OBJECTIVES The aim was to determine the incidence, causes and the maternal mortality associated with postpartum haemorrhage in a tertiary centre in Nigeria. METHODS Case records of all patients that had postpartum haemorrhage after vaginal delivery at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife unit over a 5-year period (January 1st, 2002 to December 31st, 2006) were reviewe...

Hormonal and emotional responses to stress are diminished during pregnancy and the postpartum period. However, the effects of stress on learning during these stages of the female life span have not been examined. In previous studies, we have reported that exposure to an acute stressful event reduces classical eyeblink conditioning 24 h later in adult virgin female rats that are experiencing an ...

AIMS To determine whether current and postpartum maternal depression and low maternal intelligence are risk factors for malnutrition in children. METHODS In rural South India 72 children with malnutrition were identified from a central register; 72 controls were matched for age, gender, and residence. RESULTS Major depression in the postpartum period (OR 5.0, 95% CI 1.0 to 24.0), current ma...

Dairy cows experience dramatic changes in host physiology from gestation to lactation period and dietary switch from high-forage prepartum diet to high-concentrate postpartum diet over the transition period (parturition +/- three weeks). Understanding the community structure and activity of the rumen microbiota and its associative patterns over the transition period may provide insight for e.g....

INTRODUCTION The postpartum period is a challenging time for family planning, especially for women who breastfeed. Breastfeeding delays the return of menses (lactational amenorrhea), but ovulation often occurs before first menses. For this reason, a protocol was developed to assist women in identifying their return of fertility postpartum to avoid pregnancy. METHODS In this prospective, 12-mo...

BACKGROUND Many women experience sexual dysfunction following childbirth but this has not been well investigated in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate women's sexual function in the postpartum period in Iran. It also sought to determine predicting factors associated with their sexual function. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study among 380 postpartum women attending 10 urban heal...

The effect of different feeding intensity at two stages of gestation on performance of primiparous cows was studied in 40 pregnant Ayrshire cows. The feeding intensity was either medium (M) or high (H) in period 1 (2–6 months of pregnancy) or period 2 (7–9 months of pregnancy) resulting in treatments MM, MH, HM and HH. Before pregnancy all heifers were reared to gain 650 g/day. In period 1, hei...

BACKGROUND A substantial proportion of women in Nepal consume alcohol and homebrewed alcoholic beverages are the most common type of alcohol. Alcohol being a part of tradition and culture in Nepal and evidences suggesting even low to moderate dose of alcohol having impacts on the birth outcomes, we aimed at exploring the alcohol consumption pattern during pregnancy and postpartum period along w...

Fat mobilization to meet energy requirements during early lactation is inevitable because of insufficient feed intake, but differs greatly among high-yielding dairy cows. Therefore, we studied milk production, feed intake, and body condition as well as metabolic and endocrine changes in high-yielding dairy cows to identify variable strategies in metabolic and endocrine adaptation to overcome po...

Pneumoperitoneum (the presence of free gas in the peritoneal cavity) usually indicates gastrointestinal perforation with associated peritoneal contamination. We describe the unusual case of a 28-year-old female, who was 7 days postpartum and presented with features of peritonitis that were initially missed despite supporting radiological evidence. The causes of pneumoperitoneum are discussed. I...