Herein, we present a case of tubal choriocarcinoma which was diagnosed initially as chronic ectopic pregnancy. During laparotomy we noticed a haemorrhagic friable mass in the left flank, adherent to the bowel. Left-sided salpingoopherectomy was performed. Serum β HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) levels performed in the postoperative period were elevated. ...

The World Health Organization has recommended investigating near-misses as a benchmark practice for monitoring maternal healthcare and has standardized the criteria for diagnosis. We aimed to study maternal morbidity and mortality among women admitted to a general intensive care unit during pregnancy or in the postpartum period, using the new ...

To investigate whether an adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine in pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of fetal death. Nationwide register based cohort study. Denmark. All clinically recognised singleton pregnancies that ended between November 2009 and September 2010. Individual level data on exposure to an inactivated AS03 pandemic ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between prenatal alcohol consumption and the occurrence of placental abruption and placenta previa in a population-based sample. We used linked birth data files to conduct a retrospective cohort study of singleton deliveries in the state of Missouri during the period ...

To assess the fertility and pregnancy experiences of rural Malawian women living with obstetric fistula and following surgical repair of fistula. Fertility histories were collected via in-depth interviews with women identified in 2007 as having obstetric fistula and with their family members. Of the 32 affected women interviewed, 17 (53.1%) ...

While infantile myofibromatosis is the most common mesenchymal tumour of infancy, only around 300 cases have been reported. The authors report a 33-year-old para 1 with an uncomplicated, dichorionic diamniotic twin pregnancy who was diagnosed with an intrauterine death of one twin at 36+5 weeks gestation. At caesarean section, a ...

World-wide, many fetuses and infants are exposed to methylxanthines via maternal consumption of coffee and other beverages containing these substances. Methylxanthines (caffeine, theophylline and aminophylline) are also commonly used as a medication for apnea of prematurity.The metabolism of methylxanthines is impaired in pregnant women, fetuses and neonates, leading to accumulating ...

The effect of radiation on the fetus has been derived primarily from animal studies and human exposures to diagnostic and therapeutic radiation as well as atomic bomb exposure. Given the variety of sources, there is controversy over the dose of radiation in addition to the other environmental conditions that surrounded ...

Maternal exposure to high concentrations of inorganic arsenic (iAs) in naturally contaminated drinking groundwater sources has been associated with an increased risk for the spontaneous loss of clinically recognized pregnancies in several epidemiologic studies. Whereas a large worldwide population depends on drinking groundwater sources with high levels of iAs contamination, ...

Inequities in the distribution of environmental exposures may add an extra burden to socially disadvantaged populations, especially when acting during vulnerable periods such as pregnancy and early life, but such inequities may be more complex and uncertain than is generally assumed. We therefore examine whether socioeconomic inequities exist in pregnancy ...

TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant and known endocrine disruptor. Since humans and animals are most sensitive to toxicant exposure during development, we previously developed a mouse model of in utero TCDD exposure in order to examine the impact of this toxicant on adult reproductive function. Our initial in ...

Background This study examines the relationship between light drinking during pregnancy and the risk of socioemotional problems and cognitive deficits at age 5 years. Methods Data from the nationally representative prospective UK Millennium Cohort Study (N=11 513) were used. Participants were grouped according to mothers' reported alcohol consumption during pregnancy: never ...

There is growing concern about the potential health effects of exposure to various environmental chemicals during pregnancy and infancy. One of the key limitations of past epidemiologic research in this field has been the potential for exposure misclassification to lead to biases in the health risk estimate. The use of ...

An alcohol-induced change in serum transferrin glycosylation, termed carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), is widely used as a biomarker of heavy long-term drinking. This study examined the transferrin glycosylation profile and the risk for false-positive CDT results during pregnancy. Serum samples were collected from 24 healthy pregnant women starting in gestation week ...

Because I practise in a rural area with a large number of lakes, I have patients planning pregnancy who consume relatively large amounts of fish harvested by their families. What should be my advice to them? A recent Motherisk study has shown that fairly commonly these women's mercury levels exceed ...

Pregnant women are at risk of exposure to nonionizing and ionizing radiation resulting from necessary medical procedures, workplace exposure, and diagnostic or therapeutic interventions before the pregnancy is known. Nonionizing radiation includes microwave, ultrasound, radio frequency, and electromagnetic waves. In utero exposure to nonionizing radiation is not associated with significant ...

