OBJECTIVES. This descriptive study was performed to evaluate the capability of a non-invasive transabdominal electrocardiographic system to extract clear fetal electrocardiographic (FECG) measurements from intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) fetuses and to assess whether abdominal FECG parameters can be developed as markers for evaluating the fetal cardiac status in IUGR. METHODS. Transabdominal FECG was attempted in 20 controls and 15 IUGR singleton pregnancies at 20+0-33+6 weeks gestation. Standard ECG parameters were compared between the study groups and evaluated for their correlation. Accuracy for the prediction of IUGR in cut off values of the different fetal electrocardiographic parameters was also determined. RESULTS. Clear P-QRST complexes were recognized in all cases. In the IUGR fetuses, the QT and QTc intervals were significantly prolonged (p = 0.017 and p = 0.002, respectively). There was no correlation between ECG parameters and Doppler or other indices to predict IUGR. The generation of cut off values for detecting IUGR showed increasing sensitivities but decreasing specificities with the prolongation of ECG parameters. CONCLUSION. The study of electrocardiophysiology is now feasible through a non-invasive transabdominal route. This study confirms the potential of FECG as a potential clinical screening tool to aid diagnosis and management of fetuses after key limitations are addressed. In the case of IUGR, both QT and QTc intervals were significantly prolonged and thus validate earlier study findings where both these parameters are found to be markers of diastolic dysfunction. This research is a useful prelude to a test of accuracy and Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) study.

This study compared the diagnostic performance of different ultrasound-based models in discriminating between benign and malignant ovarian masses in a Filipino population. This was a prospective cohort study in women with findings of an ovarian mass on ultrasound. All included patients underwent a physical examination before level III specialist ultrasonographic and Doppler evaluation using the different International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) Group’s risk models. Serum CA-125 and a second-generation multivariate index assay (MIA2G) were also determined for all patients. The ovarian imaging and biomarker results were correlated with the histological findings. A total of 260 patients with completed ultrasound, CA-125, MIA2G, and histopathologic results was included in the study. The presence of papillae with blood flow and irregular cyst walls during the ultrasound were significantly associated with a 20-fold (OR: 20.13, CI: 8.69–46.67, p < 0.01) and 10-fold (OR: 10.11, CI: 5.30–19.28, p < 0.01) increase in the likelihood of a malignant lesion, respectively. All individual sonologic procedures performed well in discerning malignant and benign ovarian lesions. IOTA-LR1 showed the highest accuracy (82.6%, 95% CI: 77.5–87%) for identifying ovarian cancer. IOTA-ADNEX showed the highest sensitivity (93.3%, 95% CI: 87.2–97.1%) while IOTA-LR2 exhibited the highest specificity (84.4%, 95% CI: 77.3–90%). Among the different serial test combinations, IOTA-LR1 with MIA2G and IOTA-LR2 with MIA2G showed the highest diagnostic accuracy (AUROC = 0.82). This study showed that all individual ultrasound-based models performed well in discerning malignant and benign ovarian lesions, with IOTA-LR1 exhibiting the highest accuracy.

HPV infection is one of the most studied risk factors in cervical cancer—the second most common cancer site and cause of death due to cancer in the Philippines. However, there is a lack of population-based epidemiological data on cervical HPV infection in the Philippines. Local reports on co-infections with other lower genital tract pathogens, commonly reported globally, are also lacking, which emphasizes the need to increase efforts in targeting HPV prevalence, genotype, and distribution. Hence, we aim to determine the molecular epidemiology and natural history of HPV infection among reproductive-age Filipino women using a community-based prospective cohort design. Women from rural and urban centers will be screened until the target sample size of 110 HPV-positive women (55 from rural sites and 55 from urban sites) is reached. Cervical and vaginal swabs will be collected from all screened participants. For HPV-positive patients, HPV genotypes will be determined. One hundred ten healthy controls will be selected from previously screened volunteers. The cases and controls will comprise the multi-omics subset of participants and will be followed up after 6 and 12 months for repeat HPV screening. Metagenomic and metabolomic analyses of the vaginal swabs will also be performed at baseline, after 6 months, and after 12 months. The results of this study will update the prevalence and genotypic distribution of cervical HPV infection among Filipino women, determine whether the current vaccines used for HPV vaccination programs capture the most prevalent high-risk HPV genotypes in the country, and identify vaginal community state types and bacterial taxa associated with the natural history of cervical HPV infection. The results of this study will be used as the basis for developing a biomarker that can help predict the risk of developing persistent cervical HPV infection in Filipino women.

Background/Objective: To investigate the neurodevelopmental response in postnatal mice secondary to antenatal steroid treatment in association with maternal protein restriction. Methods: C57BL/6N pregnant mice (n = 24; 4 per treatment group) were administered control (C) or protein-restricted (PR) diets and subjected to daily subcutaneous injection stress during late gestation (E10–E17) with either 100 µl/kg of dexamethasone sodium phosphate in normosaline (C-D/S, PR-D/S) or normosaline alone (C-S, PR-S). Non-treatment groups were also included (C, PR). Brain samples of pups were collected on postnatal day 7 and analyzed by immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR. Results: Neonatal weights in the treatment groups were smaller than their counterparts in the C group, but there were no significant differences in brain size. Immunohistochemical evaluation of neuroglial cells revealed a pronounced effect of protein restriction on oligodendrocytes and oligodendrocyte precursor cells with distinct fetal responses to stress and dexamethasone. Further evaluation using quantitative RNA analysis showed significant activation of Galr1, Galr2, Igfbp-1, Igfbp-3, Igfbp-6, and Fgf2 by 1- to 2.5-fold in the PR-D/S group and by much higher increments, 1- to 10.5-fold, in the PR-S group. Conclusion: This preliminary investigation revealed the possible role of dexamethasone in further increasing vulnerability to cell damage in injury-prone neuroglial cells. The distribution of key glial markers and the overexpression of several neurotrophic factors depicted ongoing cellular adaptation.