Sjogren's syndrome is one of the most common autoimmune disorders and has a female predominance. Maternal circulating autoantibodies such as anti-Ro/SSA and anti-La/SSB antibodies can cause congenital heart block of fetus, and in severe case, emergency pacemaker implantation may be needed for neonate. Therefore, it is very important to understand maternal and fetal condition and pay attention t...

The purpose of this review is to serve as an introduction to understanding sleep in the fetus, the preterm neonate and the term neonate. Sleep appears to have numerous important roles, particularly in the consolidation of new information. The sleep cycle changes over time, neonates spend the most time in active sleep and have a progressive shortening of active sleep and lengthening of quiet sle...

The prevention of neonatal rickets by oral supplementation with vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) has tended to obscure our ignorance of the natural mechanism by which young mammals receive an adequate supply of vitamin D. To investigate the possibility of specific intrauterine transfer and storage of vitamin D in fetal tissues, vitamin D-deficient female rats were given depot injections of 3H- or 14...

The circadian time-keeping system is the neural system that allows predictive adaptation of individuals to the reproducible 24-hour day/night alternations of our planet. A biological clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, receives environmental information and imposes a circadian pattern to physiological functions. Since the suprachiasmatic nucleus develops early in gestation and circadian rhythms...

A balanced interaction between the homeostatic mechanisms of mother and the developing organism during pregnancy and in early neonatal life is essential in order to ensure optimal fetal development, ability to respond to various external and internal challenges, protection from adverse programming, and safeguard maternal care availability after parturition. In the majority of pregnancies, this ...

Placenta percreta with pelvic organ invasion carries a high mortality for mother and fetus. Appropriate multidisciplinary consultation, strategy, and preoperative planning for Cesarean hysterectomy permitted caregivers to provide a maternal-infant bonding experience, surgical hemostasis, preservation of bladder function, and a healthy, vigorous neonate.

To assess the safety risks to the fetus and neonate caused by maternal use of nicardipine in pre-eclamptic patients, we evaluated the placental transfer and the transfer to breast milk after maternal intravenous administration of nicardipine. In ten pre-eclamptic subjects, nicardipine concentrations of maternal blood (P) and both arterial and venous umbilical cord blood samples (Uarterial and U...

Congenital lung abnormalities are relatively rare but very dangerous for the fetus and neonate. This article describes the most common pulmonary complications observed during pregnancy such as congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation, diaphragmatic hernia, bronchopulmonary sequestration, hydrothorax, chylothorax, lung agenesia, pulmonary hypoplasia. The diagnostic methods and available therap...

Infections of the mother, the intrauterine environment, the fetus, and the neonate can cause cerebral palsy through a variety of mechanisms. Each of these processes is reviewed. The recently proposed theory of cytokine-induced white matter brain injury and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome is critically evaluated.

The acid-base status of the fetus during the first stage of labor is a mild acidosis with moderate hypercapnia and a “numerically” severe hypoxemia (in which physiological adjustments allow for normal development). During the process of normal delivery, a transient asphyxia develops resulting in a more acidotic pH, severe hypercapnia, and a further decrease of the partial pressure of oxygen (Po...