Joong Shin Park

Preterm birth (defined as delivery prior to 37 weeks' gestation) complicates 5-10% of all births. It is a major cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity. Approximately 20% of all preterm births are iatrogenic resulting from obstetric intervention for maternal and/or fetal indications. Of the remainder, 2/3 are spontaneous preterm labor with or without preterm premature rupture of the membranes (pPROM). Preterm labor is a syndrome rather than a diagnosis since the etiologies are varied. Risk fa

The presence of Grade 2-3 steatosis on ultrasound in early pregnancy was associated with the increased risk of delivering an LGA infant, even after adjustment for multiple confounding factors including GDM. Adiponectin may be the linking biomarker between NAFLD and LGA.

Early identification of patients at risk of developing preeclampsia (PE) would allow providers to tailor their prenatal management and adopt preventive strategies, such as low-dose aspirin. Nevertheless, no mid-trimester biomarkers have as yet been proven useful for prediction of PE. This study investigates the ability of metabolomic biomarkers in mid-trimester maternal plasma to predict PE. A case-control study was conducted including 33 pregnant women with mid-trimester maternal plasma (gestat

Exposure to heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury poses serious health risks to pregnant women because of their high toxicity. In this study, we investigated the associations of heavy metal exposure with birth outcomes of Korean infants. Data of 5,215 women between 2015 and 2019 were analyzed. This study was part of the Korean Children's Environmental Health (Ko-CHENS) study. Linear regression and logistic regression analyses were used to examine effects of concentrations of lead, cadm

Preeclampsia is one of the most serious complications during pregnancy, defined as development of hypertension during late pregnancy affecting other organ systems (proteinuria, thrombocytopenia, renal insufficiency, liver involvement, cerebral symptoms or pulmonary edema). Preeclampsia is known to be associated with significant dyslipidemia, but the cause or mechanism of this metabolic aberration is not clear. Quantitative analysis of cholesterol precursors and metabolites can reveal metabolic s

Defective deep placentation, involving abnormal transformation of the spiral arteries in the junctional zone of the myometrium, is known to cause significant obstetric complications, such as preeclampsia (PE), fetal growth restriction, and placental infarction leading to fetal death. Serological biomarkers to predict and diagnose PE would help antenatal care and reduce obstetric complications. To discover candidate PE biomarkers, we first performed global proteomic profiling of three pairs of pl