The results provide the examiner with normal ranges for fetal cardiac structures for the early transvaginal examination. The continuity of all curves from 14 to 40 weeks of gestation allows follow-up of any specific fetus to term.

No abstract

Maternal serum first-trimester PP13 appears to be a reasonable marker for risk assessment for preterm preeclampsia but a weak marker for severe preeclampsia at term, and ineffective for identifying mild preeclampsia at term.

The proliferative capacity of spleen cells from C57BL/6J female mice of various ages (3-28 months) to the polyclonal mitogens concanavalin A (Con A) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was examined. It was found that both the T and B cell population of the spleen demonstrate an age-related decrease in their capacity to respond in vitro. Peak responses to both mitogens occurs at about 1 year of age. This age-related reduction in response is expressed in the degree of incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA, the total number of cells generated in vitro, the number of labeled cells per culture and the number of blast cells per culture. The day of peak response in vitro does not change with age. Studies of the cell cycle of cells responding to Con A and to LPS from 12 and 28-month-old mice demonstrate that the generation time of individual proliferating cells does not alter with age. Nor does it differ for the B cells responding to LPS or the T cells responding to Con A. These studies also demonstrate that the proliferating cells from senescent mice are equally capable of repeated cell divisions as are the cells from the 1-year-old adult mouse. It is concluded that the defect in senescent mice which leads to a reduced in vitro response to the polyclonal mitogens LPS and Con A is a reduction in the number of responding cells and not an alteration in the capacity of those cells which do respond to divide.

The incidence of congenital toxoplasmosis in Israel is largely unknown, as is the impact of this condition on the neurological diseases of childhood. We examined the association between toxoplasmosis and three neurological disorders: epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and nerve deafness. Ninety-five children 1-15 years of age who had one of these three diagnoses but who had not had perinatal meningitis or anoxia and had no genetic predisposition for the documented neurological disorder were eligible for the study; 109 children hospitalized for elective surgery served as age-matched controls. Demographic and serological data were analyzed by logistic regression. The prevalences of serum antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in the study and control groups were 22% and 9%, respectively. Children with one of the three neurological disorders were significantly more likely to have IgG antibodies to T. gondii (relative risk, 2.5; P = .03). The relative risk of seropositivity was remarkably high (7.1) among children with nerve deafness (P = .01). Large-scale prospective cohort studies of pregnant women are needed to substantiate the impact of congenital toxoplasmosis on the neurological diseases of childhood in Israel.