Umbilical artery Doppler in relation to placental pathology and FV Leiden in pregnant women and their offspring.

Objective: Abnormal umbilical artery blood flow has been implicated in pregnancy complications and fetal demise. Its relation to histopathological changes in the placenta and to maternal or fetal thrombophilia is less well understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between umbilical artery Doppler findings, placental histopathology, and maternal and fetal coagulation factor V Leiden (FVL) status.

Oral mucosal color changes as a clinical biomarker for cancer detection.

Screening is a key tool for early cancer detection/prevention and potentially saves lives. Oral mucosal vascular aberrations and color changes have been reported in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer patients, possibly reflecting a subclinical extracellular matrix abnormality implicated in the general process of cancer development. Reasoning that physicochemical changes of a tissue should affect its optical properties, we investigated the diagnostic ability of oral mucosal color to identify patients with several types of cancer.

Placental ischemia and changes in umbilical and uteroplacental arterial and venous hemodynamics.

Objective: To relate Doppler velocimetry findings in fetoplacental and uteroplacental circulation to placental histomorphology.

Material And Methods: In 14 uncomplicated and 31 high-risk pregnancies Doppler velocimetry was performed in umbilical artery and vein, and in maternal uterine veins and arteries during the second half of gestation. Histopathology of the placentas was examined, especially for signs of ischemia and inflammation.

Uterine venous blood flow in normal and complicated pregnancies: a methodological study.

Objective: To investigate the possibility of recording Doppler flow signals from the maternal uterine veins (UtVs) during pregnancy and to assess the relationship between UtV signals and other Doppler parameters as well as pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: Transabdominal Doppler ultrasound examination of the UtVs on both sides of the uterus was performed in 40 normal and 44 high-risk singleton pregnancies at 23-39 weeks' gestation. The UtV was identified using color Doppler imaging and the flow velocity signals of the UtV and uterine artery (UtA) were recorded.

[A 61-year-old man with sciatica].

A 61-year-old man was admitted to our department with radicular back-pain and progressive gait-difficulties. On examination he had flaccid paraparesis and bladder-retention. He subsequently developed palsy of n.

[Pregnancy shortly after bariatric surgery].

Bariatric surgery is increasingly used to treat morbidly obese patients. Fertility in women may be enhanced after these procedures, owing to substantial weight loss and possibly a decreased absorption of oral contraceptives. We report a pregnancy that occurred two months after biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch in a 32-year-old woman.

Congenital laryngomucocoele: a rare cause for CHAOS.

Congenital high airway obstruction syndrome (CHAOS) is a rare but life-threatening condition that results from the obstruction of the upper airways.We describe a female newborn, from a Grávida II, Para 0, 36-year-old woman, with a routine ultrasound at 30 weeks' gestation that showed polyhydramnios. She delivered a live-born female baby at 36 weeks without any dismorphic features but with respiratory distress.

Recurrent otitis media with effusion in preterm infants with histologic chorioamnionitis--a 3 years follow-up study.

Background: Recurrent otitis media with effusion (OME) is a leading cause of acquired hearing loss in childhood. Histological chorioamnionitis (HCA) is an important cause of preterm delivery and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Here, we tested the hypothesis of an association between recurrent OME during the first 3 years of life and HCA in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Structural heart defects associated with an increased nuchal translucency: 9 years experience in a referral centre.

Objective: To investigate the congenital heart disease (CHD) found in association with an increased nuchal translucency (NT) at 11-14 weeks of gestation in chromosomally normal and abnormal fetuses.

Methods: Patients referred from January 1998 until May 2007 with an increased NT (> or = 95th percentile) where CHD was diagnosed were included. Chromosome analysis, fetal and postnatal echocardiography were performed.

Vascular mechanical properties and endothelial function in pre-eclampsia with special reference to bilateral uterine artery notch.

Objectives: To assess whether women with pre-eclampsia (PE) have different properties of the blood vessel wall compared to healthy pregnant controls. Further, to evaluate endothelial function and vascular mechanical properties in women with PE with special regard to its association with bilateral uterine artery notch and placental histopathology.

Participants: Some 57 Caucasian pregnant women: 23 with uncomplicated pregnancies and normal uterine artery Doppler, and 34 with PE, the PE group comprising 2 subgroups according to the presence (n=20) or absence (n=14) of bilateral uterine artery notches.

Expression of cytokines and chemokines in cervical and amniotic fluid: relationship to histological chorioamnionitis.

Objective: To correlate cervical and amniotic fluid cytokines and macrophage-related chemokines to the development of histological chorioamnionitis (HCA) in patients with preterm labor (PTL) and preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes (PPROM).

Study Design: Cervical and amniotic fluid interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-18, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1, MCP-2, and MCP-3 from pregnant women (at View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and mutant p53 is increased in hydatidiform mole as compared with normal placenta.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are group of enzymes thought to play an important role in trophoblastic and tumor invasion. The aim of our study was to investigate the trophoblastic expression of MMPs and p53 in normal trophoblast and hydatidiform moles (HM). Paraffin sections of 45 specimens, including 14 complete hydatidiform moles (CM), 15 partial hydatidiform moles (PM), 8 atypical partial hydatidiform moles (aPM), and 8 controls were selected.

Clinical correlation between adenosine deaminase activity and pre-eclampsia severity.

