background: prenatal care consists of a series of clinical visits and services offered to pregnant women throughout the ante-partum period. despite advances in the extent of prenatal care use in iran, some women still avoid using these services. it is therefore very important to investigate the prevalence of prenatal care use, and to identifythe factorsassociated with it. objective: this study ...

Background and Aim: Apoptosis is a type of programmed cell death occurring by a series of intercellular messages which is associated with tissue structure remodeling. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the interactive effects of reducing exercise intensity and Adiantum capillus veneris extract on remodeling and modulation of pulmonary apoptotic indices of the rats exposed to th...

background: the discovery of circulating fetal dna in maternal blood led to the discovery of new strategies to perform noninvasive testing for prenatal diagnosis. objective: the purpose of the study was to detect fetal aneuploidy at chromosomes 13, 18, 21, x, and y by analysis of fetal cell-free dna from maternal blood, without endangering pregnancy. materials and methods: this retrospective st...

The author, on the basis of numerous studies on the neuropathology of SIDS, performed on a very wide set of cases, first highlights the neuronal centers of the human brainstem involved in breathing control in perinatal life, with the pontine Kölliker-Fuse nucleus (KFN) as main coordinator. What emerges from this analysis is that the prenatal respiratory movements differ from those post-natally ...

A variety prenatal insults are associated with the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, autism and cerebral palsy. While the precise mechanisms underlying how transient gestational challenges can lead to later life dysfunctions are largely unknown, the placenta is likely to play a key role. The literal interface between maternal and fetal cells resides in the placent...

AIM This study aims to define patterns in the management of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). METHODS A total of 180 delegates (77% senior surgeons) from 44 (26 European) countries completed a survey at the 2014 European Pediatric Surgeons' Association meeting. RESULTS Overall, 34% of the surgeons work in centers that treat < 5 cases of CDH/y, 38% work in centers that treat 5 to 10 cas...

Preterm birth impacts brain development and leads to chronic deficits including cognitive delay, behavioral problems, and epilepsy. Premature loss of the subplate, a transient subcortical layer that guides development of the cerebral cortex and axonal refinement, has been implicated in these neurological disorders. Subplate neurons influence postnatal upregulation of the potassium chloride co-t...

Biochemical studies have confirmed that nicotinic acetylcholine receptor mRNA and protein are expressed early in the development of the fetal central nervous system. Perinatal administration of nicotine produces a broad spectrum of effects on brain development, including inhibition of DNA synthesis, altered ornithine decarboxylase activity, altered neurotransmitter function, and significant alt...