The article below summarizes a roundtable discussion of a study published in this issue of the Journal in light of its methodology, relevance to practice, and implications for future research. Article discussed: Burris HH, Rifas-Shiman SL, Kleinman K, et al. Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy and gestational diabetes. Am J ...

Heterotopic gestation, although fairly common with assisted reproductive techniques, is very rare in natural conception. Here we are reporting a case of heterotopic pregnancy in a 27-year-old woman who presented with sign and symptoms of acute abdomen from aborting tubal pregnancy with intrauterine gestation at 7 weeks of amenorrhea.

Ovarian pregnancy is an uncommon presentation of ectopic gestation and usually, it ends with rupture before the end of the first trimester. Its presentation often is difficult to distinguish from that of tubal ectopic pregnancy and hemorrhagic ovarian cyst. We report a rare primary ruptured ovarian pregnancy in a 26 ...

Preeclampsia affects 5%-8% of pregnancies and is the leading worldwide cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Preeclampsia is associated with shallow trophoblast invasion and inadequate spiral artery remodeling, which are widely believed to lead to placental hypoxia, the putative culprit initiating the cascade of events that ultimately results ...

Introduction: The current definition of preeclampsia is based on convention and not on maternal and/or perinatal outcomes. This article reviews some of the limitations of the conventional definition of preeclampsia and recent evidence suggesting that there is a dose-response relationship between the magnitude of uteroplacental ischemia and the timing of ...

Human immunoglobulin G (IgG) molecules are composed of two Fab portions and one Fc portion. The glycans attached to the Fc portions of IgG are known to modulate its biological activity as they influence interaction with both complement and various cellular Fc receptors. IgG glycosylation changes significantly with pregnancy, showing ...

Phosphoglycoprotein (P-gp) is highly expressed in the placental syncytiotrophoblast and prevents xenobiotics from entering the fetus. In tumor cells, P-gp-mediated substrate efflux is inhibited by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). However, nothing is known regarding the effects of SSRIs on P-gp function in the placenta or fetal tissues. We hypothesized ...

Correlates of prenatal physical activity can inform interventions, but are not well-understood. Participants in the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition 3 Study were recruited before 20 weeks gestation. Women self-reported frequency, duration, and mode of moderate and vigorous physical activities. We used logistic regression to identify correlates of any physical activity ...

Cesarean section (Sectio Caesarea) is a surgical method for the completion of delivery. After various historical modifications of operative techniques, modern approach consists in the transverse dissection of the anterior wall of the uterus. The rate of vaginal birth after cesarean section was significantly reduced from year to year, and ...

Clomiphene is widely used for inducing ovulation. Evidence for congenital abnormalities, in particular central nervous system defects (CNS-D) and in babies born from clomiphene-induced pregnancies is conflicting. The authors report a case of holoprosencephalia (HPE) in a fetus delivered from a mother receiving clomiphene.

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is an important tool to treat diabetes during pregnancy. However, proper implementation of SMBG in pregnant women requires understanding of its applications and limitations. This article reviews issues related to the implementation, efficacy, and accuracy of SMBG and discusses factors that can confound results of ...

17β-estradiol, acting through estrogen receptors α and β, plays a fundamental role in the regulation of Fallopian tube cell homeostasis and in the modulation of normal tubal physiological processes. Fluctuations in E2 levels also play crucial roles in the initiation or progression of numerous human diseases. Fallopian tube malfunction often ...

The effects of activation method and timing between fusion and activation in goat somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) were investigated. In vivo-ovulated oocytes were surgically flushed from donors 54 to 62h after CIDR withdrawal in the breeding season and enucleated after brief ultraviolet exposure. Transfected fibroblasts and epithelial cells from ...

The aim of this study was 2-fold: (1) To determine if altrenogest-treated mares will yield higher numbers of quality in vitro-matured (IVM) oocytes than early pregnant mares and cycling/control mares and (2) if the addition of human follicular fluid (HFF) to IVM medium can support IVM and viable pregnancies from ...

Children cerebral palsy (CCP) encompasses a group of nonprogessive and noninfectious conditions, which cause light, moderate, and severe deviations in neurological development. Diagnosis of CCP is set mostly by the age of 3 years. The fact that a large number of cerebral damage occurs prenatally and the fact that early ...

To assess the frequency of elective induction of labour and its determinants in selected Latin America countries; quantify success in attaining vaginal delivery, and compare rates of caesarean and adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes after elective induction versus spontaneous labour in low-risk pregnancies. Of 37,444 deliveries in women with low-risk ...

Through an analysis of videotaped interactions between healthcare professionals and pregnant women during ultrasound prenatal examinations in Japan, I explore some aspects of sequence organization in which an ultrasound real-time fetus is organized. The ultrasound demonstration of the fetal condition is an intrinsically interactional and distributed achievement. The ultrasound fetus ...