This study evaluated the relationship between the activity of the inflammatory indicator adenosine deaminase (ADA) in placental tissue and maternal and fetal (umbilical cord) plasma and the severity of pre-eclampsia. Maternal and umbilical vein whole blood and placental tissue samples were collected from women with normal pregnancies (n = 33) and patients with mild (n = 12) or severe (n = 17) preeclampsia. ADA activity was measured spectrophotometrically.

Abnormal oral vascular network pattern geometry: a new clinical sign of down syndrome.

Down syndrome is a leading genetic cause of mental retardation. Here, we show high fractal dimensions and Lempel-Ziv complexity and lower minimum path fractal dimension (P < or = .0006) for the oral vascular networks of patients (n = 14) and their unaffected parents.

Massive feto-maternal hemorrhage: diagnosis by cardiotocography, Doppler ultrasonography and ST waveform analysis of fetal electrocardiography.

A 34-year-old healthy gravida 2 para 1 presented after an uncomplicated pregnancy at term with a 2-day history of diminished fetal movements. Fetal anemia was suspected by fetal heart rate monitoring and Doppler estimation of the fetal peak blood flow velocity of the middle cerebral artery. We were also fortunate to register pathological ST waveform changes of the fetal ECG indicating fetal hypoxia.

Late-onset postpartum hemorrhage from placental bed subinvolution: a case report.

Background: Placental bed subinvolution is an underestimated cause of severe, late-onset postpartum hemorrhage.

Case: A case of placental bed subinvolution caused abnormal uterine bleeding in the late postpartum period. Because of difficulties in establishing the diagnosis, massive, intractable and life-threatening uterine hemorrhage occurred, leading to hysterectomy.

DNA-ploidy in advanced gastric carcinoma is less heterogeneous than in early gastric cancer.

This analysis of DNA-ploidy heterogeneity in advanced gastric carcinomas is consistent with the hypothesis of the emergence of a single aneuploid cell clone as a crucial mechanism in the progression from early gastric carcinoma to advanced gastric cancer. The prognostic value of DNA-ploidy in gastric cancers has been a matter of controversy. Tumour DNA-ploidy heterogeneity, the presence within the same tumour of multiple stemlines differing in DNA content, has been described in various tumours including gastric cancers.

Congenital oral mucosal abnormalities in true umbilical cord knots.

Objective: The pathogenesis and clinical significance of true umbilical cord knots remain controversial. Here, we tested the hypothesis of the presence of congenital oral mucosal changes in newborns with true umbilical cord knots.

Study Design: Seven consecutive infants with true umbilical cord knots and 50 gestational age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled.

Plasticity of the enteric nervous system in patients with intestinal neuronal dysplasia associated with Hirschsprung's disease: a report of three patients.

Intestinal neuronal dysplasia is a controversial form of dysganglionosis that has been described both as an isolated disorder and in association with Hirschsprung's disease. It has been blamed for the bad outcome of bowel function in patients operated on for Hirschsprung's disease. According to various authors, intestinal neuronal dysplasia could be a primary disorder or secondary to other diseases of the bowel.

Abnormal vascular network complexity: a new phenotypic marker in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer syndrome.

Background: Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) (Lynch cancer family syndrome I (LCFS1) and II (LCFS2)) is one of the most common hereditary cancer disorders. HNPCC results from dominantly inherited germline mutations in mismatch repair (MMR) genes, leading to genomic instability and cancer. No predictive physical signs of HNPCC are available to date.

Interstitial cells of Cajal are normally distributed in both ganglionated and aganglionic bowel in Hirschsprung's disease.

Surgery for Hirschsprung's disease is often complicated by post-operative bowel motility disorders. The impact of intestinal neural histology on the surgical outcome has been previously studied, but no information is available concerning the influence of the distribution of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) on these complications. These cells are considered to be pacemakers in the gastrointestinal tract.

Non-viable cervico-isthmic pregnancy: the importance of an accurate sonographic diagnosis to preserve fertility.

Background: Cervico-isthmic pregnancy is a rare occurrence and until the use of current ultrasonographic techniques was associated with a disastrous outcome for women desiring to maintain their fertility.

Case Report: A 39-year-old woman was diagnosed at 12 weeks of amenorrhoea with an intra-uterine non-viable pregnancy and a low implantation of the gestational sac. Medical management of this situation with a regimen of intravaginal misoprostol was unsuccessful.

Nephrogenic adenoma of the urethra: an unusual cause of hematuria in the child.

The authors describe a 9-year-old boy who had an accident with his bicycle. He presented with hematuria a few weeks later, and cystoscopy results showed a polypod lesion near the veru montanum. The lesion was resected, and histologic examination showed a nephrogenic adenoma (NA), which recurred 6 years later with hematuria.

Nitric oxide synthase activity in human trophoblast, term placenta and pregnant myometrium.

To investigate the possible role of nitric oxide (NO) produced locally or intramurally in the quiescence of the pregnant myometrium, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity was measured in samples from first trimester (villous, and non villous-trophoblast), term placenta and pregnant myometrium. Trophoblast tissue was obtained from psychosocial termination of pregnancy (9-12 weeks' gestation) whereas placenta and myometrium, from the same patient, at deliveries by Caesarean section. NOS activity was measured in both cytosolic and particulate fractions by the formation of 14C-citrulline from 14C-arginine.