Fetal Abortion Research Articles

Nonstructural NSs Protein of Rift Valley Fever Virus Interacts with Pericentromeric DNA Sequences of the Host Cell, Inducing Chromosome Cohesion and Segregation Defects

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an emerging, highly pathogenic virus; RVFV infection can lead to encephalitis, retinitis, or fatal hepatitis associated with hemorrhagic fever in humans, as well as death, abortions, and fetal deformities in animals. RVFV nonstructural NSs protein, a major factor of the virulence, forms filamentous structures in the nuclei of infected cells. In order to further understand RVFV pathology, we investigated, by chromatin immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and confocal microscopy, the capacity of NSs to interact with the host genome. Our results demonstrate that even though cellular DNA is predominantly excluded from NSs filaments, NSs interacts with some specific DNA regions of the host genome such as clusters of pericentromeric gamma-satellite sequence. Targeting of these sequences by NSs was correlated with the induction of chromosome cohesion and segregation defects in RVFV-infected murine, as well as sheep cells. Using recombinant nonpathogenic virus rZHDeltaNSs210-230, expressing a NSs protein deleted of its region of interaction with cellular factor SAP30, we showed that the NSs-SAP30 interaction was essential for NSs to target pericentromeric sequences, as well as for induction of chromosome segregation defects. The effect of RVFV upon the inheritance of genetic information is discussed with respect to the pathology associated with fetal deformities and abortions, highlighting the main role played by cellular cofactor SAP30 on the establishment of NSs interactions with host DNA sequences and RVFV pathogenesis.

남아 출생률 자료에 대한 이질성 분석

1990년대에 접어들면서 우리나라는 남아선호사상, 사회경제적 발전, 인구정책 등으로 인해 태아 성감별이나 불법 낙태가 사회적으로 확산되어 출생 성비의 불균형 현상이 초래되었다. 이러한 출생 성비의 불균형 현상을 모니터링 하기 위해서 시계열 분석 또는 지역 차이 분석 등의 많은 연구들이 있었지만 시간과 공판을 동시에 분석에 포함시키지 못했다는 단점이 있다. 본 연구는 시간과 지역성을 동시에 고려하여 출생 성비의 불균형 현상을 분석하였다. 행정구역상으로 구분된 234개의 구, 시, 군 지역에 대하여 2000년과 2001년도의 각 지역별 셋째 자녀 이상의 남녀 출생아 수 자료를 이질적 모집단을 가정하여 이항분포의 혼합모형에 적용시키는 방법을 제안한다. 혼합모형의 위치모수와 가중치, 상관계수 추정은 EM 알고리즘을 통해 수행되었고, ArcView GIS를 이용하여 지역의 이질성을 그림을 통해 표현하였다. Since 1990, identifying the sex of fetus and illegal abortion has brought the sex ratio imbalance at birth in Korea due to a notion of preferring a son to a daughter, socio-economic development, population policy, and so forth. Although there have been many researches such as time series analysis and region difference analysis to monitor this sex ratio imbalance, they have a defect that time and space could not be included in the analysis simultaneously. This study analyzes the sex ratio imbalance at birth, taking into account time and region at the same time. The analysis considered the numbers of male and female babies, who were born as the third or latter in their families, in 2000 and 2001 at 234 Gu / Si / Goon administrative districts. Here, we suggest a mixture model of binomial distributions, assuming heterogeneous populations. The estimation of the location parameters, weights and correlation coefficient of the mixture model is conducted by the EM algorithm, and the heterogeneity of the regions is expressed as a picture using ArcView GIS.

Alpaca plant poisonings: nitrate–nitrite and possible cyanide

Nitrate-nitrite poisoning killed four adult alpacas and induced the abortion of a full-term fetus after access to oaten hay (Avena sativa) containing 3.2% KNO(3) equivalent in dry matter. Necropsy findings were cyanosis, dark-coloured blood, and pulmonary congestion and oedema. Aqueous humour from two adults contained 25 mg NO(3)/L and that from the fetus contained 10 mg NO(3)/L. Cyanide poisoning possibly killed two adult wether alpacas that ate a garden-cultivated variety of Osteospermum ecklonis (South African daisy, bietou) with a cyanide potential of 6800 mg HCN/kg dry matter.

