Temporal, spectral and amplitude characteristics of the Greek fricative /s/ in hearing-impaired and normal-hearing speech.

Fricatives, and especially sibilants, are very frequently misarticulated by speakers with hearing loss. Misarticulations can result in phonemic contrast weakening or loss, compromising intelligibility. The present study focuses on the examination of acoustic characteristics of the Greek alveolar fricative /s/, an articulatorily demanding sound, produced by young adult speakers with profound hearing impairment and with normal hearing.

Educational Review: The Impact of Perinatal Oxidative Stress on the Developing Kidney.

Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species and antioxidant systems. The interplay between these complex processes is crucial for normal pregnancy and fetal development; however, when oxidative stress predominates, pregnancy related complications and adverse fetal programming such as preterm birth ensues. Understanding how oxidative stress negatively impacts outcomes for the maternal-fetal dyad has allowed for the exploration of antioxidant therapies to prevent and/or mitigate disease progression.

"Because the resources aren't there, then we fail. We fail as a society": A Qualitative Analysis of Human Trafficking Provider Perceptions of Child Welfare Involvement among Trafficked Mothers.

Background: Little is understood about child welfare involvement (CWI) in cases where the birth mother has experienced human trafficking.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore provider perceptions of the impact of CWI for the trafficked mother.

Methods: Participants were selected among providers caring for trafficked birth mothers.

Cesarean section in patient with metastatic Ewing sarcoma requiring VA-ECMO support.

A 26-year-old pregnant woman, with multiple metastatic Ewing sarcoma, presented with a sternal mass that began enlarging during pregnancy. Due to high-risk pregnancy, the patient was discussed in a multidisciplinary meeting and intubation was considered too risky without cardiopulmonary support. Computed tomography showed extrinsic tumor compression of the right ventricle outflow tract.

Utility of routine screening fetal echocardiogram in pregnancies conceived by in vitro fertilization.

Objective: To study the incidence and clinical significance of congenital heart defects (CHDs) detected by fetal echocardiography in pregnancies conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Design: Cohort study comparing a prospectively maintained database of all fetal echocardiograms from 2012 to 2018 and pooled data from the Connecticut Birth Defects Registry and statewide hospital discharge data.

Setting: Large tertiary care center.

Cesarean Scar Pregnancy, Incidence, and Recurrence: Five-Year Experience at a Single Tertiary Care Referral Center.

Objective: To describe the treatment and subsequent pregnancy outcomes in patients with cesarean scar pregnancies at a single institution over 5 years.

Methods: This is a case series of all cesarean scar pregnancies diagnosed from May 2013 to March 2018 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Data were collected on each patient using electronic medical record review and included patient demographics; medical, surgical, and obstetric history; pregnancy characteristics; treatment modalities used; response to therapy; complications; and subsequent pregnancy outcomes.

Coarticulatory dynamics in Greek disyllables produced by young adults with and without hearing loss.

Hearing loss affects both speech perception and production with detrimental effects on various speech characteristics including coarticulatory dynamics. The aim of the present study is to explore consonant-to-vowel (C-to-V) and vowel-to-vowel (V-to-V) coarticulation in magnitude, direction and temporal extent in the speech of young adult male and female speakers of Greek with normal hearing (NH) and hearing impairment (HI). Nine intelligible speakers with profound HI, using conventional hearing aids, and five speakers with NH produced /pVCV/ disyllables, with the point vowels /i, a, u/ and the consonants /p, t, s/, stressed either on the first or the second syllable.

Acoustic characteristics of vowels produced by Greek intelligible speakers with profound hearing impairment II: The influence of stress and context.

Purpose: The present paper examines the influence of stress and context on selected acoustic characteristics of vowels produced by six adult Greek intelligible speakers with profound hearing impairment and six speakers with normal hearing (three males and three females in each group).

Method: F1, F2 and F3 formant frequencies and the duration of vowels are measured in words of the form /(')pVCV/ with V = /i, ɛ, ɐ, ɔ, u/ and C = /p, t, k, s/. Variation in these parameters due to context and stress is reported for the two genders.

Acoustic characteristics of vowels produced by Greek intelligible speakers with profound hearing impairment I: Examination of vowel space.

Purpose: The study examines F1, F2 and F3 formant frequencies of vowels produced by six Greek intelligible speakers with profound hearing impairment and six speakers with normal hearing (three male and three female in each group).

Method: The formant frequencies are measured in words of the form /'pVCV/ where V = /i, , , , u/ and C = /p, t, k, s/. The study examines differences in formant frequencies between the two groups and as a function of gender.

Uterine didelphys and vaginal birth after cesarean delivery.

Background: Müllerian anomalies are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. We discuss pregnancy in anomalous uteri, with a focus on uterine didelphys, in the setting of a prior cesarean delivery.

Case(s): A 30-year-old woman, gravida 2 para 1001, presented in latent labor at 40 1/7 weeks of gestation.

Vitamin D reverses aPL-induced inflammation and LMWH-induced sFlt-1 release by human trophoblast.

