The relationship between the last biophysical profile score result and perinatal outcome was determined among a large referred population of high-risk pregnancies. A highly significant inverse linear correlation was observed for fetal distress, admission to neonatal intensive care unit, intrauterine growth retardation, 5-minute Apgar score less than 7, and umbilical ...

Recording fetal activity serves as an indirect measure of central nervous system integrity and function. The coordination of whole body movement, which requires complex neurologic control, is likely similar to that of the newborn infant. Short-term observations of the fetus are best performed using real-time ultrasound imaging. Monitoring fetal motion ...

The fetal responses to three different intensity levels of vibroacoustic stimulation (mean 92, 103, and 109 dB) were investigated in 275 pregnant women between 32-42 weeks of gestation. A 103-dB and a 109-dB stimulation aroused fetal movements, perceived by the mother, significantly more often than did a 92-dB stimulation (P ...

A deformation is an abnormal form or position of the body caused by nondisruptive mechanical forces. Clubfoot, congenital hip dislocation, and infantile mandibular asymmetry (not based on mandibular malformation) serve as examples. The musculoskeletal system is involved in almost all deformations. Various disturbances of intrauterine movement are the usual causes ...

The relationship between complete absence of all components of the fetal biophysical profile score (biophysical profile score = 0) and adverse perinatal outcome was examined. Twenty-nine of 28,655 fetuses studied (0.092%) had a last biophysical profile score of 0; 48.3% of these perinates died (14 of 29 fetuses), the majority ...

1. The respiratory effects of corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) and the CRF antagonists alpha-helical CRF 9-41 (alpha hCRF) and [DPhe 12, Nle 21-38] rCRF (12-41) (DPhe CRF) have been studied in unanaesthetized fetal lambs of 125-140 days gestation. 2. CRF when given as a 10 micrograms bolus followed by a 5 ...

As a possible preventive measure for brain dysfunction in Menkes disease, prenatal treatment by maternal administration of zinc, vitamin E and copper was examined in brindled mutant mice. During pregnancy and lactation, female heterozygous mice received 20 ppm zinc or 0.004% alpha-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E) throughout and 6 ppm copper ...

828 cases with multiple congenital contractures (arthrogryposis) were categorized and histories were reviewed to identify pregnancy complications. 53.0% of cases had a specified diagnosis or known cause and no diagnosis was found for 47.0% of which 27.2% were though to probably have a genetic basis and 19.8% were of unknown ...

Two studies related to soft tissue profile change, are reported in this paper. In the first study, 50 adults with normal occlusion were compared to 50 adults with maxillary protrusion. Cephalometric radiographs were obtained for all subjects in two positions: with lips relaxed and lips closed. The amount of lower ...

Fetal movement, observed by ultrasound imaging, was significantly reduced (P less than or equal to 0.001) in pregnant goats gavaged with Conium seed and Nicotiana glauca and temporarily reduced with fresh Conium plant. Conium seed and Nicotiana glauca induced cleft palate and multiple congenital contractures in 100% of the kids ...

The study was designed to characterize the changes in fetal heart rate (FHR) and movement responses in a group of high-risk fetuses to address the question of differential responding as a function of risk status. The study included 36 women admitted to hospital with threatened preterm labour (e.g., contractions, bleeding, ...

Forty pregnancies complicated by oligohydramnios in the second trimester due to prolonged and premature membrane rupture (PPROM) were followed prospectively to determine factors influencing fetal breathing activity and the relationship of fetal breathing movements (FBM) to outcome. The patients were retrospectively divided into three groups according to the presence or ...

We have investigated the effect of pinealectomy of the pregnant ewe on the 24-h pattern of fetal breathing activity during late gestation. Fetal breathing movements were recorded during 24-h periods on 18 occasions in 5 pinealectomized ewes and on 24 occasions in 6 pineal-intact ewes between 120 and 145 days ...

Most of the movements described during the course of gestation have already emerged before 16 weeks, and the presence of diurnal variation in human fetal behavior has been demonstrated from as early as 20 weeks gestation. Up to 26 weeks quiet intervals rarely exceed 5 min. After this age quiet ...

The authors corrected the abnormal fetal position in 413 cases of pregnant women by the auricular plaster therapy (APT) with a success rate of 83.3%--remarkably higher than treatment by knee-chest positioning. Further analysis showed that APT was also superior to the knee-chest positioning for primiparae, breech fetal position, and pregnancies ...

Fetal bladder contractions, indicative of micturition (voiding), and behavioral states were monitored in unanesthetized fetal sheep in utero during the last third of gestation. Fetal voids began during low-voltage electrocortical activity (LV ECoG) at a greater frequency (91.4 +/- 1.0%) than expected (57.2%) and began during high-voltage electrocortical activity (HV ...