Abortion and Protection of the Human Fetus: Religious and Legal Problems in Pakistan

Abortion is the most common and controversial issue in many parts of the world. Approximately 46 million abortions are performed worldwide every year. The world ratio is 26 induced abortions per 100 known pregnancies. Pakistan has an estimated abortion rate of 29 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, despite the procedure being illegal except to save a woman's life. 890,000 abortions are performed annually in Pakistan. Many government and non-government organizations are working on the issue of abortion. Muslim jurists are unanimous in declaring that after the fetus is completely formed and has been given a soul, abortion is haram (forbidden).

Sex ratio patterns according to Asian ethnicity in Québec, 1981–2004

Elevated ratios of male to female births are emerging in Asian countries due to selective abortion of female foetuses. Little research has evaluated the possibility of sex selection among Asians in the West. We evaluated patterns in the secondary sex ratio (SSR, number of male per 100 female births) according to ethnicity in Québec, Canada. We performed a population-based retrospective analysis of live and still births in urban Québec, 1981-2004 (N = 1,612,614 live births). Outcomes included: (1) first and second order SSR over four consecutive 6-year intervals analysed according to parental mother tongue, parental birth region, and mothers still speaking her mother tongue at home, (2) adjusted relative risk (RR) of female birth by parental ethnicity, and (3) estimated number of unborn females. For the period 1987-1992, first order SSRs were elevated (range 118-121) for Indo-Pakistani parental mother tongue and mothers currently speaking Indo-Pakistani at home. Second order SSRs were not elevated. For Indo-Pakistani mother tongues, the RR of female birth was lower than French/English in the same period (adjusted RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.92-0.99). SSRs were not imbalanced in the late 1990s among Indo-Pakistani parents, or among Chinese ethnicity in any study period. The SSR in Québec was elevated in the 1980s and early 1990s among firstborn relative to subsequent born infants of Indo-Pakistani descent. The reason for this imbalance is unclear. Further research in other Western settings is necessary to evaluate the possibility of sex selection.

미국에서의 낙태에 관한 법적 논쟁

The U.S. Supreme Court has dealt with the abortion problem through a several its decisions, for example, Roe v. Wade(1973), Webster v. Reproductive Health Services(1989), Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey(1992), Stenberg v. Carhart(2000), Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) ect. Constitutional interpretation has been divided interpretivism which searches the intention of legislator and non-interpretivism which creates the law by d judge. The right of abortion as the privacy right is given to every humane being but it can be limited by the right of life to fetus. Fetus is not a person but if it gains the viability it must not be violated like the life of the humane being. The Court judges that the principle of the legal fiction does not govern regardless of present pregnancy because the pregnance is going on amidst the trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has applied to the “strict scrutiny” standard to abortion regulation until 1992. After 1992, however the Court discarded it and replaced it with the new “undue burden” standard which is unconstitutionality that a state regulation has the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus. In Bellotti v. Baird Ⅱ(1979), the Court established the criteria as allowable restriction when minor woman`s access to abortion seek a waiver of parental consent-”mature minor” standard and the “best interests” standard, According to the inclination, judge of the U.S. Supreme Court is conservativist or progressivist. Therefore, he has a different viewpoint in the abortion. These days the number of conservative judge is more than that of progressive one in the U.S. Supreme Court, whereas recently president Obama declared that he held the abortion, So I want to ascertain how the abortion decisions will develop.

