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To explore the accuracy of main pulmonary artery (MPA) and ascending aorta (AAO) image evaluation in pediatric patients with single ventricle (SV) by comparing dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) with echocardiography. Thirty-one children with SV were retrospectively enrolled. The stenosis, dilation, and location of MPA and AAO were independently evaluated by DSCT and echocardiography. The accompanying arterial malformations were also assessed by DSCT. For 17 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization, the DSCT-based diameters of MPA and AAO were correlated with their pressures as measured by catheterization. Referring to the surgical and catheterization findings, DSCT had better diagnostic performance in detecting the stenosis, dilation, and location of MPA and AAO with higher sensitivity than echocardiography (sensitivity, MPA: 88.0% vs. 80.0%, AAO: 100% vs. 66.7%, great arteries location: 95.7% vs. 95.2%). The correlations between diameters of MPA and AAO with their pressures were 0.399 (p = 0.04) and 0.611 (p = 0.01), respectively. In addition, DSCT detected 23 cases with patent ductus arteriosus, 26 systemic-to-pulmonary collaterals, 9 branch pulmonary distortions, and 4 coronary artery anomalies. DSCT is reliable for assessing the anatomic features of pulmonary artery and aorta in SV children, and provides comprehensive information for surgical strategy-making.

HUWE1 is a HECT domain containing ubiquitin ligase implicated in neurogenesis, spermatogenesis and cancer development. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the role of HUWE1 in early embryo development. Here we demonstrate that Huwe1 is expressed in both nucleus and cytoplasm of preimplantation mouse embryos as well as gametes. Hypoxia (5% O2) treatment could significantly increase Huwe1 expression during mouse embryo development process. HUWE1 knockdown inhibited normal embryonic development and reduced blastocyst formation, and increased apoptotic cell numbers were observed in the embryos of HUWE1 knockdown group. Human embryo staining result showed that reduced HUWE1 staining was observed in the poor-quality embryos. Furthermore, Western blot result showed that significantly reduced expression of HUWE1 was observed in the villi of miscarriage embryos compared with the normal control, indicating that reduced expression of HUWE1 is related to poor embryo development. Oxidative reagent, H2O2 inhibited HUWE1 expression in human sperm, indicating that HUWE1 expression in sperm is regulated by oxidative stress. In conclusion, these results suggest that HUWE1 protein could contribute to preimplantation embryo development and dysregulated expression of HUWE1 could be related to poor embryo development and miscarriage in IVF clinic.