Vibroacoustic stimulation of the fetus as a test of fetal well-being has become fairly common despite limited research on this tool. A review of the literature reveals that fetal accelerations in response to this stimulus are indicative of fetal health. Vibroacoustic stimulation correlates well with other methods of fetal assessment ...

Fetal breathing movement (FBM) in utero may be an indicator of fetal health. This paper provides a second-by-second estimate of FBM rate. In the absence of a statistical model for the fetal breathing movement, block data structured autoregressive spectral estimation is used. The optimum tapered Burg algorithm provides a minimum ...

In 70 patients who were between 32 and 36 weeks' gestation and who complained of painful uterine contractions, real-time ultrasonography was performed to establish the presence or absence of fetal breathing. Ten of the 14 women in whom no fetal breathing movement could be detected were delivered of infants within ...

The Authors, on the basis of previous data obtained by ultrasonography, analysed more closely the quantitative and qualitative correlations between movements and spine development in the human fetus. The bending angles of cervical lordosis and thoracic kyphosis showed a trend directly and inversely proportional, respectively, to the trend of the ...

Remarkable progress has been made during the last 15 years in understanding mechanisms that occur in the fetus as a response to hypoxia. Human experiments have defined the normal patterns and responses of the fetus to changes in the maternal environment. Considerable data exist regarding patterns of fetal breathing and ...

The biophysical profile has proved to be a valuable tool for the assessment of fetal well-being, independent of gestational age. Magnesium sulfate is commonly used as a tocolytic agent, yet relatively little is known about its effects on the biophysical activities of the fetus. To investigate the effects of magnesium ...

This study measured nitrogen washout in ten pregnant and nine non-pregnant women to understand better how pregnancy effects denitrogenation. Nitrogen concentration was monitored continuously while the women breathed 100 per cent O2 for three minutes and took four deep breaths of 100 per cent O2 using a circle anaesthesia system ...

To determine the fetal biophysical effects of vibroacoustic stimulation produced by an electronic artificial larynx we studied 20 normal term pregnancies assigned either to control (no stimulus) or experimental (stimulus) groups. Each fetus was observed for 3 hours; either no stimulus or a 3-second stimulus was delivered after the first ...

It is clear that external vibroacoustic stimulation produces remarkable changes in fetal heart rate and fetal movement patterns which are related to changes in fetal behavior. The clinical significance of these effects on human fetuses has been addressed by many authors in series of small number of patients involved. There ...

Biophysical activities such as FBM, GBM, and accelerations in the healthy human fetus near term occur episodically in keeping with the development of behavioral states in utero. It is therefore important to allow for the normal rest-activity cycles of healthy fetuses when designing clinical strategies for the surveillance of fetal ...

The mechanisms underlying the apnea associated with both hypoxia and high-voltage electrocortical activity (HV ECOG) in the fetal lamb are not clearly understood. We have previously shown that lesions in the rostral lateral pons change the depressive response to hypoxia to one of stimulation. We now present evidence that lesions ...

Hypoxia in fetal sheep depresses respiratory activity. To determine if this effect is counterbalanced by hypercarbia we studied the effects of two levels of asphyxia produced by occlusions of the maternal uterine artery. Moderate asphyxia (PaO2 16.8 +/- 1.6 (SEM) PaCO2 48.9 +/- 1.0 torr) produced no changes in the ...

Although many factors influence fetal movements, maternal perception of gross fetal movement appears to be an accurate reflection of fetal activity. Observation in humans and studies in animals indicate that the compromised fetus reduces its oxygen requirements by reducing activity. This fact has enabled perceived fetal movement to become a ...

The routine recommendation to women to count fetal movements daily during late pregnancy for the prevention of antepartum late fetal death in normally formed singletons has been evaluated. 68,000 women were randomly allocated within thirty-three pairs of clusters either to a policy of routine counting or to standard care, which ...

The effect of indomethacin on the ethanol-induced suppression of fetal breathing movements, low-voltage electrocortical (ECoG) activity, and electro-ocular (EOG) activity was studied in the near-term fetal sheep. Ten conscious instrumented pregnant ewes (between 129 and 131 days of gestation; term, 147 days) received 1-h maternal intravenous infusion of 1 g ...

Vibro-acoustic stimulation of the human fetus in being increasingly performed both antenatally and during labour, to differentiate between poor and good fetal health in cases of flat or otherwise suspect fetal heart rate patterns. In a controlled study we investigated the effect of the electronic artificial larynx (EAL) on fetal ...

The effects of maternal consumption of regular or decaffeinated coffee on the fetus were determined in eight pregnant women at 32 to 36 weeks of gestation. This was a single-blind crossover study in which two cups of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee were consumed after an overnight fast. The total maternal ...

Whilst hypoxia stimulates fetal peripheral chemoreceptors, fetal breathing movements do not increase as hypoxia also has central effects. We wondered whether specific stimulation of the arterial chemoreceptors by almitrine would produce a stimulation of fetal breathing movements. When almitrine was given to 5 intact and 3 peripherally-chemodenervated fetal sheep in ...

