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A new study published in the BMC European Journal of Medical Research showed that brief maternal oxygen inhalation in third trimester leads to higher pulsatility index for the pulmonary artery (PPI) and lower cerebroplacental ratio (CPR). These changes suggest a potential impact on fetal circulation, warranting further investigation into its implications.

Newborns have not been demonstrated to benefit much from the maternal oxygen intake during birth. Its effect on fetal hemodynamics in the latter stages of pregnancy is yet unknown, though. Wu XQ and colleagues did this study to look into the relationship between fetal hemodynamic alterations and the maternal late-trimester oxygen inhalation. In particular, they analyzed if there are any possible advantages or disadvantages for the fetus from this approach and examined the short-term effects of maternal oxygen supplementation on fetal Doppler measurements.

Between January 2022 and December 2022, singleton pregnancies that had a prenatal ultrasound examination after 32[+0] weeks were the source of this retrospective data. The participants were divided into groups who inhaled oxygen and those that did not. Despite the lack of a therapeutic basis, oxygen inhalation was given at the mother’s request, mostly because of worries about hypoxia from extended mask usage during the COVID-19 epidemic.

The pregnant women in the oxygen inhalation group were given 3 L/min of oxygen via nasal cannula for 30 minutes, and then they proceeded to the ultrasound department for a sonographic evaluation within an hour. Before analysis, the CPR and PPI were predetermined as the main outcomes. The Doppler index, placental pulsatility index (PPI), and cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) were computed for every woman. Additionally, fetal heart function was evaluated in M-mode or pulsed Doppler. In comparison to the non-oxygen inhalation group, the exposed maternal oxygen inhalation group showed lower birth weight, lower CPR, and greater PPI as the primary result.

The final analysis comprised a total of 104 singleton pregnancies (oxygen inhalation group: n = 48). The resistance indices of the middle cerebral arteries, ductus venosus, descending aorta, umbilical vein, uterine arteries, and umbilical arteries did not change significantly. Variations were seen in the oxygen inhalation group, though.

Significant differences were seen between the groups for indices that have a higher sensitivity for predicting negative outcomes: PPI was higher in the oxygen inhalation group than in the non-oxygen inhalation group, and CPR was similarly lower in the oxygen inhalation group. Furthermore, the group that inhaled oxygen had a considerably lower birth weight than the group that did not. Overall, a short oxygen intake by the mother during the third trimester was linked to notable alterations in the fetal hemodynamics, including a decrease in CPR and an increase in PPI.

Source:

Wu, X.-Q., Yang, X.-F., Ye, L., Zhang, X.-B., Hong, Y.-Q., & Chiu, W.-H. (2025). Maternal oxygen inhalation affects the fetal hemodynamic in low-risk with uncomplicated late pregnancy. European Journal of Medical Research, 30(1), 222. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40001-025-02456-z

Associations between prenatal and perinatal factors and cardiovascular health (CVH) trajectories in children from childhood through adolescence were investigated, emphasizing the significance of the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) framework. This framework includes four behavioral (diet, physical activity, sleep duration, nicotine exposure) and four biological factors (BMI, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol) assessed on a 0-100 scale. Recent research highlights the crucial role that early life stages play in forming health behaviors and disease precursors.

Importance of Early Precursors in CVD

CVD is a leading cause of death in the U.S., with early precursors such as elevated BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels observed by age three. Understanding how prenatal exposures impact long-term CVH is vital for primordial prevention strategies. Prior studies indicated that factors such as maternal obesity, gestational weight gain, and smoking during pregnancy correlate with subsequent increases in child CVD risk factors.

Methodology: Project Viva Cohort Study

Utilizing data from the Project Viva cohort study in eastern Massachusetts, the research examined how specific prenatal and perinatal factors, including maternal BMI, gestational weight gain, and breastfeeding practices, correlate with CVH. With 1,333 participants, the study analyzed CVH measures between early childhood (3 years) and late adolescence (18 years), employing mixed-effect models to assess CVH trajectories across sex.

