Hypertensive disorders during pregnancy as a major cause of preterm birth and adverse perinatal outcomes: findings from a Brazilian National Survey.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy among Brazilian women with preterm births and to compare the epidemiological characteristics and perinatal outcomes among preterm births of women with and without hypertension.

Methods: This was a secondary cross-sectional analysis of the Brazilian Multicenter Study on Preterm Birth. During the study period, all women with preterm births were included and further split into two groups according to the occurrence of any hypertensive disorder during pregnancy.

Diabetes among women with preterm births: outcomes of a Brazilian multicenter study.

Objective: The objective was to compare the maternal and perinatal characteristics and outcomes between women with and without diabetes in a Brazilian cohort of women with preterm births.

Methods: This was an ancillary analysis of the Brazilian Multicenter Study on Preterm Birth, which included 4,150 preterm births. This analysis divided preterm births into two groups according to the presence of diabetes; pregestational and gestational diabetes were clustered in the same Diabetes Group.

Gas6 drives Zika virus-induced neurological complications in humans and congenital syndrome in immunocompetent mice.

Zika virus (ZIKV) has the ability to cross placental and brain barriers, causing congenital malformations in neonates and neurological disorders in adults. However, the pathogenic mechanisms of ZIKV-induced neurological complications in adults and congenital malformations are still not fully understood. Gas6 is a soluble TAM receptor ligand able to promote flavivirus internalization and downregulation of immune responses.

The role of maternal infection in preterm birth: evidence from the Brazilian Multicentre Study on Preterm Birth (EMIP).

Objectives: Evidence suggests that infection or inflammation is a major contributor to early spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the development and causes of maternal infection associated with maternal and neonatal outcomes in women with sPTB.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a multicenter cross-sectional study with a nested case-control component, the Brazilian Multicentre Study on Preterm Birth (EMIP), conducted from April 2011 to July 2012 in 20 Brazilian referral obstetric hospitals.

Perspectives of healthcare workers on the morality of abortion: a multicenter study in seven Brazilian public hospitals.

We used the questionnaire "Mosaic of Opinions on Induced Abortion" to conduct a multi-centered study to evaluate the perspectives of physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists and pharmacists on the morality of abortion. In all, 254 participants constituted the sample. The inadequate knowledge on Brazilian abortion laws was the only determinant negatively associated with the construct "Sexual and Reproductive Rights", corroborating the hypothesis that a better understanding of abortion legislation could mitigate the opposition of some professionals to the ethical perspective that access to safe abortion should be seen as a sexual and reproductive right.

Measurement properties of the questionnaire "Mosaic of opinions on induced abortion": a multicenter study in seven Brazilian hospitals.

Objective: In Brasil, abortion is legal in cases of rape, when there is a risk of maternal death, and in cases of fetal anencephaly. However, the literature reports that some doctors refuse to care for women with such demands or come to perform it in a discriminatory manner. Pretest, test and evaluate the measurement properties of the "Mosaic of Opinions on Induced Abortion," a questionnaire developed to investigate the perspectives of Brazilian healthcare professionals about the morality of abortion.

Tocolysis among Women with Preterm Birth: Associated Factors and Outcomes from a Multicenter Study in Brazil.

Objective:  To evaluate the use of tocolysis in cases of preterm birth due to spontaneous preterm labor in a Brazilian sample.

Methods:  A sample of 1,491 women with preterm birth due to spontaneous preterm labor were assessed, considering treatment with tocolysis or expectant management, according to gestational age at birth (< 34 weeks and 34 to 36 + 6 weeks) and drugs prescribed. The study took place in 20 Brazilian hospitals from April 2011 to July 2012.

Specific Biomarkers Associated With Neurological Complications and Congenital Central Nervous System Abnormalities From Zika Virus-Infected Patients in Brazil.

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) infections have been linked to different levels of clinical outcomes, ranging from mild rash and fever to severe neurological complications and congenital malformations.

Methods: We investigated the clinical and immunological response, focusing on the immune mediators profile in 95 acute ZIKV-infected adult patients from Campinas, Brazil. These patients included 6 pregnant women who later delivered during the course of this study.

Zika Virus Infection in Pregnant Women and Microcephaly.

From the discovery of the Zika virus (ZIKV) in 1947 in Uganda (Africa), until its arrival in South America, it was not known that it would affect human reproductive life so severely. Today, damage to the central nervous system is known to be multiple, and microcephaly is considered the tip of the iceberg. Microcephaly actually represents the epilogue of this infection's devastating process on the central nervous system of embryos and fetuses.

