Nutritional Status of Iodine in a Group of Pregnant Women from the State of Minas Gerais Correlated with Neonatal Thyroid Function.

Objective:  To evaluate the iodine sufficiency of pregnant women assisted in a University Hospital of Minas Gerais, and to correlate the urinary concentrations of maternal iodine with the fetal thyroid hormone levels at birth.

Methods:  Urinary iodine concentrations from 30 pregnant women with a singleton pregnancy and gestational age lower than 20 weeks were analyzed. Occasional samples of the mothers' urine were collected for the urinary iodine concentration dosage, and these were correlated with the newborns' thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels.

Analysis of Variables that Influence the Success Rates of Induction of Labor with Misoprostol: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Objective:  Determine the predictive criteria for success in inducing labor for live fetuses using misoprostol in pregnant women. Secondarily, the objective is to determine the rates of vaginal or cesarean delivery, duration of induction, interval of administration of misoprostol, the main causes of induction of labor and indication for operative delivery.

Methods:  Medical records of 873 pregnant women admitted for cervical maturation from January 2017 to December 2018 were reviewed in a descriptive observational study of retrospective analysis, considering the following response variables: age, parity, Bishop Index, doses of misoprostol, labor induction time.

Cystatin C as an indicator of renal damage in pre-eclampsia.

Objective: To assess the predictive abilities of serum and urinary cystatin C levels for glomerular lesions in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia.

Methods: In this study, kidney function markers were compared between38 pregnant women with pre-eclampsia and 22 healthy pregnant women.

Results: The serum and urine levels of cystatin C and urea were significantly higher in the pre-eclampsia group than in the control group.

Photodynamic therapy as a new approach to Trichomonas vaginalis inactivation.

The emergence of nitroimidazole resistant isolates has been an aggravating factor in the treatment of trichomoniasis, the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease in the world. This highlights the importance of new technologies that are safe, effective, and have minor side effects or resistance. Hence, we evaluated the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy on the inactivation of Trichomonas vaginalis in vitro.

Longitudinal evaluation of uterine perfusion, endothelial function and central blood flow in early onset pre-eclampsia.

Objectives: Physiopathological mechanisms that trigger clinical manifestations in pre-eclampsia (PE) remain unclear, and management is still a challenge. The identification of tools to predict the onset of the disease and prevent its complications is of great interest in medical practice. The present study aims to evaluate uterine perfusion, endothelial function and central nervous system blood flow in pregnant women with high-risk factors for PE, for comparison of the results between the group of patients who developed early onset PE and those who remained normotensive throughout pregnancy.

Immunocytochemistry Improving the Diagnosis of Infections.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunocytochemistry (ICC) to diagnose trichomoniasis, particularly asymptomatic infections. By culture serial dilutions, ICC was able to detect 1 trophozoite/mL, while the culture was positive up to 100 trophozoites/mL. The ICC in vivo detection capability was assessed in vaginal secretions of mice experimentally infected and in vaginal swabs from asymptomatic HIV-positive pregnant women compared with culture.

Surveillance of surgical site infection after cesarean section and time of notification.

Background: Cesarean section is a surgical procedure the main complication of which is surgical site infection (SSI), which is related to maternal morbidity and mortality.

Objective: To evaluate active monitoring by telephone to identify infection and time of SSI report in postpartum women and associated risk factors.

Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study from 2013-2014, at a referral service for high-risk pregnancies.

Postpartum depression: A systematic review of the genetics involved.

Postpartum depression is one of the most prevalent psychopathologies. Its prevalence is estimated to be between 10% and 15%. Despite its multifactorial etiology, it is known that genetics play an important role in the genesis of this disorder.

Prediction of early and late preeclampsia by flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery.

Objective: To assess the accuracy in the prediction of both early and late preeclampsia by flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery (FMD), a biophysical marker for endothelial dysfunction.

Materials And Methods: A total of 91 patients, considered at high risk for development of preeclampsia were submitted to brachial artery FMD between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation.

Results: Nineteen out of the selected patients developed preeclampsia, 8 in its early form and 11 in the late form.

Doppler flowmetry of ophthalmic arteries for prediction of pre-eclampsia.

Background: central nervous system (CNS) hyperperfusion is one of the events that constitute the pathophysiological basis for the clinical manifestations and complications of pre-eclampsia (PE). Detecting the increased flow in the CNS through Doppler flowmetry of the ophthalmic artery might precede the clinical onset of PE and could be used as a marker for subsequent development of PE.

Objective: to evaluate the ophthalmic artery resistive index (OARI) values in the second trimester of pregnancy for prediction of the clinical manifestations of PE.

Difference of endothelial function during pregnancies as a method to predict preeclampsia.

