Ursharona's List: embryology L

• Meconium is the earliest stools of an infant. Unlike later feces, meconium is composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the uterus: intestinal epithelial cells, lanugo, mucus, amniotic fluid, bile, and water
• almost sterile,^[1] unlike later feces, is viscous and sticky like tar, and has no odor.
• Most of the time that the amniotic fluid is stained with meconium it will be homogenously distributed throughout the fluid making it brown. This indicates that the fetus passed the meconium some time ago such that sufficient mixing occurred as to establish the homogenous mixture. Terminal meconium occurs when the fetus passes the meconium a short enough time before birth/caesarean section that the amniotic fluid remains clear, but individual clumps of meconium are in the fluid.
• The meconium sometimes becomes thickened and congested in the ileum, a condition known as meconium ileus. Meconium ileus is often the first sign of cystic fibrosis
• In cystic fibrosis, the meconium can form a bituminous black-green mechanical obstruction in a segment of the ileum.
• h. About 20% of cases of cystic fibrosis present with meconium ileus, while approximately 20% of one series of cases of meconium ileus did not have cystic fibrosis.^[6] The presence of meconium ileus is not related to the severity of the cystic fibrosis.^[7] The obstruction can be relieved in a number of different ways.
• Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS), a condition in which infants take meconium into their lungs before or during delivery.

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• POU (pronounced 'pow') is a family of proteins that have well-conserved homeodomains.^[1

• The acronym POU is derived from the names of three transcription factors:

   
   
  • the Pituitary-specific Pit-1
   
  • the Octamer transcription factor proteins Oct-1 and Oct-2 (octamer sequence is ATGCAAAT)
   
  • the neural Unc-86 transcription factor from Caenorhabditis elegans.