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Efforts to understand the impact of spaceflight on the human body stem from growing interest in long-term space travel. Multiple organ systems are affected by microgravity and radiation, including the cardiovascular system. Previous transcriptomic studies have sought to reveal the changes in gene expression after spaceflight. However, little is known about the impact of long-term spaceflight on the mouse heart in vivo. This study focuses on the transcriptomic changes in the hearts of female C57BL/6J mice flown on the International Space Station (ISS) for 30 days. RNA was isolated from the hearts of three flight and three comparable ground control mice and RNA sequencing was performed. Our analyses showed that 1147 transcripts were significantly regulated after spaceflight. The MAPK, PI3K-Akt, and GPCR signaling pathways were predicted to be activated. Transcripts related to cytoskeleton breakdown and organization were upregulated, but no significant change in the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) components or oxidative stress pathway-associated transcripts occurred. Our results indicate an absence of cellular senescence, and a significant upregulation of transcripts associated with the cell cycle. Transcripts related to cellular maintenance and survival were most affected by spaceflight, suggesting that cardiovascular transcriptome initiates an adaptive response to long-term spaceflight.

Los quistes ováricos son el tumor abdominal mas frecuente en las recién nacidas. Presentan complicadones agudas y a largo plazo. La más frecuente es la torsión anexial que presenta dificultades diagnósticas en la etapa neonatal. El diagnóstico prenatal es fundamental para el manejo oportuno de las pacientes. Existen diferentes alternativas terapéuticas donde la cirugía mínimamente invasiva y conservadora juega un importante rol. Presentamos el caso de una recién nacida macrosómica con diagnóstico prenatal de quiste ovárico no complicado que sufrió torsión durante los primeros días de vida y se resolvió exitosamente en forma quirúrgica conservadora gracias a un manejo multidisciplinario.Ovarian cysts are the most common abdominal tumor in female newborns. They could develop acute or long term complications. The most frequent complication is adnexal torsion, which presents with diagnostic difficulties in the neonatal period. Prenatal diagnosis is essential for the prompt management of patients. There are different treatment options where conservative and minimally invasive surgery plays an important role. We report a female newborn with prenatal diagnosis of macrosomia and uncomplicated ovarian cyst, which suffered adnexal torsion during the first days of life and was successfully resolved with a conservative surgical management by a multidisciplinary staff.

A region of approximately one megabase of human Chromosome 12 shows extensive linkage disequilibrium in Utah residents with ancestry from northern and western Europe. This strikingly large linkage disequilibrium block was analyzed with statistical and experimental methods to determine whether natural selection could be implicated in shaping the current genome structure. Extended Haplotype Homozygosity and Relative Extended Haplotype Homozygosity analyses on this region mapped a core region of the strongest conserved haplotype to the exon 1 of the Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 gene (SCA2). Direct DNA sequencing of this region of the SCA2 gene revealed a significant association between a pre-expanded allele [(CAG)8CAA(CAG)4CAA(CAG)8] of CAG repeats within exon 1 and the selected haplotype of the SCA2 gene. A significantly negative Tajima's D value (-2.20, p < 0.01) on this site consistently suggested selection on the CAG repeat. This region was also investigated in the three other populations, none of which showed signs of selection. These results suggest that a recent positive selection of the pre-expansion SCA2 CAG repeat has occurred in Utah residents with European ancestry.