Fetus abortion: Folk remedies among Iranian people

Fetus abortion: Folk remedies among Iranian people

The tripartite immune conflict in placentals and a hypothesis on fetal→maternal microchimerism

There is a two-way traffic of immune cells through the placenta; and fetal immune cells are often present in the maternal body even long after giving birth. We present an adaptationist theory to interpret fetal-->maternal microchimerism and the diverse set of concomitant medical phenomena. We handle fetal, maternal, and paternal adaptive interests separately and in interaction with one another. Fetuses may benefit from immunological information gathered by migrant cells in the maternal body, and also from improved maternal defence. However, they may be jeopardized by a selfish maternal usage of fetal-->maternal microchimerism - i.e., some mothers get pregnant only to improve their immune system and then to abort. The use of microchimeric cells by the maternal immune system may contribute to the adaptive benefits of female choosiness and polyandry. While fathers may enjoy an indirect benefit from enhanced fetal and maternal health, they also face the risk of wasting sexual efforts due to selfish pregnancies of cheating females. Paternal alleles acting via clones of microchimeric cells in the maternal body could launch an immunological attack against the non-kin sperm in the female genitalia, or against the non-kin fetus in the womb. Furthermore, an intraspecific version of Zahavi's Mafia Hypothesis could explain a potential interaction between the abortion of fetuses and a subsequent rise of an autoimmune disease. We suggest that males may be capable to provoke microchimerism-induced autoimmune-like diseases in the mother in revenge of selfish pregnancies. This hypothetic paternal threat could increase the maternal costs associated to selfish pregnancies. From a medical point of view, we propose new interpretations for autoimmune-like diseases, infertility, miscarriage, and also for the prevailing connections among them. Specifically, we argue that miscarriages may cause autoimmune diseases, a reversed causality as compared to the currently accepted one.

May anomalous X chromosome methylation be responsible for the spontaneous abortion of a male foetus?

May anomalous X chromosome methylation be responsible for the spontaneous abortion of a male foetus?

Increased fetal abortion rate in autoimmune thyroid disease is related to circulating TPO autoantibodies in an autoimmune thyroiditis animal model

To determine the fertility and abortion rates in a mouse model of autoimmune thyroiditis and its relationship with circulating anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibody. Experimental animal study. University research laboratory. C57bl/6 mice. Female C57bl/6 mice immunized with recombinant mouse TPO (rmTPO) in complete Freund adjuvant (CFA) or glutathione-S-transferase (GST-CFA) were allowed to mate. The pregnant mice were killed on day 14 of pregnancy for assessment of fetal development. The effects of TPO antibody on preimplantation embryo development and implantation rate were also studied. Litter size, resorption rate, preimplantation embryo development, and implantation rate. All of the mice immunized with rmTPO-CFA possessed anti-TPO antibody. They had reduced litter size and increased incidence of resorbed fetus compared with the control. Higher serum TSH levels, but not T(4) levels, were demonstrated after rmTPO-CFA immunization. Anti-TPO antibody bound to preimplantation embryos. Treatment of the embryos with the antibody marginally decreased the formation of 3/4-cell embryos but had no effect on the subsequent development and implantation compared with the nonimmune control sera. Autoimmune thyroiditis is associated with reduced fertility and higher incidence of fetal loss. The anti-TPO antibody may affect post-implantation embryo development, leading to fetal loss.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on India's Gender Imbalance

India is one of a number of countries mostly East and South Asian that record anomalous male-dominated sex ratios at birth. Under-enumeration of girl children may be partly responsible but the larger cause is the selective abortion of female fetuses in societies showing strong cultural or economic preferences for sons over daughters. Fetal sex determination became simple with the development of ultrasound technology. The sharp rise in the ratio of boys to girls in the youngest population age groups seen in the Indian censuses of 1981 1991 and 2001-especially in the northwestern states of Punjab and Haryana-coincides with the spread of this technology notwithstanding that its use for this purpose has been outlawed since the early 1990s. (Abortion is legal in India but the principle of parental sovereignty in reproductive decisions is overruled in this case in the name of the collective interest.) In a recent speech Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called attention to the gender imbalance and supported a nationwide campaign to end sex discrimination in this gray area of national concern. The Prime Ministers speech was delivered on 28 April 2008 to the National Conference on Save the Girl Child New Delhi a meeting organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It is reprinted below. The Prime Minister describes selective abortion of a female fetus as a reprehensible practice. Its origin is found in the patriarchal mindset its prevalence ascribed to unscrupulous and unethical conduct on the part of some medical practitioners offering sex determination services. The remedy he says lies in education and empowerment of women. While that may well be the case in the longer run cross-sectional research findings are less than supportive. The gender imbalance is positively associated with parental education and social status-whether linked to greater affordability of sex determination services or to the enhanced agency of higher-status parents in reproductive decisions. The text of the speech can be found at http://pmindia.nic.in/lspeech.asp?id=677.