Interest in rising caesarean section (CS) rates focuses on the putative relative effects on maternal health and perinatal mortality, especially in 'non-medical', 'request' or 'repeat' planned prelabour CS (PLCS). Shortening pregnancy and avoiding labour affect fetal maturity. Babies who do not experience labour have significantly increased respiratory and other morbidities ...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of various diseases during pregnancy and the perinatal period. Newborns are more prone to oxidative stress than individuals later in life. During pregnancy, increased oxygen demand augments the rate of production of ROS and women, even during normal pregnancies, ...

In pregnancy, vascular nitric oxide (NO) production is increased in the systemic and more so in the uterine vasculature, thereby supporting maximal perfusion of the uterus. This high level of functionality is matched in the umbilical vein, and in corresponding disease states such as pre-eclampsia, reduced vascular responses are seen ...

Lipoxin A(4) is a lipid mediator that elicits anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution actions via its receptor, formyl peptide receptor 2 (FPR2/ALX). In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression and potential role of lipoxin A(4) and FPR2/ALX in the regulation of inflammation associated with cyclical remodeling of the human endometrium ...

Application of AI in extensive beef cattle production would be facilitated by protocols that effectively synchronize ovarian follicular development and ovulation to enable fixed-time AI (TAI). Objectives were to determine whether use of a controlled internal drug-release (CIDR) device to administer progesterone in a GnRH-based estrous synchronization protocol would optimize ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine if elephant placenta secretes a lactogenic hormone which may function as the principal luteotrophin to maintain ovarian luteal function throughout gestation. STUDY DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: To label biopsies of endometrium and placenta recovered from African elephant culled professionally throughout gestation with an anti-human prolactin polyclonal ...

The use of metformin throughout gestation by pregnant women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) significantly reduces the number of first trimester spontaneous abortions and the rate of occurrence of gestational diabetes. The objective of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics and the placental transfer of metformin in pregnant women ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between 25(OH) vitamin D3 levels and maternal bone turnover during pregnancy and lactation. STUDY DESIGN: Thirty pregnant women and 30 healthy non-pregnant controls were included the study. The pregnant women were examined in the 12th, 25th and 32nd gestational weeks and 6 weeks after delivery. ...

Objective: We aimed to investigate the effects of progesterone on gene expression and function of both myometrium and circulating leukocytes. Methods: We recruited women participating in a randomized clinical trial of progesterone to prevent preterm delivery. These participants had a twin pregnancy and were managed in 1 of 2 tertiary ...

Two hundred ninety-nine Angus-based, nulliparous heifers (253 ± 2 kg initial BW) from 3 production years were utilized to compare traditional postweaning dry lot (DL) development with a more extensive winter grazing system utilizing a combination of corn residue and winter range (EXT). Heifers developed in the DL were offered ...

Reduced conception rate during the hot summer and subsequent autumn is a well-documented phenomenon. Evaporative cooling systems greatly increase milk production but only slightly improve reproductive performance; hence, additional approaches to improving fertility during the hot season are required. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the ...

BACKGROUND To determine whether women with extremely low-serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels (<0.1-0.4 ng/ml) still demonstrate live birth potential with assisted reproduction and whether such potential is age dependent. METHODS Between January 2006 and October 2009, 128 consecutive infertility patients with AMH ≤0.4 ng/ml were retrospectively evaluated for pregnancy chances ...

OBJECTIVE:: The aim of this study was to achieve pregnancy in a woman with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) by means of estrogen pretreatment, a combination of estrogen therapy and gonadotropin ovarian stimulation, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). METHODS:: A 34-year-old woman with POI who failed to achieve follicular growth in ...

The genetic deletion of catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) in mice produces a preeclampsia-like phenotype, with mice exhibiting hypertension, proteinuria, and histological changes, consistent with human pathological features. 2-Methoxyoestradiol, a metabolite of COMT, increases human trophoblast invasiveness in vitro under hypoxic conditions, providing further support that decreased COMT expression may have a ...

Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) has increasingly been used in the past decade. Here we present a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs on the effect of PGS on the probability of live birth after IVF. PubMed and trial registers were searched for RCTs on PGS. Trials were assessed following predetermined ...

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate whether human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administered 7 d before initiating the CO-Synch + controlled internal drug release (CIDR) ovulation synchronization protocol (Exp. 1 and 2), or replacing GnRH with hCG at the time of AI (Exp. 1), would improve fertility to a fixed-time AI ...

The aim of the experiment was to study the effects of aversive vs. gentle handling in late pregnancy on maternal behavior of ewes. Sixteen Norwegian Dala ewes bearing twins were subjected to 10min of either gentle (GEN - soft talking and calm behavior) or aversive (AVS - swift movements and ...

