Key points
In vivo, uterine perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) potentiates uterine artery blood flow in pregnant rats, although not in non‐pregnant rats.
In isolated preparations, uterine PVAT has ...pro‐contractile and anti‐dilatory effects on uterine arteries.
Pregnancy induces changes in uterine arteries that makes them responsive to uterine PVAT signalling.
An increase in uterine artery blood flow (UtBF) is a common and necessary feature of a healthy pregnancy. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that adipose tissue surrounding uterine arteries (uterine perivascular adipose tissue; PVAT) is a novel local mediator of UtBF and uterine artery tone during pregnancy. In vivo experiments in anaesthetized Sprague–Dawley rats showed that pregnant animals (gestational day 16, term = 22––23 days) had a three‐fold higher UtBF compared to non‐pregnant animals. Surgical removal of uterine PVAT reduced UtBF only in pregnant rats. In a series of ex vivo bioassays, we demonstrated that uterine PVAT had pro‐contractile and anti‐dilatory effects on rat uterine arteries. In the presence of PVAT‐conditioned media, isolated uterine arteries from both pregnant and non‐pregnant rats had reduced vasodilatory responses. In non‐pregnant rats, these responses were mediated at the level of uterine vascular smooth muscle, whereas, in pregnant rats, PVAT‐media reduced endothelium‐dependent relaxation. Pregnancy increased adipocyte size in ovarian adipose tissue but had no effect on uterine PVAT adipocyte morphology. In addition, pregnancy down‐regulated the gene expression of metabolic adipokines in uterine but not in aortic PVAT. In conclusion, this is the first study to demonstrate that uterine PVAT plays a regulatory role in UtBF, at least in part, as a result of its actions on uterine artery tone. We propose that the interaction between the uterine vascular wall and its adjacent adipose tissue may provide new insights for interventions in pregnancies with adipose tissue dysfunction and abnormal UtBF.
Key points
In vivo, uterine perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) potentiates uterine artery blood flow in pregnant rats, although not in non‐pregnant rats.
In isolated preparations, uterine PVAT has pro‐contractile and anti‐dilatory effects on uterine arteries.
Pregnancy induces changes in uterine arteries that makes them responsive to uterine PVAT signalling.
Introduction: Homeless individuals lack resources for primary healthcare and as a result use the emergency department (ED) as a social safety net. Our primary objective in this study was to identify ...the differences between features of visits to United States (US) EDs made by patients without a home and patients who live in a private residence presenting with mental health symptoms or no mental health symptoms at triage.
Methods: Data for this study come from the 2009-2017 National Health and Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of ED visits in the US. We examined differences in waiting time, length of visit, and triage score among homeless patients, and privately housed and nursing home residents. We used logistic regression to determine the odds of receiving a mental health diagnosis. Residence, age, gender, race, urgency, and whether the person was seen in the ED in the previous 72 hours were controlled.
Results: Homeless individuals made up less than 1% of all ED visits during this period. Of these visits, 47.2% resulted in a mental health diagnosis compared to those who live in a private residence. Adjusting for age, race, gender, triage score, and whether the person had been seen in the prior 72 hours, homeless individuals were still six times more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis despite reporting no mental health symptoms compared to individuals who lived in a private residence. Homeless individuals reporting mental health symptoms were two times more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis compared to privately housed and nursing home residents.
Conclusions: Homeless individuals are more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis in the ED whether or not they present with mental health symptoms at triage. This study suggests that homelessness as a status impacts how these individuals receive care in the ED. Community coordination is needed to expand treatment options for individuals experiencing emergent mental health symptoms.
Computer-aided detection of malignant breast tumors in ultrasound images has been receiving growing attention. In this paper, we propose a deep learning methodology to tackle this problem. The ...training data, which contains several hundred images of benign and malignant cases, was used to train a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). Three training approaches are proposed: a baseline approach where the CNN architecture is trained from scratch, a transfer-learning approach where the pre-trained VGG16 CNN architecture is further trained with the ultrasound images, and a fine-tuned learning approach where the deep learning parameters are fine-tuned to overcome overfitting. The experimental results demonstrate that the fine-tuned model had the best performance (0.97 accuracy, 0.98 AUC), with pre-training on US images. Creating pre-trained models using medical imaging data would certainly improve deep learning outcomes in biomedical applications.