Key Findings on Maternal Factors and CVH

The findings demonstrated that children born to mothers with prepregnancy obesity had significantly lower CVH scores throughout childhood and adolescence compared to those from healthy-weight mothers. Maternal gestational hypertension was linked to an earlier inflection point in CVH scores, indicating a faster decline after initial improvements, while smoking during pregnancy correlated with consistently lower CVH scores. Additionally, children exclusively formula-fed in their first six months exhibited poorer CVH outcomes.

Impact of Behavioral Factors on Health Trajectories

Behavioral factors accounted for most of the observed decline in CVH, highlighting the impact of early dietary habits on long-term health trajectories. The study reaffirmed previous observations regarding the connections between maternal health factors and child CVH trajectories, extending the knowledge on how prenatal environments influence long-term cardiovascular health.

Conclusion: Addressing Modifiable Prenatal Risks

Overall, the study underscores the importance of addressing modifiable prenatal and perinatal risks, such as maternal obesity and smoking, to improve childhood cardiovascular outcomes. This information is critical for developing early interventions aimed at fostering better health from infancy onward, ultimately reducing the risk of CVD in later life.

Key Points

– The study examines the associations between prenatal and perinatal factors and cardiovascular health (CVH) trajectories in children, utilizing the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) framework, which assesses both behavioral and biological factors on a 0-100 scale to understand early life influences on health.

– Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a principal cause of death in the U.S., with early risk indicators such as elevated BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol emerging as early as three years of age, highlighting the importance of understanding prenatal exposure effects for effective prevention strategies.

– Data from the Project Viva cohort study (1,333 participants) in eastern Massachusetts was analyzed to investigate the impact of maternal factors (BMI, gestational weight gain, breastfeeding practices) on children’s CVH from early childhood (3 years) into adolescence (18 years), using mixed-effect models for trajectory assessments.

– Key findings indicate that children born to mothers with obesity pre-pregnancy exhibited consistently lower CVH scores, while maternal gestational hypertension and smoking during pregnancy were associated with negative shifts in CVH trajectories, including earlier declines in health measures.

– Behavioral factors heavily influenced CVH declines, particularly early dietary habits, reinforcing established links between maternal health conditions and their children’s cardiovascular outcomes and extending the understanding of prenatal influences on long-term health.

– The study highlights the critical need to address modifiable prenatal risks, such as maternal obesity and smoking, to enhance cardiovascular health in children and suggests that early interventions can mitigate CVD risks later in life.

Reference –

I. Aris et al. (2025). Prenatal And Perinatal Factors Of Life’S Essential 8 Cardiovascular Health Trajectories. *JAMA Network Open*, 8. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.7774.

Urinary incontinence is a devastating condition affecting over 33 million Americans, according to the National Association for Continence, leading to significant adverse impacts on patients’ mental health and quality of life. Disorders of urination are also a key feature of all neurological disorders.

A USC research team has now made major progress in understanding how the human spinal cord triggers the bladder emptying process. The discovery could lead to exciting new therapies to help patients regain control of this essential function.

In the pioneering study, a team from USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Keck School of Medicine of USC has harnessed functional ultrasound imaging to observe real-time changes in blood flow dynamics in the human spinal cord during bladder filling and emptying. The work was published in Nature Communications and was led by Charles Liu, the USC Neurorestoration Center director at Keck School of Medicine of USC and professor of biomedical engineering at USC Viterbi and Vasileios Christopoulos, assistant professor in the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering. The study’s co-first authors are biomedical engineering postdoctoral scholar Kofi Agyeman and Darrin Lee, associate director of the USC Neurorestoration Center and also affiliated with biomedical engineering at USC. Another key contributor was Evgeniy Kreydin from the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and the USC Institute of Urology.

The spinal cord regulates many essential human functions, including autonomic processes like bladder, bowel, and sexual function. These processes can break down when the spinal cord is damaged or degenerated due to injury, disease, stroke, or aging. However, the spinal cord’s small size and intricate bony enclosure have made it notoriously challenging to study directly in humans. Unlike in the brain, routine clinical care does not involve invasive electrodes and biopsies in the spinal cord due to the obvious risks of paralysis. Furthermore, fMRI imaging, which comprises most of human functional neuroimaging, does not exist in practical reality for the spinal cord, especially in the thoracic and lumbar regions where much of the critical function localizes.

