BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In many deliveries, determination of umbilical artery PH is considered a suitable tool for predicting the risk of damage to the fetus and determining the likelihood of associated complications. This study was performed in order to investigate the relationship between maternal risk factors and umbilical artery PH in premature infants. METHODS: In this case-control study...

Maternal phenylketonuria (MPKU) is a teratogenic syndrome, caused by development of offspring in a uterine environment made toxic by the metabolic imbalance of PKU. The birth defects resulting from untreated MPKU include microcephaly with concomitant mental retardation, growth retardation, and congenital heart defects. Congenital heart defects have been identified and characterized in MPKU offs...

Objectives. Umbilical cord blood analysis for assessment of the newborn’s acid-base status soon after birth is the most objective way of evaluating the fetal metabolic condition at delivery. We researched the effects of maternal age, multiple gestation, fetal heart rate, gestational age, parity, delivery mode and total duration of labor on fetal well-being as assessed by umbilical cord blood ga...

We describe a mouse model of fetal loss in factor V Leiden (FvL) mothers in which fetal loss is triggered when the maternal prothrombotic state coincides with fetal gene defects that reduce activation of the protein C anticoagulant pathway within the placenta. Fetal loss is caused by disruption of placental morphogenesis at the stage of labyrinth layer formation and occurs in the absence of ove...

BACKGROUND We tested the hypothesis that the fetal-placental relationship scales allometrically and identified modifying factors of that relationship. MATERIALS AND METHODS Among women delivering after 34 weeks but prior to 43 weeks' gestation, 24,601 participants in the Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP) had complete data for placental gross proportion measures, specifically, placental we...

Extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs) play a central role in educating maternal leukocytes, endometrial stromal and endothelial cells to generate a receptive decidual microenvironment tailored to accept the semi-allogeneic fetus. HLA-G, a non-classical HLA class I molecule endowed with immune-regulatory functions, is primarily expressed on EVTs lining the placenta and on the naturally occurring tole...

A workshop entitled, "The Impact of Maternal Thyroid Diseases on the Developing Fetus: Implications for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Screening," was held in Atlanta, Georgia, January 12-13, 2004. This paper reports on the individual session that examined thyroid inadequacy during gestation as a risk factor for adverse pregnancy and developmental outcomes. For this session the following papers were...