Management of preterm premature rupture of membranes: assessing amniotic fluid in the vagina for phosphatidylglycerol.

This prospective study evaluates the clinical practicality of assessing free amniotic fluid in instances of premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) before term. The presence of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) provided evidence of fetal pulmonary maturity. Daily aspirations of vaginally pooled amniotic fluid were performed on 55 consecutive patients with preterm PROM and met with a success rate of 80% (79 of 99 attempts).

Treatment of experimental spinal cord injury in ferrets.

A variety of treatment modalities upon a compressive model of spinal cord injury in ferrets was tested. Several of the treatments seemed to increase the degree of anatomical and/or functional sparing, but only dexamethasone did so in a statistically significant manner.

A model of spinal cord injury.

We report here a model of submaximal spinal cord injury, employing direct thoracic cord compression in ferrets. This yields consistent and reproducible long term consequences on local cellular structure and on locomotive function. We show also that both the anatomical and functional losses can be measured objectively using simple techniques, and that useful long-tract mediated locomotion is preserved after severe axonal losses at the site of injury.