Risk factors associated with group B streptococcus resistant to clindamycin and erythromycin in pregnant korean women.

Background: The prevalence of group B streptococcus (GBS) among pregnant women and neonates in the Republic of Korea has increased. In addition, rates of resistance to antibiotics recommended for pregnant women allergic to penicillin, such as clindamycin and erythromycin, have increased. The aim of this study was to evaluate subject characteristics associated with GBS resistance to clindamycin and erythromycin.

Fragile X carrier screening in Korean women of reproductive age.

Objective: To estimate the distribution of the FMR1 alleles and the prevalence of the premutaion (PM) and full mutation (FM) of the FMR1 gene in Korean women of reproductive age.

Methods: Using polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot, 5829 women of reproductive age were screened (low-risk group n = 5470 and high-risk group n = 359) and 11 prenatal diagnoses were completed between September 2003 and December 2011.

Results: Of the 5829 women screened, normal FMR1 alleles (11,607) had a bimodal distribution with most alleles having 29 (37.

Usefulness of a rapid real-time PCR assay in prenatal screening for group B streptococcus colonization.

Background: Group B streptococcus (GBS) infection is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Here, we present the analytical and diagnostic usefulness of a new real-time PCR-based assay (Xpert GBS; Cepheid, USA) for rapid and accurate prenatal GBS screening.

Methods: We enrolled 175 pregnant women who were between 35 and 39 weeks of gestation.

Early second trimester maternal plasma levels of thrombin-inhibitor complexes and subsequent spontaneous preterm delivery.

Objective: Increased thrombin generation has been implicated as a mechanism for several obstetric syndromes including preterm birth preceded by preterm labor (PTL) and preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). In this study, we attempted to determine whether PTL or PPROM are associated with changes in the maternal plasma thrombin level during the early second trimester.

Methods: This is a case-control study in which maternal thrombin-antithrombin (TAT) III complex concentrations at 15-21 weeks were compared between normal controls (n = 85) and women subsequently delivering preterm, due to either PTL with intact membranes (n = 21) or PPROM (n = 20).

Foetal and neonatal outcomes in women reporting ingestion of low or very low alcohol intake during pregnancy.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the pregnancy outcomes of women who reported social intake of low or very low alcohol levels during pregnancy.

Methods: Obstetric and foetal outcomes were assessed in a prospective cohort of 1667 pregnant women who reported low or very low alcohol consumption during pregnancy (cases) and 1840 alcohol-abstainer women (controls).

Results: Among cases, alcohol consumption occurred during the first 4.

Pregnancy outcomes according to increasing maternal age.

Objectives: To investigate the risks of increasing maternal age on the perinatal and obstetric outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Information about 29,760 singleton pregnancies delivered between 2005 and 2008 was extracted from our database. Patients were categorized into four groups according to age: 20-29 years, 30-34 years, 35-39 years, and ≥40 years.

Non-invasive epigenetic detection of fetal trisomy 21 in first trimester maternal plasma.

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common known aneuploidy, caused by an extra copy of all or part of chromosome 21. Fetal-specific epigenetic markers have been investigated for non-invasive prenatal detection of fetal DS. The phosphodiesterases gene, PDE9A, located on chromosome 21q22.

Risk factors for group B streptococcus colonization among pregnant women in Korea.

Objectives: To identify obstetric and maternal factors related to Group B Streptococcus (GBS) colonization in pregnant women in Korea.

Methods: The study was conducted between the years 2006-2008 in four hospitals, Cheil and Eulji hospital in Seoul, and Motae and Eulji hospital in Daejeon. We recruited 2,644 pregnant women between 35 to 37 weeks of gestation who had visited for antenatal care.

Effective detection of fetal sex using circulating fetal DNA in first-trimester maternal plasma.

The aim of this study was to develop a simple and effective method for noninvasively detecting fetal sex using circulating fetal DNA from first-trimester maternal plasma. A study was conducted with maternal plasma collected from 203 women between 5 and 12 wk of gestation. The presence of circulating fetal DNA was confirmed by a quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction of the unmethylated-PDE9A gene (U-PDE9A).

