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- Naseh, Nima, et al.
(author)
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Early Hyperglycemia in Very Preterm Infants Is Associated with Reduced White Matter Volume and Worse Cognitive and Motor Outcomes at 2.5 Years
- 2022
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In: Neonatology. - : S. Karger. - 1661-7800 .- 1661-7819. ; 119:6, s. 745-752
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Hyperglycemia in very preterm infants is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We aimed to investigate potential associations between early hyperglycemia, neonatal cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and neurodevelopment at 2.5 years.Methods: The study population included 69 infants with gestational age (GA) 22.3-31.9 weeks (n = 29 with GA <28 weeks), born 2011-2014. Plasma glucose concentrations during the first week were checked according to clinical routines. Hyperglycemia was defined as glucose concentrations above 8.3 mmol/L (150 mg/dL) and above 10 mmol/L (180 mg/dL), respectively, categorized as the highest glucose days 0-2, number of days above 8.3 and 10 mmol/L, and prolonged (yes/no) 2 days or more above 8.3 and 10 mmol/L. The MRI analysis included morphological assessment, regional brain volumes, and assessment of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) developed in 13 of 67 infants with available outcomes, of which 57 were assessed with the Bayley-III. Univariate and multiple linear and logistic regressions were performed with adjustments for GA, birth weight z-scores, and illness severity expressed as days on mechanical ventilation.Results: Hyperglycemia above 8.3 mmol/L and 10 mmol/L was present in 47.8% and 31.9% of the infants. Hyperglycemia correlated independently with lower white matter volume, but not with other regional brain volumes, and was also associated with lower ADC values in white matter. Hyperglycemia also correlated with lower Bayley-III cognitive and motor scores in infants with GA <28 weeks, but there was no significant effect on NDI.Conclusion: Early hyperglycemia is associated with white matter injury and poorer neurodevelopment in very preterm infants.
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- Neves, Sofia, et al.
(author)
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Occupational second-hand smoke exposure : A comparative shotgun proteomics study on nasal epithelia from healthy restaurant workers
- 2024
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In: Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology. - 1382-6689. ; 108
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke (SHS) present risk of developing tobacco smoke-associated pathologies. To investigate the airway molecular response to SHS exposure that could be used in health risk assessment, comparative shotgun proteomics was performed on nasal epithelium from a group of healthy restaurant workers, non-smokers (never and former) exposed and not exposed to SHS in the workplace. HIF1α-glycolytic targets (GAPDH, TPI) and proteins related to xenobiotic metabolism, cell proliferation and differentiation leading to cancer (ADH1C, TUBB4B, EEF2) showed significant modulation in non-smokers exposed. In never smokers exposed, enrichment of glutathione metabolism pathway and EEF2-regulating protein synthesis in genotoxic response were increased, while in former smokers exposed, proteins (LYZ, ATP1A1, SERPINB3) associated with tissue damage/regeneration, apoptosis inhibition and inflammation that may lead to asthma, COPD or cancer, were upregulated. The identified proteins are potential response and susceptibility/risk biomarkers for SHS exposure.
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- Vaz, Tania F., et al.
(author)
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Brain Extraction Methods in Neonatal Brain MRI and Their Effects on Intracranial Volumes
- 2024
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In: Applied Sciences. - : MDPI. - 2076-3417. ; 14:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in assessing early brain development and injury in neonates. When using an automated volumetric analysis, brain tissue segmentation is necessary, preceded by brain extraction (BE) to remove non-brain tissue. BE remains challenging in neonatal brain MRI, and despite the existence of several methods, manual segmentation is still considered the gold standard. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess different BE methods in the MRI of preterm neonates and their effects on the estimation of intracranial volumes (ICVs). This study included twenty-two premature neonates (mean gestational age ± standard deviation: 28.4 ± 2.1 weeks) with MRI brain scans acquired at term, without detectable lesions or congenital conditions. Manual segmentation was performed for T2-weighted scans to establish reference brain masks. Four automated BE methods were used: Brain Extraction Tool (BET2); Simple Watershed Scalping (SWS); HD Brain Extraction Tool (HD-BET); and SynthStrip. Regarding segmentation metrics, HD-BET outperformed the other methods with median improvements of +0.031 (BET2), +0.002 (SWS), and +0.011 (SynthStrip) points for the dice coefficient; and −0.786 (BET2), −0.055 (SWS), and −0.124 (SynthStrip) mm for the mean surface distance. Regarding ICVs, SWS and HD-BET provided acceptable levels of agreement with manual segmentation, with mean differences of −1.42% and 2.59%, respectively.
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