Protocols for cryopreservation of monkey embryos are not well established. The objective of the current study was to determine the efficacy of the polypropylene strip method for cryopreserving cynomolgus monkey embryos. Cynomolgus monkey embryos, 63 and 56 at the 4- to 8-cell and 56 blastocyst stages, respectively, were produced by ...

Listeria is commonly found in processed and prepared foods and listeriosis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Preventative measures are well prescribed and monitoring and voluntary recall of contaminated products has resulted in a 44% reduction in the prevalence of perinatal listeriosis in the USA. Pregnant women are at ...

We determined the effects of hCG on ovarian response, concentration of progesterone, and fertility in a fixed-timed AI (TAI) protocol. Four hundred and forty-four crossbred beef heifers were synchronized with the CO-Synch + CIDR (controlled internal drug-releasing insert) protocol. In addition, heifers were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments ...

BACKGROUND:: It is not well understood how air pollution leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes. One pathway may be through C-reactive protein, a biomarker of systemic inflammation that has been reported to increase the risk of preterm delivery. We examined whether air pollution influences serum concentrations of C-reactive protein in early ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the impact of luteal phase support with vaginal progesterone on pregnancy outcomes in infertile couples undergoing intrauterine insemination when recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone was used for ovulation induction. STUDY DESIGN: This prospective randomized study was undertaken at the Infertility Unit, Armed Forces Hospital Southern Region, Kingdom of Saudi ...

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether normal pregnancy represents a complex state of oxidative stress, inflammation and insulin resistance. One hundred and six pregnant women, between 24th and 28th week of pregnancy (age 27.9 ± 0.4 years) (study group) and one hundred and six age-matched, healthy, ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the delivery of a healthy female infant after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using pentoxifylline-activated sperm from a patient with Kartagener's syndrome. DESIGN: Case report. SETTING: Private assisted reproductive technology clinic in Japan. PATIENT(S): A couple with male factor infertility due to Kartagener's syndrome. INTERVENTION(S): Intracytoplasmic sperm injection ...

The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy and satisfaction rate of combined therapy of oral micronized progesterone capsules and vaginal progesterone gel versus monotherapy with vaginal progesterone gel in luteal support. A case-control study was performed on a total number of 370 women aged <45 years undergoing ...

OBJECTIVE: Increased levels of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase (sFlt-1) in Trisomy 13 pregnancies are thought to be mediated by the placenta. This study aimed to compare sFlt-1 expression in Trisomy 13 (n = 7) placentas with that in control placentas (Trisomy 21, n = 11, and euploid, n = 6). ...

Objective. To compare the efficacy on the cycle performance of 375 versus 450 IU/day gonadotrophin on the microdose flare-up protocol in poor responders. Study design. A total of 91 poor responder patients who were treated with the microdose flare-up protocol were enrolled in this study. Group 1 (n = 40) was stimulated with 375 ...

INTRODUCTION: Amniotic fluid (AF) is an important medium for fetal development which exhibits high procoagulant activities; however, the role of these procoagulants during pregnancy has not been elucidated and might be associated with pregnancy complications. The current study aimed to evaluate factor X (FX) activation and its association with tissue ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) plays a pivotal role in angiogenesis by eliciting vascular endothelial cell growth when bound to VEGF, a powerful pro-angiogenic ligand. While Vegf and Vegfr2 are expressed throughout gestation, the latter third of gestation in mice is characterized by a marked increase in ...

Few data are available describing atazanavir exposure during pregnancy, especially when used in combination with tenofovir, whose coadministration with atazanavir results in decreased atazanavir exposure. International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials 1026 s is an ongoing, prospective, nonblinded study of antiretroviral pharmacokinetics in HIV-infected pregnant women that included 2 ...

Background. Vitamin D has been implicated in embryo/placental development and growth; however information in this regard is limited or unavailable. Objective. To assess 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), free β-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) and pregnancy associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) status during pregnancy. Methods. Serum 25(OH)D, β-hCG, and PAPP-A levels were measured in the first ...

The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the oocyte yield with the luteal estradiol patch (LPA) - GnRH antagonist and microdose (MD) flare-up protocols in anticipated poor responders. Fifty-seven women who underwent IVF treatment following stimulation with LPA or MD protocols at McGill Reproductive Centre were matched for ...

Pregnancies complicated by diabetes have a higher risk of adverse outcomes for mothers and children, including predisposition to disease later in life, e.g. metabolic syndrome and hypertension. We hypothesised that adverse outcomes from diabetic pregnancies may be linked to compromised placental function, and sought to identify cellular and molecular abnormalities ...