AIM To determine whether an antepartum low amniotic fluid index (AFI) is a predictor of adverse perinatal outcome in normal pregnancy and to determine a threshold level of AFI that could predict an adverse outcome. METHODS This was a prospective study conducted among 180 pregnant women at 37-40 weeks of gestation with no known obstetric or medical complications with an AFI ≤ 5th percentile. T...

Extended glacier retreat is among the main consequences of the rapid warming of the West Antarctic Peninsula. Particularly, in the inner part of Potter Cove (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) large areas are now exposed to open sea conditions owing to the retreat of Fourcade glacier. During the 2010 austral summer, underwater photographic surveys were undertaken by SCUBA diving up to 30 m in ...

Although congenital renal tumors are rare, congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) is the most common renal tumor in early infancy. It is non-metastatic, well differentiated, amenable to surgical removal, and carries a good prognosis. Polyhydramnios has been detected in most of the published cases of CMN. However, we experienced a rare case of fetal CMN associated with oligohydramnios. A 28-yr ol...

BACKGROUND Transcervical amnioinfusion is a new and relatively safe, simple procedure that can be performed in most modern hospital maternity units. METHODS We reviewed the current medical literature concerning this topic by searching MEDLINE files from 1987 to the present, using key words "amnioinfusion," "fetal distress," "premature rupture of membranes," "meconium aspiration," and "oligohy...

The transplacental transfer of cefuroxime was determined at antenatal fetal blood sampling in a cross sectional study of 78 patients between 15-35 weeks' gestation, 8-138 minutes after a maternal intravenous dose of 750 mg. Mean serum cefuroxime concentration, measured by high performance liquid chromatography, was 7.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 6.8 to 8.1) mg/l in control fetuses; concentra...