Klebsiella oxytoca as a cause of equine abortion—Short communication

Klebsiella (K.) oxytoca infection induced the abortion of a female equine fetus in the 10th month of pregnancy. Bacteria were cultured from the liver, lung and stomach content. They were labelled with an anti-Mycobacterium bovis antibody in the thymus, liver and lungs and were stained with Giemsa and Brown-Brenn staining in the thymus and lung. The diffusely consolidated lungs contained numerous grey-whitish foci 2-4 mm in diameter, which corresponded to severe pyogranulomatous pneumonia characterised by numerous intraalveolar neutrophils and macrophages and multinucleated Langhans' giant cells. K. oxytoca was located in the cytoplasm of these cells, and extracellularly in the lumen of alveoli, bronchioles and bronchi, in the capsule of thymus and in the sinusoids of the liver. The results indicate that K. oxytoca can cause sporadic equine abortion.

Prolongation of triplet pregnancy after abortion of the presenting fetus

The management of delayed delivery in a triplet pregnancy is described. A 25-year-old woman with an in vitro fertilization pregnancy aborted the presenting fetus at 19th gestational week. As she decided to carry on, cervical cerclage, tocolysis and antimicrobial prophylaxis were performed. The remaining fetuses survived until 29th gestational week. Prolongation of multiple pregnancies after the abortion of presenting fetuses is a possible approach, which is especially justified in women with a history of infertility.

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: Improved Surgical Results Should Influence Abortion Decision Making

To compare surgical results for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) in two Scandinavian university hospitals and to evaluate the effects of abortions on the clinical profile of CDH in Iceland. A retrospective study including all CDH-cases in Iceland 1983-2002 and children referred to Lund University Hospital 1993-2002. Aborted fetuses with CDH from a nation-wide Icelandic abort-registry were also included. In Iceland, 19 out of 23 children with CDH were diagnosed < 24 hours from delivery, one with associated anomalies. Eight fetuses were diagnosed prenatally and seven of them aborted, three having isolated CDH at autopsy. In Iceland, 15 of 18 children operated on survived surgery (83% operative survival). In Lund 28 children were treated with surgery, 23 of them diagnosed early after birth or prenatally. Four children did not survive surgery (86% operative survival) and 9 (31%) had associated anomalies. All the discharged children treated in Iceland and Lund are alive, 3-22 years postoperatively. CDH is a serious anomaly where morbidity and mortality is directly related to other associated anomalies and pulmonary hypoplasia. However, majority of CDH patients do not have other associated anomalies. In spite of improved surgical results (operative mortality < 20%), a large proportion of pregnancies complicated with CDH are terminated. We conclude that the improved survival rate after corrective surgery must be emphasized when giving information to parents regarding abortion of fetuses with a prenatally diagnosed CDH.

