Socioemotional and Psychological Outcomes of Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Systematic Review

Publication: Pediatrics

Grace H. Kromm; Hilary Patankar; Shubang Nagalotimath; Hilary Wong, Topun Austin,

5 March 2024

Summary

Babies who suffer brain injury before, during or shortly after birth because of lack of oxygen to the brain may face longer-term socioemotional and psychological complications, research supported by the NIHR Cambridge BRC has shown. Read the news article.

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Prediction of spontaneous preterm birth using supervised machine learning on metabolomic data: A case–cohort study

Yasmina Al Ghadban, Yuheng Du, D. Stephen Charnock-Jones, Lana X. Garmire, Gordon C. S. Smith, Ulla Sovio

20 November 2023

Summary

This study identified metabolites from the blood of pregnant mothers that are predictive of spontaneous preterm birth. The results require validation in external populations.

Placental Streptococcus agalactiae DNA is associated with neonatal unit admission and foetal pro-inflammatory cytokines in term infants

Publication: Nature Microbiology

29 November 2023

Francesca Gaccioli, Katie Stephens, Ulla Sovio, Flora Jessop, Hilary S. Wong, Susanne Lager, Emma Cook, Marcus C. de Goffau, Kirsty Le Doare, Sharon J. Peacock, Julian Parkhill, D. Stephen Charnock-Jones, Gordon C. S. Smith

Summary:

One in 200 newborns is admitted to a neonatal unit with sepsis caused by a bacteria commonly carried by their mothers – much greater than the previous estimate, say Cambridge researchers. The team has developed an ultra-sensitive test capable of better detecting the bacteria, as it is missed in the vast majority of cases. Read the full news story.

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Prediction of spontaneous preterm birth using supervised machine learning on metabolomic data: A case–cohort study

Publication: BJOG

Yasmina Al Ghadban, Yuheng Du, D. Stephen Charnock-Jones, Lana X. Garmire, Gordon C. S. Smith, Ulla Sovio

20 November 2023

Summary

This study identified metabolites from the blood of pregnant mothers that are predictive of spontaneous preterm birth. The results require validation in external populations.

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Metabolomic Identification of a Novel, Externally Validated Predictive Test for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Publication: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Ulla Sovio, Gemma L Clayton, Emma Cook, Francesca Gaccioli, D Stephen Charnock-Jones, Deborah A Lawlor, Gordon C S Smith

18 April 2022


Summary

Currently in the UK, women are selected for diagnostic testing for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) based on risk factors such as obesity.  Researchers developed a new predictive test for GDM using metabolomic markers from maternal serum samples, measured at multiple stages of pregnancy. The test was developed using samples from the Pregnancy Outcome Prediction (POP) study and it was externally validated in maternal plasma samples from a demographically highly dissimilar Born in Bradford (BiB) study. Further assessment in the POP study suggested that the predictive ability of a model including the metabolomic markers was clearly better compared to using early pregnancy obesity alone.

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Placental sex-dependent spermine synthesis regulates trophoblast gene expression through acetyl-coA metabolism and histone acetylation

Publication: Nature Communications Biology

Irving L. M. H. Aye, Sungsam Gong, Giulia Avellino, Roberta Barbagallo, Francesca Gaccioli, Benjamin J. Jenkins, Albert Koulman, Andrew J. Murray, D. Stephen Charnock-Jones & Gordon C. S. Smith

15 June 2022


Summary

Placental function and dysfunction differ by sex but the mechanisms are unknown. Researchers show that sex differences in polyamine metabolism are associated with escape from X chromosome inactivation of the gene encoding spermine synthase (SMS).

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Refinements and considerations for trio whole-genome sequence analysis when investigating Mendelian diseases presenting in early childhood

Publication: HGG Advances

Courtney E. French, Helen Dolling, Karyn Mégy, Alba Sanchis-Juan, Ajay Kumar, Isabelle Delon, Matthew Wakeling, Lucy Mallin, Shruti, Agrawal, Topun Austin, Florence Walston, Soo-Mi Park, Alasdair, Parker, Chinthika Piyasena, Kimberley Bradbury, Sian Ellard, David H.Rowitch, LucyRaymond

24 May 2022


Summary

More than a third of severely sick babies referred for rapid whole genome sequencing received a vital genetic diagnosis. Results from the latest Cambridge genomic study supported by NIHR Cambridge BRC and NIHR BioResource, confirm rapid whole genome sequencing (WGS) as an effective early test to aid diagnosis in severely ill children. Read the full story. 

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Brain charts for the human lifespan

