Self-soothing touch and being hugged reduce cortisol responses to stress: A randomized controlled trial on stress, physical touch, and social identity.

Background: Being touched by others improves stress coping. However, when touch from others is unavailable, feels uncomfortable, or is not considered to be safe (as in the COVID-19 pandemic), self-touch gestures, like placing a hand on the heart, may provide an alternative way to experience less strain.

Methods And Materials: In this study, 159 healthy participants (96 women, 62 men, and 1 non-binary person), aged 18-35 years, were exposed to a standardized psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test) to investigate whether self-soothing touch or receiving a hug from others has a buffering effect on their stress responses.

Longitudinal z Score Distribution in Sonographic Fetal Biometry: Influence of Examiner and Experience.

Objectives: To analyze the influence of examiners and their experience on the quality of biometric measurements via the evolution of z scores in a longitudinal multicenter study.

Methods: This retrospective study included 4607 sonographic fetal biometric examinations performed by 18 examiners at the beginning of their sonography training. To analyze the quality of biometric measurements, z scores comparing the individual measurements with the expected values from a standard population were computed.

Longitudinal Assessment of Examiner Experience and the Accuracy of Sonographic Fetal Weight Estimation at Term.

Objectives: To evaluate the influence of examiner experience on the accuracy of sonographic weight estimation and to further analyze examiners' individual learning curves.

Methods: In this multicenter study, 4613 sonographic weight estimations performed by 18 examiners at the beginning of their ultrasound training were included. To assess the effect of experience on the accuracy of weight estimation, a multivariable mixed regression model analysis was performed, with percentage error and absolute percentage error as outcome variables and the examiner, the examiner's experience (number of examinations), birth weight, gestational age, scan-to-delivery interval, and maternal body mass index as fixed effects and the perinatal center as random intercepts.

Timing of sequential use of double-balloon catheter and oral misoprostol for induction of labor.

Aim: The best time to commence cervical ripening with a balloon catheter is unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether application of a balloon catheter in the morning or in the evening is better when sequential prostaglandin application is planned.

Methods: This multicenter historical cohort study included 415 women with an unfavorable cervix undergoing labor induction at term.

Double-balloon catheter and sequential oral misoprostol versus oral misoprostol alone for induction of labour at term: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of induction of labour using a double-balloon catheter and, if necessary, sequential oral misoprostol without delay after removal of the catheter, in comparison with oral misoprostol alone.

Study Design: This retrospective cohort study included women undergoing induction of labour with oral misoprostol or double-balloon catheter with sequential oral misoprostol in singleton pregnancies at term. The catheter was placed in the evening and removed when there was no onset of labour within 12h.