Objective To investigate the value of maternal serum placental protein 13

Objective To evaluate whether measurement of maternal serum placental

APCR and factor V Leiden are associated with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss. The occurrence of APCR and factor V Leiden seems to be linked to post-embryonic first-trimester as well as second-trimester recurrent pregnancy loss. The significance of acquired, non-heritable APCR in recurrent fetal loss patients, especially in the second-trimester aborters, is still to be determined.

No abstract

This phenomenon is a diagnostic challenge and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a malignant mass during pregnancy.

Late second-trimester PP13 alone is unlikely to be useful in predicting pre-eclampsia and early pre-eclampsia, and its prediction does not increase when coupled with second-trimester Doppler PI or other potential biochemical markers. Measuring between-trimester temporal changes may be worthy of further investigation.

Hair chromium concentration (HCC) of normal and diabetic pregnant women was determined by atomic-absorption spectroscopy. For nondiabetic pregnant women the value from 68 hair samples was 472 +/- 61 ng/g (mean +/- 95% CI); for gestational diabetics it was 734 +/- 155 ng/g from 42 hair samples. The difference was highly significant (P less than 0.005). Intermediate hair chromium concentrations were observed in 20 pregnant women with pregestational, overt diabetes mellitus (mean: 575 +/- 182 ng/g). Fifty-two women had a second hair sample taken later during pregnancy that showed a significant decrease in HCC (P less than 0.05). However, this decrease was confirmed only for the diabetic pregnant group. Age and parity did not influence the HCC. The data suggest that impaired utilization of chromium may be a possible etiology for gestational diabetes mellitus.

Estrogens are involved in the modulation of the cardiovascular system, yet their effects in young women remains largely unknown. Women who undergo ovulation induction treatments attain extremely high estrogen concentrations during a very short time period. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of an acute increase in estrogens on the autonomic nervous system modulation of heart rate variability (HRV). A total of 27 women undergoing ovulation induction and 14 normally menstruating women were prospectively studied. HRV was assessed during nadir and peak estrogen using time domain and power spectral density analyses. A significant increase in high-frequency spectral power (243 +/- 77 vs. 188 +/- 73 ms(2)/Hz, P < 0.01) with a significant decrease in the ratio of low to high-frequency power was observed during estrogen peak in women undergoing induction of ovulation. The acute increase in estrogen in women undergoing ovulation induction was associated with vagal activation and altered sympathovagal balance.