Bioavailability of the tumor necrosis factor alpha/regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) biosystem inside the gestational sac during the pre-immune stages of embryo development.

Objectives: studies of the bioavailability of major components of the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) biosystem inside the gestational sac during embryogenesis have not been reported. We sought to determine the concentration of TNFα, soluble (s) TNFα receptors (sTNFR1, sTNFR2), and RANTES in the primate extraembryonic celomic fluid (ECF).

Methods: A validated timed-pregnant baboon animal model (N: 10) for experimental research in pregnancy was used to collect paired maternal blood and ECF samples in ongoing pregnancies.

Overall Survival and Updated Results for Sunitinib Compared With Interferon Alfa in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Purpose: A randomized, phase III trial demonstrated superiority of sunitinib over interferon alfa (IFN-α) in progression-free survival (primary end point) as first-line treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Final survival analyses and updated results are reported.

Patients And Methods: Seven hundred fifty treatment-naïve patients with metastatic clear cell RCC were randomly assigned to sunitinib 50 mg orally once daily on a 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off dosing schedule or to IFN-α 9 MU subcutaneously thrice weekly.

Optimal mode of delivery in pregnancy: Individualized predictions using national vital statistics data.

Child birth via Cesarean section accounts for approximately 32% of all births each year in the United States. A variety of risk factors and complications can lead caregivers and patients to plan for a Cesarean delivery in advance before onset of labor. However, a non-trivial subset of Cesarean sections (∼25%) are unplanned and occur after an initial trial of labor is attempted.

DLK1: A Novel Biomarker of Placental Insufficiency in Stillbirth and Live Birth.

Objective: Delta-like homolog 1 (DLK1) is a growth factor that is reduced in maternal sera in pregnancies with small for gestational age neonates. We sought to determine if DLK1 is associated with stillbirth (SB), with and without placental insufficiency.

Study Design: A nested case-control study was performed using maternal sera from a multicenter case-control study of SB and live birth (LB).

Maternal Morbidity in the Second Stage of Labor: Analysis to Simulate the Clinical Choice.

Objective: The aim of the study is to analyze maternal morbidity in the second stage of labor in a manner that approximates clinical choice.

Study Design: The study design comprises secondary analysis of the Consortium for Safe Labor, which included 228,688 deliveries at 19 hospitals between 2002 and 2008. We included the 107,675 women who were undergoing a trial of labor without a prior uterine scar or history of substance abuse, who reached the second stage, with a liveborn, nonanomalous, vertex, singleton, at term of at least 2,500 g.