OBJECTIVES To estimate the risk of spontaneous preterm birth in twin pregnancies based on transvaginal sonographic cervical length, fetal fibronectin (fFN) testing, and the gestational age at which these tests were performed. METHODS Women with twin pregnancies, cervical length assessment, and fFN testing between 22 weeks and 31 weeks 6 days in a single maternal-fetal medicine practice from 2...

OBJECTIVES To assess gestational length and prevalence of preterm birth among medically and naturally conceived twins; to establish the role of zygosity and chorionicity in assessing gestational length in twins born after subfertility treatment. DESIGN Population based cohort study. SETTING Collaborative network of 19 maternity facilities in East Flanders, Belgium (East Flanders prospective...

BACKGROUND Epidemiological studies that used birthweight as a crude marker of fetal growth have suggested that low birthweight is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease. Through investigation of this association within same-sexed twin pairs, confounding by genetic and early environmental factors can be greatly decreased. We undertook a case-control study in twins discordant fo...

BACKGROUND Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) is an idiopathic avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Its etiology is poorly understood, although previous studies have implicated low birth weight and possible genetic determinants. The aim of this study was to identify potential birth weight and genetic associations with LCPD. METHODS We extracted all twin pairs from the Danish Twin Registry (...

a four- year-old moghanian breed ewe was admitted to the large animal veterinary clinic, university of tabriz due to dystocia. during obstetrical examination, it was revealed that the cervix has been closed firmly and vagina protruded about 5 cm through the vulva (vaginal prolaps). based on clinical findings and for saving the dam and lamb(s), the cesarean section was done. a normal alive femal...

In a twin sample where duration of gestation can be controlled, a specific example of the fetal origins hypothesis concerning association between low birth weight and early age at menopause is explored. The hypothesis is based on the physiologically plausible path from intrauterine growth retardation and reduced numbers of primary follicles to an earlier menopause. The sample comprised 323 Aust...

Epidemiologic evidence linking birth weight and asthma is inconsistent. The authors examined the association between birth weight and asthma during childhood and adult life in twins. Using prospectively collected data on 21,588 like-sexed Swedish twins of known zygosity born in 1928-1952, they first conducted a cohort study to examine the risk of asthma in relation to birth weight. Next, they c...

OBJECTIVE Mothers of multiple births face higher rates of postpartum depression, yet evidence on the marital consequences of multiple births is limited. We examined the association between twin births and parental divorce. METHODS We used the 1980 U.S. Census to identify a large sample of mothers with and without twin births. The goal was to estimate multivariate logistic models of the associ...