Prediction of hypertensive disease in pregnancy remains challenging. Risk factor based screening utilizing history, physical characteristics, uterine artery Doppler and serum markers have been used with varying succes...Prediction of hypertensive disease in pregnancy remains challenging. Risk factor based screening utilizing history, physical characteristics, uterine artery Doppler and serum markers have been used with varying success. As hypertension in pregnancy appears to be associated with changes in the maternal vasculature, we have investigated the utility of maternal arterial elasticity measurement, prior to 20 weeks gestation, in the prediction of hypertensive disease in pregnancy. A HDI/Pulsewave CR2000 Research Cardiovascular Profiling System was used to obtain radial artery pulse pressure waveforms from 623 Caucasian women at the time of their first antenatal visit. Outcome data were available in 610 cases and these comprised the study group. The results showed that women who subsequently developed gestational hypertension (n = 20) had higher baseline systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure values (though within the normal range) but similar arterial elasticity to those patients who did not develop hypertension. Women who later developed pre-eclampsia (n = 23) had, in addition, reduced large artery elasticity and increased systemic vascular resistance compared with women who did not develop hypertension. The measurement of maternal radial artery elasticity in early pregnancy may provide an additional refinement in screening for hypertensive disease, particularly pre-eclampsia, in pregnancy.展开更多
Cyclooxygenases are encoded by COX-1 and COX-2. They share over sixty percent sequence identity in human and are similar to each other in their crystallographic structures. One major difference in the primary structur...Cyclooxygenases are encoded by COX-1 and COX-2. They share over sixty percent sequence identity in human and are similar to each other in their crystallographic structures. One major difference in the primary structure of these two isozymes is the presence of eight amino acids in the amino-terminal region of COX-1 that are not present in COX-2. The function of this amino acid sequence is unknown. In this study, a human COX-1 mutant （Δ7aa） with this sequence removed was studied in parallel with COX-1. Signal peptide cleavage, N-linked glycosylation, protein expression, distribution and dimerization were not affected by the mutation. The mutant was enzymati-cally active and showed the same sensitivity toward aspirin. The KM for the enzyme remained the same as COX-1. However, the Vmax of the COX-1 mutant decreased by 3.3-fold. We conclude that the COX-1 specific amino-terminal sequence has a subtle but detectable effect on COX-1 catalysis.展开更多
文摘Prediction of hypertensive disease in pregnancy remains challenging. Risk factor based screening utilizing history, physical characteristics, uterine artery Doppler and serum markers have been used with varying success. As hypertension in pregnancy appears to be associated with changes in the maternal vasculature, we have investigated the utility of maternal arterial elasticity measurement, prior to 20 weeks gestation, in the prediction of hypertensive disease in pregnancy. A HDI/Pulsewave CR2000 Research Cardiovascular Profiling System was used to obtain radial artery pulse pressure waveforms from 623 Caucasian women at the time of their first antenatal visit. Outcome data were available in 610 cases and these comprised the study group. The results showed that women who subsequently developed gestational hypertension (n = 20) had higher baseline systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure values (though within the normal range) but similar arterial elasticity to those patients who did not develop hypertension. Women who later developed pre-eclampsia (n = 23) had, in addition, reduced large artery elasticity and increased systemic vascular resistance compared with women who did not develop hypertension. The measurement of maternal radial artery elasticity in early pregnancy may provide an additional refinement in screening for hypertensive disease, particularly pre-eclampsia, in pregnancy.
文摘Cyclooxygenases are encoded by COX-1 and COX-2. They share over sixty percent sequence identity in human and are similar to each other in their crystallographic structures. One major difference in the primary structure of these two isozymes is the presence of eight amino acids in the amino-terminal region of COX-1 that are not present in COX-2. The function of this amino acid sequence is unknown. In this study, a human COX-1 mutant （Δ7aa） with this sequence removed was studied in parallel with COX-1. Signal peptide cleavage, N-linked glycosylation, protein expression, distribution and dimerization were not affected by the mutation. The mutant was enzymati-cally active and showed the same sensitivity toward aspirin. The KM for the enzyme remained the same as COX-1. However, the Vmax of the COX-1 mutant decreased by 3.3-fold. We conclude that the COX-1 specific amino-terminal sequence has a subtle but detectable effect on COX-1 catalysis.