This study describes the development and testing of a multicomponent media campaign aimed at increasing discussions of alcohol use during pregnancy. Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) programs in Iowa were paired and, within each pair, were randomly assigned to a usual-care group (advice not to consume alcohol while pregnant and ...

The Chinese famine of 1959-1961 was the largest in human history. We used data on 35,025 women born in 1957-1963 to assess the impact of famine exposure on height, BMI, and hypertension at ~32 y of age. The data were from the China-U.S. Collaborative Project for Neural Tube Defect Prevention. ...

During pregnancy skeletal lead is mobilized by maternal bone turnover and can threaten fetal development. The exact strategy suggested to women of childbearing age, who were chronically exposed to lead, and, thus, have high bone lead burden, is not well established. We describe 4 years of follow-up of a 29-year-old ...

Prenatal exposure to alcohol has a variety of morphologic and neurobehavioral consequences, yet more than 10% of women continue to drink during pregnancy, placing their offspring at risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Identification of at-risk pregnancies has been difficult, in part, because the presence and severity of FASD ...

We assessed the effects of a single episode of maternal alcohol intoxication on fetal brain blood perfusion in three pregnant dams (baboons) at the 24th week of pregnancy using dynamic susceptibility contrast magnetic resonance imaging. After the oral administration of alcohol, there was a four-fold increase in the peak contrast ...

This study identified structural changes in the caudate nucleus in offspring of mothers who drank moderate levels of alcohol during pregnancy. In addition, the effect of duration of alcohol use during pregnancy was assessed. Young adults were recruited from the Maternal Health Practices and Child Development Project. Three groups were ...

Meconium fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) are sensitive and specific biomarkers for prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) in pregnancy. We recently reported a 2.5% rate of FAEE positive meconium in a general population sample of infants born in the region of Grey-Bruce, Ontario. Women in this region with high-risk pregnancies are ...

Concurrent alcohol exposure has been associated with reduced fecundity, but no studies have estimated the effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on male fecundity. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy, semen quality and levels of reproductive hormones in young, adult men. ...

The diagnosis of pulmonary disorders associated with pregnancy is complicated by concerns about maternal/fetal radiation exposure, administration of contrast media, and medicolegal issues. This article reviews diagnostic imaging modalities, radiation exposure policy statements and provides a brief review of radiographic findings in selected pulmonary disorders associated with pregnancy. Clinicians should ...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of fetal alcohol exposure during pregnancy with child and adolescent behavioural development. DESIGN: The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study recruited 2900 pregnancies (1989-91) and the 14-year follow up was conducted between 2003 and 2006. SETTING: Tertiary obstetric hospital in Perth, Western Australia. POPULATION: The ...

BACKGROUND: Leukemia is the most frequently occurring cancer in children. Although its etiology is largely unknown, leukemia is believed to result from an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Among different potential risk factors, the possible role of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been questioned. METHODS: To assess the ...

BACKGROUND: Excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy has adverse effects on fetal growth and development. Less consistent associations have been shown for the associations of light-to-moderate maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy with health outcomes in the offspring. Therefore, we examined the associations of light-to-moderate maternal alcohol consumption with various fetal growth ...

The number of Korean women of childbearing age who drink alcohol and binge drink has increased remarkably in recent years. In the present study, we examined self-reported rates of alcohol use before and during pregnancy and identified maternal characteristics associated with drinking in pregnancy. One thousand pregnant Korean women who ...

Summarize recent studies exploring the relationship between paternal and maternal environmental exposures to chemicals before, at the time of and after conception to adverse developmental outcomes including preterm birth, death, structural and functional abnormalities and growth restriction. Recent studies have demonstrated that human pregnancy and development are vulnerable to environmental ...

Substance abuse in pregnancy has increased over the past three decades in the United States, resulting in approximately 225,000 infants yearly with prenatal exposure to illicit substances. Routine screening and the education of women of child bearing age remain the most important ways to reduce addiction in pregnancy. Legal and ...

BACKGROUND: Cannabis is commonly used among pregnant women. It is unclear whether cannabis exposure causes hemodynamic modifications in the fetus, like tobacco does. AIMS: This study aims to ascertain fetal blood redistribution due to intrauterine cannabis exposure. METHODS: This study was embedded in the Generation R Focus Study, a population-based ...

Occupational exposure to organic solvents during pregnancy has been associated with reduced fetal growth. Though organic solvents in the form of paint fumes are also found in the home environment, no studies have investigated the effect of such exposure in a general population. We studied associations between residential exposure to ...

