Cuscuta species are obligate parasitic plants that infect the stems of a wide range of hosts including many crop and weed species causing severe agricultural problems. Using in vitro experiments to screen organic extracts prepared from fifteen autotrophic weed species found in agricultural fields infested with Cuscuta campestris, we have identified for the first time a strong phytotoxic activity in Conyza bonariensis extract against C. campestris. Additional pot experiments revealed that seven day-old Cuscuta seedlings had reduced capacity to coil and properly attach on Conyza plants, leading to reduced parasitic weed infection. Via activity-guided fractionation of Conyza extracts, we isolated and identified the acetylenic furanone (4Z)-lachnophyllum lactone as the major active component, with a concentration required to achieve reduction of 50% Cuscuta seedling growth (IC50) of 24.8 µg/mL. The discovery of (4Z)-lachnophyllum lactone bioactivity could aid the development of efficient and sustainable management strategies for C. campestris, whose control is limited or non-existent.

Objective To estimate the risk of miscarriage associated with chorionic villus sampling (CVS). Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of women attending for routine ultrasound examination at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks' gestation at one of eight fetal‐medicine units in Spain, Belgium and Bulgaria, between July 2007 and June 2018. Two populations were included: (1) all singleton pregnancies undergoing first‐trimester assessment at Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca in Murcia, Spain, that did not have CVS (non‐CVS group); and (2) all singleton pregnancies that underwent CVS following first‐trimester assessment at one of the eight participating centers (CVS group). We excluded pregnancies diagnosed with genetic anomalies or major fetal defects before or after birth, those that resulted in termination and those that underwent amniocentesis later in pregnancy. We used propensity score (PS) matching analysis to estimate the association between CVS and miscarriage. We compared the risk of miscarriage of the CVS and non‐CVS groups after PS matching (1:1 ratio). This procedure creates two comparable groups balancing the maternal and pregnancy characteristics that are associated with CVS, in a similar way to that in which randomization operates in a randomized clinical trial. Results The study population consisted of 22 250 pregnancies in the non‐CVS group and 3613 in the CVS group. The incidence of miscarriage in the CVS group (2.1%; 77/3613) was significantly higher than that in the non‐CVS group (0.9% (207/22 250); P < 0.0001). The PS algorithm matched 2122 CVS with 2122 non‐CVS cases, of which 40 (1.9%) and 55 (2.6%) pregnancies in the CVS and non‐CVS groups, respectively, resulted in a miscarriage (odds ratio (OR), 0.72 (95% CI, 0.48–1.10); P = 0.146). We found a significant interaction between the risk of miscarriage following CVS and the risk of aneuploidy, suggesting that the effect of CVS on the risk of miscarriage differs depending on background characteristics. Specifically, when the risk of aneuploidy is low, the risk of miscarriage after CVS increases (OR, 2.87 (95% CI, 1.13–7.30)) and when the aneuploidy risk is high, the risk of miscarriage after CVS is paradoxically reduced (OR, 0.47 (95% CI, 0.28–0.76)), presumably owing to prenatal diagnosis and termination of pregnancies with major aneuploidies that would otherwise have resulted in spontaneous miscarriage. For example, in a patient in whom the risk of aneuploidy is 1 in 1000 (0.1%), the risk of miscarriage after CVS will increase to 0.3% (0.2 percentage points higher). Conclusions The risk of miscarriage in women undergoing CVS is about 1% higher than that in women who do not have CVS, although this excess risk is not solely attributed to the invasive procedure but, to some extent, to the demographic and pregnancy characteristics of the patients. After accounting for these risk factors and confining the analysis to low‐risk pregnancies, CVS seems to increase the risk of miscarriage by about three times above the patient's bac...

Among pregnancies exhibiting TTTS, laser surgery was associated with significant dual-fetus survival. Preoperative ductus venosus anomalies were associated with lower survival among recipient fetuses, and 1-week postsurgical ultrasonography data demonstrated lower survival among recipient fetuses with persistent anomalous ductus venosus compared with normalized ductus venosus.

Clinical exome sequencing is a powerful approach to overcome the wide clinical and genetic heterogeneity of mucopolysaccharidosis. These data could be useful for prenatal diagnosis of MPS VII, genetic counseling, and preimplantation genetic testing.

Objectives. To compare the effectiveness of postcesarean thromboprophylaxis with two different regimens of bemiparin. Material and Methods. The study included 646 women with cesarean delivery in our hospital within a 1-year period, randomly assigned to one of two groups for prophylaxis with 3500 IU bemiparin once daily for 5 days or 3500 IU bemiparin once daily for 10 days. Results. There was one case of pulmonary embolism (first day following cesarean). An additional risk factor was present in 98.52% of the women, most frequently emergency cesarean, anemia, or obesity. The only risk factors for thromboembolic disease significantly related to pulmonary thromboembolism were placental abruption and prematurity. There were no differences in thromboembolic events among the two thromboprophylaxis regimens. Conclusions. Cesarean-related thromboembolic events were reduced in our study population due to the thromboprophylactic measures taken. Thromboprophylaxis with 3500 IU bemiparin once daily for 5 days following cesarean was sufficient to avoid thromboembolic events.