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The fate and distribution of environmental contaminants includes bioaccumulation within marine organisms. A deceased 4-m long adult female bluntnose sixgill shark, pregnant with 72 pups, was recovered from Coles Bay on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada in 2019. This specimen provided a unique opportunity to examine maternal transfer of contaminants in a yolk-sac viviparous shark species. Liver subsamples of the adult and offspring were analyzed for 18 targeted inorganic elements by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and 21 targeted perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-Orbitrap MS). The maternal-offspring transfer efficiencies in liver tissue were subsequently examined for both contaminant classes. Concentrations of all detectable metals apart from calcium and magnesium were found to be higher in the mother compared to the offspring, including substantial levels of toxic cadmium (6 ± 2 mg kg dw) and lead (7 ± 3 mg kg dw). Conversely, high maternal transfer efficiencies were observed for PFAS (i.e., ΣPFAS = 71 ± 9 ng g ww in offspring compared to 13 ± 9 ng g ww in the mother). This study highlighted the unique maternal transfer characteristics of PFAS in bluntnose sixgill sharks depending on the structure of the polar head group, with greater liver-to-liver transfer efficiencies observed for perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) than perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSAs) of the same fluorocarbon chain length.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142315 | DOI Listing |
Crit Care Sci
September 2025
Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory, Brazilian Center for Research on Energy and Materials - Campinas (SP), Brazil.
Objective: To develop a score (Palineo score) to identify the palliative care needs of newborn patients admitted to a Brazilian neonatal intensive care unit of a tertiary maternity hospital that serves as a reference center for high-risk pregnancies, ensuring timely follow-up by a specialist.
Methods: Patients were assessed by three specialists using a questionnaire that included the same clinical elements as those used for the Palineo score but did not assign scores to the criteria. The score was determined by the consensus reached by the specialists.
J Assist Reprod Genet
September 2025
Bahçeci Fulya IVF Center, Infertility Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey.
Purpose: To assess the intra-individual variability of serum progesterone (P) levels on embryo transfer (ET) day, when the same dose of intramuscular progesterone (IM-P) was used in two consecutive hormone replacement therapy (HRT) frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles.
Methods: A total of 75 patients undergoing two consecutive HRT-FET cycles in one year performed at Bahceci Ankara IVF Center between November 2019 and February 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Serum P levels were measured at the 117th-119th hours of support by a single laboratory.
Reproduction
October 2025
Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
In Brief: Advanced maternal age (AMA) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, particularly those associated with placental dysfunction. This study showed that in a mouse model of AMA, male but not female fetuses had increased placental apoptosis and lipid peroxidation, as well as increased mitochondrial content, suggesting that the placentas of male fetuses in AMA mothers adapt to be able to deliver sufficient energy to the fetus.
Abstract: Although advanced maternal age (AMA) increases the risk of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and stillbirth, the mechanisms leading to the placental dysfunction observed in AMA are unknown.
PLoS Genet
September 2025
MIVEGEC, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier, France.
Cytoplasmic Incompatibility (CI) causes embryonic lethality in arthropods, resulting in a significant reduction in reproductive success. In most cases, this reproductive failure is driven by Wolbachia endosymbionts through their cifA/cifB gene pair, whose products disrupts arthropod DNA replication during embryogenesis. While a cif pair has been considered a hallmark of Wolbachia, its presence and functional significance in other bacterial lineages remains poorly investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGut Microbes
December 2025
Clinical Microbiome Unit, Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Parity, the number of pregnancies carried beyond 20 weeks, influences the maternal gut microbiome. However, whether parity modulates the infant microbiome longitudinally remains underexplored. To address this, 746 infants in a longitudinal cohort study were assessed.
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