Background: Systemic endothelial dysfunction has been identified as one of the main events in preeclampsia (PE). A nonhealthy vascular endothelium can be pointed out as the pathophysiological explanation of the clinical manifestations and complications of PE. Once normal pregnancy is characterized by a constant increase in endothelial function, a follow-up of this physiological event could be used as an early marker or a prediction tool to predict PE.

Assessment of endothelial function in pregnant women with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus by flow-mediated dilation of brachial artery.

Purpose: To compare endothelial function, as assessed by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in pregnant women with preeclampsia (PE), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and healthy pregnant women.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of eighty women who were selected and divided into three groups: Group A comprising 42 pregnant women with PE, Group B (control) consisting of 19 normotensive pregnant women with no comorbidities and Group C consisting of 19 pregnant women with GDM. The women underwent FMD and the results were compared between groups.

Diagnosis of severe fetal anemia based on perinatal outcomes: a comparative analysis of the current reference values.

Objectives. To compare current criteria for severe fetal anemia diagnosis. Methodology.

Endothelial function, uterine perfusion and central flow in pregnancies complicated by Preeclampsia.

Background: The physiopathology of Preeclampsia (PE) is characterized by a deficiency in the process of placentation, systemic endothelial dysfunction and Central Nervous System (CNS) hyperflow. From a clinical point of view, it would be interesting to determine the occurrence of these phenomena before the onset of clinical manifestations of the disease, raising the possibility of new methods for predicting PE.

Objective: Compare the process of placentation, endothelial function and CNS hyperflow in pregnant women at high risk for the development of PE who subsequently developed or not the syndrome.

Comparative Study of Endothelial Function and Uterine Artery Doppler Velocimetry between Pregnant Women with or without Preeclampsia Development.

Background. Poor placentation and systemic endothelial dysfunction have been identified as main events in Preeclampsia (PE). The relationship and chronology of these phenomena are important if we are to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this major clinical problem.

Determining the volume of blood required for the correction of foetal anaemia by intrauterine transfusion during pregnancies of Rh isoimmunised women.

Background: Severe anaemic foetuses of Rhesus (Rh) isoimmunised mothers are usually treated by intrauterine transfusion (IUT). It is helpful to determine the volume of blood necessary to raise the concentration of haemoglobin by 1.0 g/dL in response to intrauterine transfusions.

Combined use of the cardiofemoral index and middle cerebral artery Doppler velocimetry for the prediction of fetal anemia.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of the combined use of the cardiofemoral index (CFI) and the middle cerebral artery peak systolic velocity (MCA-PSV), converted to multiples of the median (MoM), as noninvasive means to detect severe fetal anemia.

Method: We measured CFI and MCA-PSV MoM in 37 fetuses just before their first (n=37), second (n=22), and third (n=14) cordocenteses and transfusions. Then, using 2 different criteria for severe fetal anemia detection (Hb deficit ≥7 g/dL and hemoglobin level ≤0.

Ophthalmic artery-resistive index and evidence of overperfusion-related encephalopathy in severe preeclampsia.

Neurological findings in preeclampsia fulfill diagnostic criteria of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES), which is related to cerebral autoregulation impairment associated with high blood pressure. In preeclampsia, PRES may occur without a significant increase in blood pressure. Our aim was to investigate the association between ophthalmic artery resistive index (OARI) and clinical evidence of PRES, defined as the presence of headache and blurred vision, in patients with severe preeclampsia.

[Isolation, differentiation and biochemical aspects of amniotic fluid stem cell].

Unlabelled: The mesenchymals stem cells (MSCs) are cells with the great potential of differentiation are being introduced in the clinic for treatment of several diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells have several advantages including the stability of their phenotype in vitro.

Background: isolation of MSCs in amniotic fluid, its expansion and the demonstration of the capacity of these cells to differentiate in adipogenic and myogenic cells, without to change the chromosomal stability of the MSCs in culture.

[Correlation between echographic cardiac measurements and hemoglobin deficit in fetus of red cell alloimmunized pregnancies].

Purpose: to verify the correlation between ultrasonography heart measures and hemoglobin deficit in fetuses of alloimmunized pregnant women.

Methods: a transversal study, including 60 fetuses, with 21 to 35 weeks of gestational age, from 56 isoimmunized pregnant women. A number of 139 procedures were performed.

[Blood volume calculation required for the correction of fetal anemia in pregnant women with alloimmunization].

Purpose: to obtain an equation to estimate the volume of red blood cells concentrate to be infused to correct anemia in fetuses of pregnant women with Rh factor isoimmunization, based in parameters obtained along the cordocentesis previous to intrauterine transfusion.

Methods: a transversal study analyzing 89 intrauterine transfusions to correct anemia in 48 fetuses followed-up in the Centro de Medicina Fetal do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de Minas Gerais. The median gestational age at the cordocentesis was 29 weeks and the average number of procedures was 2.