Our study demonstrates that serum levels of IMA correlate with severity of preeclampsia.

Introduction The postpartum period is one of the important transitional phases in women's life (1). Following serious changes of delivery and transition to parenthood, primigravidas undergo significant physical, social and psychological changes (2). With important physiological and psychological changes such as adapting to changes in the body, woman face maternal role and support of certain people (3). Therefore, mother needs to adapt to new life and newborn care (4). Most of them aren't ready to take care of themselves and their baby with plentiful needs (5). During this stage of adjustment, mother experiences psy-chosocial social imbalances that lead to severe stress (6). The true prevalence of postpartum stress among women is unknown, but studies show that 10% to 15% of women are affected by mental issues including depression, anxiety and stress after delivery (7). Webb et al showed that 69% of women have at least one physical complaint after childbirth (8). Based on the results, 25.71% to 32.38% of women have mild mental disorders during the first 6 weeks after delivery (9) and, in some studies; this figure has even reached up to 44.4% (10). In Iran, 47.5% of nul-liparous women and 67.1% of multiparous are not in a good mental health status (11) and 32% of women experience postpartum stress disorder after delivery (12). Overall , postpartum stress in Iranian women is higher than other countries and is inversely related to social protection (13). Many diseases and problems of women in this period are related to stress or their inability to cope with changes (14). Stress can be a component of any disease. Therefore, understanding the stressors and improving the capacity of the person to be compatible with them is very important (3). Episiotomy and perineal pain, back pain, breast swelling and pain, incontinence, constipation, fatigue, sleep problems and breast problems are the most important physical stressors and the pressure to return to pre-pregnancy weight, sexual changes, concerns about the maternal role, problems regarding the infant (e.g., feeding, crying, care, bathing, unpredictable behaviors of the baby, sucking , neonatal jaundice, sleep disorders, flatulence, inadequate weight gain, eye infection and umbilical infection), relationships with partners and lack of social support are psychological stressors (15-17). Baby care, sexual relationships , self-care, family planning and mental health are women's concerns and educational needs in the postpar-tum period (18). Based on the analysis of various factors, Hung et al found that three factors of maternal role attainment , lack of social support and physical changes are important in the occurrence of postpartum stress (5). Postpartum stresses are determinants of women's health and even threaten child-parent relationship and child Abstract Objectives: Planned interventions can facilitate the maternal role for primiparous women by reducing postpartum stress. The present study aims to determine the effect of home-based supportive-educational counseling on...

Objective:To analyze maternal deaths in Turkey due to hypertensive disorders.Material and Methods:In this retrospective study 812 maternal deaths were analyzed. Maternal demographic features, presence of antenatal care, medical and obstetric history, mode of delivery, and use emergency antihypertensive therapy were recorded. The delay model for each case was investigated.Results:Hypertensive disorders accounted for 15.5% (n=126) out of all maternal mortality. They were the third most frequent cause among all causes and the 2nd among direct causes of maternal deaths. Sixty-one (48.4%) cases were in severe preeclampsia or pre-existing hypertensive disorder with increased/superimposed proteinuria, 30.1% were in eclampsia, 9.5% cases were diagnosed as hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count syndrome, and 11.1% in pre-existing hypertension complicating pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium without increased or superimposed proteinuria. The median age was 32 years, 37.3% women were ≥35 years. All deaths except for 2 cases occurred during the postpartum period. Twenty-three percent of deaths occurred in the first 48 hours postpartum, and 51.6% between 8-42 days. Intracranial hemorrhage was the major final cause of death with a rate of 41.3%. With the exception of fifteen patients with intracranial hemorrhage, emergency antihypertensive agents were not implemented in optimal dose and/or duration. A first and/or third delay was identified in 36.5% of cases.Conclusion:Approximately one third of maternal death due to hypertensive disorders could be prevented. The importance of acute antihypertensive treatment should be emphasized because of most frequent cause of death was intracranial hemorrhage.

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ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to describe the levels of chemerin, irisin and apolipoprotein M (apoM) in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis.MethodsThe study included 88 women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Based on World Health Organization criteria, women with a T-score of ≤ –2.5 were defined as osteoporotic. In this case-control study, postmenopausal women with T-score > –1 were selected as controls (n = 88) and case-matched in a 1:1 ratio based on age (within 2 years) and body mass index (BMI) (within 1.0 kg/m2). ApoM, irisin and chemerin levels were determined by a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit.ResultsThere were no significant differences in age, BMI, parity, cholesterol and apoM levels between the two groups. C-reactive protein levels were significantly increased in women with osteoporosis. Serum chemerin levels (240.1 ± 46.1 vs. 261.5 ± 50.8 ng/mL) were significantly lower in the women with osteoporosis, as compared to the controls (P = 0.004). Serum irisin levels were also decreased in women with osteoporosis (0.7 ± 0.2 vs. 0.8 ± 0.2 ng/mL; P = 0.007).ConclusionIn the present study, osteoporosis was associated with decreased levels of circulating chemerin and irisin. These findings suggested that adipokines might play a role in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine serum amyloid A (SAA) levels in normal pregnant and pre-eclamptic women. Methods: SAA levels were measured in 25 normotensive and 25 pre-eclamptic pregnant women by enzyme linked immuno-sorbent assay. Results: In pre-eclampsia, SAA level and C-reactive protein (CRP) averaged 28.2 (7.2–135) ng/l and 21 (6.13–91) mg/l, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of normal pregnancy (7.8 [4.65–24.6] ng/l and 6.05 [0.3–19] mg/l, respectively) (p < 0.05). In addition, SAA level was positively correlated to CRP (r = 0.468, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Marked increases of both SAA level and CRP in pre-eclampsia, and their inter-relation, may at least in part contribute to the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia.