Four fetuses had this website hydrops as a late sign of heart failure.\n\nResults In 16/24 procedures (66.7%) corresponding to 16/23 fetuses (69.6%) the procedures were technically successful, with one intrauterine death in this group. After an initial learning curve, success rate improved to 78.6% (11 of the last 14 interventions were successful). In 10 out of the 15 (66.7%) successfully-treated and liveborn fetuses a biventricular circulation

could be achieved postnatally. All four fetuses with hydrops had successful interventions, hydrops disappearing within 5 weeks. In 8/24 interventions (33.3%) the aortic valve could not be treated successfully, with intrauterine fetal death in two of these cases. In one fetus a repeat procedure was successful. All surviving fetuses with unsuccessful (n = 5) or no (n = 5) procedure performed developed HLHS until delivery.\n\nConclusions Fetal aortic valvuloplasty

could be performed successfully in selected fetuses with critical AS and evolving HLHS, with a biventricular outcome in two thirds of the patients. Safety and success rate were dependent on patient selection and the level of experience of the whole interventional team. In fetuses with AS and hydrops, aortic RG7420 valvuloplasty could reverse end-stage heart failure and hydrops and ensure fetal survival. Copyright (C) 2011 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.”
“Hens were vaccinated during the rearing phase with infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) vaccines commercially available in Australia (Vic S and A3) or left unvaccinated and then challenged with the N1/88 strain of IBV at 30 wk of age. Oviduct and fecal samples were collected at regular intervals after N1/88 challenge. A locked nucleic acid probe-based reverse transcription real-time PCR test was designed and used to detect the IBV strain N1/88 from the oviduct and feces of unvaccinated WH-4-023 and vaccinated laying hens. Using a recombinant plasmid standard, the detection limit of the reaction was found to be 100 copies and independent assay runs showed

reproducible threshold cycle values. Viral RNA was detected in the oviduct of 12 unvaccinated then challenged hens and viral RNA increased sharply on d 10 and 12 postinfection (p.i.). By contrast, among the hens in the vaccinated group, N1/88 was detectable only in the oviduct of 2 hens at 8 and 12 d p.i. N1/88 challenge. Viral RNA was detected in feces of 2 unvaccinated hens up to 4 wk p.i. and in 1 vaccinated hen up to 3 wk p.i. This shows that rearing phase vaccination lowers the total viral RNA of the strain N1/88, even though this strain shows considerable antigenic and genetic variation from the vaccine strain. This new test will be useful for the rapid identification of the N1/88 strain of IBV from oviduct and fecal samples.