A case of an epignathus with intracranial extension appearing as a persistently open mouth at 16 weeks and subsequently diagnosed at 20 weeks of gestation.

We report a rare case of oral mass (epignathus) with intracranial extension originally suspected antenatally at 16 weeks' gestation because of a persistent open mouth. Postmortem MRI and pathologic examination of the fetus confirmed an oral teratoma with bilateral ventricular dilatation, corpus callosum agenesis, and a neuroepithelial intracranial cyst. The relevant literature regarding this anomaly is reviewed.

[Ultrasound-guided laparoscopic ischemia of uterine leiomyomas].

Objective: Implementation of minimally invasive selective ischemization of uterine leiomyomas at fertile age women.

Design: Pilot study.

Settings: Gynecological institute GynCentrum, Prague.

[Integration of prenatal screening for Down syndrome in the first and third trimester (proposal for a screening protocol].

Objective: Proposal of antenatal Down syndrome screening protocol using integration of first and second trimester results.

Design: Review.

Setting: Antenatal screening centre GENNET, Prague.

[An improvement in the amniotic fluid collection technique].

Objective: Elaboration of a maximally safe and comfortable technique of collection of amniotic fluid (AMC).

Design: For practice.

Setting: Gyncentrum Ltd.

[Screening for Down's syndrome in the 10th to 13th week of pregnancy].

Objective: The implementation of antenatal screening for Down's syndrome at 10-13. week using nuchal translucency, maternal serum free subunit of human chorionic gonadotrophin and the mother's age.

Design: Nuchal translucency scan (NT) and serum free beta human chorionic gonadotrophin subunit (FB hCG) were measured at 283 consecutive pregnant women booked at the same antenatal care facility between 10-13.

[Acute phase proteins during labor and surgical stress in women with normal pregnancy and late gestoses].

The authors investigated within the framework of non-specific immunity reactions proteins of the acute phase during spontaneous delivery and Caesarean section up to the 5th day after delivery and on the 1st, 5th and 10th day after delivery in forty women, half of them healthy and half suffering from late gestoses. Half the women had spontaneous deliveries, half had deliveries by Caesarean section. The proteins of the acute phase reacted sensitively to the stress of childbirth during spontaneous delivery and their activation was inhibited by general anaesthesia in deliveries by Caesarean section.

[Activation of certain stress axes in spontaneous and surgical deliveries in healthy women and in women with late gestoses].

Within the framework of the stress theory the authors investigated total cortisol levels in the maternal serum during spontaneous delivery and 24 hours after delivery in 20 women half of whom had a non-complicated pregnancy and half had an EPH gestosis. They investigated also cortisol levels in 20 women during delivery by Caesarean section; half of them had a normal pregnancy and half had suffered from gestosis. At the onset of delivery and operation resp.

[The effect of terguride on contractility of rat uterine strips].

The effects of terguride on the uterotonic activity of rat's uterine stria were investigated by means of a standardized isometric method of measuring in vitro the contractility of uterine muscles. The uterotonic activity of the given preparation depends on its concentration and on the phase of uterine cycle. The uterotonic activity makes 71.

[The effect of calcium on the contractility of uterine strips in vitro].

Using a standard isometric method, the authors investigated the effect of some cations and nifedipine on the contractility of isolated strips of the human uterus in vitro. Evidence was provided that the contractility depends on the extracellular surface concentration of the calcium cation. Under the experimental set-up used intracellular calcium does not play any part and the contractions of the uterine strip depend on the state of the calcium channels.

[The effect of certain drugs on the contractility of uterine strips in vitro].

The isometric method of assessment of the contractility of uterine strips in vitro makes it possible to follow up systematically the response of smooth uterine musculature to oxytocin and to test the effect of selected preparations on this process. In the submitted work the author investigated the effect of methyloxytocin, magnesium sulphate, seduxene, phenergan, plegomazine and DH-ergotoxin on the uterine contractions of strips of rat and human uteri ted. Based on the results of model experiments in vitro, the author discusses the effect of the mentioned substances on the spasmogenic activity of oxytocin.