Employing nifedipine as a tocolytic agent prior to external cephalic version.

Background: External cephalic version (ECV) is accepted as a means of reducing the rate of breech presentation at term. Routine use of tocolysis prior to an ECV has been described to increase its success rate. The study's objective was to evaluate the efficacy of oral nifedipine as a tocolytic agent prior to ECV, and to compare it with intravenous ritodrine (IR).

Abdominal scar characteristics as a predictor of intra-abdominal adhesions at repeat cesarean delivery.

Objective: To investigate whether abdominal scar characteristics could predict the incidence and severity of intra-abdominal adhesions found at repeat cesarean delivery.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Delivery suite of a university-based obstetrics unit.

Bone strength in multiple sclerosis: cortical midtibial speed-of-sound assessment.

It has been previously suggested that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients are at increased risk for osteoporosis due to reduced mobility, decreased exposure to sunlight and recurrent steroid treatment. In order to systematically evaluate bone strength we assessed 256 MS patients (171 females, 75 males) through quantitative ultrasound measurement of cortical bone. Tibial speed of sound (SOS, m/sec) was measured at midpoint of the tibial shaft using a Soundscan 2000 (Myriad Ultrasound Systems, Rehovot, Israel) and results were compared to age- and gender-matched population norms.