scholarly journals Changes in Facial Shape throughout Pregnancy—A Computational Exploratory Approach

Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1944
Author(s):  
Urszula Maria Marcinkowska ◽  
Anna Ziomkiewicz-Wichary ◽  
Natalia Nowak-Szczepanska ◽  
Danuta Kornafel ◽  
Sławomir Kozieł ◽  
...  

Facial cognition serves an important role in human daily interactions. It has been suggested that facial shape can serve as a signal for underlining biological condition, and that it is correlated with, among others, health, fertility, and attractiveness. In this study, 14 women were photographed during three consecutive trimesters of pregnancy, and the levels of their facial sexual dimorphism, asymmetry, and averageness were computed. Facial sexual dimorphism in first trimester was higher than in the second trimester (F(2, 22) = 5.77; p = 0.01; ηp2 = 0.34, post-hoc Tukey HSD test p = 0.007). Similar pattern was visible for asymmetry (F(2, 22) = 3.67; p = 0.04; ηp2 = 0.25, post-hoc Tukey HSD test p = 0.05). No statistically significant changes in measurement of averageness were observed. Results from Bayesian complementary analyses confirmed the observed effects for sexual dimorphism. The evidence for trimester differences in asymmetry and averageness was inconsequential. Based on the preliminary results of this exploratory study, we suggest that previously found decrease in observed facial attractiveness during pregnancy can be related to the decrease in computed facial femininity (possibly mediated by the changes in facial adiposity).

Diabetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 95-OR
Author(s):  
CÉCILIA LÉGARÉ ◽  
VÉRONIQUE DESGAGNÉ ◽  
FRÉDÉRIQUE WHITE ◽  
MICHELLE S. SCOTT ◽  
PATRICE PERRON ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuyao Jin ◽  
Lizi Lin ◽  
Na Han ◽  
Zhiling Zhao ◽  
Zheng Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background To assess the association between plasma retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) levels both in the first trimester and second trimester and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods Plasma RBP4 levels and insulin were measured among 135 GDM cases and 135 controls nested within the Peking University Birth Cohort in Tongzhou. Multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to assess the influence of RBP4 levels on insulin resistance. Conditional logistic regression models were used to compute the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) between RBP4 levels and risk of GDM. Results The GDM cases had significantly higher levels of RBP4 in the first trimester than controls (medians: 18.0 μg/L vs 14.4 μg/L; P < 0.05). Plasma RBP4 concentrations in the first and second trimester were associated with fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) in the second trimester (all P < 0.001). With adjustment for diet, physical activity, and other risk factors for GDM, the risk of GDM increased with every 1-log μg/L increment of RBP4 levels, and the OR (95% CI) was 3.12 (1.08–9.04) for RBP4 in the first trimester and 3.38 (1.03–11.08) for RBP4 in the second trimester. Conclusions Plasma RBP4 levels both in the first trimester and second trimester were dose-dependently associated with increased risk of GDM.


Author(s):  
Diana Massalska ◽  
Katarzyna Ozdarska ◽  
Tomasz Roszkowski ◽  
Julia Bijok ◽  
Anna Kucińska-Chahwan ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose To establish the distribution of diandric and digynic triploidy depending on gestational age. Methods 107 triploid samples tested prospectively in a single genetic department during a four-year period were analyzed for parental origin of triploidy by Quantitative Fluorescent Polymerase Chain Reaction (QF-PCR) (n=95) with the use of matching parental samples or by MS-MLPA (n=12), when parental samples were unavailable. Tested pregnancies were divided into three subgroups with regard to the gestational age at spontaneous pregnancy loss: <11 gestational weeks, 11–14 gestational weeks, and >14 gestational weeks. Results Diandric triploidy constituted overall 44.9% (46.5% in samples miscarried <11 gestational weeks, 64.3% in samples miscarried between 11 and 14 gestational weeks, and 27.8% in pregnancies which survived >14 gestational weeks). Conclusions The distribution of diandric and digynic triploidy depends on gestational age. The majority of diandric triploid pregnancies is lost in the first trimester of pregnancy. In the second trimester, diandric cases are at least twice less frequent than digynic ones.


2010 ◽  
Vol 134 (11) ◽  
pp. 1685-1691
Author(s):  
Glenn E. Palomaki ◽  
George J. Knight ◽  
Geralyn Lambert-Messerlian ◽  
Jacob A. Canick ◽  
James E. Haddow

