Time I " minutes Fig. 1. Figure taken from: Moir, C. (1932): The action of ergot preparations on the puerperal uterus. Bnt. In the Middle Ages St. Anthony ministered to those suffering the torments of intense burning and gangrene of the fingers and toes. It was clearly a painful condition graphically described as St. Anthony's fire and was eventually related to 'black' bread made from rye conta...

Preterm birth is a significant problem occurring in around 10% of all deliveries and its increase is remarkable, even in developed countries. Being born under 37 weeks, and most importantly under 32 weeks, is the major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality and accounts for the majority of neonatal deaths. Recent advances in perinatology and neonatology have increased survival rates, partic...

BACKGROUND Since 2005, India has implemented a national cash transfer programme, the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), which provides women a cash transfer upon giving birth in an existing public facility. This has resulted in a steep rise in facility births across the country. The early years of the programme saw efforts being made to strengthen the ability of facilities to provide obstetric care....

Drs S J VINE and A PRYS-DAVIES and Mr J F PEARSON (University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF4 4XN) write: A 16 year old woman was admitted for termination of her first pregnancy at 16 weeks' gestation. A gemeprost (16,16-dimethyl-trans-A2 prostaglandin El methyl ester) 1 mg pessary was inserted into the posterior fomix every three hours until a total dose of 5 mg had been given. The cervix remai...

Castor oil was first noted to have oxytocic properties by ancient Egyptians. Derived from the castor plant Ricinus communis, castor oil may possess properties that are useful are in post-term pregnancies This study was performed at Khatam-Alanbia, hospital in shoushtar city in 1381.In this clinical trail 80 pregnant women, who had indication for induction of labor at term were randomly assigned...

Objective: Hematometra is a rare and delayed complication of medical termination of pregnancy. Acquired acute hematometra also termed the postabortal syndrome or the redo syndrome is a rare complication of suction evacuation with incidence ranging from 0.1 to 1 per 100 suction curettage abortions. The treatment consists of prompt evacuation of both liquid and clotted blood leading to rapid reso...

OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence, associated risk factors and outcome of post partum hemorrhage (PPH) among women delivering at the hospital setting. DESIGN Descriptive retrospective hospital based cross-section study RESULTS The targeted respondents were 344 pregnant women. Prevalence of PPH was 11.9% with re-admission rate of 41.5% and 12.2% deaths secondary to PPH where most of the women ...

The circadian characteristics of the daily rhythm in oxytocin (OT) concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were studied in the rhesus monkey. Monkeys subjected to constant light or constant dark for periods of 3 to 6 days manifested persistence of the CSF OT rhythm. A 12-hr phase shift in the light-dark cycle resulted in a resynchronization of the rhythm to the new lighting schedule within ...

Patrice Connelly B. Nat Therapies (SCU), Dip. Nutrition, is a nutritionist, energetic healer and musician practising in Kilcoy, Qld. PO Box 272, Kilcoy QLD 4515. Telephone (07) 5422 0806. [email protected]. Amember of the Asteraceae family, the weed Bidens pilosa Linn. is found throughout the world, probably originating in South America. First noted in Linneus’s Species Plantarum (1753), ...