No abstract

Fetal weights, placental weights, myometrial, vaginal and maternal placental blood flows (estimated with radioactive mi cro\x=req-\ spheres) were measured in forty-one rabbits at 16, 20, 24 or 28 days of gestation; term occurs around Day 31. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that fetal weight and placental weight were positively related at all stages of gestation examined. Fetal weight and placental blood flow were negatively related at Day 16, but positively related at Days 20, 24 and 28. The conceptus adjacent to the ovary had greater placental weight and flow values than the means from all conceptuses in the horn by Day 20 but fetal weight was only greater by Day 28. The relevance of these findings to the determination of fetal weight is discussed.

Routine cervical cultures for chlamydia were obtained during the third trimester of pregnancy to identify infected mothers whose infants may also be infected. The effectiveness of maternal erythromycin therapy in preventing disease due to chlamydia among infants born to these women was also assessed. Clinical outcome of treated mothers and infants was compared to that of untreated subjects. Of 1082 women who were cultured, 85 (7.8%) were positive for chlamydia. Erythromycin therapy was prescribed for 38 of these women. Nasopharyngeal/conjunctival chlamydia cultures were obtained from 16 infants of culture-positive, treated mothers and 21 infants of culture-positive, untreated mothers. None of the infants born to culture-positive, treated mothers developed infection with chlamydia, while five of 21 infants of untreated mothers (p less than 0.04) were culture-positive and symptomatic (four with conjunctivitis, one with pneumonia). On follow-up of the infants born to chlamydia-positive mothers, there was no evidence that chlamydia-infected infants had more frequent episodes of upper respiratory infection and otitis media during the first six months of life. This study demonstrated that diagnosis and treatment of cervical chlamydia infection during the third trimester of pregnancy provides a practical approach to the prevention of infection in the newborn.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract