Genetic variations within the insulin gene region are associated with accelerated fetal growth.

Size at birth has been proposed to be associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life. It is, however, unclear whether this association is attributed to an unfavorable intrauterine environment or to specific genotypes predisposing both altered fetal growth and common diseases in adult life. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between the neonatal birth size and the genotypes of polymorphic loci within the insulin gene (INS) region, which is susceptible to diabetes mellitus.

Recent changes of the incidence of complete and partial mole in Chiba prefecture.

Aims: To study the changes of the incidence of complete mole (CM) and partial mole (PM) by 10-year age groups in Chiba Prefecture.

Methods: All women registered as CM and PMs in Chiba Prefecture during these 18 years were included in this study. The diagnosis of CM and PM was based on the macroscopic and/or microscopic findings.

Ovarian hyperstimulation caused by gonadotroph cell adenoma: a case report and review of the literature.

Objective: We present a case of spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation caused by pituitary gonadotroph macroadenoma, and include a review of the literature.

Case Report: A 27-year-old woman presented with irregular menstruation and bilateral multicystic enlargement of the ovaries. Serum estradiol (E(2)) levels were marginally elevated for the follicular phase but within the physiological range.

Amino acid changes during successful pregnancy in a case of lysinuric protein insufficiency.

Lysinuric protein insufficiency (LPI) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, and pregnancy in patients with this condition has been considered risky. We, however, observed a relatively favorable course of pregnancy in a woman with LPI, and even amelioration of symptoms during pregnancy. We believe that this unique observation is not only important for patients with LPI who are facing a choice of child-bearing, but is also of interest to obstetricians and researchers of amino acid metabolism.

Genetic origin and imprinting in hydatidiform moles. Comparison between DNA polymorphism analysis and immunoreactivity of p57KIP2.

Objective: To evaluate whether p57KIP2 expression is concordant with the result of DNA polymorphism analysis in molar pregnancy.

Study Design: Eleven molar pregnancies diagnosed by pathologic findings between October 2002 and April 2004 were studied. Histopathologic diagnosis, DNA polymorphism analysis and p57KIP2 immunohistochemistry were investigated.

Accelerated bone turnover in pregnant women with McCune-Albright syndrome.

Bone turnover in pregnant women with McCune-Albright syndrome may be affected by both the syndrome and pregnancy. This study evaluated changes in biochemical bone turnover markers in pregnant women with the syndrome. Serum calcium, phosphorus, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-(OH)2D), intact osteocalcin (I-OC) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and urinary pyridinoline (Pyr), deoxypyridinoline (D-Pyr) and hydroxyproline (HPR) were measured during pregnancy and postpartum in 2 women with McCune-Albright syndrome.

Relapse rate of patients with low-risk gestational trophoblastic tumor initially treated with single-agent chemotherapy.

Objective: To determine the factors for relapse in patients with low-risk gestational trophoblastic tumor (GTT) treated with single-agent chemotherapy.

Methods: Between 1974 and 2000, 272 consecutive patients with low-risk GTT were initially treated with methotrexate (MTX), actinomycin D (Act-D) or etoposide chemotherapy. The primary remission rate, change of chemotherapy because of drug resistance or toxicity, and relapse rate were compared.

Serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF-C levels as tumor markers in patients with cervical carcinoma.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF-C play a crucial role in the regulation of tumor growth and metastasis. The current study examined the significance of serum VEGF and VEGF-C levels in relation to conventional clinicopathologic parameters, response to treatment, and survival in patients with cervical carcinoma.

Methods: Between December 1999 and March 2004, serum VEGF and VEGF-C levels were analyzed in 78 patients with cervical carcinoma undergoing primary treatment (primary surgery [n=40] and radiotherapy [n=38]), as well as in 30 healthy controls.

Successful pregnancy and delivery after removal of gonadotrope adenoma secreting follicle-stimulating hormone in a 29-year-old amenorrheic woman.

We report a case of ovarian hyperstimulation related to a gonadotroph adenoma in a 29-year-old woman. The patient presented with amenorrhea and large cystic ovaries. Her serum estradiol was markedly elevated (up to 31,100 pmol/l).

Advances in the clinical laboratory detection of gestational trophoblastic disease.

Background: Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) consists of a spectrum of disorders that are characterized by an abnormal proliferation of trophoblastic tissue. Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) refers to a subset of GTD with a persistently elevated serum hCG in the absence of a normal pregnancy and with a history of normal or abnormal pregnancy. Although previously a lethal disease, GTN is considered today the most curable gynecologic cancer.

Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of fetal lung with MR imaging.

Purpose: To measure both volume and signal intensity of the fetal lung at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and to evaluate the clinical use of this method to predict fetal pulmonary hypoplasia.

Materials And Methods: A total of 87 fetuses evaluated with MR imaging at 24-39 weeks of gestation were classified into a control group with good respiratory outcome (group A, n = 58) or a poor outcome group with severe respiratory disturbance after birth (group B, n = 29). Planimetric measurement of total lung volume and calculation of the ratio of lung signal intensity to spinal fluid signal intensity (L/SF) were performed on MR images by using region-of-interest analysis.

Multi-minicore disease with susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia in pregnancy.

Multi-minicore disease (MmD) is a congenital non-progressive or slowly progressive myopathy associated with multifocal degeneration of muscle fibers. Obstetric management for patients with MmD has not been described previously. A 25-year-old primigravida with a history of muscular weakness from birth was diagnosed with MmD and found to be susceptible to malignant hyperthermia (MH) by muscle biopsy at 28 weeks of gestation.

