The association of pattern of maternal weight gain with length of gestation and risk of spontaneous preterm delivery.

Monitoring weight gain during pregnancy may be useful in detecting pregnancies that are at increased risk of early delivery. This study examines 7259 deliveries that occurred at the University of California, San Francisco's Moffitt Hospital from 1980 to 1990. Obese women, women with diabetes or hypertension during pregnancy, deliveries with congenital malformations and non-spontaneous preterm deliveries were excluded.

A critical review of the relationship between gestational weight gain and preterm delivery.

Objective: To review the relationship between gestational weight gain and preterm delivery.

Data Sources: We identified published studies through Medline searches (for the period 1980-1996), and we reviewed bibliographies from published articles.

Methods Of Study Selection: We excluded non-English-language articles and articles that used total weight gain, unadjusted for gestational age.

Shatter resistance of spectacle lenses.

Objective: To evaluate the relative strength and shatter resistance of spectacle lenses currently used in sunglasses and dress, sports, and industrial eyewear.

Design: Seven lenses that met the US American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z80 standards for dress glasses (made of high-index plastic, allyl resin plastic, heat tempered glass, chemically tempered glass, and polycarbonate, and with center thickness ranging from 1 mm to 2.2 mm) and 4 lenses that met ANSI Z87 standards for industrial safety eyewear (allyl resin plastic, heat-tempered glass, chemically tempered glass, and polycarbonate, all with 3.

Radiographic imaging modalities for the patient in the emergency department with abdominal complaints.

The emergency physician should be aware of the sensitivity and specificity of any radiologic study being considered. Radiographic examinations should be used to answer specific questions raised by the history and physical examination. The need to obtain a given radiologic evaluation should be based on the potential information it may reveal and the likelihood that this information will alter patient care.

Analysing the relationship between maternal weight gain and birthweight: exploration of four statistical issues.

Four statistical issues concerning the analysis of birthweight and maternal weight gain during pregnancy are discussed: (1) Part-whole correlation is described (e.g. the correlation between total maternal weight gain and her infant's birthweight).

Use of a high affinity DNA ligand in flow cytometry.

To investigate the feasibility of using oligonucleotides in flow cytometry we describe a model system consisting of human neutrophil elastase (HNE) coated on 3.3 micro beads and a high affinity DNA ligand for HNE isolated by in vitro selection (SELEX). In this system the fluoresceinated DNA ligand was equally effective as an anti- HNE antibody in detecting HNE on beads.

Factors associated with the pattern of maternal weight gain during pregnancy.

Objective: To examine the pattern of maternal weight gain using maternal characteristics and pregnancy outcome.

Methods: We used maternal weight data measured prospectively from all deliveries between 1980-1990 at the University of California, San Francisco. Piecewise linear regression was used to estimate the rate of maternal weight gain in each trimester.

Maternal weight gain pattern and birth weight.

Objectives: To determine the relationship between maternal weight gain pattern and birth weight.

Methods: All nonobese, white women delivered at the University of California, San Francisco, between 1980-1990 were eligible for this study. Our study group included 2994 uncomplicated pregnancies with complete data.

Dietary intake among Mexican-American women: generational differences and a comparison with white non-Hispanic women.

Objectives: Although Mexican Americans consume diets that may protect them against adverse health, dietary advantages may disappear with increased acculturation. This study examined whether the nutrient intake of second-generation Mexican-American women of childbearing age deteriorates compared with that of first-generation Mexican-American women and approximates that of White non-Hispanic women.

Methods: Data on the absolute and relative intake of eight nutrients were obtained from a 24-hour recall and compared among 475 first-generation and 898 second-generation Mexican-American women, and among 2326 White non-Hispanic women.

Weight gain and energy intake during pregnancy.

The ideal weight gain or energy intake for an individual woman cannot be determined from research studies. Current guidelines for maternal gain, however, combined with individualized assessment and follow-up, can provide the clinician and the pregnant women with a meaningful target and plan for achieving a healthy weight gain. For some women, increased amounts of maternal weight gain may improve fetal growth prenatally and therefore improve fetal health.

