AIMS To determine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) concentration in fetal and maternal plasma and amniotic fluid from pregnancies complicated by preterm prelabour amniorrhexis and to define the relation of this cytokine to intrauterine infection and the onset of labour. METHODS Cross-sectional study of 23 pregnancies complicated by preterm prelabour amniorrhexis. Enzyme linked immunoassay was u...

background: this study investigated blackberry (persian mulberry) effects on apo a-i, apo b, high-sensitivity-c-reactive protein (hs-crp), and systolic blood pressure (sbp) and diastolic blood pressure (dbp) in dyslipidemic patients. materials and methods: in this 8-week randomized clinical trial, 72 dyslipidemic patients were randomly divided into two groups: intervention (300 ml/day blackberr...

Bacterial infection is one of the main causes of preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) leading to preterm delivery, pulmonary hypoplasia, sepsis and joint deformities. Expectant management, broad-spectrum antibiotics and antenatal corticosteroids are routinely used in this condition with very limited success to prevent bacteremia, chorioamnionitis, funisitis and intra-amniotic infectio...

Introduction: Metritis is one of the causes of maternal morbidity and there are many risk factors for it. Because of the importance of possible association of meconium-stained amniotic fluid and maternal metritis the present study was done to determine whether meconium stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) is associated with puerperal infection. Methods: In this case-control study 150 women with MSAF a...

Dot immunobinding assays for the quantitation of two classes of proteins associated with lung surfactant phospholipids in human amniotic fluid are described. With the use of these assays it was determined that the two classes of surfactant proteins accumulate in the amniotic fluid at the same rate. The concentrations of disaturated phosphatidylcholine and the surfactant-associated proteins are ...

BACKGROUND Green-stained amniotic fluid does not always indicate that meconium was passed in utero. CASE PRESENTATION We report the case of a 2280-g Hispanic preterm female born at 32 weeks of gestation with congenital jejunal atresia. The amniotic fluid was greenish stained; the initial impression was meconium-stained amniotic fluid. Postnatal findings revealed no meconium in her rectum. The...

background and objective: the aim of this study was to determine the level of plasma high sensitive c-reactive protein (hs-crp) in preeclampsia and to compare hs-crp levels between normal pregnant women, mild preeclamptic, and severe preeclamptic women. materials and methods: serum hs-crp levels were investigated in 40 cases of normal pregnant women, 37 cases with mild preeclampsia and 38 cases...

Preterm birth is defined as any delivery before 37 complete weeks of gestation. It is a universal challenge in the field of obstetrics owing to its high rate of mortality, long-term morbidity, associated human suffering and economic burden. In the United States, about 12.18% deliveries in 2009 were preterm, producing an exorbitant cost of $5.8 billion. Infection-associated premature rupture of ...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to predict maternal and neonatal outcomes by measuring mid-trimester amniotic fluid stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha) concentration in healthy women. METHODS Mid-trimester amniotic fluid samples from healthy women with a singleton pregnancy were obtained at the time of genetic amniocenteses. SDF-1alpha concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked i...

Inflammation plays an important role in pregnancy, and cytokine and matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) imbalance has been associated with premature rupture of membranes and increased risk of preterm delivery. Previous studies have demonstrated that lactoferrin (LF), an iron-binding protein with anti-inflammatory properties, is able to decrease amniotic fluid (AF) levels of IL-6. Therefore, we aimed...