While episiotomy is a common operation during delivery little is known of its benefits compared with spontaneous tears. This study was designed to evaluate and compare episiotomies and spontaneous tears. The sample comprised 205 primiparas, 157 with episiotomies and 48 with spontaneous tears. Women with episiotomies expressed more discomfort, perineal complications were more pronounced and prolonged, and fewer were able to participate in the post-partum exercises. Furthermore, delayed healing was recorded for the episiotomy group and more analgesia was used post-partum by women with episiotomies.
The effect of daily treatments with 70% ethanol and with 0.5% Chlorhexidine in 70% ethanol, respectively, on navel colonization in newborns has been studied in 624 infants in two maternity wards during a four-month period. Staphylococcus aureus, group B and G streptococci, E. coli and anaerobes were significantly less often isolated from newborns whose umbilical cord was treated with Chlorhexidine in ethanol than from those treated with ethanol only. Staphylococcus epidermidis and enterococci, on the other hand, were significantly more often isolated from the chlorhexidine-ethanol than from the ethanol group. More infants without colonization of the umbilicus on their fourth day of life were found in the Chlorhexidine in ethanol than in the ethanol group. The infants in the ethanol group were colonized with significantly more bacterial species than the infants in the other group. Signs of dissemination of group B and group G streptococci between babies were seen more often in the group of infants treated with ethanol than in the one treated with chlorhexidine-ethanol.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.