Magnetic resonance imaging provides a non-invasive method for investigating functional changes in the human placenta in vivo. In this study, we combine a magnetic resonance imaging technique called magnetization transfer with established stereological methods in order to analyse and compare placentae from normal (16-36 weeks of gestation) and complicated (pre-eclampsia, ...

Considerable data link low birth weight, due to intrauterine growth restriction, to increased offspring risk of vascular disease in later adult life. This is considered to be the result, in part, of programming through fetal nutrition. These data support the hypothesis that pregnancy outcome in terms of birth weight is ...

One of the fundamental issues in pre-eclampsia (hypertension in pregnancy) research is to find serum proteins that can act as markers of disease predisposition, remote disease onset, imminent disease onset or disease activity at the height of its destructive powers. We make assumptions, not infrequently, that positive findings at the ...

OBJECTIVE: Multiple gestations are high risk pregnancies, which may be complicated by pre-maturity, low birth weight infants, pre-eclampsia, anemia, postpartum hemorrhage, intrauterine growth restriction, neonatal morbidity and high perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality. This study was carried out to determine the incidence and effect of multiple pregnancies on pre-term labor ...

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether polymorphisms in the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) are associated with pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders in a black South African population. DESIGN: The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion, angiotensinogen M235T and angiotensin II receptor type 1 1166A<--C polymorphisms were assessed in study groups comprising 204 women with pre-eclampsia, 120 with ...

AIMS: The aim of our study was to evaluate the frequency and the outcome of pregnancies in renal transplant recipients at our center. METHODS: This study involved the retrospective analysis of 405 childbearing female renal recipients for presence of risk factors, the outcome of pregnancy, and maternal and fetal complications. ...

Eclampsia is a serious complication of preeclampsia with high maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity rates. The recommended management is induction of labour when convulsions are controlled and the women's condition is stabilised. Here, we report about stabilisation after eclampsia followed by prolongation of a preterm pregnancy for 11 days ...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether increased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are implicated in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia and in preterm delivery. METHODS: Umbilical cord serum VEGF levels from women with uncomplicated term pregnancies (control group, n=24), with pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia (n=21), ...

A long and productive history of studies at high altitude has demonstrated that chronic hypoxia plays a key role in the aetiology of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and pre-eclampsia. Susceptibility to altitude-associated IUGR varies among high-altitude populations in relation to their duration of altitude exposure, with multigenerational residents demonstrating one-third ...

Interleukin (IL)-18 acts in synergy with IL-12 to promote development of T helper 1 (Th1) responses. On the other hand, IL-18 alone has the capacity to induce Th2 responses. Here, we have measured IL-18 and IL-12 secretion by non-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 17 non-pregnant women, 21 healthy ...

Oxidative stress plays an important role in the development of pre-eclampsia. Recently, the superoxide producing enzyme NAD(P)H oxidase was shown to be present in placental trophoblast. In this pilot-study we investigated the NAD(P)H oxidase associated superoxide production as modulator of placental oxidative stress in normotensive pregnancy (n = 19; gestational ...

Molar pregnancies are associated with increased maternal complications, notably pre-eclampsia, but peripartum cardiomyopathy has been rarely observed. Here we report on a 34-year-old woman, gravida 2 para 1, who presented to our obstetric clinic for routine screening at 16 weeks of gestation. Elevated maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein and free beta-human chorionic ...

OBJECTIVE: Fetal thrombotic vasculopathy (FTV) has been related to pregnancy complications and neonatal thrombosis separately. We assessed whether a relationship existed in our population of women with neonates who were admitted to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). In addition, the presence of thrombophilic factors in children and parents was ...

AIM: To measure maternal and perinatal outcome and analyze risk factors for antepartum and intrapartum eclampsia, which is one of main causes of high maternal mortality at the top referral hospital in the Kingdom of Cambodia. METHODS: A hospital-based retrospective study of 164 antepartum and intrapartum eclampsia cases out of ...

Severe pre-eclampsia reduced significantly (P<0.05) by 68+/-6 per cent (mean+/-sem, n=10) the maximal velocity (V(max)) and, consequently, reduced significantly by 60+/-7 per cent the catalytic efficiency (C(E)) of placental glutathione transferase pi, assayed with ethacrynic acid. Mild and severe pre-eclampsia reduced significantly by 82+/-5 per cent (mean+/-sem, n=5) and by ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic renal failure leads to amenorrhea, and successful pregnancy is rare. The aim of the present report is to examine the outcome of pregnancies under tacrolimus after kidney transplantation (KTx) and simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplantation (SPKTx). METHOD: All pregnancies under tacrolimus after KTx or SPKTx from 1993 to April 2002 ...

OBJECTIVE: We determined the performance of a functional test for activated protein C (APC) resistance in formerly pre-eclamptic women and matched controls. STUDY DESIGN: In our university medical center, we assessed the response to APC in plasma in 118 formerly pre-eclamptic women and in 57 healthy controls, we measured plasma ...

OBJECTIVES: (1) To assess the recurrence rate of pre-eclampsia in women with this history before 34 weeks of pregnancy and thrombophilia. (2) To evaluate the effects of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) on pregnancy outcome. METHODS: In a multicentre retrospective study subsequent pregnancies of women with a history of pre-eclampsia necessitating birth ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the reported increase in maternal serum activin A concentration in pre-eclampsia is evident from the first trimester. DESIGN: This was a case-control study carried out in antenatal clinics among singleton pregnancies at 10-14 weeks of gestation. METHODS: Activin A concentration was measured in stored maternal serum ...

PROBLEM: In pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia or hemolytisis elevated liver enzymes, low platelets (HELLP) syndrome, an increase of fetal DNA in the maternal serum indicates an increased lysis of fetal cells. Whether this cytolysis is the cause or the result of an increased specific cytotoxicity against the fetal cells is ...

BACKGROUND: Information about pregnancy in females with primary hyperoxaluria types I and II (PH-I, PH-II) is limited to isolated case reports. This study sought to determine the number and outcomes of pregnancies in a series of women with PH-I and PH-II, to assess the incidence of complications during pregnancy, and ...

A retrospective review of 302 cases of eclampsia treated at the Specialist Hospital Gombe (SHG), between January 1st 1997 and December 31st 1999 is presented. Intrapartum eclampsia was the commonest presentation, occurring in 166 (55.0%) patients. Headache, blurred vision, and epigastric pain preceded the first episode of seizure in 272 ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether differences in autonomic cardiovascular control between normal pregnant women and women who develop pre-eclampsia later in pregnancy can be detected even before or early in pregnancy. DESIGN: We studied 42 women, 21 multigravid with a history of pre-eclampsia and 21 primigravid, before pregnancy, at 6, 8, ...

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is the most severe pregnancy-related disease, leading to high maternal and fetal morbidity/mortality. Immunological imbalances associated with endothelial cell dysfunction have been hypothesized as a cause for the onset and perpetuation of PE. Valid and reliable animal models are urgently required to test this hypothesis and to better ...

We present a rare case of non-immune hydrops fetalis (NIHF) caused by a thrombus in the inferior vena cava in a neonate with low levels of anti-thrombin III. The diagnosis of (NIHF) was made in utero in a 43-year-old woman with poorly controlled gestational diabetes who subsequently developed pre-eclampsia. Cesarean ...

OBJECTIVE: To study maternal and perinatal outcomes in healthy women aged 50 years and older. METHOD: This study was of 59 clinical pregnancies, of which 10 ended in first trimester spontaneous miscarriage (and were excluded from further studies) and 58 live births. This retrospective review of 58 live births in ...

One of the fundamental issues in pre-eclampsia (hypertension in pregnancy) research is to find serum proteins that can act as markers of disease predisposition, remote disease onset, imminent disease onset or disease activity at the height of its destructive powers. We make assumptions, not infrequently, that positive findings at the ...

Objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence, maternal complications and perinatal outcomes of pregnancy in patients with Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy (HDP). Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was done by reviewing patients’ journals at Lilongwe Central Hospital (LCH) Maternity wing from January 2003 to June 2003. Those ...

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether blood pressure profile early in pregnancy was associated with the development of pre-eclampsia in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: A retrospective longitudinal database study of 1664 GDM subjects was performed. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements were taken bi-weekly during the first and second ...

BACKGROUND: Hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets (HELLP) syndrome is a severe form of pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is a multi-system disease of pregnancy associated with an increase in blood pressure and increased perinatal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Eighty per cent of women with HELLP syndrome present before term. There ...

BACKGROUND: Although not fully understood, heat shock proteins (HSP) are well known stress response proteins. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether staining for HSP27 was different between placentas from pregnancies complicated by severe pre-eclampsia with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) as compared to controls. METHODS: Sterile placental tissue ...

BACKGROUND: Some cases of recurrent miscarriage have a thrombotic basis. Thromboelastography is a rapid, reproducible test of whole-blood haemostasis. METHODS: Thromboelastography was performed in 494 consecutive, non-pregnant women (median age 35 years; range 21-48) with a history of miscarriages at <12 weeks gestation (median 4; range 3-12) and 55 parous ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this report is to review the obstetric medical, psychological, and nutritional aspects and outcome of the women and offspring enrolled in the Maternal Phenylketonuria Study, which was established to assess the efficacy of a phenylalanine (Phe)-restricted diet in preventing the morbidity associated with this disorder. METHODS: ...

Valencia sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) calluses were used as explants to develop a new transformation system for citrus mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Factors affecting Agrobacterium-mediated transformation efficiency included mode of pre-cultivation, temperature of cocultivation and presence of acetosyringone (AS). The highest transformation efficiency was obtained with a 4-day ...

Late postpartum eclampsia is an increasingly recognized entity. We describe a patient who developed postpartum eclampsia on the 6th day of delivery without any preceding pre-eclampsia. A high index of suspicion and close follow-up will help in the early detection of this condition. Awareness of this condition will also save ...

OBJECTIVE: To carry out a prospective study of Doppler velocimetry of the fetomaternal circulation in women with chronic hypertension, to evaluate whether the subsequent development of superimposed pre-eclampsia can be predicted. STUDY DESIGN: Serial Doppler studies of the maternal uterine and renal arteries, and fetal middle cerebral and umbilical arteries, ...

BACKGROUND: For women with end-stage renal failure of child-bearing age, renal transplantation offers a chance to start a family. Pregnancies in renal transplant recipients involve risks for graft and fetus, and need to be carefully managed. AIM: To identify graft, fetal and maternal outcomes in our patients, and compare our ...

Decidual acute atherosis is associated with pre-eclampsia, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. We have previously demonstrated elevated level of the oxidative stress marker 8-isoprostaglandin F(2 alpha)(8-isoprostane) and lipids in pre-eclamptic decidual tissue. Arachidonic acid (AA) in tissue phospholipids is a source for 8-isoprostane generation, and 8-isoprostane is liberated ...

Reductions in breast cancer risk observed in daughters of pre-eclamptic pregnancies are hypothesized to be mediated by lower in utero estrogen concentrations. Whereas maternal urinary estriol excretion is generally lower in pre-eclamptic women, results for maternal blood concentrations are equivocal, and little is known about estrogen concentrations in the cord ...

We followed 70 adult patients with spinal tuberculosis for a minimum of 2 years. Forty patients were treated by ambulant multi-drug chemotherapy (group A), and 30 with neurological complications (group B) were treated by antero-lateral decompression and chemotherapy. We studied the angle of spinal kyphosis as calculated on lateral spinal ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of clindamycin vaginal cream 2% once daily for 7 days in prolonging pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised clinical trial of 112 women between 14 and 25 weeks of gestation with diagnosis of asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis were enrolled in a multicenter randomised trial and assigned to active ...

Transport of iron from the mother to the fetus is essential for the normal development of the fetus and abnormalities in the transferrin receptor (TFR) on the placental trophoblasts might have some crucial effects on the fetal iron metabolism. The present study was undertaken to determine whether there are any ...

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between serum cystatin C levels and renal structural changes in normal, hypertensive and pre-eclamptic pregnancy to evaluate it as a marker of the degree of renal involvement in pre-eclampsia. DESIGN: An observational prospective study. SETTING: University Hospital of Lund, Sweden. SAMPLE: Thirty-six women with hypertensive ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the proportion of women with findings characteristic for pre-eclampsia, as opposed to renal disease, in a controlled study of hypertensive pregnant women undergoing antepartum renal biopsy. DESIGN: An observational prospective controlled study. SETTING: University Hospital of Lund, Sweden. SAMPLE: Thirty-six previously healthy women with hypertensive disease in ...

AIM: To report serum levels of superoxide dismutase in women with preeclampsia and eclampsia. To document the use of the value as a predictive tool for deciding the time of onset of subsequent convulsions with fulminating eclampsia and use of the value as a marker for obstetric intervention in clinical ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance, in the prediction of pre-eclampsia, of (1) an abnormal mean uterine artery resistance index (RI; cross-sectional index) at 24 weeks of gestation, (2) the individual longitudinal flow pattern of results observed at 16, 20 and 24 weeks of gestation and (3) a multiple logistic regression ...

Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and maternal complications including thrombotic events and early pre-eclampsia. HELLP syndrome (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low Platelets) represents a unique form in the spectrum of pre-eclampsia. This report describes four patients with pregnancy-associated hepatic infarctions. All four had APS and ...

Pre-eclampsia is a potentially life-threatening disease of women during pregnancy leading to hypertension and proteinuria. It affects 1 in 15 pregnancies but, despite intense research efforts, the cause of the disease remains mysterious. Because pre-eclampsia only occurs during pregnancy and its symptoms resolve after delivery, factors from the placenta are ...

Pre-eclampsia, one of the main complications in pregnancy, is characterised by shallow cytotrophoblast invasion of decidua as well as by vascular endothelial cell dysfunction, leading to a poor perfusion of placenta. A striking feature of pre-eclamptic pregnancies is that expression of HLA-G protein is reduced in term placentas compared with ...

BACKGROUND: Pre-eclampsia is a form of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. It is a common cause of both maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in both developed and developing countries. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the possibility of early prediction of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy using single estimation of serum protein, creatinine and ...