Selective Episiotomy: Indications, Techinique, and Association with Severe Perineal Lacerations.

Introduction Episiotomy is a controversial procedure, especially because the discussion that surrounds it has gone beyond the field of scientific debate, being adopted as an indicator of the "humanization of childbirth". The scientific literature indicates that episiotomy should not be performed routinely, but selectively. Objectives To review the literature in order to assess whether the implementation of selective episiotomy protects against severe perineal lacerations, the indications for the procedure, and the best technique to perform it.

Late prematurity: a systematic review.

Objective: this study aimed to review the literature regarding late preterm births (34 weeks to 36 weeks and 6 days of gestation) in its several aspects.

Sources: the MEDLINE, LILACS, and Cochrane Library databases were searched, and the references of the articles retrieved were also used, with no limit of time.

Data Synthesis: numerous studies showed a recent increase in late preterm births.

Content validation of the 'Mosaic of Opinions About Abortion' (Mosai).

Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate the contents of the Mosaico de Opiniões Sobre o Aborto Induzido (Mosai), a structured questionnaire intended to be used as a tool to collect information about the views of health professionals about the morality of abortion.

Methods: The contents of the first version of the questionnaire was developed based on the technique of thematic content analysis of books, articles, films, websites and newspapers reporting cases of abortion and arguing about their practice. The Mosai was composed of 6 moral dilemmas (vignettes) related to induced abortion, whose outcomes should be chosen by the respondents and could be justified by the classification of 15 patterns of arguments about the morality of abortion.

Previable preterm rupture of membranes: gestational and neonatal outcomes.

Introduction: Previable (less than 24 weeks) premature rupture of membranes complicates about 1 in every thousand births and is responsible for substantial perinatal mortality.

Subjects And Methods: In this paper, we retrospectively analyzed one twin and 35 singleton pregnancies.

Results: Twenty cases occurred before and 16 after 20 weeks.

Fetal genotyping for platelets antigens: a precise tool for alloimmune thrombocytopenia: case report and literature review.

Introduction: Maternal-fetal alloimmune thrombocytopenia complicates about 0.1% of all pregnancies and is associated with major fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, especially spontaneous central nervous system bleeding leading to death and neurological handicaps. Successful prevention and treatment depend on the identification of at-risk possible carriers of anti-platelet antibodies.

[Group B streptococcus maternal and neonatal colonization in preterm rupture of membranes and preterm labor].

Purpose: To identify the prevalence and risk factors of maternal colonization by group B streptococcus (GBS) in pregnant women with premature labor (PL) and/or premature membrane rupture (PMR).

Methods: Two anal and two vaginal swabs were collected from 203 pregnant women with diagnosis of PL or PMR assisted at the practice along one year. Pregnant women with imminent labor at admission were excluded.

[Natural history of monochorionic diamniotic twin pregnancies with and without twin-twin transfusion syndrome].

Purpose: to evaluate the evolution of monochorionic-diamniotic twin pregnancies with and without the twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), followed up in an expectant way.

Methods: retrospective study in which the pregnancies with and without TTTS and with mild (Quintero's stage I) and severe (Quintero's stages II, III, IV and V) disease manifestations were compared according to extreme preterm delivery, neurological impairment and the twins' nursery discharge. The extreme preterm twins who had had TTTS, or not, were compared whether they had or not neurological impairment.

[Cervical bacterial colonization in women with preterm labor or premature rupture of membranes].

Purpose: to study cervical colonization in women with preterm labor or premature rupture of membranes.

Methods: two hundred and twelve pregnant women with preterm labor or premature rupture of membranes were studied. Two cervical samples from each woman were collected and bacterioscopy and culture were performed.

Selective versus non-selective culture medium for group B streptococcus detection in pregnancies complicated by preterm labor or preterm-premature rupture of membranes.

The objective of this study was to identify group B streptococcus (GBS) colonization rates and compare detection efficiency of selective versus non-selective culture media and anorectal versus vaginal cultures in women with preterm labor and preterm-premature rupture of membranes (PROM). A prospective cohort study of 203 women was performed. Two vaginal and two anorectal samples from each woman were collected using sterile swabs.

Association of anticardiolipin antibody and C677T in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase mutation in women with recurrent spontaneous abortions: a new path to thrombophilia?

Context: Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) has been associated with venous thrombosis in the mother. Acquired and inherited thrombophilia factors are possible causes.

Objective: To evaluate the association between thrombogenic factors and recurrent spontaneous abortion.