“The spinal cord is a very undiscovered area,” Christopoulos said. “It’s very surprising to me because when I started doing neuroscience, everybody was talking about the brain. And Dr. Liu and I asked, ‘What about the spinal cord?’ For many, it was just a cable that transfers information from the brain to the peripheral system. The truth was that we didn’t know how to go there – how to study the spinal cord in action, visualize its dynamics and truly grasp its role in physiological functions.”

Functional Ultrasound Imaging: A New Window into the Spinal Cord

To overcome these barriers, the USC team employed functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI), an emerging neuroimaging technology that is minimally invasive. The fUSI process allowed the team to measure where changes in blood volume occur on the spinal cord during the cycle of urination.

However, fUSI requires a “window” through the bone to image the spinal cord. The researchers found a unique opportunity by working with a group of patients undergoing standard-of-care epidural spinal cord stimulation surgery for chronic low back pain.

“During the implantation of the spinal cord stimulator, the window we create in the bone through which we insert the leads gives us a perfect and safe opportunity to image the spinal cord using fUSI with no risk or discomfort to the study volunteers,” said Lee, who performed the surgeries. “While the surgical team was preparing the stimulator, we gently filled and emptied the bladder with saline to simulate a full urination cycle under anesthesia while the research team gathered the fUSI data,” added Kreydin, who was already working closely with Liu to study the brain of stroke patients during micturition using fMRI.

“This is the first study where we’ve shown that there are areas in the spinal cord where activity is correlated with the pressure inside the bladder,” Christopoulos said. “Nobody had ever shown a network in the spinal cord correlated with bladder pressure. What this means is I can look at the activity of your spinal cord in these specific areas and tell you your stage of the bladder cycle – how full your bladder is and whether you’re about to urinate”.

Christopoulos said the experiments identified that some spinal cord regions showed positive correlation, meaning their activity increased as bladder pressure rose, while others showed negative (anti-correlation), with activity decreasing as pressure increased. This suggests the involvement of both excitatory and inhibitory spinal cord networks in bladder control. “It was extremely exciting to take data straight from the fUSI scanner in the OR to the lab, where advanced data science techniques quickly revealed results that have never been seen before, even in animal models, let alone in humans,” Agyeman said.

New Hope for Patients

Liu has worked for two decades at the intersection of engineering and medicine to develop transformative strategies to restore function to the nervous system. Christopoulos has spent much of his research career developing neuromodulation techniques to help patients regain motor control. Together, they noted that for patients, retaining control of the autonomic processes that many of us take for granted is more fundamental than even walking.

“If you ask these patients, the most important function they wanted to restore was not their motor or sensory function. It was things like sexual function and bowel and bladder control,” Christopoulos said, noting that urinary dysfunction often leads to poor mental health. “It’s a very dehumanizing problem to deal with.”

Worse still, urinary incontinence leads to more frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs) because patients must often be fitted with a catheter. Due to limited sensory function, they may not be able to feel that they have an infection until it is more severe and has spread to the kidneys, resulting in hospitalization.

This study offers a tangible path toward addressing this critical need for patients suffering from neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction. The ability to decode bladder pressure from spinal cord activity provides proof-of-concept for developing personalized spinal cord interfaces that could warn patients about their bladder state, helping them regain control.

Currently, almost all neuromodulation strategies for disorders of micturition are focused on the lower urinary tract, largely because the neural basis of this critical process remains unclear. “One has to understand a process before one can rationally improve it,” Liu said. This latest research marks a significant step forward, opening new avenues for precision medicine interventions that combine invasive and noninvasive neuromodulation with pharmacological therapeutics to make neurorestoration of the genitourinary system a clinical reality for millions worldwide.

Reference:

Agyeman, K.A., Lee, D.J., Abedi, A. et al. Human spinal cord activation during filling and emptying of the bladder. Nat Commun 16, 6506 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61470-1