OBJECTIVES To evaluate foetal heart rate pattern during antepartum period in pregnancies suffering from intrauterine growth restriction. METHODS The case control study was conducted at the Alzahra Hospital, Tabriz, Iran from April 2008 to April 2011. It comprised 100 pregnancies with intra-uterine growth restriction and 92 normal pregnancies. The foetal heart rate pattern including basal hear...

Laurence and Abbott (1956) published a description of a micro-method for the estimation of serum bilirubin by the indirect diazo reaction. They indicated that two patterns of colour development are obtainable with foetal and adult sera from cases of severe haemolytic disease due to Rh incompatibility and from obstructive jaundice due to blockage of the common bile duct from carcinoma of the hea...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Maternal undernutrition and hyperglycaemia during pregnancy, as well as foetal undernutrition affecting the development of foetal endocrine pancreas structure and function, especially that of β-cells is well known. This study was undertaken to look into the changes in pancreatic islets morphology of aborted normal human foetuses (16-20 wk old) of undernourished and adequ...

A family of mixed Indian-Portuguese ancestry is reported in which there is a hereditary persistence of foetal haemoglobin and beta-chain thalassaemia. The propositus, a 17-year-old boy, was found to have a mild haemolytic anaemia characterized by slight splenomegaly, microcytosis, numerous target cells, decreased osmotic fragility, a very high level of foetal haemoglobin (75%), and normal haemo...

BACKGROUND Estimation of foetal weight is essential in daily obstetric practice particularly close to term. It guides clinicians to finalize important obstetrical decisions. Low birth weight and excessive foetal weight at delivery both are associated with an increased risk of neonatal complications during labour and the puerperium. The objectives of this cross sectional study were to estimate t...

1. A precocious development of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase activity (EC 2.4.1.17) towards o-aminophenol is demonstrated in 15-17 day foetal rat liver in utero after dexamethasone administration to the mother. 2. This stimulation of liver transferase activity in utero is directly proportional to the dose of dexamethasone infected. 3. Precocious development of transferase activity in utero can al...

Foetal loss and intrauterine growth restriction are major problems in mammals, but there are few effective ways in preventing it. Intriguingly, chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), a biomaterial derived from chitosan, can promote foetal survival and growth. Therefore, we have investigated how COS affects foetal survival and growth in a pig model. Fifty-two sows were divided into two treatment groups...

OBJECTIVE To determine the existence of hepatocyte-like cells in the human foetal pancreas. STUDY DESIGN Foetal pancreas was examined in parallel with two experimental models involving pancreatic tissue regeneration. Foetal pancreases (n = 20; 10 to 18 weeks) were obtained from spontaneous abortions and were histologically examined using haematoxylin-eosin and PAS staining. Tissues from food-...