Determination of the carrier frequencies of selected GJB2 mutations in the Korean population.

Objective: Mutations in the GJB2 gene are a major cause of hereditary hearing loss. However, only a few studies have investigated carrier frequencies of GJB2 mutations in the general population. The aim of this study was to estimate the carrier frequencies of three GJB2 mutations, including 235delC, V37I, and G45E, in the general Korean population.

Melatonin receptor 1 B polymorphisms associated with the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus.

Backgrounds: Two SNPs in melatonin receptor 1B gene, rs10830963 and rs1387153 showed significant associations with fasting plasma glucose levels and the risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in previous studies. Since T2DM and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) share similar characteristics, we suspected that the two genetic polymorphisms in MTNR1B may be associated with GDM, and conducted association studies between the polymorphisms and the disease. Furthermore, we also examined genetic effects of the two polymorphisms with various diabetes-related phenotypes.

Nutritional risk factors of early development of postpartum prediabetes and diabetes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus.

Objective: Early detection of prediabetes and diabetes after delivery helps prevent and delay the development of overt type 2 diabetes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We sought to identify modifiable risk factors for the early development of postpartum type 2 diabetes in women with GDM that may help establish interventions for preventing or delaying the subsequent onset of type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Three hundred eighty-one women who developed GDM during pregnancy were tested for 1) antepartum anthropometric and biochemical measurements, 2) pregnancy outcome, 3) oral glucose tolerance test at 6 to 12 wk after delivery, and 4) postpartum anthropometric, biochemical, and nutritional measurements.

Non-invasive prenatal detection of achondroplasia using circulating fetal DNA in maternal plasma.

Purpose: To perform a reliable non-invasive detection of the fetal achondroplasia using maternal plasma.

Methods: We developed a quantitative fluorescent-polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) method suitable for detection of the FGFR3 mutation (G1138A) causing achondroplasia. This method was applied in a non-invasive detection of the fetal achondroplasia using circulating fetal-DNA (cf-DNA) in maternal plasma.

Association between genetic polymorphisms in androgen receptor gene and the risk of preeclampsia in Korean women.

Purpose: To investigate associations between the androgen receptor (AR) polymorphisms as CAG repeats, GGC repeats and c.211G>A polymorphism and the risk of preeclampsia.

Methods: The AR polymorphisms were experienced in 184 preeclamptic patients and 190 normal pregnancies and analyzed by multiple logistic regression.

Genetic polymorphism of catechol-O-methyltransferase and cytochrome P450c17α in preeclampsia.

Objective: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and cytochrome P450c17α (CYP17A1) are key enzymes involved in the metabolism of steroid hormones; genetic polymorphisms in these genes affect enzyme activity. Recently, functional polymorphisms in the COMT and CYP17A1 genes have been suggested as a susceptible marker for intrauterine fetal growth restriction, a typical complication of preeclampsia. Moreover, a close association between COMT and preeclampsia was reported.

Changing molecular epidemiology of group B streptococcus in Korea.

The prevalence of group B streptococcus (GBS) among pregnant women and disease burdens in neonates and adults are increasing in Korea. Colonizing isolates, collected by screening pregnant women (n=196), and clinical isolates collected from clinical patients throughout Korea (n=234), were serotyped and screened for antibiotic resistance. Serotype III (29.

Clinical findings of multiple pregnancy with a complete hydatidiform mole and coexisting fetus.

Objective: The aim of this series was to evaluate the clinical features, management, and outcomes of multiple pregnancy with a complete hydatidiform mole and coexisting fetus (CHMCF).

Methods: Between 1998 and 2008, we investigated 6 women with a diagnosis of a CHMCF. The gestational age at diagnosis, symptoms, serum b-human chorionic gonadotropin levels, cytogenetic and molecular analysis findings, complications, routes of delivery, and pregnancy outcomes were assessed.

