Suchergebnisse

Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and premature birth are associated with higher risk of cardiovascular diseases throughout adulthood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of these factors in ventricular electrical remodeling in preadolescents. Electrocardiography was performed in a cohort of 33-IUGR, 32-preterm with appropriate weight and 60 controls. Depolarization and repolarization processes were studied by means of the surface ECG, including loops and angles corresponding to QRS and T-waves. The angles between the dominant vector of QRS and the frontal plane XY were different among the study groups: controls [20.03°(10.11°-28.64°)], preterm [25.48°(19.79°-33.56°)], and IUGR [27.77°(16.59°-33.23°)]. When compared to controls, IUGR subjects also presented wider angles between the difference of QRS and T-wave dominant vectors and the XY-plane [5.28° ± 12.15° vs 0.49° ± 14.15°, p < 0.05] while preterm ones showed smaller frontal QRS-T angle [4.68°(2.20°-12.89°) vs 6.57°(2.72°-11.31°), p < 0.05]. Thus, electrical remodeling is present in IUGR and preterm preadolescents, and might predispose them to cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. Follow-up studies are warranted. ; N. Ortigosa acknowledges the support from Generalitat Valenciana under grants PrometeoII/2013/013, ACOMP/2015/186, and MINECO under grant MTM2013-43540-P. This project has also been partially funded by TEC2013-42140-R and TIN2014-53567-R from CICYT, by Grupo Consolidado BSICoS from DGA (Aragón) and European Social Fund, the Erasmus + Program of the European Union (Framework Agreement number: 2013-0040), the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, the Bergesen foundation and grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant numbers PI12/00801 and PI14/00226), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant number SAF2012-37196), cofinanced by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional de la Unión Europea "Una manera de hacer Europa", Fundación Mutua Madrileña, Obra Social La Caixa (Spain), Cerebra Foundation for the Brain Injured Child (Carmarthen, Wales, UK), and the European Commission (VP2HF no.611823). This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The computation was performed by the ICTS 0707NANBIOSIS, by the High Performance Computing Unit of the CIBER in Bioengineering, Biomaterials & Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) at the University of Zaragoza.

Objective: To identify the presence of different cardiac phenotypes among FGR. Study Design: Fetal echocardiography was performed in 126 FGR (defined as birth weight <10th centile) and 64 adequate for gestational age (AGA). Principal component and cluster analyses were performed to identify different cardiac phenotypes among FGR cases. Results: Three different cardiac phenotypes were identified within FGR: globular, elongated and hypertrophic. Most FGR cases (54%) were characterized by a 'globular' heart with the lowest left ventricular sphericity index (controls: median 1.78 (interquartile range 1.62-1.97), FGR-elongated: 1.92 (1.78-2.09), FGR-globular 1.44 (1.36-1.52) and FGR-hypertrophic 1.65 (1.42-1.77), P=0.001), while 29% of the cases showed an 'elongated' left ventricle with nearly normal cardiac dimensions. Finally, 17% of the FGR showed a 'hypertrophic' phenotype with the highest values in left ventricular wall thickness (controls: 1.22 mm/kg (1.1-1.67), FGR-elongated: 1.52 (1.28-1.86), FGR-globular 1.65 (1.39-1.99) and FGR-hypertrophic 3.68 (3.45-4.71), P=0.001) and cardiac dimensions. The globular and elongated phenotype showed fetoplacental profile of late-onset FGR while the hypertrophic phenotype showed signs of early-onset FGR The hypertrophic cluster also showed the worst perinatal results presenting the lowest birthweight centile, gestational age at birth, Apgar score, and the highest postnatal blood pressure and carotid intima media thickness. Conclusions: FGR induces at least 3 different cardiac phenotypes, with early-onset FGR cases associated with a hypertrophic response and worse perinatal outcomes. This cardiac phenotypic classification may improve identification of those FGR cases with the highest perinatal and long-term cardiovascular risk. ; This work was supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (grant number 2013‐0040) (this publication reflects the views of only the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein); Instituto de Salud Carlos III and Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (grant numbers PI12/00801, PI14/00226, SAF2012‐37196 and TIN2014‐52923‐R), cofinanciado por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional de la Unión Europea 'Una manera de hacer Europa'. The research leading to these results has received funding from 'la Caixa' Foundation, Cerebra Foundation for the Brain Injured Child and Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (grant number SGR_928). B.V.A. was supported by Programa de Ayudas Postdoctorales from Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (grant number: 2013FI_B 00667) and wishes to express her gratitude to the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT, Mexico City, Mexico) for partially supporting her predoctoral stay at Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain.

