Microbial infection of the amniotic fluid is a significant cause of fetal injury, preterm birth, and newborn infections. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is an important human bacterial pathogen associated with preterm birth, fetal injury, and neonatal mortality. Although GBS has been isolated from amniotic fluid of women in preterm labor, mechanisms of in utero infection remain unknown. Previous st...

Toll like receptors (TLRs) are pattern-recognition molecules that initiate the innate immune response to pathogens. Pulmonary surfactant protein (SP)-A is an endogenously produced ligand for TLR2 and TLR4. SP-A has been proposed as a fetally produced signal for the onset of parturition in the mouse. We examined the effect of interactions between SP-A and the pathogenic TLR agonists lipopolysacc...

Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com membranes, passage of germs into the cavity and fetal swallowing of these and their inflammation products have been described by different authors. The arrival of germs to the amniotic cavity by haematogenous route is also possible but much less frequent. This process of ascent and colonization of the membranes by different microorganisms is general...

Background and Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the level of plasma high sensitive c-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in preeclampsia and to compare hs-CRP levels between normal pregnant women, mild preeclamptic, and severe preeclamptic women. Materials and Methods: Serum hs-CRP levels were inv...

The use of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) during pregnancy has a long tradition in osteopathic medicine. A retrospective study was designed to compare a group of women who received prenatal OMT with a matched group that did not receive prenatal OMT. The medical records of 160 women from four cities who received prenatal OMT were reviewed for the occurrence of meconium-stained amniotic...

BACKGROUND Being able to predict preterm birth is important, as it may allow a high-risk population to be selected for future interventional studies and help in understanding the pathways that lead to preterm birth. OBJECTIVE To investigate the accuracy of novel biomarkers to predict spontaneous preterm birth in women with singleton pregnancies and no symptoms of preterm labour. SEARCH STRA...

BACKGROUND Alveolar-capillary membrane leaks can increase the amount of surfactant protein B (SP-B) in the bloodstream. The purpose of this study was to measure the concentration of C-proSP-B, a SP-B precursor that includes C-terminal domains, in various body fluids of newborn infants and determine its dependence on gestational age. METHODS C-pro-SPB was measured in amniotic fluid and umbilic...

33 Background: This study tested if second trimester amniotic fluid cytokine levels, Ureaplasma sp. 34 colonisation and sexual activity predict preterm birth and explain the differential preterm birth rates 35 in Chinese compared to Australian women. 36 Methods: Amniotic fluid was collected by amniocentesis (Chinese 480, Australian 492). Cytokines 37 were measured by multiplex assay and Ureapla...