Placental mesenchymal dysplasia initially diagnosed as partial mole.

Placental mesenchymal dysplasia is a rare condition of pregnancy that presents as macroscopic features of molar change in the placenta and normal karyotype fetus. These cases are often misdiagnosed as partial mole. We report a new case of mesenchymal dysplasia.

Criteria for initiating chemotherapy in patients after evacuation of hydatidiform mole.

Objectives: To evaluate the spontaneous regression curve of serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in patients with an uneventful course after evacuation of hydatidiform mole and to compare the criteria for initiating chemotherapy in patients after evacuation of mole.

Methods: From 1986 to 2001, 608 patients were followed at our department after evacuation of mole. The spontaneous regression curves of serum hCG in 432 patients with an uneventful course were established.

Detection of epidermal growth factor receptor mRNA in peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients.

Objective: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been reported to be expressed by immunohistochemistry in invasive cervical cancers. We evaluated the feasibility of detecting EGFR mRNA by EGFR-based reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in peripheral blood of patients with cervical cancer.

Methods: Expression of EGFR mRNA, cytokeratin (CK)-19 mRNA, and CK-20 mRNA was examined by RT-PCR in 12 human cervical cancer cell lines.

Profile of neurokinin B concentrations in maternal and cord blood in normal pregnancy.

Objective: Neurokinin B (NKB) is a neuropeptide with a vasopressor effect belonging to the tachykinin family. This neuropeptide has attracted attention since recent reports indicated that it is also secreted in the placenta and is probably a cause of pre-eclampsia. To provide a basis for elucidation of the relationship between pre-eclampsia and NKB, this study aimed to clarify the trend of changes in blood NKB levels during normal pregnancy by measuring NKB concentrations in maternal blood during various gestational periods and in umbilical blood.

Significance of perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates on survival of patients with invasive cervical cancer.

The authors retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 129 patients with stage IB and II cervical cancer (93 squamous cell carcinomas, 30 adenocarcinomas, and 6 adenosquamous carcinomas) who underwent primary surgery between 1989 and 2000. Vascular invasion is the predictor of recurrence, and lymphocytic infiltrates within the tumor is associated with favorable outcome in cervical cancer. Hence, 129 patients were divided into three groups according to the presence or absence of vascular invasion (VI) and perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates (PLI); VI- (n = 77), VI+PLI- (n = 26), and VI+PLI+ (n = 26), to evaluate the significance of PLI.

Risk of abnormal pregnancy completing chemotherapy for gestational trophoblastic tumor.

Objective: This study analyzed the outcome of the first pregnancy following chemotherapy for gestational trophoblastic tumor (GTT).

Methods: A total of 387 patients with GTT (85 patients with high-risk GTT and 302 patients with low-risk GTT) underwent chemotherapy at Chiba University Hospital between 1974 and 2000. Of these patients, 130 women (18 with high-risk GTT and 112 with low-risk GTT), who achieved remission and had at least one conception following chemotherapy, were included in the study.

A case-control study of endometrial cancer after antipsychotics exposure in premenopausal women.

Objective: Most endometrial cancers are related to hormonal imbalance, and antipsychotics are a common cause of hyperprolactinemia. We investigated the possible relation between the use of antipsychotics and the risk of endometrial cancer.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted on premenopausal women at the Chiba University Hospital between 1989 and 2000.

Circulating inhibin forms in patients with hydatidiform mole.

Circulating inhibin forms have not been evaluated in patients with hydatidiform mole (HM) before evacuation of the mole. Serum inhibin A, inhibin B, pro-alphaC and hCG levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in HM before and after evacuation of the mole (inhibin B only before evacuation). Before evacuation, inhibin B levels in HM were undetectable, and inhibin A levels were similar to those in normal women at the corresponding weeks of pregnancy.

Changes in the incidence of molar pregnancies. A population-based study in Chiba Prefecture and Japan between 1974 and 2000.

Background: The aim of this population-based retrospective study was to evaluate the trend in the incidence of molar pregnancy.

Methods: Questionnaires about the occurrence of hydatidiform mole were mailed to all clinics and hospitals in Chiba Prefecture between 1974 and 2000. The diagnosis of hydatidiform mole was based on the post-operative morphological and/or pathological findings.

Sebaceous carcinoma of the uterine cervix: a case report.

Sebaceous carcinoma is an uncommon neoplasm that usually arises in the head and neck region. A few cases of sebaceous carcinoma of the female genital tract have been reported, most of which arose in the vulva. We report the first case of sebaceous carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Positive association of maternal G protein beta3 subunit 825T allele with reduced head circumference at birth.

G protein beta3 subunit C825T polymorphism, which has previously been studied in association with common disorders in adults such as hypertension and obesity, has been focused upon recently for a possible important role in fetal metabolism. Japanese are characterized by having equal allele frequencies for this polymorphism. In this study, we determined the maternal and infantile genotypes in 342 pairs of normal healthy mothers and their infants, and compared the genotype frequencies with various infantile somatoscopic characteristics converted into SD units according to sex, parity and gestational weeks.

Profile of trace element concentrations in the feto-placental unit in relation to fetal growth.

Background: During pregnancy, trace elements are indispensable for life maintenance not only for the mother but also for the fetus. The purpose of this study was to examine whether fetal growth is associated with altered levels of trace elements in maternal blood, fetal blood, and placenta tissue.

Methods: Twenty-one pairs of healthy mothers and their newborns with intrauterine growth restriction delivered after 34 weeks of gestation were recruited for the study.