Presently, there is no effective treatment for preterm labor. The most obvious reason for this anomaly is that there is no objective manner to evaluate the progression of pregnancy through steps leading to labor, either at term or preterm. Several techniques have been adopted to monitor labor, and/or to diagnose labor, but they are either subjective or indirect, and they do not provide an accur...

PROBLEM Preterm neonates are highly susceptible to infection. Neonatal host defense against infection seems to be maintained by the temporal presence of immunosuppressive CD71+ erythroid cells. The aim of this study was to investigate whether umbilical cord CD71+ erythroid cells are reduced in neonates born to women who undergo spontaneous preterm labor/birth. METHOD OF STUDY Umbilical cord b...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Pregnancy complications hypothesized to be related to vitamin D include preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, low birth weight, preterm delivery, Cesarean section and infectious disease. There have been a few studies which have demonstrated maternal serum vitamin D to be associated with preterm labor. The objective was to evaluate the serum vitamin D concentrations in Th...

Objective: Preterm labor is defined as labor prior to 37 weeks of gestation. There are no FDA approved drugs available to treat spontaneous preterm labor. Uterine smooth muscle is unique in that it relaxes in a cGMPindependent manner in the presence of nitric oxide (NO). However, NO-mediated relaxation in tissues from mothers who deliver preterm is blunted. S-nitrosation of cysteines via NO act...

conclusions the current study showed that supporting pregnant mother moderates psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression, and hence reduces preterm labor. results the final path model fit well (cfi = 0.96; rmsea = .064). the results showed that depression, anxiety, and stress (β = -0.18) directly, and stressful life events indirectly (β= -0.0396) had the most predict on ges...

The aims of the present study were to compare the levels of mRNA and protein expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, -3, -8 and -9 in human cervical tissue in preterm and term labor as well as not in labor and to determine if corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) has an effect on MMP-1, -3 and interleukin (IL)-8 secretion in both preterm and term cervical fibroblasts. Cervical biopsies ...

Preterm birth is defined as birth before the completion of 37 weeks of gestation. The frequency of preterm birth in the United States increased from 10.7% in 1992 to 12.3% in 2003. 1 Preterm births can be categorized as those undertaken because of a specific indication or as spontaneous preterm births. Indicated preterm births occur when a health care provider delivers a baby because of medical...

Background: Women with preterm labor put in an arrest phase by tocolytic therapy, are at increased risk of recurrent preterm labor. The aim of this study is to evaluate vaginal progesterone suppositories as compared to intramuscular type in order to prevent preterm labor in women with episodes of threatened preterm labor. Methods: This prospective longitudinal...