OBJECTIVE To determine whether prenatal exposure to betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) alters blood pressure in childhood. DESIGN Prospective follow-up study of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING National Women's Hospital (Auckland, New Zealand). PARTICIPANTS Two hundred twenty-three 6-year-old children of mothers wh...

This study was designed to evaluate the degree of placenta share discordance in relation to the betamethasone-induced return of positive end-diastolic flow in monochorionic twin pregnancies with selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR) and abnormal umbilical artery Doppler. Monochorionic twins with sIUGR was defined as one twin having an estimated fetal weight below the 10th percentile...

In the current study, we analyzed the impact of antenatal betamethasone on macroscopic cerebellar development, Purkinje cell morphology and the expression of the neuroprotective protein calbindin-D28k. Pregnant rats (Sprague-Dawley) were randomly divided into two experimental groups: control (CONT) and betamethasone-treated (BET). At gestational day 20 (G20), BET dams were subcutaneously inject...

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of prenatal exposure to betamethasone, a corticosteroid, on postnatal stress regulation, particularly activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. Effects were assessed by measuring salivary cortisol production at baseline and in response to two potentially stressful events, a heel-stick blood draw and a physical exam, ...

background : preterm labor is the most common complication of the pregnancy in the second trimester and has been suggested as the cause of two-thirds of neonatal mortality. antenatal corticosteroid is used for fetal lung maturity in preterm labor and makes a significant reduction in the incidence of rds. the aim of this study was to compare the prenatal administration of single and multiple cou...

The placental glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is central to glucocorticoid signalling and for mediating steroid effects on pathways associated with fetal growth and lung maturation but the GR has not been examined in the guinea pig placenta even though this animal is regularly used as a model of preterm birth and excess glucocorticoid exposure. Guinea pig dams received subcutaneous injections of e...

Abnormalities of premature newborn adaptation after preterm birth result in significant perinatal mortality and morbidity. We assessed the effects of short-term (24 h) fetal betamethasone exposure on preterm newborn baboon pulmonary and cardiovascular regulation and renal sodium handling during the first 24 h after birth. Male fetal baboons ( Papio) (124-day gestation, term 185 days) received u...

BACKGROUND Sufficient analgesia for cancer pain is sometimes difficult to achieve with conventional treatments. We aimed at investigating the analgesic efficacy and safety of intrathecal betamethasone in patients with uncontrollable cancer pain. METHODS Betamethasone 1 mg mixed with saline was injected into the lumbar intrathecal space once a week in 10 patients with persistent cancer pain in...

The effect of vitamin E, betamethasone and mannitol upon a series of pathological free radical reactions within hypoxic brain tissue was evaluated by the chemiluminescence method. Hypoxia was induced by arterial hypoxemia (PaO2 17-22 mmHg) with normocapnia (PaCO2 28-38 mmHg) and normotension (MABP 100-140 mmHg). 4% O2-96% N2 mixed gas was used to obtain the lowered PaO2. In the untreated group,...

The decision for premature termination of a pregnancy has to be weighed against the potential risk of the respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). This is particularly critical in pregnancies complicated by EPH gestosis, diabetes mellitus, rhincompatibility, placenta praevia, placental insufficiency, and in cases of premature labor. The difficulty of estimating fetal lung maturation seems to have b...