INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge of toxoplasmosis among professionals and pregnant women in the public health services in Paraná, Brazil. METHODS A cross-sectional observational and transversal study of 80 health professionals (44 nurses and 36 physicians) and 330 pregnant women [111 immunoglobulin M (IgM)- and IgG-non-reactive and 219 IgG-reactive] was cond...

BACKGROUND Nigeria is home to more people living with HIV than any other country in the world, except South Africa and India - where an estimated 2.9 million [1.7 million - 4.2 million] people were living with the virus in 2005. Women bear the greatest burden of frequent high-risk pregnancies, raising large families, and increasingly, the AIDS epidemic. Thus, there is a need for better understa...

OBJECTIVE To compare the risk of fetal death (FD) between 34 and 41 weeks' gestational age (GA) with the neonatal mortality rate to examine the best GA for delivery. STUDY DESIGN Linked birth and infant death data for the US from the National Center for Health Statistics analyzed nonanomalous singleton pregnancies between 2003 and 2005. Pregnancies were classified as high risk or low risk bas...

As part of an investigation into the practical problems of a maternal serum alphafetoprotein (AFP) neural tube defect (NTD) screening programme carried out in Mid Glamorgan, South Wales, between 1977 and 1979, obstetricians were recommended to refer women with high risk pregnancies directly for counselling, high resolution ultrasonography, and amniocentesis without first carrying out serum scre...

OBJECTIVES To determine, in women transferred antenatally for acute admission with high risk pregnancies, the numbers who deliver, the average time from transfer to delivery, and whether the reason for transfer influences the time-to-delivery. METHODS A retrospective analysis of time-to-delivery was performed in a population of women transferred to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, QLD...

The identification of high-risk pregnancies that would benefit from the use of electronic fetal monitoring during labour remains an important research issue. In this issue of The Lancet, Lawrence Impey and colleagues report the results of a randomised controlled trial that assessed the efficacy of admission cardiotocography for 8580 low-risk women in labour as measured by reductions in the rate...

OBJECTIVE To determine for the Bizana district, Transkei, the proportion of deliveries that occur at home, home delivery practices, the proportion of women with high-risk pregnancies delivered at home, attendance for antenatal care at the health services and at traditional healers, and the reasons why mothers choose to deliver at home or in the health services. DESIGN Questionnaire survey. ...

BACKGROUND Teleconsultation is a guarantor for virtual supervision of clinical professors on clinical decisions made by medical residents in teaching hospitals. Type, format, volume, and quality of exchanged information have a great influence on the quality of remote clinical decisions or tele-decisions. Thus, it is necessary to develop a reliable and standard model for these clinical relations...

BACKGROUND Maternal mortality is related to obstetric complications in pregnancy some of which could be revealed by obstetric sonography. Obstetric sonography has become part of routine antenatal care in both urban and rural settings. The objective of the study was to assess the utilization of obstetric sonography in a rural hospital of Uganda, including the frequency and appropriateness of its...

BACKGROUND To determine whether patients with placenta previa who delivered preterm have an increased risk for recurrent spontaneous preterm birth. METHODS This retrospective population based cohort study included patients who delivered after a primary cesarean section (n = 9983). The rate of placenta previa, its recurrence, and the risk for recurrent preterm birth were determined. RESULTS ...