Bovine Immune Response to Inoculation with Neospora caninum Surface Antigen SRS2 Lipopeptides Mimics Immune Response to Infection with Live Parasites

Infection of cattle with Neospora caninum protozoa, the causative agent of bovine protozoal abortion, results in robust cellular and humoral immune responses, particularly CD4(+) T-lymphocyte activation and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) secretion. In the present study, N. caninum SRS2 (NcSRS2) T-lymphocyte-epitope-bearing subunits were incorporated into DNA and peptide preparations to assess CD4(+) cell proliferation and IFN-gamma T-lymphocyte-secretion immune responses in cattle with predetermined major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genotypes. In order to optimize dendritic-cell processing, NcSRS2 DNA vaccine was delivered with granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor and Flt3 ligand adjuvant. The synthesized NcSRS2 peptides were coupled with a palmitic acid molecule (lipopeptide) and delivered with Freund's adjuvant. Cattle vaccinated with NcSRS2 DNA vaccine alone did not induce T-lymphocyte activation or IFN-gamma secretion, whereas subsequent booster inoculation with NcSRS2-lipopeptides induced robust NcSRS2-specific immune responses. Compared to the response in control animals, NcSRS2-lipopeptide-immunized cattle had significantly increased NcSRS2-specific T-lymphocyte proliferation, numbers of IFN-gamma-secreting peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) and IgG2a antibody levels. The findings show that N. caninum NcSRS2 subunits bearing T-lymphocyte epitopes induced cell-mediated immune responses similar to the protective immune responses previously described against live parasite infection, namely T-lymphocyte activation and IFN-gamma secretion. The findings support the investigation of NcSRS2 immunogens for protection against N. caninum-induced fetal infection and abortion in cattle.

Silence between patients and doctors: the issue of self-determination and amniocentesis in Japan

Japan is among the few countries that have passed laws concerning eugenics. Consequently, the practice of selective abortion (abortion of an abnormal foetus) has been publicly debated for the past 35 years. Nevertheless, data show that knowledge in Japan about prenatal diagnosis is anything but common. In my fieldwork (April- June 2006) only 38% of interviewees (13/34) knew or had heard of 'amniocentesis' and 6% knew nothing about it at all. There are many explanations for why people are unaware of prenatal diagnosis. The most crucial factor is that medical doctors do not talk to their patients about it. My interviews with 11 medical doctors revealed that they do not talk about it because they want to respect the principle of patient selfdetermination. In this paper I aim first to introduce and analyse, in the context of Japanese eugenic history and the contemporary notion of the patient-doctor relationship, medical doctors' explanations for not talking to their patients about amniocentesis. Second, I address whether the principle of 'non-intervention' equates to 'self-determination'. Lastly, I suggest possible improvements to the practice of 'self-determination' in Japan.

An interesting case of early pregnancy loss in a mare with persistent endometrial cups

A recent extensive survey of efficiency on Thoroughbred studfarms throughout England revealed overall pregnancy loss rates of around 8% between Days 15 and 40 after ovulation, 4% between Day 40 and the traditional 1st October pregnancy check around Day 150, and a further 2% between October and term (Allen et al. 2007). Possible noninfective causes of the preimplantation Days 15–40 losses include accidental misalignment of chromosomes at the time of fertilisation, failure of maternal recognition of pregnancy, perhaps due to obstruction of embryonic mobility by the presence of endometrial cysts (Bracher et al. 1992), persisting bacterial or fungal endometritis (Asbury and Lyle 1993), or inadequate production of histotroph for nidation of the embryo due to age-related degenerative changes in the endometrial glands (Kenney and Doig 1986). Possible causes of mid-gestation losses between Days 40 and 150 might include lethal karyotypic abnormalities inhibiting embryogenesis and fetal development, a failure of fetomaternal interdigitation and placental development (Allen 1982), or inadequate primary and/or secondary luteal development and function (Squires and Ginther 1975). Excessive torsion of the umbilical cord causing a vascular crisis (Whitwell 1975), or ascending bacterial or fungal placentitis (LeBlanc et al. 2002), are common causes of late stage abortion. A major managemental problem associated with midgestation (i.e. Days 40–150) pregnancy loss is persistence of the equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG)-secreting fetal endometrial cups in the mare’s uterus for their normal 60–100 day lifespan despite the loss of the pregnancy. The continuing high levels of eCG in her blood tend either to prolong and support luteal function in the ovaries and thereby suppress oestrous behaviour and the chance of remating or, in the absence of luteal tissue, may completely suppress follicular and luteal development, thereby creating a type of ‘eCGinduced pregnancy-related’ anoestrus (Allen 2001). Recently, as a consequence of the very high rate of pregnancy loss between Days 40 and 90 of gestation in mares on studfarms in central Kentucky in April/May 2001, following their ingestion of eastern tent caterpillar (ETC) larvae during a plague-like infestation of the grazing land and water troughs (Cohen et al. 2003; Dwyer et al. 2003; Zent 2003; Webb et al. 2004), Steiner et al. (2006) discovered that, following loss of the conceptus after Day 40, the endometrial cups in some mares lived much longer than normal, often for some months after their expected time of degeneration and sloughing from the endometrium around Day 120–140 of gestation. Such persistence of endometrial cup function after pregnancy loss, whether for the normal (60–80 days), or an extended (>100 days) period, usually prevents the affected mare from returning to oestrus and being able to be remated within that same breeding season (Mitchell and Betteridge 1972; Steiner et al. 2006). The present report describes a Thoroughbred mare that spontaneously underwent fetal death and abortion between 71 and 75 days of gestation. Serial blood sampling and ultrasound examinations, and occasional hysteroscopic examinations, for 148 days after abortion revealed abnormal prolongation of the endometrial cups, persistence of eCG in the serum and abnormal activity of the mare’s ovaries.