Transforming growth factor-beta 1 gene polymorphisms in Korean patients with pre-eclampsia.

Problem: The aim of this study was to investigate whether c.869T>C (Leu10Pro) and c.915G>C (Arg25Pro) polymorphisms in exon1 of the transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) gene are associated with development of pre-eclampsia (PE) in Korean women.

Soluble endoglin and transforming growth factor-beta1 in women who subsequently developed preeclampsia.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the differences of soluble endoglin (sEng) and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) according to preeclamptic complications and to investigate the correlation between these factors and the clinical symptoms of preeclampsia.

Method: We estimated the levels of sEng and TGF-beta1 in plasma collected in the second trimester at the time of genetic amniocentesis from 60 women who subsequently developed preeclampsia and 124 contemporaneous normotensive women.

Results: sEng levels were higher in cases than in controls, whereas TGF-beta1 levels were lower (P < 0.

Pregnancy outcome of women inadvertently exposed to ribostamycin during early pregnancy: a prospective cohort study.

No information is currently available on the safety of the aminoglycoside ribostamycin in pregnancy. We aimed to study the pregnancy outcome of women inadvertently exposed to ribostamycin during the first trimester of pregnancy. In a prospective cohort study, 102 women inadvertently exposed to ribostamycin during the first trimester of pregnancy and an age- and gravidity-matched control group, were enrolled.

Factors associated with a positive intake of folic acid in the periconceptional period among Korean women.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the factors associated with a positive intake of folic acid (FA) during the periconceptional period among Korean women.

Design: In a cross-sectional study of demographic, obstetric and socio-economic data, history of periconceptional intake of FA and awareness of the benefits of FA supplementation in pregnancy were obtained and analysed using the chi2 test, followed by multiple logistic regression analysis.

Setting: The Maternity School, Cheil General Hospital and Women's Healthcare Center, Seoul, South Korea, between October 2005 and March 2006.

Diamniotic twin pregnancies with a single placental mass; prediction of chorionicity at 11 to 14 weeks of gestation.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of transvaginal ultrasound (US) in the prediction of the chorionicity of diamniotic twin pregnancies with a single placental mass at 11 to 14 weeks of gestation.

Method: From June 2006 to April 2007, we determined chorionicities by depiction of the amnion and chorion at the membrane-to-placental interface using transvaginal US. Pregnancies were classified as monochorionic when two layers of the amnion were identified as dichorionic when either one layer of the chorion and two layers of the amnion or one layer of the chorion and one layer of the amnion were seen.

Outcome prediction for treatment of tubal pregnancy using an intramuscular methotrexate protocol.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the outcome predictors of intramuscular methotrexate therapy for tubal pregnancy.

Methods: This retrospective study was approved by our Institutional Review Board. Fifty-five consecutive women (mean age, 31 years; range, 18-45 years) who were treated with intramuscular methotrexate therapy for tubal pregnancy were retrospectively reviewed.

Dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (Flt-1) gene is not associated with preeclampsia.

Background: Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. The etiology of preeclampsia remains unclear. Recently, it was shown that misregulation of fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (Flt-1) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of pregnant women results in over-expression of the soluble splice variant of Flt-1, sFlt-1, producing an additional (extra-placental) source of sFlt-1 that can contribute to the etiology of preeclampsia.

Is prenatal childbirth preparation effective in decreasing adverse maternal and neonatal response to labor? A nested case-control study.

Sophrology, based on a combination of Western relaxation therapy and Eastern yoga and meditation might decrease maternal stress during labor. This study aimed to evaluate whether prenatal sophrologic childbirth preparation may decrease maternal and neonatal adverse response associated with delivery. In a nested case-control study, 69 nulliparous, singleton pregnant women who underwent an educational course of sophrologic childbirth preparation were compared to 69 nulliparous, singleton, age- and gestational age-matched pregnant women who did not receive any childbirth preparation.