Background: Antenatal steroid therapy recently has been considered for term and late preterm neonates delivered by Cesarean section (CS), with the aim of preventing adverse respiratory morbidity. The main aim of this study was to investigate the metabolic effects of antenatal dexamethasone on blood glucose (BG), homeostasis, and serum C-peptide level when administered to term fetuses. Methods: ...

Birth weight has been associated with a subsequent risk of breast cancer. The present study examined associations between birth weight and pregnancy estrogens and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). The concentrations of estradiol, estriol, and AFP were measured in maternal and umbilical cord blood samples from 194 women during pregnancy and at birth. Birth weight was significantly positively correlated w...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been used as flame retardants. Although many reports have indicated an association between exposure to PBDEs and developmental neurotoxicity, the relative contributions of different sources of dust PBDE congeners to the levels in various tissues of mother-baby pairs is not well understood. The aims of this study were thus to measure the quantitative r...

objective: to compare the maternal and umbilical cord serum selenium concentrations in low and normal birth weight neonates. materials and methods: a case-control study was carried out in vali-asr and akbarabadi hospitals (jan. to dec. 2013). two groups; case group; 91 mothers who delivered a low birth weight (lbw) neonate and control group; 86 subjects who delivered a normal birth weight neona...

conclusions changes in neonatal leptin levels can reflect changes in the body fat tissue and neonatal birth weight and could be effective in predicting weight gain in newborns with mothers who have gestational diabetes and may reduce birth trauma or future complications. results serum leptin levels in the cord blood of mothers with gdm were significantly higher than in normal mothers. there was...

BACKGROUND Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is widely used in cell culture laboratories, risk of zoonotic infections and allergic side effects create obstacles for its use in clinical trials. Therefore, an alternative supplement with proper inherent growth-promoting activities is demanded. OBJECTIVE To find FBS substitute, we tested human umbilical cord blood serum (hUCS) for proliferation of human u...

OBJECTIVE As a consequence of environmental exposure, organochlorine pesticides accumulate in lipid rich-tissues such as maternal adipose tissue and partition to maternal blood serum and umbilical blood serum. To establish their distribution in the human body, the concentration gradients of organochlorine pesticides between these compartments were determined. MATERIAL AND METHODS Maternal adi...

The aim of the present study was to explore the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in the maternal umbilical serum, placenta and decidua of patients with preeclampsia compared with those in normotensive pregnant females. A total of 73 pregnant females were recruited as the test subjects, including 43 inpatients with hypertensive dis...

Raised values of creatine kinase BB (CKBB) in umbilical cord serum were obtained with some normal babies and those with fetal distress. Further investigation showed that the umbilical artery and vein tissue contain high CKBB activity, indicating that some cord blood samples may not solely reflect CKBB liberated from the brain.