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Costly and time-consuming recovery of photocatalysts from treated water is one of the main challenges for the photocatalysis process. In this regard, an Ag-functionalized Bi2W(Mo)O6 photocatalyst was successfully synthesized via a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-assisted hydrothermal method, immobilized on a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane and subsequently used for photocatalytic water treatment. The flower-like Ag-decorated Bi2W(Mo)O6 photocatalyst revealed a significant enhancement (62%) in the photocatalytic degradation efficiency compared to the unmodified pure Bi2WO6 (19%) due to the synergic contribution of the flower-like morphology with higher surface area, decrease in band gap by Mo doping and Ag-induced surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effects. In order to immobilize the photocatalyst, the Ag-decorated Bi2W(Mo)O6 nanoparticles were distributed uniformly on the surface of the PVDF membrane. The results illustrate that the as-prepared Ag-loaded Bi2W(Mo)O6/PVDF composite membrane effectively degrades the organic molecules (51%) without any additional process for the photocatalyst separation, confirming its potential as a beneficial environmental-friendly material for water treatment applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Describe outcomes of open fetal surgery for myelomeningocele (MMC) repair in two Brazilian hospitals and the impact of surgical experience on outcome.Design: Retrospective cohort study.Setting: Sao Paulo, Brazil.Population: 237 pregnant women carrying a fetus with an open spinal defect.Methods: Surgical details, and maternal and fetal outcomes collected from all patients.Main Outcome Measures: Analysis of surgical and perinatal outcome parameters.Results: Total surgical time was 119 ± 7.6 minutes. Preterm labour occurred in 24.2%, premature rupture of membranes in 26.7%, placental abruption in 0.8%, need for a blood transfusion at delivery in 2.1%, and dehiscence at the repair site in 2.5%. Reversal of hindbrain herniation at birth occurred in 71.4%. There were no maternal deaths or severe maternal morbidities. The failure rate with the patient anaesthetised was 0.42% and perinatal mortality was 2.1% (three intrauterine demises and two neonatal deaths). Comparing results from our study in the first 3 years with the last 3 years demonstrated improvement in the total surgical time (121.2 ± 6.4 versus 118.5 ± 8.2 minutes, P = 0.005) and an increase in reversal of hindbrain herniation at birth (64.0 versus 77.1%, P = 0.042).Conclusion: Our open fetal surgical approach for MMC was effective and results were comparable to past studies. Improvements in surgical performance and perinatal outcome increased as the surgical team became more familiar with the procedure.Funding: The study was funded solely by institutional funds.Tweetable Abstract: Brazilian experience of in utero open surgery for myelomeningocele repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In utero fetal surgery to correct incomplete closure of the spinal cord lessens the extent of permanent damage but is associated with preterm prelabour rupture of membranes (PPROM). We determined whether compounds in amniotic fluid collected at the time of surgery predicted subsequent development of PPROM.Design: Prospective study.Setting: Hospitals in Sao Paulo, Brazil.Population: Twenty-four consecutive pregnant women at 24-26 weeks of gestation seen between February and October 2017 with a singleton pregnancy underwent in utero surgery to correct an open spinal defect in their fetus.Methods: Amniotic fluid was tested for lactic acid, matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), MMP-8, MMP-9 and interleukin-6 (IL-6) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Clinical data were collected after completion of all laboratory studies.Main Outcome Measure: Amniotic fluid concentration of compounds in women with or without PPROM.Results: Preterm prelabour rupture of membranes occurred in seven (29.2%) women. There were no differences in maternal age, gravidity, parity, race, history of caesarean sections or fetal gender between women with or without PPROM. Length of surgery, days of wound healing and length of hospital stay were also indistinguishable. The median concentrations of MMP-8 (1.7 versus 0.6 ng/ml; P = 0.0041) and lactic acid (7.1 versus 5.9 mm; P = 0.0181) were higher in women with PPROM. The amniotic fluid MMP-8 level was also negatively correlated with gestational age at delivery (Spearman r = -0.4217, P = 0.0319).Conclusion: Differences in susceptibility to develop PPROM are present before fetal surgery. An increase in anaerobic glycolysis, evidenced by the intra-amniotic lactic acid level, may enhance MMP-8 production and weaken maternal and fetal membranes.Tweetable Abstract: Matrix metalloproteinase-8 and lactic acid in amniotic fluid predict preterm prelabour rupture of membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Unsafe and illegal abortions are the third leading cause of maternal death. It affects physical, emotional and social health of women and their families. Abortion is a multi-dimensional phenomenon with several social, legal, and religious implications. The views of policy-makers affect the approach to abortion in every society. Understanding the attitudes and knowledge of high-ranking decision makers towards abortion was the purpose of this study. Materials and Methods: A qualitative research was implemented by carrying out individual interviews with 29 out of a selection of 80 presidents of medical sciences universities, senior executive managers in the legal system, forensic medicine and decision-makers in the health system and a number of top Muslim clerics, using a semi-structured questionnaire for data gathering. Content analysis revealed the results. Results: There were considerable unwillingness and reluctance among the interview-ees to participate in the study. The majority of participants fairly knew about the prevalence of illegal abortions and their complications. There was strong agreement on abortion when health of the mother or the fetus was at risk. Abortion for reproductive health reasons was supported by a minority of the respondents. The majority of them disagreed with abortion when pregnancy was the result of a rape, temporary marriage or out of wedlock affairs. Making decision for abortion by the pregnant mother, as a matter of her right, did not gain too