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) affects 5% to 10% of newborns and is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in adulthood. We evaluated whether prenatal cardiovascular changes previously demonstrated in FGR persist into preadolescence. A cohort study of 58 FGR (defined as birth weight below 10th centile) and 94 normally grown fetuses identified in utero and followed-up into preadolescence (8–12 years of age) by echocardiography and 3-dimensional shape computational analysis. Compared with controls, FGR preadolescents had a different cardiac shape, with more spherical and smaller hearts. Left ventricular ejection fraction was similar among groups, whereas FGR had decreased longitudinal motion (decreased mitral annular systolic peak velocities: control median, 0.11 m/s [interquartile range, 0.09–0.12] versus FGR median 0.09 m/s [interquartile range, 0.09–0.10]; P<0.01) and impaired relaxation (isovolumic relaxation time: control, 0.21 ms [interquartile range, 0.12–0.35] versus FGR, 0.35 ms [interquartile range, 0.20–0.46]; P=0.04). Global longitudinal strain was decreased (control mean, −22.4% [SD, 1.37] versus FGR mean, −21.5% [SD, 1.16]; P<0.001) compensated by an increased circumferential strain and with a higher prevalence of postsystolic shortening in FGR as compared with controls. These differences persisted after adjustment for parental ethnicity and smoking, prenatal glucocorticoid administration, preeclampsia, gestational age at delivery, days in intensive care unit, sex, age, and body surface area at evaluation. ; This work was partially supported by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union (framework agreement number: 2013-0040), the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, the Bergesen foundation, and grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant numbers PI12/00801 and PI14/00226) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant numbers SAF2012-37196 and TIN2014-52923-R); cofinanced by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional de la Unión Europea "Una manera de hacer Europa" (FEDER), Fundación Mutua Madrileña, Obra Social La Caixa (Spain), Cerebra Foundation for the Brain Injured Child (Carmarthen, Wales, UK), and the EU FP7 for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement VP2HF (no 611823).

Despite their clear lesser vulnerability to COVID-19, the extent by which children are susceptible to getting infected by SARS-CoV-2 and their capacity to transmit the infection to other people remains inadequately characterized. We aimed to evaluate the role of school reopening and the preventive strategies in place at schools in terms of overall risk for children and community transmission, by comparing transmission rates in children as detected by a COVID-19 surveillance platform in place in Catalonian Schools to the incidence at the community level. ; : Funding The components of the analysis drawn from the different KIDS Corona platform have been funded by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Banco Santander and other private donors of Kidscorona. We also acknowledge funding from La Caixa Foundation (ID 100010434), under agreement LCF/PR/GN17/50300003; and funding from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades and FEDER, with the project PGC2018-095456-B-I00. This work has been also partially funded by the European Commission - DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology through the contract LC-01485746. ISGlobal receives support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the "Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019-2023" Program (CEX2018-000806-S), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. CISM is supported by the Government of Mozambique and the Spanish Agency for International Development (AECID). NB is supported by an FPU predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Universities (FPU18/04260). BB is a Beatriu de Pino´s postdoctoral fellow granted by the Government of Catalonia's Secretariat for Universities and Research, and by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions COFUND Programme (BP3, 801370). Role of the funding source The funders had no role in the interpretation of the data or in the writing up of the manuscript. ; Postprint (published version)