Effects of substance abuse on hallucination rates and treatment responses in chronic psychiatric patients.

Background: Few data systematically document the effects of illicit drug exposure on psychotic illness. We examined the effect of substance abuse on rates and treatment responses of hallucinations in a chronic psychiatric population.

Method: 113 cooperative patients consecutively admitted to a state psychiatric hospital were administered the Structured Clinical Diagnostic Interview for DSM-III-R, a Hallucination Interview, and an inventory of past and current substances of abuse.

Dietary, alcohol, and tobacco intake among Mexican-American women of childbearing age: results from HANES data.

Purpose: Dietary intake and substance abuse are important predictors of pregnancy outcome yet little is known about these behaviors in Mexican Americans. Dietary, tobacco, and alcohol intake of Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white women were compared across the reproductive cycle.

Design: Four cross-sectional groups--interconceptional, pregnant, lactating, and postpartum non-lactating--were compared within and between ethnic groups.

Nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.

Because appropriate maternal nutrition improves pregnancy outcome, improving maternal nutrition before, during, and after pregnancy is an excellent example of primary prevention. Providing assessment and intervention to encourage an optimal state of health will also benefit the many women who do not desire pregnancy. For these women, the provision of nutritional care as part of a periodic health assessment can serve not only as a way to enhance health status in preparation for a future pregnancy, but also as a mechanism for encouraging nutritional behaviors to improve health throughout life.

Exuberant keloidal formation.

Keloids are disfiguring deformities that occur after trauma or wounding of the skin, most commonly among blacks. The case presented here is unusual because of the number of keloids and the massive size of one. The patient underwent full surgical excision together with intraoperative and postoperative steroid injections with good cosmetic results.

Changes in energy intakes during pregnancy and lactation in a national sample of US women.

Increases in energy intakes during pregnancy and lactation were evaluated by examining dietary data for 458 pregnant women who participated in the Continuing Surveys of Food Intakes by Individuals conducted in 1985 and 1986. Energy intakes were well below recommendations during all reproductive states; however, increases during pregnancy approximated recommendations, while increases during lactation were low. Postpartum non-lactating intakes did not return to prepregnancy levels for Black women or women with lower incomes.

A prospective study of dietary intake and acquired immune deficiency syndrome in HIV-seropositive homosexual men.

We prospectively studied the relationship between dietary intake at baseline and the development of AIDS over 6 years in a population-based sample of 296 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive men. Nutrient intake was assessed before HIV serostatus was known. Subjects diagnosed with AIDS at baseline or during the 1st year were excluded.

Differences in postpartum weight retention between black and white mothers.

Objective: To determine whether the overall retention of weight gained during pregnancy and the factors affecting postpartum weight retention differ by race.

Methods: Data from the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey were analyzed to examine postpartum weight retention of 20 lb or more among 990 black and 1129 white women who began pregnancy with normal weight for height. The impact of various maternal characteristics on both weight retention and the association between weight retention and race was tested by multivariate methods.

Supportive nurse-midwife care is associated with a reduced incidence of cesarean section.

Objective: Our purpose was to examine whether care by a certified nurse-midwife, including personal labor support, was associated with a reduced risk of cesarean delivery.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study comparing 3551 physician-managed patients with 1056 certified nurse-midwife-managed patients in a university hospital with a mixed socioeconomic and ethnic population was performed. Regression analysis was used to estimate the risk of labor abnormalities, diagnosis of fetal distress, and cesarean delivery in patients delivered by a certified nurse-midwife vs a physician and to control for maternal age, race, parity, fetal size, and delivery year.

Vitamin and mineral status of women of childbearing potential.

Increasing data suggest a role for micronutrients in pregnancy outcome, and in some cases nutritional status must be adequate in the first weeks of pregnancy. We examined nationally representative survey data on women of childbearing age: the NHANES II data for serum measures of iron status and the CSFII four-day data for dietary measures of intake of protein, iron, zinc, folic acid, and vitamins A, C, and B6. For those nutrients, women below or near poverty had consistently lower levels, with median intakes below the RDA for all but protein (e.