Anticipatory Corticosteroid Administration to Asymptomatic Women with a Short Cervix.

Objective:  A short cervix is an important risk factor for spontaneous preterm birth. There is substantial evidence that antenatal exposure to corticosteroids significantly benefits infants that are born when delivery occurs between 24 and 34 weeks' gestation and after 48 hours but within 7 days of their administration. Our study was to evaluate whether asymptomatic women who are given a course of antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) at the time a short cervix is identified deliver within the window of proven steroid benefit.

Intrapartum Cervical Laceration and Subsequent Pregnancy Outcomes.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe pregnancy outcomes, including cervical insufficiency and preterm birth, in the subsequent pregnancy following an intrapartum cervical laceration.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort of women with their first two consecutive singleton pregnancies carried to ≥ 20(0/7) weeks' gestation within a tertiary health care system from 2002 to 2012. Cervical laceration cases were identified by ICD9 codes and included if suture repair was required.

Low-dose aspirin and preterm birth: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the association between low-dose aspirin initiated before conception and the risk of preterm birth.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction trial. Women with a history of pregnancy loss (original stratum: one loss less than 20 weeks of gestation during the previous year; expanded stratum: one or two losses with no restrictions on timing or gestational age of the losses) were randomized to either daily low-dose aspirin (81 mg, n=615) and folic acid or folic acid alone (placebo; n=613).

Immunotherapy for recurrent miscarriage.

Background: Because immunological aberrations might be the cause of miscarriage in some women, several immunotherapies have been used to treat women with otherwise unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss.

Objectives: The objective of this review was to assess the effects of any immunotherapy, including paternal leukocyte immunization and intravenous immunoglobulin on the live birth rate in women with previous unexplained recurrent miscarriages.

Search Methods: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (11 February 2014) and reference lists of retrieved studies.

The effect of a very short interpregnancy interval and pregnancy outcomes following a previous pregnancy loss.

Objective: We sought to assess the relationship between a short interpregnancy interval (IPI) following a pregnancy loss and subsequent live birth and pregnancy outcomes.

Study Design: A secondary analysis of women enrolled in the Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction trial with a human chorionic gonadotropin-positive pregnancy test and whose last reproductive outcome was a loss were included in this analysis (n = 677). IPI was defined as the time between last pregnancy loss and last menstrual period of the current pregnancy and categorized by 3-month intervals.

Outcomes of expectantly managed pregnancies with multiple gestations and preterm premature rupture of membranes prior to 26 weeks.

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the obstetric and neonatal outcomes of expectantly managed multifetal pregnancies complicated by early preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) prior to 26 weeks.

Study Design: This was a retrospective cohort of all multifetal pregnancies complicated by documented PPROM occurring before 26 0/7 weeks and managed expectantly by a single maternal-fetal medicine practice between July 4, 2002, and Sept. 1, 2013.

Racial/ethnic variations in perineal length and association with perineal lacerations: a prospective cohort study.

Objective: To examine the association between race/ethnicity, perineal length and the risk of perineal laceration.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of a diverse group of women with singleton gestations in the third trimester of pregnancy. Perineal length was measured and mean values calculated for several racial/ethnic groups.

Listeriosis in pregnancy complicated by postpartum heart block.

Background: Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen that primarily affects pregnant women. Cardiac involvement is an uncommon complication of infection. We present a case of a gravida with Listeria bacteremia at 36 weeks of gestation.

Maternal and neonatal outcomes of elective induction of labor.

Background: Induction of labor is on the rise in the U.S., increasing from 9.

Perinatal outcomes among different Asian-American subgroups.

Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the differences in perinatal outcomes between various Asian ethnic subgroups at a national level.

Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort study of all non-Hispanic Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Guamanian, and Hawaiian women whose deliveries were recorded by US birth certificates within the year 2003. Perinatal outcomes were compared between groups and potential confounders controlled for with multivariable logistic regression.

Effects of hemoglobin glutamer-250 (bovine) (HBOC-201, Hemopure) on coagulation testing.

Polymerized bovine hemoglobin is currently under investigation as an alternative to blood-banked human red blood cells. Because of the dark red hemolyzed appearance of hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier (HBOC)-201, we sought to describe the effects of HBOC-201 on coagulation analyzers that perform prothrombin times, activated partial thromboplastin times, fibrinogen, and antithrombin. Pooled normal plasma was combined with HBOC-201 to achieve plasma hemoglobin levels of 1.