much approval. Conclusion: It seemed that physical health of the mother or the fetus was of more importance to the respondents than their mental or social health. The mother's hardship was not any indication for induced abortion in the viewpoints of the interviewed policy-makers. Strengthening family planning programs, making appro-priate laws in lines with religious orders and advocacy programs targeting decision makers are determined as strategies for improving women's health rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have experimentally studied for the first time the electro-optical Kerr effect and the pre-transitional behavior in the isotropic phase of two antiferroelectric liquid crystal mixtures, W-232 and W-204D, composed of rod-like ester molecules exhibiting the direct smectic-A to isotropic (SmA-I) phase transition. The Kerr law has been confirmed for the two compounds and the variation of inverse Kerr constant with temperature above the smectic-isotropic transition temperatures were determined. Both the mixtures with very broad antiferroelectric phase around room temperature have similar sequence of the phases (i.e., Cr-SmC*A-SmC*-SmA-I). Although, the pre-transitional behavior is usually complex in the isotropic phase of the chiral smectic liquid crystal compounds, the investigated compounds showed a similar behavior compared to that of nematic-isotropic behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case-control study investigated the association between molar pregnancy and husband's work. In the analysis, cases were 30 women with complete mole and controls were 30 matched women with term pregnancies. The husband's of cases were more likely to have occupations involving physical work than non-physical work and this physical work more usually involved exposure to soil and dust. Among all occupations, the husband's of cases were more likely to have occupations which had exposure to soil and dust (P < 0.01). Comparing all occupations that had exposure to soil and dust with all those who did not have this exposure (physical and non-physical) resulted in a statistically significant difference in the occurrence of molar pregnancy (P < 0.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the conference paper "Three-dimensional sonographic volumetry of phantom objects: comparing rotational method Virtual Organ Computer-aided AnaLysis (VOCAL) to multi slice method Extended Imaging (XI) VOCAL," by H. Milani and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Holt-Oram syndrome-case report and prenatal treatment" by K. K. Haratz and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Assessment of intraventricular pressure in fetuses with hydrocephaly: initial experience," by K. K. Haratz, and colleagues is presented.

Abstract Background To assess the reliability of fetal heart volume measurement by three-dimensional sonography (3DUS) using the eXtended Imaging Virtual Organ Computer-aided AnaLysis (XI VOCAL) method. Methods This reliability study enrolled 30 pregnant women with singleton healthy pregnancies between 19 and 34 weeks of gestation. All volume acquirements were performed with a convex volumetric transducer (C3-7ED) coupled to an Accuvix XQ sonography device (Medison, Korea). The XI VOCAL 10 planes was the method of choice for volumetric measurement. 3D datasets were analyzed by two observers (EQSB and HJFM); fetal heart volume was measured twice by the first and once by the second observer to calculate intra and interobserver reproducibility. Statistical analysis used pareated Student's t test (p) and calculated Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Bland-Altman plots were also constructed. Results We observed an excellent intra- and interobserver reliability for fetal cardiac volume assessed by XI VOCAL. For the intraobserver the ICC was 0.998 (95% CI: 0.997; 0.999), with mean of differences of 0.12 cm3 (95% limits of agreement: -0.84; +0.84; p = 0.130). For interobserver the ICC was 0.899 (95%CI: 0.996; 0.998), mean of differences 0.05 cm3 (95% limits of agreement: -0.84; +0.84; p = 0.175). Conclusion Fetal cardiac volume assessed by 3DUS using XI VOCAL method is highly reproducible between 19 to 34 gestational weeks.

An abstract of the conference paper "Reproducibility of fetal heart volume by 3D sonography using the XI VOCAL method," by E. Q. Barreto and colleagues, is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Reproducibility of three-dimensional power Doppler for the assessment of the fetal brain blood flow in the anterior cerebral artery territory," by E. Sleurs and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound for the assessment of the fetal brain vascularization and blood flow in normal pregnancy," by H. F. Milani and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Does proximity to the transducer influences accuracy of fetal lateral ventricle volume measurement by transabdominal 3D sonography compared to MRI?," by K. K.Haratz and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Reproducibility of three-dimensional volume measurements in the evaluation of fetal lateral ventricles using VOCAL method," by K. K. Haratz and colleagues, is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Comparison between three-dimensional sonographic method VOCAL and fetal MRI in fetal lateral ventricle volume measurements," by K. K. Haratz and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Interhemisferic variant of holoprosencephaly (MIH) or syntelencephaly: the role of fetal brain MRI in differential diagnosis," by A. Lee-Tannock and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Quantitative 3D power Doppler ultrasound in the assessment of normal fetal brain blood flow: a reproducibility study of this method," by H. Milani, and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Septo-optic dysplasia: a differential diagnosis in fetus with absence of the septum pellucidum-case report" by H. Milani and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Fetal intracranial pressure assessment: describing the technique," by K. K. Haratz, A. Moron and S. Haratz is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper related to lateral ventricle volumetry by tridimensional sonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in fetuses with ventriculomegaly by K. K. Haratz and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the article "Placental chorioangioma and fetal VATER Association: Case report," by L. M. M. Nardozza and colleagues, is presented.