Case Report: Obstetric and COVID-19-Related Morbidity and Mortality in Three Patients with Sickle Hemoglobinopathy.

Approximately 3% of pregnant women have sickle cell disease (SCD). COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), became a global pandemic in March 2020, resulting in more than 3,500 deaths in Jamaica by April 2023. Sickle cell disease is an immunocompromised state; therefore, contracting COVID-19 may result in adverse maternal/neonatal outcomes.

Current obstetric outcomes in Jamaican women with sickle hemoglobinopathy - a balance of risks for aspirin?

Objectives: Sickle cell disease (SCD) occurs in 2.8 % of our Jamaican antenatal population with homozygous HbSS being most associated with adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective comparative analysis of HbSS, HbSC and HbSβThal pregnancy outcomes at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) between January 2012 and December 2022 was conducted.

Pregnancy outcomes of women with cardiac disease.

Objective: To determine and predict the maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnancies occurring in patients with cardiac disease.

Method: This retrospective review included 147 pregnancies identified from antenatal, delivery, and nursery records. Information concerning the nature and severity of the pre-existing cardiac disease, comorbidities, risk scores, obstetric or cardiac complications, and pregnancy outcomes were collected.

Pregnancy outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus: experience from a Caribbean center.

Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune multi-system disorder frequently affecting black women of childbearing age. No published data exist on the obstetric outcomes in a Caribbean population.

Objective: We analyzed pregnancy outcomes in an Afro-Caribbean cohort of women with SLE at a tertiary university hospital.

Population Reference Values and Prevalence Rates following Universal Screening for Subclinical Hypothyroidism during Pregnancy of an Afro-Caribbean Cohort.

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) has been reported to be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, however universal screening and treatment is controversial.

Objectives: Our objectives were to determine population-specific pregnancy reference values (R1) for serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) at 14 weeks' gestation, along with the prevalence of SCH and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb).

Methods: This was a prospective hospital-based cohort study.

A challenging delivery by EXIT procedure of a fetus with a giant cervical teratoma.

Background: Congenital giant neck teratomas are rare tumours associated with high perinatal mortality. Recent advances in prenatal diagnosis and delivery by ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) have improved perinatal outcome.

Case: An otherwise healthy 32-year-old woman, gravida 3, para 2, was referred to our institution at 25 weeks' gestation with a diagnosis of a fetal giant cervical teratoma.

Obstetric outcomes of women with intracranial neoplasms.

Objective: To determine the obstetric outcomes of women diagnosed with a primary intracranial neoplasm prior to or during pregnancy and the puerperium.

Methods: Demographic data, neurologic, obstetric, and neonatal outcomes were extracted retrospectively from charts identified from two hospital databases.

Results: Twenty-two patients with 25 pregnancies were identified.

Alterations in MAP2 immunocytochemistry in areas 9 and 32 of schizophrenic prefrontal cortex.

A variety of lines of converging evidence implicate the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in schizophrenia. Studies employing Nissl stains have suggested that PFC dendrites may be atrophic in schizophrenia; however, Nissl stains do not reveal dendrites. We employed MAP2 immunocytochemistry, which stains dendrites to examine cortical layers III and V in two areas of the PFC (areas 9 and 32).