Introduction
During pregnancy, uterine artery (UtA) blood flow increases compared to non‐pregnant state, in part due to reductions in uterine artery tone. The main objective of this study was to ...determine the role of adipose tissue surrounding UtA (perivascular adipose tissue, PVAT) in pregnancy‐induced changes in UtA blood flow and vasodilatory capacity. We hypothesized that uterine PVAT augments UtA blood flow and potentiates UtA dilatory responses in pregnant rats. Also, we hypothesized that pregnancy induces distinct changes in uterine PVAT morphology and gene expression as compared to other adipose depots.
Methods
Blood flow and vascular reactivity were measured in UtA in pregnant and non‐pregnant rats using transonic perivascular probes and wire myography techniques, respectively. Reactivity to acetylcholine (ACh: induces endothelium‐dependent relaxation, 10−9 – 3×10−5 M) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP: induces endothelium‐independent relaxation, 10−11 – 3×10−5 M) was measured in isolated UtA in the presence and absence of PVAT‐conditioned media (PVATmedia, 30‐min incubation). Adipocyte size was determined in hematoxylin and eosin‐stained sections of uterine PVAT and ovarian adipose tissue. Gene expression was determined in uterine and periaortic PVAT using qRT‐PCR.
Results
Maximum and minimum uterine artery blood flow (UBF) were increased in UtA with intact PVAT compared to PVAT‐denuded UtA from pregnant rats (UBFmax (mL/min); denuded: 1.47 ± 0.3 vs. intact: 2.23 ± 0.2, p = 0.01; UBFmin (mL/min); denuded: 0.71 ± 0.1 vs. intact: 1.16 ± 0.1, p = 0.0002). Uterine PVAT had no effect on UBF in non‐pregnant rats (p>0.9). UtA from pregnant and non‐pregnant rats incubated with PVATmedia had reduced sensitivity to ACh compared to UtA controls Pregnant, pEC50; −PVATmedia: 7.14 ± 0.1 vs. +PVATmedia: 6.38 ± 0.2, p = 0.0006; Non‐pregnant, pEC50; −PVATmedia: 7.01 ± 0.1 vs. +PVATmedia: 6.50 ± 0.1, p = 0.005). PVATmedia had no effect on UtA sensitivity to SNP in either pregnant (p=0.48) or non‐pregnant rats (p = 0.2). Adipocyte area was greater in ovarian adipose tissue from pregnant compared to nonpregnant rats (Area (μm2/unit cell); Non‐pregnant: 563.6 ± 76.6 vs. Pregnant: 857.6 ± 31.0, p = 0.02) but there were no group differences in uterine PVAT morphology (p = 0.6). Expression of uncoupling protein‐1 (UCP‐1) was downregulated (p = 0.02) in aortic PVAT but was unchanged in uterine PVAT (p = 0.4). Expression of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma (PPAR‐γ), adiponectin receptor (AdipoR1), and leptin were downregulated in uterine PVAT (p ≤ 0.02) but not in aortic PVAT (p ≥ 0.6).
Conclusions
Uterine PVAT plays a regulatory role in uterine artery hemodynamics and reactivity during normal pregnancy and has a distinct and differential gene profile as compared to other perivascular depots. Ongoing studies investigate the effects of pregnancy on cross‐talk between PVAT and maternal uterine arteries.
Support or Funding Information
University of North Texas Health Science Center Pilot Grant
This is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this published in The FASEB Journal.
The main objective of these studies was to characterize metabolic, body composition, and cardiovascular responses to a free-choice high-fat, high-sucrose diet in female cycling and pregnant rats. In ...the nonpregnant state, female Sprague-Dawley rats offered a 3-wk free-choice high-fat, high-sucrose diet had greater energy intake, adiposity, serum leptin, and triglyceride concentrations compared with rats fed with standard chow and developed glucose intolerance. In addition, choice-diet-fed rats had larger cardiac ventricular weights, smaller kidney and pancreas weights, and higher blood pressure than chow-fed rats, but they did not exhibit resistance artery endothelial dysfunction. When the free-choice diet continued throughout pregnancy, rats remained hyperphagic, hyperleptinemic, and obese. Choice pregnant rats exhibited uterine artery endothelial dysfunction and had smaller fetuses compared with chow pregnant rats. Pregnancy normalized mean arterial blood pressure and pancreas weights in choice rats. These studies are the first to provide a comprehensive evaluation of free-choice high-fat, high-sucrose diet on metabolic and cardiovascular functions in female rats, extending the previous studies in males to female cycling and pregnant rodents. Free-choice diet may provide a new model of preconceptual maternal obesity to study the role of increased energy intake, individual food components, and preexisting maternal obesity on maternal and offspring physiological responses during pregnancy and after birth.
