The concentrations of hormones measured in serum from maternal blood change dramatically during pregnancy. While the relative contributions of sex steroids shift from maternal ovaries and adrenals to the fetoplacental unit, other maternal tissues such as pituitary and liver respond to increasing concentrations of estrogen and secrete increasing amounts of prolactin and sex-hormone-binding globu...

Hypertension is the most common medical problem encountered in pregnancy and remains an important cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. It complicates up to 15% of pregnancies. The review was intended to assess the prognostic significance of the value of serum LDH and used as a marker of preeclampsia. Higher serum LDH and uric acid level associated with increased incidence of mat...

BACKGROUND The study assessed whether low maternal serum cholesterol during early pregnancy is associated with preterm delivery. PATIENTS AND METHODS It was a prospective observational cohort study involving pregnant women at gestational age of 14-20 weeks over a period of 12 months. Blood samples were obtained to measure total serum cholesterol concentrations and the sera were then analysed ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of a one-stop clinic for assessment of risk (OSCAR) for trisomy 21 by a combination of maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness and maternal serum free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) at 11-14 weeks of gestation. METHOD Screening for trisomy 21 was carried out by OSCAR in 15 030 sing...

adverse outcome of pregnancy is a potentially dangerous complication of conception and affects 15-20% of pregnancies. according to recent studies increased level of blood antiphospholipids antibodies, if accompanied by predisposing factors, can be an adverse event in human pregnancy. the aim of the present study was to compare the maternal serum levels of anticardiolipin and antiphosphatidyl se...

background: the association between lipid peroxidation biomarkers and adipocytokines is hypothesized in preeclampsia but little is known about it. objective: the present study was undertaken to determine the association of lipid peroxidation biomarkers measured by the levels of 8-isoprostane and malondialdehyde with adipocytokines leptin and adiponectin in maternal serum of preeclamptic women. ...

Earlier studies have shown that sulfoconjugation is a major pathway of thyroid hormone metabolism in fetal mammals. To assess the placental transfer of sulfoconjugates in the pregnant sheep model, we measured 3,3',5-triiodothyronine (T3) sulfate (T3S), 3,3'-diiodothyronine sulfate (T2S), and T3 concentrations in fetal serum and in maternal serum and urine after T3S infusion to the fetus ( n = 5...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether maternal serum levels of adiponectin in the first trimester are altered in pregnancies that subsequently deliver small for gestational age (SGA) neonates. METHODS Maternal serum adiponectin and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) were measured at 11-13 weeks' gestation in 50 singleton normotensive pregnancies that delivered SGA neonates and 300 non-...

Although early exposure to environmental pollutants may have important toxicological consequences, the mechanisms of transplacental transfer of synthetic musks are still not well understood. The objective of the present study was to learn the musk contaminations in three matrices, including maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, and breast milk; and investigate their placental transfer mechanism...

Growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) in maternal and fetal serum and amniotic fluid were measured simultaneously by radioimmunoassay at term deliveries of 20 normal mothers. The PRL level of amniotic fluid was significantly higher than that of maternal and fetal serum. The fetal GH level was significantly higher than the maternal and amniotic levels of GH. There was no significant correlatio...