Publications by authors named "Roberta Shear"
Purpose: Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a rare, but often fatal condition characterized by sudden hemodynamic instability and coagulopathy occurring during labour or in the early postpartum period. As the mechanisms leading to shock and the cardiovascular effects of AFE are incompletely understood, the purpose of this case series is to describe how AFE presents on echocardiography and review limited reports in the literature.
Clinical Features: We describe three cases of AFE at the Jewish General Hospital, a tertiary care centre in Montreal, Canada.
Background: Dyssegmental dysplasia Silverman-Handmaker (DDSH; MIM 224410) type is an extremely rare skeletal dysplasia caused by functional null mutations in the perlecan gene. Less than forty cases are reported in the literature, of which only four were prenatally detected.
Methods: We report on a dizygotic twin pregnancy from consanguineous parents for which one of the twins presented prenatally with severe micromelia, limb bowing and scoliosis, and postnatally with clinical and radiological features compatible with a diagnosis of dyssegmental dysplasia.
It is unclear whether pregnancy is a trigger or accelerant for idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Alternatively, its frequency close to the onset of symptoms and diagnosis in the idiopathic PAH population may represent a coincidence in a disease that predominates in young women. We describe a carrier of a BMPR2 gene mutation who had an uneventful first pregnancy but had aggressive PAH during her second pregnancy and now has ongoing heritable PAH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study was established to obtain Canadian biomonitoring data for pregnant women and their infants, and to examine potential adverse health effects of prenatal exposure to priority environmental chemicals on pregnancy and infant health.
Methods: Women were recruited during the first trimester from 10 sites across Canada and were followed through delivery. Questionnaires were administered during pregnancy and post-delivery to collect information on demographics, occupation, life style, medical history, environmental exposures and diet.
Objective: Offspring of mothers with impaired glucose tolerance are far more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. We tested the hypothesis that maternal glucose tolerance in pregnancy affects fetal insulin sensitivity or beta-cell function.
Research Design And Methods: In a prospective singleton pregnancy cohort study, we analyzed glucose, insulin, and proinsulin concentrations in maternal blood at the 50-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 24-28 weeks of gestation and in venous cord blood (n = 248).
Objective: We sought to investigate whether prenatal vitamin C and E supplementation reduces the incidence of gestational hypertension (GH) and its adverse conditions among high- and low-risk women.
Study Design: In a multicenter randomized controlled trial, women were stratified by the risk status and assigned to daily treatment (1 g vitamin C and 400 IU vitamin E) or placebo. The primary outcome was GH and its adverse conditions.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess maternal and fetal morbidity and death in cases of severe preterm preeclampsia that were managed expectantly.
Study Design: It is a retrospective study that included 155 singleton pregnancies with severe preeclampsia at <34 weeks of gestation that were managed expectantly over a 10-year period. Perinatal outcomes of both mother and fetus were stratified according to gestational age and the severity of fetal growth restriction < or =3th percentile, 4th to 5th percentile, >5th to10th percentile, and >10th percentile.