Mouse and human heart development

Mouse mutants are used to model human congenital cardiovascular disease, but little has been published comparing normal cardiovascular development in mice with that in humans. Krishnan and colleagues’ systematic comparative analysis supports the idea that mouse morphogenesis is a reliable model of human cardiovascular development.

See A detailed comparison of mouse and human cardiac development

Antibiotics and renal branching

Many preterm newborns with infections receive antibiotics during active nephrogenesis. Bueters et al. studied the effects of clinical concentrations of gentamicin, ceftazidime, and meropenem on ureteric branching in mice. Metanephroi were dissected on embryonic day 13 and cultured in media with or without drug, at various concentrations. Only ceftazidime reduced ureteric branching in mice.

See Antibiotics and renal branching morphogenesis: comparison of toxicities

Neonatal host defense

The role of T-helper 17 (Th17) cells in neonatal host defense remains to be fully explained. Caron and colleagues examined neonatal production of interleukin-17 (IL-17) in mixed mononuclear cells isolated from umbilical-cord blood for comparison with adult peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Their results suggest that a profound IL-17 deficiency, associated with a marked decrease in Th17 cells, probably contributes to the increased susceptibility of human newborns to invasive bacterial and fungal infections.

See Severely depressed interleukin-17 production by human neonatal mononuclear cells

Hepatoblastoma screening

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and hemihyperplasia are overgrowth conditions with a predisposition to hepatoblastoma, for which α-fetoprotein (αFP) is an early tumor marker. Mussa and coinvestigators analyzed the reliability of αFP detection using an analytical micromethod based on blood dried on filter paper. This method appears to measure αFP reliably, offering novel potential avenues for conducting cancer screening in overgrowth syndromes.

See α-Fetoprotein assay on dried blood spot for hepatoblastoma screening in children with overgrowth-cancer predisposition syndromes

Early puberty

Hormonal indicators could be useful for detecting early onset of puberty, but there has been little research on how they are related to puberty in US girls. Using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Addo et al. determined median age at hormonal onset of puberty and explored the extent to which body composition moderates this timing process. Among other findings, they report that preadolescent weight gain lowers the age of hormonal onset.

See Age at hormonal onset of puberty based on luteinizing hormone, inhibin B, and body composition in preadolescent US girls