematopoietic malignancies ...