A 41-year-old female with a previous history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and polycythemia presented to the emergency department with worsening shortness of breath and cough which ...progressed to respiratory distress requiring mechanical ventilation. During her hospital stay, she developed abdominal distention followed by a fever and a four-point decrease in hemoglobin. A non-contrasted abdominopelvic CT scan was ordered which showed a very large retroperitoneal hematoma adjacent to the right colon with subtle active bleeding. Selective angioembolization of a distal segment of the right colic artery was performed by Interventional Radiology (IR) to achieve hemostasis and hemodynamic stability. Due to the persistent and worsening abdominal distention, a CT scan with contrast was ordered which clearly showed a submucosal hematoma in the region of the right colon extending from the hepatic flexure to the cecum. The hematoma was completely obstructing the proximal and mid ascending colon leading to a large bowel obstruction. Exploration of the abdomen showed severe bowel dilation, and frank ischemia of the hepatic flexure of the colon. Right hemicolectomy with primary ileocolonic anastomosis to evacuate the right retroperitoneal hematoma was subsequently performed. The patient was discharged on post-operative day 16 with no major complications.
The impact of obesity on adipose tissue expansion differs with each adipose depot throughout the body, suggesting that obesity affects adipose tissue in a regional manner. We determined if free ...access to lard, sucrose solution, and chow (choice diet) would result in expansion (i.e. hypertrophy and hyperplasia) of periuterine adipose tissue and development of metabolic syndrome. Sprague-Dawley female rats were divided into 2 weight-matched groups: 1) choice group: free access to chow, sucrose solution, and lard and 2) chow group: rodent chow for 3 weeks. Choice rats had greater visceral adiposity, serum concentrations of triglycerides (30.95 ± 2.48 v. 45.20 ± 3.81 mg/dL) and fasting glucose (121.5 ± 3.9 v. 110 ± 2.4 mg/dL), and higher blood pressure (95.79 ± 1.82 v. 88.55 ± 1.25 mm Hg) compared to chow rats. Adipocyte morphology was assessed in hematoxylin and eosin-stained periuterine adipose tissue sections using NIS Elements software. Cross-sectional area/cell was greater in periuterine adipose tissue from choice compared to chow rats, indicating a hypertrophic response (779.6 ± 47.64 vs. 492.0 ± 27.76 µm²/cell, p = 0.0001). Number of cells/unit area was smaller in periuterine adipose tissue from choice rats, indicating a hypoplastic response (13.9 x 10–5 ± 0.880 x 10–5 vs. 20.4 x 10–5 ± 0.910 x 10–5 cells/µm², p = 0.0001). In conclusion, choice diet induced features of metabolic syndrome and periuterine adipose tissue expansion via hypertrophy in female rats.
A circularly polarized (CP) multi-input multioutput (MIMO) dielectric resonator (DR) antenna (DRA) with compact size and four ports is implemented. CP radiation was achieved using the deformed DR ...geometry excited with aperture coupled feeding. A CPDRA with a single and two ports is investigated. The defected ground structure (DGS) was incorporated into the antenna for improving the isolation between the ports. The DGS was incorporated in such a way that the required phase difference between the generated orthogonal degenerate modes is preserved. This concept could be utilized in implementing a compact four-port CP antenna. The MIMO antenna provides a 10 dB impedance bandwidth of 38% (8.5–12.5 GHz) and a 3 dB AR bandwidth of 9.32% (9.2–10.1 GHz). The gain of the implemented antenna was around 6 dBi in the band where CP radiation was achieved. The MIMO performance parameters were calculated, and their values remained within the acceptable limits. The implemented antenna could suitably be used in X-band applications.
This paper presents a 1 × 4 linear antenna array working at 28 GHz for 5G communication systems. The proposed array employs four rectangular slotted antenna elements fed by a 1 × 4 T-power divider. ...An artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) layer is placed below the array for increasing the radiation intensity and improving overall array gain. The measured impedance bandwidth of the proposed array with (|S11| < −10 dB) is extended from 25.36 to 26.03 GHz (with a bandwidth of 0.67 GHz) and from 26.75 to 28.81 GHz (with a bandwidth of 2.06 GHz). The proposed array design exhibits a measured gain value that varies between 11.8 dBi and 13.1 dBi within the operating bands and reaches 13.1 dBi at 28 GHz. The proposed array achieves a radiation efficiency of 83.05%, and a front-to-back ratio ranging between 15 and 20 dB across the operating frequency band. The array is fabricated and tested with good matching between the simulated and tested outcomes. The improved performance of the array makes it a suitable candidate for 5G new radio (NR) communications.
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