Amniotic fluid and plasma levels of parathyroid hormone-related protein and hormonal modulation of its secretion by amniotic fluid cells.

Parathyroid hormone-related (PTHrP), the major mediator of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy, may also regulate placental calcium flux, uterine contraction and fetal tissue development. In the present study, we demonstrated that the mean immunoreactive PTHrP concentrations in amniotic fluid at mid-gestation (21.2 +/- 3.

Prenatal diagnosis of vitamin D-dependent rickets, type II: response to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in amniotic fluid cells and fetal tissues.

Vitamin D-dependent rickets type II (VDDR-II; hereditary resistance to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3]), an autosomal recessive genetic disease that results from a failure to respond to 1,25-(OH)2D3, is characterized by severe rickets, hypocalcemia, growth retardation, and high prevalence of alopecia. We used amniotic fluid cells in the 17th week of gestation to detect VDDR-II in fetuses at risk for the defect. First, we demonstrated in cells obtained from 15 control pregnancies the presence of a specific high affinity 1,25-(OH)2D3 receptor (Kd = 0.

Pregnancy in panhypopituitarism.

The case of a 30-year-old pregnant patient suffering from panhypopituitarism is presented. Pregnancy induced by HMG/HCG had been uneventful. Induction of labor by PGE2 vaginal tablets and by intravenous oxytocin at 42 gestational weeks failed and the patient was operated.

Early pregnancy screening for neural tube defects in Israel.

A pilot project to detect neural tube defects (NTD) of the fetus by maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP) screening of women in early pregnancy was initiated in Tel Aviv in 1982 at the instigation of the Israel Ministry of Health. The program was designed to be an extension of routine pregnancy care, which in this city is provided in municipal family clinics that are attended by about 50% of pregnant women before the 20th week of pregnancy. Of these women, 89% complied with the program.

Herpes encephalitis during pregnancy: failure of acyclovir and adenine arabinoside to prevent neonatal herpes.

A gravid woman with herpes Type II encephalitis delivered an infant with herpes neonatorum despite therapy with acyclovir. Acyclovir was not measurable in the baby's serum 10 h after birth. The viral isolate was sensitive to acyclovir in vitro, and the neonatal infection responded to treatment with the drug.