There is insufficient evidence to comprehensively assess the effectiveness and safety of interventions (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) for treating constipation in pregnancy, due to limited data (few studies with small sample size and no meta-analyses). Compared with bulk-forming laxatives, stimulant laxatives appear to be more effective in improvement of constipation (moderate quality evidence), but are accompanied by an increase in diarrhoea (moderate quality evidence) and abdominal discomfort (low quality evidence) and no difference in women's satisfaction (moderate quality evidence). Additionally, fibre supplementation may increase frequency of stools compared with no intervention (moderate quality evidence), although these results were of moderate risk of bias.There were no data for a comparison of other types of interventions, such as osmotic laxatives, stool softeners, lubricant laxatives and enemas and suppositories.More RCTs evaluating interventions for treating constipation in pregnancy are needed. These should cover different settings and evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions (including fibre, osmotic, and stimulant laxatives) on improvement in constipation, pain on defecation, frequency of stools and consistency of stools.

What are the novel findings of this work?This study presents the prenatal ultrasound findings and postnatal outcome of patients with left congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) without liver herniation according to stomach position, demonstrating, for the first time, decreased morbidity in those without ('stomach-down' CDH) compared to those with ('stomach-up' CDH) intrathoracic stomach herniation. This is the first study to suggest stomach-down CDH as a separate entity. What are the clinical implications of this work?Our findings highlight the importance of identifying stomach-down CDH prenatally and distinguishing this entity from a congenital lung lesion and from stomach-up CDH, as contralateral lung size is insufficient for predicting postnatal outcome. This knowledge can better inform prenatal family counseling and help anticipate postnatal management.

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Generalised itching (not caused by systemic disease or skin lesions) is quite a common symptom in pregnancy. However, there is no evidence from randomised controlled trials to guide practice in terms of the effectiveness and safety of pharmacological interventions for treating this condition.Well-designed randomised controlled trials are needed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of topical and systemic pharmacological interventions as well as any adverse effects of the interventions. Such studies should consider important outcomes such as relief of itching, women's satisfaction, sleep disturbance, and adverse effects.

Cortical injury on the surface of the brain in children with hypoxic ischemic injury (HII) can be difficult to demonstrate to non-radiologists and lay people using brain images alone. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is helpful to communicate the volume loss and pathology due to HII in children’s brains. 3D printed models represent the brain to scale and can be held up against models of normal brains for appreciation of volume loss. If 3D printed brains are to be used for formal communication, e.g., with medical colleagues or in court, they should have high fidelity of reproduction of the actual size of patients’ brains. Here, we evaluate the size fidelity of 3D printed models from MRI scans of the brain, in children with prior HII. Twelve 3D prints of the brain were created from MRI scans of children with HII and selected to represent a variety of cortical pathologies. Specific predetermined measures of the 3D prints were made and compared to measures in matched planes on MRI. Fronto-occipital length (FOL) and bi-temporal/bi-parietal diameters (BTD/BPD) demonstrated high interclass correlations (ICC). Correlations were moderate to weak for hemispheric height, temporal height, and pons-cerebellar thickness. The average standard error of measurement (SEM) was 0.48 cm. Our results demonstrate high correlations in overall measurements of each 3D printed model derived from brain MRI scans versus the original MRI, evidenced by high ICC values for FOL and BTD/BPD. Measures with low correlation values can be explained by variability in matching the plane of measurement to the MRI slice orientation.