Children born preterm show persisting impairments in cognitive functioning, school achievement, and brain development. Most research has focused on implications of birth prior to 37 gestational weeks; however, the fetal central nervous system continues to make fundamental changes throughout gestation. Longer gestation is associated with reduced morbidity and mortality even among infants born du...

BACKGROUND Low back pain is highly prevalent among pregnant women, but evidence of an effective treatment are still lacking. Supervised exercise-either land or water based-has shown benefits for low back pain, but no trial has investigated the evidence of an unsupervised water exercise program on low back pain. We aimed to assess the effect of an unsupervised water exercise program on low back ...

BACKGROUND The effects on postnatal growth of maternal exposure to low levels of lead during pregnancy have not been well established. In addition, information is limited regarding the protective effect of dietary calcium intake during pregnancy against the effect of lead for fetal and postnatal growth. We investigated the relationship between prenatal exposure to lead and growth at birth and 6...

The aim of this cross-sectional study in Jordan was to estimate the prevalence of hypothyroidism among women during early pregnancy and to assess the association of risk factors with hypothyroidism. According to internationally adopted thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroxine (T4) pregnancy reference ranges (TSH > or = 2.6 mlU/L and T4 10.6-20.4 pmol/L), 67 of 322 (20.8%) women were diag...

Fetal urine production begins in the first trimester. Autopsy findings of filled urinary bladders in human fetuses have been reported from 11 gestational weeks (Abramovich, 1968). In 1970, the first report on ultrasound investigations of the fetal urinary bladder was published (Garrett et al., 1970). Three years later, a method for estimating fetal urine production was introduced (Campbell et a...

BACKGROUND Few studies have investigated the drug utilization patterns and factors predicting drug use in pregnant women with migraine. This longitudinal drug utilization study aimed to describe patterns of analgesic use in a sample of Norwegian pregnant women according to their migraine history, and to identify predictors for analgesic use among these women. METHODS Pregnant women giving bir...

BACKGROUND Maternal hypothyroxinemia, due to gestational iodine deficiency, causes neurological dysfunctions in the progeny. Our aim was to determine the effects of delayed iodine supplementation (200 microg KI per day) to mildly hypothyroxinemic pregnant women at the beginning of gestation (i.e., having circulating free thyroxine [FT(4)] within the 0th-10th percentile interval and normal thyro...

In order to define standards for philtrum length and mouth width in the newborn infant, 198 term and preterm infants (27 to 41 gestational weeks) were examined. In every case the gestational age was determined chronologically and clinically and the philtrum length and mouth width (oral intercommissural distance) were measured by two observers using standard measurement techniques. Normal values...

N-type tracheoesophageal fistula without atresia is a rare congenital tracheoesophageal anomaly. Open surgical repair through a right cervical incision is the standard procedure in most hospitals.1–3 Thoracoscopic repair has been described but is performed less frequently.4 We report a case of a 7-week-old girl born at 36 gestational weeks who presentedwith episodes of coughing and cyanosis dur...

We, wondered when we opened this book why it should be sent to a medical journal for review. Then we found ourselves looking at its beautiful photographs, then the story seized our attention, and we did not lay the book down until it was finished. And as we closed it, we realised that it is eminently a book for review by a medical journal, for the medical problems of China with which it so larg...