BACKGROUND Umbilical cord blood analysis may give a clue to the state of health of both pregnant mothers and their neonates. However, there is paucity of literature on some of these indices from our area. OBJECTIVES This present study determined the red blood indices of maternal and umbilical cord blood in Owerri, Nigeria. METHODS Pregnant mothers aged 18 - 42 years who booked and received ...

Discovery of cell free fetal DNA in 1997 has deeply changed the outlook of prenatal diagnosis approaches as most of the clinically established screening tests are not sensitive/specific enough while the current practical diagnostic tests are also invasive in their nature. The most common prenatal screening test is routinely practiced for the diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS) which includes a 10% ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the effect of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on fetal insulin resistance or β-cell function in Chinese pregnant women with GDM. MEASUREMENTS Maternal fasting blood and venous cord blood samples (reflecting fetal condition) were collected in 65 well-controlled Chinese GDM mothers (only given dietary intervention) and 83 control subjects. Th...

Maternal smoking in pregnancy may be associated with higher offspring blood pressure; however, results of previous studies have been inconsistent and included varying confounder adjustments. We studied the association between maternal smoking in pregnancy and offspring blood pressure at 7 years in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, accounting for important social and environme...

The forces that drive transfer of solutes between maternal blood and embryo in early human pregnancy are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an electrical potential difference (PD) between maternal blood and the exocelomic cavity and between maternal blood and the amniotic cavity in the normal human conceptus at or before 10 wk of pregnancy. We measured PD...

BACKGROUND Bisphenol A (BPA) is a sealant and flux of plastic materials and has been determined to be an endocrine-disrupting chemical. Prenatal exposure to BPA can lead to substantial adverse effects on fetal growth and development. This study was conducted to assess BPA concentration in pregnant women and umbilical cord blood, and to investigate whether maternal BPA exposure affected fetal ou...

OBJECTIVE To determine placental transfer of ketanserin and to assess the effect of serotonin-2 receptor blockade by ketanserin on serotonin- and phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction. STUDY DESIGN Five chronically instrumented pregnant ewes at 120 days gestation were injected with 20 mg ketanserin i.v., and fetal and maternal arterial samples were obtained at predetermined intervals to asse...

The maternal plasma concentration of bupivacaine has been determined in 19 patients receiving a continuous epidural block during labour, using bupivacaine 0.125% with adrenaline 1:400,000. The plasma concentration of bupivacaine rarely exceeded 0.18 /*g/ml. Bupivacaine does not accumulate in the maternal blood when such low concentrations are used. The plasma concentration of bupivacaine has al...

BACKGROUND Appropriate facility-based care at birth is a key determinant of safe motherhood but geographical access remains poor in many high burden regions. Despite its importance, geographical access is rarely audited systematically, preventing integration in national-level maternal health system assessment and planning. In this study, we develop a uniquely detailed set of spatially-linked da...