Preeclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome are life-threatening hypertensive conditions and common causes of ICU admission among obstetric patients The diagnostic criteria of preeclampsia include: 1) systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mmHg on two occasions at least 4 hours apart and 2) proteinuria ≥300 mg/day in a woman with a gestational age of >20 weeks with previously normal blood pressures. Eclampsia is defined as a convulsive episode or altered level of consciousness occurring in the setting of preeclampsia, provided that there is no other cause of seizures. HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening condition frequently associated with severe preeclampsia-eclampsia and is characterized by three hallmark features of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets. Early diagnosis and management of preeclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome are critical with involvement of a multidisciplinary team that includes Obstetrics, Maternal Fetal Medicine and Critical Care. Expectant management may be acceptable before 34 weeks with close fetal and maternal surveillance and administration of corticosteroid therapy, parenteral magnesium sulfate and antihypertensive management. Worsening condition requires delivery. Complications that can be related to this spectrum of disease include disseminated Intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute respiratory distress syndrome, stroke, acute renal failure, hepatic dysfunction with hepatic rupture or liver hematoma and infection/sepsis.
Objective This study aims to investigate accuracy of group beta Streptococcus (GBS) rectovaginal cultures at 35 to 37 weeks in predicting intrapartum colonization. Study Design Institutional review board (IRB) approved prospective cohort study of 302 women from October 2015 to May 2017. Patients had the following tests for GBS: first trimester urine culture, rectovaginal culture at 35 to 37 weeks, and intrapartum rectovaginal culture. Outcomes included accuracy of 35- to 37-week GBS rectovaginal culture in detecting results intrapartum, and accuracy of first trimester urine culture in comparison to intrapartum rectovaginal cultures. Results There was sufficient evidence of agreement between results at 35 to 37 weeks with intrapartum cultures (p = 0.001). However, agreement was weak, 11 patients (3.7%) were GBS positive intrapartum but negative at 35 to 37 weeks; and 33 patients (11%) were initially GBS positive but were negative intrapartum. Sensitivity and specificity of the 35- to 37-week culture was 69% (95% confidence interval [CI]:54–84%) and 87% (95% CI: 83–91%), respectively. There was also weak agreement between first trimester urine culture and intrapartum rectovaginal culture. Specificity for this assessment was 98% (95% CI: 97–100%) and was significantly different compared with antepartum GBS culture (p < 0.001). Accuracy between antepartum GBS rectovaginal culture and urine culture was similar (85 vs. 87%, p = 0.47). Conclusion The 35- to 37-week GBS rectovaginal culture might be a poor predictor for intrapartum colonization.
Erythrocytes have long been mistaken as exclusively inert oxygen carriers lacking immune function. Here we show that red blood cells (RBCs) serve as immune sensors through surface expression of the nucleic acid-sensing toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), a classically endosomal receptor that initiates immune responses following the detection of unmethylated CpG motifs present in pathogen and mitochondrial DNA. Mammalian RBCs express TLR9 on their surface and bind CpG-containing bacterial, malarial, and mitochondrial DNA. Erythrocyte-bound CpG DNA increases during infection, and CpG-carrying RBCs trigger accelerated erythrophagocytosis and innate immune activation characterized by RBC-TLR9 dependent local and systemic cytokine production. Thus, RBC nucleic acid detection and capture regulates red cell clearance and immune responses and provides evidence for RBCs as innate immune sentinels during pathologic states.
Although AFE cannot be prevented, early diagnosis and intervention may lead to better outcomes for both the mother and the fetus. Clinical suspicion, traditional laboratory data, or intravascular cellular debris (demonstrated only in 50% of patients) are insufficient to make a definitive diagnosis of AFE. An evolving array of novel biomarkers may help differentiate AFE from other conditions, but none of them currently provide sufficient 'early warning' ability to make real-time impact on diagnosis and/or treatment of AFE.
Objectives: The explosion in genetic technologies, including array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), has increased the complexity of genetic counseling. We now offer chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and aCGH to all first-trimester patients, as this allows the prenatal diagnosis of an additional 1% of anomalies not otherwise detectable and can detect genetic copy number variants at a much higher resolution than conventional cytogenetics. Here, we explored some of the determinants of how patients are deciding to use or not use this new technology and evaluate risk-benefit analyses for that decision. Methods: This is a retrospective case-control study of singleton and multiples pregnancies at our center. Those having aCGH testing along with CVS were defined as ‘testers' and those who declined aCGH but had the CVS were ‘nontesters'. Results: Demographic data of 181 educated women who chose CVS were compared. Among those carrying singletons (n = 144), older women, defined as over 35 years of age (or ‘advanced maternal age'; AMA), were more likely to choose the aCGH than younger women. Further, women who had a prior history of genetic testing and who wanted to know the gender of the fetus were more likely to choose the aCGH test. In women carrying multiples (n = 37), AMA ceases to be a predictor of choice. Having had prior genetic counseling remains a strong predictor for choosing aCGH, as does wanting to know the gender of the fetus. Neither prior abortions nor having prior children were significant for women carrying singletons or multiples. Conclusion: Offering pregnant couples an individualized choice regarding aCGH seems an appropriate approach. There are discrete patterns associated with the choice of taking the aCGH that varied depending on whether the patient was carrying a singleton or multiples.
ethnicity (aOR 1.24, 95% CI 1.11-1.39). CD was not associated with reported low resilience or high anxiety (Table). Among the predefined secondary outcomes, those with scores indicative of greatest anxiety were more likely to develop chorioamnionitis. In addition, neonates born to those with scores indicative of greatest perceived stress and anxiety were more likely to have NICU admission (Table). CONCLUSION: Among a large cohort of nulliparous women with singleton gestations, patients' self-reported psychosocial traits were associated with several perinatal outcomes. Further work is needed to better understand the reasons underlying these associations.
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