Problem: Women with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) are at increased risk of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and preeclampsia. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) directly alter trophoblast function. Treatment with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) reduces the risk of RPL but not preeclampsia.

Suture compared with staple skin closure after cesarean delivery: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare the incidence of wound complications between suture and staple skin closure after cesarean delivery.

Methods: This prospective, randomized clinical trial conducted at three hospitals in the United States between 2010 and 2012 included women undergoing cesarean delivery at 23 weeks of gestation or greater through a low-transverse skin incision. Women were randomized to closure of the skin incision with suture or staples after stratifying by body mass index and primary compared with repeat cesarean delivery.

Potassium chloride-induced fetal demise: a retrospective cohort study of efficacy and safety.

Objectives: Induction of fetal demise before second-trimester termination is performed for a number of reasons. One method for inducing fetal demise is via sonographically guided intracardiac potassium chloride (KCl) injection. We performed a retrospective cohort study to determine the efficacy and safety of intracardiac KCl injection as a method of second-trimester induced fetal demise.

Pravastatin does not prevent antiphospholipid antibody-mediated changes in human first trimester trophoblast function.

Study Question: What is the effect of pravastatin on antiphospholipid antibody (aPL) modulation of human first trimester trophoblast function?

Summary Answer: Pravastatin does not prevent the effects of aPL on human first trimester trophoblast cell function.

What Is Known Already: Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is associated with recurrent pregnancy loss and late pregnancy complications, such as pre-eclampsia, owing to direct targeting of the placenta by aPL. While treatment with heparin reduces the rate of pregnancy loss, the risk for severe pre-eclampsia remains high.

Congenital cystic lesions of the lung: congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation and bronchopulmonary sequestration.

Congenital cystic lesions of the lung in fetuses are rare. The most common malformations of the lower respiratory tract are congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation and bronchopulmonary sequestration. With the increased use of obstetric ultrasound, cystic lung lesions are detected more often antenatally, which allows for proper planning of peripartum and neonatal management.

Ultrasonographic evaluation of myometrial thickness and prediction of a successful external cephalic version.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that myometrial thickness predicts the success of external cephalic version.

Methods: Abdominal ultrasonographic scans were performed in 114 consecutive pregnant women with breech singletons before an external cephalic version maneuver. Myometrial thickness was measured by a standardized protocol at three sites: the lower segment, midanterior wall, and the fundal uterine wall.

Uterine dehiscence in early second trimester.

Background: The diagnosis of uterine dehiscence in the early second trimester by ultrasonography is rare and its effect on pregnancy outcome is unclear.

Case: An asymptomatic woman presented for anatomy survey in the 19th week of pregnancy. Uterine dehiscence at the site of previous hysterotomy was diagnosed by ultrasound scan.

Nod1 activation by bacterial iE-DAP induces maternal-fetal inflammation and preterm labor.

There is a strong association between infection and prematurity; however, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Nod1 and Nod2 are intracellular pattern recognition receptors that are activated by bacterial peptides and mediate innate immunity. We previously demonstrated that human first-trimester trophoblasts express Nod1 and Nod2, which trigger inflammation upon stimulation.

Modulation of trophoblast angiogenic factor secretion by antiphospholipid antibodies is not reversed by heparin.

PROBLEM  Women with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are at risk of miscarriage and pre-eclampsia, obstetrical disorders associated with reduced trophoblast invasion and spiral artery transformation. aPL target the placenta by binding beta(2) -glycoprotein I (β(2) GPI) on the trophoblast. In this study, we determined whether aPL alter the trophoblast secretion of angiogenic factors and evaluated the effect of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) on this response.

Uric acid induces trophoblast IL-1β production via the inflammasome: implications for the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

Problem: Preeclampsia is associated with hyperuricemia, which correlates with the disease severity. Levels of circulating uric acid increase before the clinical manifestations, suggesting that they may be causally related. Uric acid, or monosodium urate (MSU), activates the Nod-like receptor, Nalp3, leading to inflammasome activation and IL-1β processing.

Accreta complicating complete placenta previa is characterized by reduced systemic levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of the invasive trophoblast.

Objective: We sought to characterize serum angiogenic factor profile of women with complete placenta previa and determine if invasive trophoblast differentiation characteristic of accreta, increta, or percreta shares features of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Study Design: We analyzed gestational age-matched serum samples from 90 pregnant women with either complete placenta previa (n = 45) or uncomplicated pregnancies (n = 45). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), placental growth factor, and soluble form of fms-like-tyrosine-kinase-1 were immunoassayed.

Primary psoas muscle abscess after an uncomplicated spontaneous vaginal delivery.

Background: The occurrence of a psoas abscess after a spontaneous vaginal delivery is a rare postpartum complication with a significant mortality risk.

Case: A 17-year-old primiparous patient presented 3 weeks after an uncomplicated spontaneous vaginal delivery with fever refractory to antibiotics. Imaging revealed the patient to have a 4x4-cm abscess of the right iliopsoas muscle.