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umbilical cord
(redirected from umbilical cords)

    Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.02 sec.
umbilical cord (ŭmbĭl`ĭkəl), cordlike structure about 22 in. (56 cm) long in the pregnant human female, extending from the abdominal wall of the fetus to the placenta placenta (pləsĕn`tə) or afterbirth, organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy.
..... Click the link for more information. . Its chief function is to carry nourishment and oxygen from the placenta to the fetus and return waste products to the placenta from the fetus. It consists of a continuation of the membrane covering the fetus and encloses a mucoid jelly through which one vein carries oxygenated blood and two arteries carry unoxygenated blood. After birth, the cord is clamped off and cut. It is sometimes abnormal in length and may break prematurely or form loops or knots, which may asphyxiate the fetus. The stump of the cord that is left attached to the infant withers and drops off, leaving the scar known as the navel.

Because umbilical cord blood is especially rich in stem cells stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastula typical of placental mammals; see embryo ), which is very young
..... Click the link for more information.  (cells that give rise to red blood cells and lymphocytes) some parents choose to save it in private cord blood banks in case of future need as a transplant alternative to bone marrow, but in many diseases treated with stem cells such autologous transplants are contraindicated. Studies have shown that people not related to the donor (genetically mismatched) can benefit from transplants of umbilical cord blood in combating leukemia leukemia (l
..... Click the link for more information.  and other cancers. Cord blood has also been used to repair heart and other tissue defects in children with certain metabolic disorders.

umbilical cord
the long flexible tubelike structure connecting a fetus with the placenta: it provides a means of metabolic interchange with the mother


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More recently, mercury was analyzed in a selection of umbilical cords collected from a British birth cohort (Daniels et al.
Umbilical cord mercury concentration as biomarker of prenatal ... by Weihe, Pal / Environmental Health Perspectives
A Fullerton attorney who claims parents have been misled by businesses that store blood from umbilical cords as a potential source of cures to future illnesses is appealing his courtroom loss.
Court says blood storage claims don't strike wrong cord by Bronstad, Amanda / Los Angeles Business Journal
In their study, pediatrician Giuseppe Latini of Perrino Hospital in Brindisi, Italy, and his colleagues tested blood from 84 newborns' umbilical cords for the presence of di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate (DEHP) and mono-ethylhexyl-phthalate (MEHP).
Exposure to phthalate may shorten pregnancy by Science News
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