Evidence that primary infection of Charollais sheep withToxoplasma gondiimay not prevent foetal infection and abortion in subsequent lambings

A study carried out on a sheep farm examined whether Toxoplasma gondii foetal infection and associated abortion occur in successive lambings. We identified 29 ewes that gave birth to lambs on at least 2 successive years over our study period, 2000-2003. Tissue samples from the progeny of these ewes were analysed by PCR to determine infection status with T. gondii. T. gondii-infected lambs were born in 31% of successive pregnancies. T. gondii-positive lambs were aborted in successive pregnancies in 21% of lambings during study period, 2000-2003. The frequency of successive abortions within this flock over the period 1992-2003 was 18%. If a lamb was congenitally infected there was a high risk (69%) that the successive lamb from that ewe would also be congenitally infected. Similarly, if a lamb was aborted there was a high risk (55%) of abortion in the next lamb produced. These data suggest that life-long immunity to T. gondii infections may not always be acquired following an initial infection and raises the question as to whether the mechanisms of T. gondii transmission prior to and during ovine pregnancies are fully understood.

Gonzales, Casey and the Viability Rule

Gonzales v. Carhart upheld a federal ban on intact D&E abortions. The dissenters in Gonzales accused the majority of ignoring the rule that a state may only prohibit abortion of a viable fetus, one capable of life outside the womb. The continuing discord over the viability rule highlights an issue that remains unsettled 34 years after Roe: Why may a state protect the life of a fetus after it reaches viability, but not before? Professor John Hart Ely long ago noted Roe's failure to justify the viability rule, observing that the Court's defense seems to mistake a definition for a syllogism. This article contends that the Supreme Court has still never offered an adequate constitutional rationale for the viability rule, even though, under the reasoning of Casey v. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa., a principled justification is a necessary foundation for judicial legitimacy. The Gonzales decision makes such a principled constitutional justification for the viability rule even harder to envision.

SELECTIVE ABORTION IN BRAZIL: THE ANENCEPHALY CASE

This paper discusses the Brazilian Supreme Court ruling on the case of anencephaly. In Brazil, abortion is a crime against the life of a fetus, and selective abortion of non-viable fetuses is prohibited. Following a paradigmatic case discussed by the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2004, the use of abortion was authorized in the case of a fetus with anencephaly. The objective of this paper is to analyze the ethical arguments of the case, in particular the strategy of avoiding the moral status of the fetus, the cornerstone thesis of the Catholic Church.