Publication: Nature

R. A. I. Bethlehem, J. Seidlitz, S. R. White, J. W. Vogel, K. M. Anderson, C. Adamson, S. Adler, G. S. Alexopoulos, E. Anagnostou, A. Areces-Gonzalez, D. E. Astle, B. Auyeung,
M. Ayub, J. Bae, G. Ball, S. Baron-Cohen, R. Beare, S. A. Bedford, V. Benegal, F. Beyer, J. Blangero, M. Blesa Cábez, J. P. Boardman, M. Borzage, J. F. Bosch-Bayard, N. Bourke, V. D. Calhoun, M. M. Chakravarty, C. Chen, C. Chertavian, G. Chetelat, Y. S. Chong, J. H. Cole, A. Corvin, M. Costantino, E. Courchesne, F. Crivello, V. L. Cropley, J. Crosbie, N. Crossley, M. Delarue, R. Delorme, S. Desrivieres, G. A. Devenyi, M. A. Di Biase, R. Dolan, K. A. Donald, G. Donohoe, K. Dunlop, A. D. Edwards, J. T. Elison, C. T. Ellis, J. A. Elman, L. Eyler, D. A. Fair, E. Feczko, P. C. Fletcher, P. Fonagy, C. E. Franz, L. Galan-Garcia, A. Gholipour, J. Giedd, J. H. Gilmore, D. C. Glahn, I. M. Goodyer, P. E. Grant, N. A. Groenewold, F. M. Gunning, R. E. Gur, R. C. Gur, C. F. Hammill, O. Hansson, T. Hedden, A. Heinz, R. N. Henson, K. Heuer, J. Hoare, B. Holla, A. J. Holmes, R. Holt, H. Huang, K. Im, J. Ipser, C. R. Jack Jr, A. P. Jackowski, T. Jia, K. A. Johnson, P. B. Jones, D. T. Jones, R. S. Kahn, H. Karlsson, L. Karlsson, R. Kawashima, E. A. Kelley, S. Kern, K. W. Kim, M. G. Kitzbichler, W. S. Kremen, F. Lalonde, B. Landeau, S. Lee, J. Lerch, J. D. Lewis, J. Li, W. Liao, C. Liston, M. V. Lombardo, J. Lv, C. Lynch, T. T. Mallard, M. Marcelis, R. D. Markello, S. R. Mathias, B. Mazoyer, P. McGuire, M. J. Meaney, A. Mechelli, N. Medic, B. Misic, S. E. Morgan, D. Mothersill, J. Nigg, M. Q. W. Ong, C. Ortinau, R. Ossenkoppele, M. Ouyang, L. Palaniyappan, L. Paly, P. M. Pan, C. Pantelis, M. M. Park, T. Paus, Z. Pausova, D. Paz-Linares, A. Pichet Binette, K. Pierce, X. Qian, J. Qiu, A. Qiu, A. Raznahan, T. Rittman, A. Rodrigue, C. K. Rollins, R. Romero-Garcia, L. Ronan, M. D. Rosenberg, D. H. Rowitch, G. A. Salum, T. D. Satterthwaite, H. L. Schaare, R. J. Schachar, A. P. Schultz, G. Schumann, M. Schöll, D. Sharp, R. T. Shinohara, I. Skoog, C. D. Smyser, R. A. Sperling, D. J. Stein, A. Stolicyn, J. Suckling, G. Sullivan, Y. Taki, B. Thyreau, R. Toro, N. Traut, K. A. Tsvetanov, N. B. Turk-Browne, J. J. Tuulari, C. Tzourio, É. Vachon-Presseau, M. J. Valdes-Sosa, P. A. Valdes-Sosa, S. L. Valk, T. van Amelsvoort, S. N. Vandekar, L. Vasung, L. W. Victoria, S. Villeneuve, A. Villringer, P. E. Vértes, K. Wagstyl, Y. S. Wang, S. K. Warfield, V. Warrier, E. Westman, M. L. Westwater, H. C. Whalley, A. V. Witte, N. Yang, B. Yeo, H. Yun, A. Zalesky, H. J. Zar, A. Zettergren, J. H. Zhou, H. Ziauddeen, A. Zugman, X. N. Zuo, E. T. Bullmore & A. F. Alexander-Bloch

6 April 2022


Summary

An international team of researchers has created a series of brain charts spanning our entire lifespan – from a 15 week old fetus to 100 year old adult – that show how our brains expand rapidly in early life and slowly shrink as we age. Read the full story.

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A maternal serum metabolite ratio predicts large for gestational age infants at term: a prospective cohort study

Publication: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Ulla Sovio, Neil Goulding, Nancy McBride, Emma Cook, Francesca Gaccioli,  Stephen Charnock-Jones, Deborah A Lawlor, Gordon C S Smith, 

19 November 2021


Summary

Large size at birth is associated with complications in the mother and the baby. Alongside work in fetal growth restriction (FGR), researchers analysed their previously developed metabolite ratio in relation to large for gestational age (LGA) infants born at term.

They found that the metabolite ratio predictive of FGR was inversely associated with both LGA and birth weight z score as a continuous trait. These findings, obtained from the Pregnancy Outcome Prediction study, were externally validated in the Born in Bradford study.

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Do Mass Spectrometry-Derived Metabolomics Improve the Prediction of Pregnancy-Related Disorders? Findings from a UK Birth Cohort with Independent Validation

Publication: Metabolites

Nancy McBride, Paul Yousefi, Ulla Sovio, Kurt Taylor, Yassaman Vafai, Tiffany Yang, Bo Hou, Matthew Suderman, Caroline Relton,  Gordon C. S. Smith, Deborah A. Lawlor

10 August 2021


Summary

Many women who experience gestational diabetes (GDM), gestational hypertension (GHT), pre-eclampsia (PE), have a spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) or have an offspring born small/large for gestational age (SGA/LGA) do not meet the criteria for high-risk pregnancies based upon certain maternal risk factors. The aim of this study was to assess the predictive ability of an untargeted platform of over 700 metabolites to predict the above pregnancy-related disorders in two cohorts.

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