Maternal perception of fetal movements after vibroacoustic stimulation (Servox) was studied longitudinally on 456 occasions in 90 low-risk pregnancies after 28 weeks gestation until delivery. A positive response to sound stimulation, recorded as a fetal movement by the mother, occurred on 444 (97%) occasions. Of the 12 negative responses eight ...

Fetal death is a tragedy for mother, family, and obstetrician. Recent reviews of fetal death indicate that nearly half occur in pregnancies that are not candidates for traditional antepartum testing. We conducted a prospective evaluation of the effectiveness of a fetal movement screening program in reducing the fetal mortality rate. ...

In ten healthy near-term pregnant women the effect of induced maternal emotions on fetal motor behaviour was studied. Emotions were induced by showing a film of a normal delivery. Fetal behaviour was recorded by means of real-time ultrasound observations of general movements and eye movements and by fetal heart rate ...

The paper describes a new transducer for detection of fetal movements and sounds from the maternal abdominal wall. This transducer is based on an inductive principle. The compliance of the transducer should match the compliance of the maternal abdominal wall in order to detect the very weak acoustic signal caused ...

The effect of induced maternal hypocapnia and hypercapnia on fetal breathing movements was studied in 30 healthy pregnant women between 24 and 34 weeks' gestation to determine whether gestational age influences the fetal respiratory response to alterations in carbon dioxide levels. The percent time of fetal breathing movements correlated significantly ...

Gastric emptying, mouth-to-cecum transit (MCT), and whole-gut transit of a solid-liquid meal was measured in 30 control subjects and in 43 patients with essential dyspepsia, in whom organic digestive diseases and secondary disorders of gastric emptying had been excluded. The rate of gastric emptying was determined by an anterior gamma ...

In 35 two-hour recordings of fetal heart rate and fetal movements, 14 periods of fetal hiccups were present (1.2% of the recording time) with a median duration of 3.5 min (range 1 to 8 min). No specific relation to behavioural states or movement patterns could be identified. The hiccupping frequency ...

The effects of fetal movement, ultrasound scans, and amniocentesis on maternal-fetal attachment and perception of fetal development in normal pregnancy were examined in 91 women during the second trimester. Women who reported feeling fetal movement early in pregnancy had higher maternal-fetal attachment scores and higher perception of fetal development scores. ...

The incidence of fetal breathing movements and low voltage electrocortical activity was measured in three groups of fetal sheep, at 123-137 days gestation. The first group (transected & denervated) had the brainstem transected at the level of the colliculi and also had peripheral arterial chemodenervation. The second group (denervated) had ...

A modified scheme for biophysical profile scoring based exclusively on real-time ultrasonographic examination is proposed and includes expanded scores of fetal movements and fetal breathing and only qualitative assessment of accelerated placental maturation, subjective ultrasonographic impression of oligohydramnios, and decreased fetal tone. This method was compared with the method of ...

The development and independence of short-term and long-term habituation (and short-term sensitization) of the acoustic startle response to repetitive stimuli has been repeatedly demonstrated in the experimental animal. Although short-term habituation (and sensitization) of acoustic startle has been studied in humans, neither long-term habituation nor sensitization has been demonstrated. In ...

A computer-assisted biophysical assessment was performed in a woman with chronic alcoholism at 37 weeks' gestation. She was first seen in a state of acute alcohol intoxication (322 mg/dl). Although fetal breathing movement incidence was normal (30%), fetal tachypnea (67 breaths per minute) and decreased fetal body movements (0.11%) were ...

Maternal perception of sound-provoked fetal movement was correlated with the results of nonstress cardiotocography in 1097 women with obstetric or medical antenatal risk factors. Ninety-two percent of the mothers felt fetal movements with the stimulus; all but three had a reactive non-stress test (NST). These three women were taking multiple ...

Integrated electromyographic, electrocortical (ECoG) and electro-ocular activity were recorded in 13 chronically prepared fetal sheep (130-145 days). Fetal movements and the rate of habituation to repeated suffusions of cold saline against the fetal skin were recorded. Experiments were repeated during an intravenous infusion of noradrenaline to the fetus (0.4 microgram/kg ...

Thirty women were studied to examine the effect of fetal scalp stimulation on fetal heart rate (FHR) accelerations and gross body movements in quiet and active fetal behavioral states during the active phase of labor. Stimulation was performed by five consecutive tractions of the fetal scalp electrode. Fetal response in ...

While observation of fetal breathing movements has been used in fetal assessment, quantitative parameters (percent time spent in breathing [incidence], breath rate, or breath rate variability) have not been adequately evaluated as predictive tools. We examined 283 patients with high-risk pregnancies between 32 and 42 weeks' gestation and correlated their ...