Evidence suggests that the predisposition towards atopy begins early in life. Maternal allergy has been associated with an increased risk of the development of allergic disease in offspring. Some studies suggest that the development of childhood atopy may also be influenced by prenatal allergen exposure. In this study, a respiratory ...

In studies of reproductive outcomes, maternal residence at delivery is often the only information available to characterise environmental exposures during pregnancy. The goal of this investigation was to describe residential mobility during pregnancy and to assess the extent to which change of residence may result in exposure misclassification when exposure ...

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: In spite of the implemented policies warning of the dangers of alcohol consumption for pregnant women, many women still continue drinking during pregnancy. This article focuses on the question of the representations of alcohol consumption during pregnancy in France. DESIGN AND METHODS: A qualitative approach based on ...

There is increasing evidence that human pregnancy outcome can be significantly compromised by suboptimal maternal nutritional status. Poor diet results in a maternal-fetal environment in which the teratogenicity of other insults such as alcohol might be amplified. As an example, there is evidence that zinc (Zn) can interact with maternal ...

BACKGROUND: Intrauterine exposure to alcohol may result in a distinct pattern of craniofacial abnormalities and central nervous system dysfunction, designated fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The spectrum of malformations of the brain associated with maternal alcohol abuse during pregnancy is much broader than the relatively uniform clinical phenotype of FAS. Among ...

Offspring of mothers using ethanol during pregnancy are known to suffer from developmental delays and/or a variety of behavioral changes. Ethanol, may affect the developing fetus in a dose dependent manner. With very high repetitive doses there is a 6-10% chance of the fetus developing the fetal alcoholic syndrome manifested ...

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that even mild exposure to alcohol, caffeine, smoking, and poor diet may have adverse long-term neurodevelopmental effects. In addition, there is evidence that timing of high exposures (e.g. binge drinking) can have particularly negative effects. This paper describes the design and implementation of The Lifestyle ...

Preventing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) requires detection of in-pregnancy maternal risk drinking. The widely used T-ACE screen has been applied in various ways, although the impact of those different uses on effectiveness is uncertain. We examined relations among different T-ACE scoring criteria, maternal drinking, and child outcome. Self-reported across-pregnancy ...

Many children adversely affected by maternal drinking during pregnancy cannot be identified early in life using current diagnostic criteria for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). We conducted a preliminary investigation to determine whether ethanol-induced alterations in placental gene expression may have some utility as a diagnostic indicator of maternal drinking ...

Cocaine use during pregnancy is deleterious to the newborn child, in part via its disruption of placental blood flow. However, the extent to which cocaine can affect the function of the fetal primate brain is still an unresolved question. Here we used PET and MRI and show that in third-trimester ...

Alcohol exposure in pregnancy is a common and modifiable risk factor for poor pregnancy and child outcomes. Alcohol exposure in pregnancy can cause a range of physical and neurodevelopmental problems in the child including the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). In order to improve prevention strategies, we sought to describe ...

BACKGROUND: Alcohol consumption in pregnancy may result in serious adverse fetal outcome. Non- or low alcoholic wines and beers may be a risk-reduction strategy to help alcohol-dependent individuals to prevent or limit ethanol consumption. The objective of this study was to quantify ethanol concentrations in Canadian beverages claiming to contain ...

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy may cause many health problems for the child, one of which is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Since FASD is incurable, actions meant to prevent the occurrence of the disability by targeting drinking women become more important. Epidemiological data on drinking among pregnant women, including prevalence ...

No information is currently available on the safety of methylephedrine, a component of various cold medications available in South Korea. With previous approval by an Institutional Review Board, 349 women inadvertently exposed to methylephedrine during the 1st trimester of pregnancy and an age- and gravidity-matched control group, were enrolled in ...

Conflicting findings exist regarding the risks of low to moderate levels of alcohol use during pregnancy. A recent study from Australia has suggested that mild gestational drinking is not associated with adverse fetal effects, and may even be associated with favorable outcomes as compared to "no drinking".The study may lead ...

Detecting patterns of maternal drinking that place fetuses at risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) is critical to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention but is challenging because information on antenatal drinking collected during pregnancy is often insufficient or lacking. Although retrospective assessments have been considered less favored by many researchers ...

Studies of environmental exposures and adverse birth outcomes often rely on maternal address at birth obtained from the birth certificate to classify exposure. Although the gestational age of interest is often early pregnancy, maternal addresses are not available for women who move during pregnancy when using maternal addresses abstracted from ...