[Prenatal determination of fetal RhD-positivity from the blood of the RhD-negative mother].

It is reported on a prenatal determination of fetal RhD blood group from blood of a sensitized RhD-positive mother at 11th week gestation. The result was confirmed by a subsequent amplification of fetal DNA obtained by chorionic villus biopsy. It is supposed that in sensitized pregnancies the high number of fetal RhD-positive red blood cells in maternal blood is enough to be detectable by polymerase chain reaction.

Ivemark syndrome with asplenia in siblings.

We describe two siblings with Ivemark syndrome. In both cases, absent spleen, symmetric liver, and lungs with three lobes were associated with complex cardiac malformation. The syndrome was diagnosed prenatally in the second case by fetal echocardiography at the twentieth week of pregnancy.

[Prenatal diagnosis of hemophilia B].

The authors are reporting on the prenatal diagnosis of the X-linked haemophilia B for the first time in Hungary applying the polymerase chain reaction. DNA sequence containing a HhaI restriction endonuclease site close to the factor IX gene was amplified using polymerase chain reaction. The products from polymerase chain reaction were detected on polyacrylamide gel with ethidium bromide staining after the digestion with HhaI restriction enzyme.

Definite surgical treatment of complicated recurrent pilonidal disease with a modified fasciocutaneous V-Y advancement flap.

Background: Different methods for managing pilonidal disease have been described in the literature. Recurrence impairs the success of all forms of therapy, but the lowest rates have been reported for reconstructions involving local flaps. Nevertheless, treatment of pilonidal disease with a fasciocutaneous V-Y flap is not a well-established procedure.

Reconstruction of the perineum after tumor surgery.

Major defects of the perineum are often complicated by contracture, radiation injuries, fistulas, and infection. In addition, the perineal surface is unique, and any replacement must meet the requirements of mobility, sensitivity, durability, elasticity, and weight bearing. This combination of complex defects and special surface requirements can be met by adequate extirpative procedures and reconstruction with a number of muscle, musculocutaneous, and fasciocutaneous flap options.

Risk of recurrence of craniospinal anomalies.

The authors analyzed 1,655 situations from their Genetic Counseling Service over a 15 year period where the reason for counseling was craniospinal anomaly (neural tube defects and/or hydrocephalus) in the family. Excluding the obviously monogenically inherited cases, they investigated pregnancies undertaken after 1,285 isolated and 177 multiple forms of craniospinal abnormalities. The recurrence rate of craniospinal defects was found to be 3.

Biological mechanisms underlying the clinical effects of RU 486: modulation of cultured endometrial stromal cell stromelysin-1 and prolactin expression.

During in vitro decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells (HESCs), medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) inhibits expression of the potent extracellular matrix (ECM)-degrading protease stromelysin-1 (MMP-3), but enhances PRL expression. Consistent with its priming role in vivo, estradiol (E2) augments these effects. In the current study, immunoblot analysis revealed that coincubation with 10(-6) M RU 486 blocked the inhibition in HESC-secreted MMP-3 levels (50,000 mol wt) evoked by 10(-8) M E2 + 10(-7) M MPA.

[Plastic surgery treatment of extensive decubitus ulcers of the pelvic area].

Between 1980 and 1995, 207 patients with 219 extensive pelvic pressure sores underwent reconstructive surgery at our department. Eighty patients operated upon between 1992 and 1995 were followed up. The postoperative complication rate was 22% and the relapse rate 27%.

Correlation between karyotype and ultrasound findings in patients with failed early pregnancy.

The aim of this retrospetive study was to identify any consistent patterns between ultrasound findings in failed pregnancies and either normal or abnormal karyotypes. The study involved 102 women in whom the diagnosis of early pregnancy failure was made sonographically. The criteria for a failed pregnancy were: a gestational sac with a mean diameter of > 12 mm without a yolk sac; a yolk sac of > 6 mm mean diameter with or without abnormal morphology that ultimately failed to develop an embryonic structure; and an embryo with a crown--rump length (CRL) of > 5 mm without cardiac activity, or the loss of previously identified cardiac activity.

[A case of detection of pulmonary sequestration during the early stage of pregnancy and subsequent successful therapy].

As result of routine ultrasound screening during the pregnancy, the number of congenital abnormalities causes severe perinatal respiratory or circulatory failure detected antenatally is rising. The severity of the extralobar pulmonary sequestration is variable. The intrauterine diagnosis and the proper prognosis is difficult because of the rarity of this abnormality.

