Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers for Diagnosing Placentas with Abnormal Diffusional Exchange

出生时过小的婴儿残疾或出生后不久死亡的风险要大得多。此外，婴儿时期的人长大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物质从母亲传递给婴儿，因此在控制生长方面确实起着关键作用。各种各样的研究现在让我们更好地了解胎盘中的缺陷，这些缺陷会导致婴儿生长太慢。我们相信，对胎盘的了解可以让我们诊断出在子宫里发育不良的婴儿。在这里，我们将探讨磁共振成像，一种研究身体内部器官的非侵入性方法，是否可以用来检查子宫中的胎盘，并确定哪些是异常的，从而可能导致婴儿的异常生长。如果我们能以这种方式诊断出胎盘异常，从而识别出生长过慢的婴儿，我们就能集中医疗护理，从而提高孕妇生下健康婴儿的几率。此外，更好的诊断工具可能会带来新的方法来治疗怀孕期间婴儿生长异常的妇女。我们一直通过报纸采访、电台和电视向公众解释我们的工作，并将继续这样做。曼彻斯特大学为旨在提高公众对科学的理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.