Effects of maternal and fetal choline concentrations on the fetal growth and placental DNA methylation of 12 target genes related to fetal growth, adipogenesis, and energy metabolism.

Aim: We performed a birth cohort study involving 124 mother-infant pairs to investigate whether placental DNA methylation is associated with maternal choline status and fetal development.

Methods: Plasma choline concentration was assayed longitudinally in the 1st and 3rd trimesters and at term-pregnancy in mothers and cord blood. Placental DNA methylation was measured for 12 target candidate genes that are related to fetal growth, adipogenesis, lipid and energy metabolism, or long interspersed nuclear elements.

Multiple pregnancy, short cervix, part-time worker, steroid use, low educational level and male fetus are risk factors for preterm birth in Japan: a multicenter, prospective study.

Aim: To examine the relationship between preterm birth and socioeconomic factors, past history, cervical length, cervical interleukin-8, bacterial vaginosis, underlying diseases, use of medication, employment status, sex of the fetus and multiple pregnancy.

Methods: In a multicenter, prospective, observational study, 1810 Japanese women registering their future delivery were enrolled at 8⁺⁰ to 12⁺⁶ weeks of gestation. Data on cervical length and delivery were obtained from 1365 pregnant women.

Severely fluctuating blood glucose levels associated with a somatostatin-producing ovarian neuroendocrine tumor.

Context: Somatostatin-producing tumors are a rare type of neuroendocrine tumor. Their effects on blood glucose levels have been variously reported, and detailed reports have been scarce.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the reasons for the extraordinary blood glucose fluctuations in a case with no previous history of diabetes.

Vaginal evisceration 3 years after abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.

Vaginal evisceration after a pelvic operation is a rare gynecological emergency. When intercourse is the cause, most cases occur within 1 year of surgery. A 53-year-old woman presented to the emergency room for vaginal evisceration half a day after the first postoperative occurrence of intercourse 3 years after an abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.

Effect of Social Service Prenatal Care Utilization on Perinatal Outcomes among Women with Socioeconomic Problems in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

Background. To investigate the effect of social service prenatal care (PNC) utilization on perinatal outcomes among women with socioeconomic problems in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Methods.

Prolonged fetal bradycardia as the presenting clinical sign in congenital syphilis complicated by necrotizing funisitis: a case report.

Syphilis remains a serious cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. In this paper, we describe a case of congenital syphilis that was fully supported by abnormal fetal heart rate patterns and placental histopathological evidence. A 24-year-old para 4 woman, who did not attend antenatal care, was admitted to our hospital with a complaint of abdominal discomfort at an estimated 31-week gestation.

Postpartum maternal pneumococcal meningitis complicated by endocarditis.

Bacterial meningitis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Few cases of pneumococcal meningitis during pregnancy and the postpartum period have been reported. We describe a case of postpartum pneumococcal meningitis complicated by endocarditis.

Habitual use of warm-water cleaning toilets is related to the aggravation of vaginal microflora.

Aim: Warm-water cleaning toilets, or ‘bidet toilets’, are one of the most popular household goods in Japan. However, a recent large-scale survey raised questions about the relationship between bidet toilet use and bacterial vaginitis as reflecting bacterial vaginosis with inflammation. Recently, gynecologists have expressed concerns about the increase in aggravated vaginal microflora in habitual bidet users.

Antepartum intracranial hemorrhage due to unrecognized unilateral moyamoya disease: a case report.

Purpose: Moyamoya (meaning a "hazy puff of smoke" in Japanese) disease is a rare cerebrovascular occlusive disease. Moyamoya disease may become symptomatic for the first time during pregnancy. We report a case of antepartum intracranial hemorrhage due to unrecognized unilateral moyamoya disease, which was subsequently diagnosed as HELLP syndrome during the postpartum period.

Noninvasive monitoring of placental oxygenation by near-infrared spectroscopy.

We evaluated the clinical usefulness of near-infrared spectroscopic quantitative measurement of placental oxygenation for the noninvasive estimation of uteroplacental function in pregnant women. We performed a prospective, observational clinical study. Women without complications (N = 15), women with threatened preterm delivery (TPD; N = 6), and women with intrauterine fetal growth restriction (IUGR; N = 6) were enrolled.

Transabdominal measurement of placental oxygenation by near-infrared spectroscopy.

We evaluated the clinical usefulness of near-infrared spectroscopic quantitative measurement of placental tissue oxygenation for noninvasive estimation of uteroplacental function in pregnant women. We performed a prospective observational clinical study. Women without complications (N = 15) and women with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH; N = 6) were enrolled.

Establishment of a prediction method for premature rupture of membranes in term pregnancy using active ceruloplasmin in cervicovaginal secretion as a clinical marker.

Aim: Term pregnancy complicated by premature rupture of membranes (PROM) is thought to be associated in part with subclinical infection, and places mothers and neonates at an increased risk for several complications. Therefore, perinatal care would be greatly helped if a reliable clinical measure were available for predicting the incidence of PROM.

Methods: One hundred and ninety-six pregnant women who consented to enter this study were screened using a method developed to assess active ceruloplasmin in cervicovaginal secretion as a clinical marker for predicting the incidence of PROM.

Hyalinizing spindle cell tumor with giant rosettes of the omentum.

We report the first case of a hyalinizing spindle cell tumor with giant rosettes of the omentum. The mesenchymal tumor arises from a multiplication of fibroblastic cells containing large rosette-like structures composed of a central collagen core surrounded by plump oval to spindle tumor cells. A 38-year-old woman exhibited the symptom of abdominal pain in the right side, with a correlated sensation of a mass in the same area.

[Management of tuberculosis during pregnancy and puerperium].

We reported 22 cases with tuberculosis in pregnancy and puerperium, who were treated in our hospital from 1993 to 2001. Nine out of 22 cases were foreign women and the onset of tuberculosis was not clear and the diagnosis tended to be delayed in most cases. In the reports from industrial countries, most of those patients are foreign bone and the delay in diagnosis is common because symptoms are apt to be mixed up those for pregnancy and puerperium.