Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers for Diagnosing Placentas with Abnormal Diffusional Exchange

出生过小的婴儿有更大的残疾或出生后不久死亡的风险。此外，婴儿时期的人成年后患心脏病或糖尿病的几率也会增加。胎盘在怀孕期间负责将营养从母亲转移到婴儿身上，因此在控制生长方面起着关键作用。各种研究现在让我们更好地了解了胎盘中的缺陷，这些缺陷可能会导致婴儿生长过慢。我们相信，这些关于胎盘的知识可以让我们诊断出在子宫中发育不良的婴儿。在这里，我们将调查磁共振成像，一种研究身体内部器官的非侵入性方法，是否可以用于检查子宫中的胎盘，并确定哪些胎盘异常，从而可能导致婴儿的异常生长。如果我们可以通过这种方式诊断异常胎盘，从而识别出发育过慢的婴儿，我们将能够专注于医疗护理，从而增加孕妇生下健康婴儿的机会。此外，更好的诊断工具可能会带来治疗怀孕期间婴儿发育异常的妇女的新方法。我们一向透过报章访问、电台和电视向公众解释我们的工作，并会继续这样做。曼彻斯特大学为旨在增进公众对科学的了解的各种活动提供支持，包括开放日和定期的“科学咖啡馆”会议。

Babies born too small are at much greater risk of being handicapped or of dying soon after birth. Also, people who were small babies have an increased chance of developing heart disease or diabetes as adults. The placenta is responsible for transferring nutrients from mother to baby during pregnancy and so does have a key role in controlling growth. A variety of research has now led us to better understanding of the defects in the placenta that can cause babies to grow too slowly. We believe that this knowledge of the placenta could allow us to diagnose babies who are growing poorly in the womb. Here we will investigate whether magnetic resonance imaging, a non-invasive method of studying the internal organs of the body, may be used to examine the placenta in the womb and determine which ones are abnormal and so may be causing abnormal growth of the baby. If we could diagnose abnormal placentas in this way and so identify babies growing too slowly, we will be able to focus medical care with a consequent greater chance of the pregnant woman delivering a healthy baby. Furthermore, better diagnostic tools could lead to new ways of treating the woman with an abnormally growing baby during her pregnancy. We have a strong track record of explaining our work to the public through newspaper interviews, radio and television and will continue to do this. The University of Manchester provides support for a variety of events aimed at increasing public understanding of science, including Open Days and regular `Cafe Scientifique meetings.