Impact of prenatal mid-trimester screening on the prevalence of fetal structural anomalies: a prospective epidemiological study.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the measurement of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP) at 16 weeks and a subsequent routine ultrasound screening at 18-20 weeks' gestation and the impact on the birth prevalence of congenital structural anomalies in an unselected pregnant population of Hungary in a prospective epidemiological study. A total of 63,794 pregnant women (representing one-sixth of the population of Hungary) were offered this screening program over 3 years (1988-90). Of the pregnant population, 75.

Plasminogen activator activity during decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells is regulated by plasminogen activator inhibitor 1.

Progesterone acts on the estradiol (E2)-conditioned human endometrium to induce decidualization of stromal cells. Consistent with these differential hormone actions in vivo, progestins regulate several end points of decidualization in human endometrial stromal cell monolayers, and E2 augments the effects of progestin. This study shows that in vitro decidualization of the stromal cells is accompanied by diminished plasminogen activator (PA) expression.

Biological mechanisms underlying the clinical effects of RU 486: modulation of cultured endometrial stromal cell plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor expression.

The abortifacient and menstrual effects of the potent antiprogestin, RU 486, are associated with both endometrial hemorrhage and extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. Such processes reflect reduced perivascular decidual cell hemostatic and increased ECM-degrading protease activity. Therefore, we assessed the effects of RU 486 administration on the expression of immunoreactive (ir) endometrial stromal cell urokinase-type (uPA) and tissue-type (tPA) plasminogen activator and their activities as well as levels of ir type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) using a well characterized in vitro model of decidualization.

[Plastic surgery treatment of chronic venous ulcera cruris].

Due to basic differences between the conservative and surgical approaches to the treatment of chronic venous leg ulcer, there are still a large variety of different therapeutic strategies applied today. Satisfactory results in the treatment of this kind of recurrent ulcers can only be achieved by a combination of plastic and vascular surgical techniques. Our surgical procedure is illustrated by 30 cases treated between 1990 and 1993.

[Screening for congenital anomalies in mid-term pregnancy. Prospective epidemiologic study. Fetal trisomy].

The authors have presented their experiences on prenatal screening of fetal trisomies in this second part of a prospective study between 1988 and 1990. They gained their conclusions by processing 63,496 pregnancies during three years. The results show that maternal age plays the most important role in the prenatal screening of fetal trisomies in Hungary.

The role of progestationally regulated stromal cell tissue factor and type-1 plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) in endometrial hemostasis and menstruation.

The physiologic mechanisms whereby the human endometrium maintains hemostasis during endovascular trophoblast invasion, yet permits menstrual hemorrhage, are unknown. This paradoxical relationship was investigated by evaluating endometrial expression of tissue factor (TF), the primary initiator of hemostasis, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), the primary inhibitor of fibrinolysis. We observed increased immunostaining for TF and PAI-1 in sections of decidualized stromal cells from luteal phase and gestational endometrium.

Biological mechanisms underlying RU 486 clinical effects: inhibition of endometrial stromal cell tissue factor content.

Despite the pronounced hemorrhagic effects of RU 486 administration on luteal phase and early gestational endometrium, no information is available on the effect of RU 486 on endometrial hemostatic potential. The expression of endometrial stromal cell tissue factor (TF), the primary initiator of hemostasis, has been shown to be progestationally regulated in vivo and in vitro. To evaluate the effects of RU 486 on progestin-enhanced TF expression, confluent stromal cell cultures derived from proliferative phase endometria were exposed to vehicle control, 10(-8) mol/L estradiol (E2), 10(-6) mol/L dexamethasone, 10(-7) mol/L medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), E2 plus MPA, E2 plus 10(-6) mol/L progesterone (P), or 10(-6) mol/L RU 486 alone or with E2 plus MPA or E2 plus P for 3-4 days.

Ovarian steroid-modulated stromelysin-1 expression in human endometrial stromal and decidual cells.

This study examined steroid-regulated expression of the metalloproteinase stromelysin-1 in primary human endometrial stromal and decidual cells. Immunoblot analysis using a specific polyclonal antibody against stromelysin-1 revealed that the progestin medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) produced a time-dependent reduction in a band at 50,000 mol wt. Although the cells were refractory to estradiol (E2) alone, E2 plus MPA further reduced the intensity of this stromelysin-1 zone.