Background/Aims: The control of labor pain and the prevention of suffering are major concerns of clinicians and their patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of music on labor pain and anxiety, maternal hemodynamics, fetal-neonatal parameters and postpartum analgesic requirement in primiparous women. Methods: Overall, 156 primiparous women who expected vaginal delivery were recruited and randomly assigned to a music group (n = 77) or a control group (n = 79). Women in the music group listened to music during labor. Pain intensity and anxiety level were measured using a visual analogue scale (0-10 cm). The two groups were compared in terms of pain severity, anxiety level, maternal hemodynamics, fetal-neonatal parameters and postpartum analgesic requirement. Results: Mothers in the music therapy group had a lower level of pain and anxiety compared with those in the control group at all stages of labor (p < 0.001). A significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of maternal hemodynamics and fetal heart rate after intervention (p < 0.01). Postpartum analgesic requirement significantly decreased in the music therapy group (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Listening to music during labor has a positive impact on labor pain and anxiety, maternal-fetal parameters and analgesic requirement.

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Intrauterine growth retardation/restriction (IUGR) is associated with fetal malnutrition. It has consequences for later life including increased incidence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and metabolic syndrome. Adipokines (adiponectin and leptin), adropin, and endothelin-1 are associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome regulation. Intrauterine changes in these mediators could affect programming of later adult obesity and metabolic syndrome. Our objectives were to compare the levels of these mediators in both cord and maternal blood between IUGR pregnancies and control, healthy pregnancies, and to study the correlation of adipokines with adropin and endothelin-1 in maternal and cord blood in IUGR pregnancies as well as in healthy control pregnancies. Maternal and cord blood samples were taken from 16 women with IUGR pregnancies and 16 women with healthy pregnancies. Serum levels of leptin, adiponectin, adropin, and endothelin-1 were measured by ELISA. Maternal blood adropin levels were significantly lower in the IUGR group than in the control group; the other mediators did not differ significantly. There was a positive correlation between maternal blood adropin and endothelin levels. (r=0.731, P=0.001) in the control but not the IUGR group. Cord blood adropin and adiponectin levels were significantly lower in the IUGR group compared with the control group, while leptin or endothelin-1 did not differ significantly. There was a negative correlation between adropin and leptin (r=-0.704, P=0.001) in the IUGR but not the control group cord blood. There were also positive correlations between endothelin and adropin for both groups (r=0.594, P=0.006; r=0.560, P=0.010, respectively); to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of such a correlation. Differences in fetal expression of adropin and adiponectin in IUGR could influence programming of obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and CVD in later life.

Serum hepcidin concentrations were increased in pregnant women with IGT and GDM and this was not related to inflammation parameters.

Recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) is defined as having four or more symptomatic vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) attacks within a year. This study aimed to investigate whether Human Dectin-1 Y238X Gene Polymorphism plays a role in RVVC pathogenesis. In order to examine and explore this aim, an experimental study was undergone. The clinical study design was conducted with 50 women diagnosed with RVVC and had four or more symptomatic VVC attacks who were included in the experimental group; while 50 women who did not have previous RVVC history and diagnosis and did not have vaginal discharge and itching in the past year were included in the control group. Blood samples were collected from these patients and transferred to EDTA tubes, to investigate the Dectin-1 Y238X gene polymorphism, and stored at -80°. When Dectin-1 genotypes were compared, there was no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.452, p = 0.615, p = 0.275). History of familial RVVC was significantly higher in the experimental group (p = 0.001). When the multivariate analysis was used to evaluate factors that could determine RVVC frequency, history of familial RVVC was found to increase the frequency of RVVC attacks by 3.3 units. This study is the first-of-its-kind to investigate the correlation between Dectin-1 Y238X polymorphism, which has not been previously studied in the Turkish population, and RVVC. The result of this study suggests that there is no correlation between this polymorphism and RVVC.