Abstract Context.—We initiated a voluntary, self-funded interlaboratory comparison program in the fall of 2005 because no proficiency testing program was available to laboratories in North America offering first-trimester, combined serum and ultrasound, Down syndrome screening. Objectives.—To evaluate the first 4 years of the interlaboratory comparison program against stated goals, to identify areas of concern, and to create new initiatives as indicated. Design.—Five serum samples are distributed 3 times a year to be tested for pregnancy-associated plasma protein A, human chorionic gonadotropin or its β subunit, and dimeric inhibin-A; participants convert these results into multiples of the median. Patient histories include nuchal translucency information that enables the calculation of the risk of Down syndrome. Also included are educational components linked to interlaboratory comparison program results. Assessment of integrated (first- and second-trimester markers) risks is accomplished by having participants combine interlaboratory comparison program results with their results from a second-trimester proficiency testing program administered by the College of American Pathologists. Results.—The precision profile for pregnancy-associated plasma protein A shows decreasing coefficients of variation with increasing pregnancy-associated plasma protein A concentrations and multiples of the median (25% to 11% and 30% to 15%, respectively). In contrast, coefficients of variation are a relatively constant 12% throughout the entire range of human chorionic gonadotropin results. On a logarithmic scale, the median coefficient of variation of the risk of Down syndrome is 9%. Conclusions.—Participants in the interlaboratory comparison program reliably measure analytes, compute multiples of the median, and calculate consistent Down syndrome risks. Assays for the measurement of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A are not standardized and are less precise than those for human chorionic gonadotropin. Participants calculate reliable median equations given sonographer-specific sets of paired crown-rump length and nuchal translucency measurements.


Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1568 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Simmons ◽  
Roland Devlieger ◽  
Andre van Assche ◽  
Sander Galjaard ◽  
Rosa Corcoy ◽  
...  

Excess gestational weight gain (GWG) is associated with the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Lifestyle trials have not achieved much GWG limitation, and have largely failed to prevent GDM. We compared the effect of substantial GWG limitation on maternal GDM risk. Pregnant women with a body mass index (BMI) ≥29 kg/m2 <20 weeks gestation without GDM (n = 436) were randomized, in a multicenter trial, to usual care (UC), healthy eating (HE), physical activity (PA), or HE and PA lifestyle interventions. GWG over the median was associated with higher homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and insulin secretion (Stumvoll phases 1 and 2), a higher fasting plasma glucose (FPG) at 24–28 weeks (4.66 ± 0.43 vs. 4.61 ± 0.40 mmol/L, p < 0.01), and a higher rate of caesarean section (38% vs. 27% p < 0.05). The GWG over the median at 35–37 weeks was associated with a higher rate of macrosomia (25% vs. 16%, p < 0.05). A post hoc comparison among women from the five sites with a GWG difference >3 kg showed no significance difference in glycaemia or insulin resistance between HE and PA, and UC. We conclude that preventing even substantial increases in GWG after the first trimester has little effect on maternal glycaemia. We recommend randomized controlled trials of effective lifestyle interventions, starting in or before the first trimester.


2020 ◽  
pp. 205064062096461
Author(s):  
Ana-Marija Grišić ◽  
Maria Dorn-Rasmussen ◽  
Bella Ungar ◽  
Jørn Brynskov ◽  
Johan F K F Ilvemark ◽  
...  

Background Infliximab therapy during pregnancy in inflammatory bowel disease is challenged by a dilemma between maintaining adequate maternal disease control while minimizing fetal infliximab exposure. We investigated the effects of pregnancy on infliximab pharmacokinetics. Methods The study population comprised 23 retrospectively identified pregnancies. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease were generally in clinical remission at pregnancy conception (74%) and received steady infliximab maintenance therapy (5 mg/kg q8w n = 17; q6w n = 4; q10w n = 1; 10 mg/kg q8w n = 1). Trough blood samples had been obtained in the same patients prior to pregnancy ( n = 119), the first trimester ( n = 16), second trimester ( n = 18), third trimester ( n = 7), and post-pregnancy ( n = 12). Data were analyzed using nonlinear mixed-effects population pharmacokinetic modelling. Results Dose-normalized infliximab concentrations were significantly higher during the second trimester (median 15 µg/mL/kg, interquartile range 10–21) compared to pre-pregnancy (7, 2–12; p = 0.003), the first trimester (9, 1–12; p = 0.04), or post-pregnancy (6, interquartile range 3–11; p > 0.05) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Similar trends were observed in the third trimester (13, 7–36; p > 0.05). A one-compartment model with linear elimination described the pharmacokinetics of infliximab (volume of distribution = 18.2 L; clearance 0.61 L/day). Maternal infliximab exposure was influenced by the second and third trimester of pregnancy and anti-infliximab antibodies, and not by pregnancy-imposed physiological changes in, for example, body weight or albumin. Infliximab clearance decreased significantly during the second and third trimesters by up to 15% as compared to pre- and post-pregnancy and the first trimester. The increased maternal infliximab exposure was weakly associated with lowered clinical disease activity. Pharmacokinetic model simulations of virtual patients indicated the increased maternal infliximab trough concentrations imposed by pregnancy will not completely counteract the decrease in infliximab concentration if therapy is paused in the third trimester. Conclusion Infliximab clearance decreases significantly in the second and third trimesters, leading to increasing maternal infliximab concentrations in any given regimen. Maternal infliximab levels may thus be maintained as constant in a de-intensified regimen by therapeutic drug monitoring guidance in inflammatory bowel disease.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document