Nurses and midwives can use the findings of this study in preventing the development of striae gravidarum during pregnancy.

The aim of this study was to evaluate maternal-fetal plasma adenosine deaminase, xanthine oxidase (ADA, XO) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and the relationship between them in pre-eclampsia. Maternal and umbilical cord whole blood samples were taken from 29 pre-eclamptic and 33 normal pregnants. The plasma ADA, XO activities as well as MDA levels were assayed by spectrophotometric methods. MDA levels and ADA, XO activities were found to be higher in maternal and fetal plasma in pre-eclamptics than in normal pregnancy. The differences were statistically significant between groups (p < 0.05). Increased maternal-fetal plasma XO and ADA activities, as a marker of immunological disorder, may be related to the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. In addition, increased MDA levels may be a reflection of increased oxidative stress in pre-eclamptics and their fetuses.

Introduction The postpartum period is one of the important transitional phases in women's life (1). Following serious changes of delivery and transition to parenthood, primigravidas undergo significant physical, social and psychological changes (2). With important physiological and psychological changes such as adapting to changes in the body, woman face maternal role and support of certain people (3). Therefore, mother needs to adapt to new life and newborn care (4). Most of them aren't ready to take care of themselves and their baby with plentiful needs (5). During this stage of adjustment, mother experiences psy-chosocial social imbalances that lead to severe stress (6). The true prevalence of postpartum stress among women is unknown, but studies show that 10% to 15% of women are affected by mental issues including depression, anxiety and stress after delivery (7). Webb et al showed that 69% of women have at least one physical complaint after childbirth (8). Based on the results, 25.71% to 32.38% of women have mild mental disorders during the first 6 weeks after delivery (9) and, in some studies; this figure has even reached up to 44.4% (10). In Iran, 47.5% of nul-liparous women and 67.1% of multiparous are not in a good mental health status (11) and 32% of women experience postpartum stress disorder after delivery (12). Overall , postpartum stress in Iranian women is higher than other countries and is inversely related to social protection (13). Many diseases and problems of women in this period are related to stress or their inability to cope with changes (14). Stress can be a component of any disease. Therefore, understanding the stressors and improving the capacity of the person to be compatible with them is very important (3). Episiotomy and perineal pain, back pain, breast swelling and pain, incontinence, constipation, fatigue, sleep problems and breast problems are the most important physical stressors and the pressure to return to pre-pregnancy weight, sexual changes, concerns about the maternal role, problems regarding the infant (e.g., feeding, crying, care, bathing, unpredictable behaviors of the baby, sucking , neonatal jaundice, sleep disorders, flatulence, inadequate weight gain, eye infection and umbilical infection), relationships with partners and lack of social support are psychological stressors (15-17). Baby care, sexual relationships , self-care, family planning and mental health are women's concerns and educational needs in the postpar-tum period (18). Based on the analysis of various factors, Hung et al found that three factors of maternal role attainment , lack of social support and physical changes are important in the occurrence of postpartum stress (5). Postpartum stresses are determinants of women's health and even threaten child-parent relationship and child Abstract Objectives: Planned interventions can facilitate the maternal role for primiparous women by reducing postpartum stress. The present study aims to determine the effect of home-based supportive-educational counseling on...

In this article we compared healthy women with women having chronic pelvic pain (CPP) for the levels of depression, anxiety, and sexual dysfunction. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the

[237][238][239][240][241] Misoprostol, which is a prostaglandin E1 analogue, is effectively used in cervical priming in women both for labor induction and for gynecological procedures. Although its efficacy is well documented in reproductive age women, during postmenopausal period this efficacy is limited probably due to estrogen deficit. Our objective is to evaluate if estrogen deficit in postmenopausal women is important for the effect of misoprostol on cervical ripening before diagnostic procedures. In this study, 45 patients were randomly allocated to estrogen or placebo group. The study group received local estrogen cream and other group received chlindamycine phosphate cream as placebo. The patients were given oral misoprostol 24 and 12 hours before the procedure for uterine cavity evaluation. Cervix was dilated by using Heagar dilator up to 6 mm. Data were analyzed by Student t-test, Mann-Whitney's U-test, chi-square test and paired samples t-test where appropriate. Basal cervical widths for the estrogen and placebo groups were 4.4 ± 0.7 and 3.7 ± 0.7 mm, respectively (p < 0.01). Mean time required for dilatation of cervix was 44.4 ± 16.2 seconds for the estrogen group and 61.4 ± 18.3 seconds for the placebo group (p < 0.01). As a conclusion, misoprostol treatment alone is not effective to get cervical priming in postmenopausal women, and as shown in our study, pretreatment with local estrogen overcome the failure. To get a beneficial effect of misoprostol on cervical ripening, estrogenic activity is necessary and when pretreated with local estrogen, misoprostol ameliorates cervical priming in postmenopausal women. misoprostol; postmenopausal women; cervical ripening; estrogen