Fetal adaptation to shortage of supplies.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Papiernik.
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The authors report a case of 180 degrees torsion of the pregnant uterus. Torsion has been defined as a rotation of more than 45 degrees of the uterus around its long axis and is rare in humans. Clinical diagnosis is difficult since symptoms are either absent or non specific (cervical dystocia, painful uterine contractions, dynamic hypertonia...). Uterine torsion is often associated to pathologies of the uterus such as uterine myomas or congenital deformities, abnormal fetal presentations, pelvic tumours or abnormal pelvis. Maternal prognosis is good after surgical treatment, however, perinatal mortality remains high.
In recent years maternal mortality in developing countries has become a public health priority for international organizations. However, measuring the true magnitude of this problem is the subject of much methodological debate. In less than a century, the rate of maternal mortality in most industrialized countries has decreased one hundred-fold. In contrast, the rate remains very high in most developing countries, particularly in Africa. In this article based on the studies conducted in Guinea we review various operational proposals which may contribute to improving maternal health and reducing maternal morbidity and mortality, with particular reference to the work of the French speaking organization "Santé Maternelle Internationale".
Cross-cultural differences exist in prenatal diagnosis and abortion for fetal anomaly, stemming from variations in laws, reimbursement policies, litigation, physicians' decision-making authority, and attitudes toward the prevention of handicaps. The first part of this paper discusses such differences in France and the U.S. The second part describes a survey of practising obstetricians in Paris, designed to assess (1) their attitudes toward pregnancy termination for various conditions, (2) their concern about fetal viability, (3) their desire for diagnostic certainty before justifying a late abortion, and (4) their perceived role in such decision-making. Among the 64.8 per cent (N = 217) who responded, the majority supported third-trimester termination (TTT) for diseases such as spina bifida, trisomy 21, microcephaly, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy; 30-59 per cent supported TTT for cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease; and 22-29 per cent supported TTT for haemophilia, tetralogy of Fallot, limb amputation, and Turner and Klinefelter syndromes. Obstetricians who approved of abortion across trimesters were less concerned with the certainty of diagnosis than its severity, more likely to think that abortion ought to be the parents' choice, but more likely to report making a recommendation to the parents about whether to abort a fetus. Such permissive abortion attitudes might imply more permissive prenatal diagnosis and abortion practice among Parisian obstetricians, which might lead to increased migration of patients from other E.C. countries. Cross-cultural variation in obstetric practice suggests that an international registry of pregnancies terminated for medical reasons, enabling further study of this issue, would be valuable.
The most common adverse outcome associated with vaginal delivery is endometritis. It plays a significant role in postpartum morbidity and mortality. There is considerable evidence to support the idea that a single dose of antibiotic after vaginal delivery might decrease the incidence of postpartum endometritis. In this study the evaluation of the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis was based upon comparison of a group of patients given a single dose of Amox-CA (Augmentin) with a group of patients without treatment. The study was performed in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the A. Béclère Public Hospital, Clamart, France (Paris-Sud University). The patients who were the subject of the study had delivered vaginally during the period of 1 year, and were free of any clinical diagnosis of chorioamnionitis or other extragenital infection, had a maternal temperature of less than 38 degrees C during labor and 1 h after delivery, and had no history of allergy to penicillins or cephalosporins. After application of exclusion criteria, 1373 patients were randomized and 1291 included 610 in Group I given Amox-CA and 681 in Group II without any antibiotic. A single dose of 1.2 g of Amox-CA was given by intravenous injection, 1 h after delivery, in Group I. Patients of Group II received no injection. Postpartum status was evaluated before the patient left hospital and 2 weeks later. The two groups were similar in terms of demographic and clinical parameters. Four patients developed endometritis in Group I (4/610, 0.66%). Sixteen patients in Group II developed endometritis (16/680, 2.38%) (P = 0.013; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.36-3.08%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Few authors have published investigations regarding a possible association between preeclampsia and changing paternity. This study employs an epidemiological approach to explore the relationship between severe preeclampsia and changes in paternity patterns among multigravidae in a Caribbean community (Guadeloupe, French West Indies). Multiparae who were diagnosed with preeclampsia or eclampsia with fetal complications (transfer of their infants in the Neonatal Department) and controls were examined (134 mothers' interviews). Information concerning paternity for the index and previous pregnancies was collected from three groups: women with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH); women with chronic hypertension (CH); and a control group consisting of women without hypertension during pregnancy. In 21/34 (61.7%) of PIH mothers, the father of the current pregnancy was different than that of the former, compared to 4/40 (10%) among CH and 10/60 (16.6%) in the controls (P < 0.0001). Moreover, considering three and four consecutive pregnancies, there was a significant trend (P < 0.005 and P < 0.02) for an increase in PIH with having a different father in each successive pregnancy. Patterns of changing paternity were significantly correlated with pregnancy-induced hypertension in multiparae but not with chronic hypertension and controls.
This chapter describes the French national programme for reduction of preterm births which started in 1971. Prevention of preterm labour and delivery in France was the objective of a national policy applied to all pregnant women for 10 years and more than 700,000 pregnancies every year, and which has continued since the end of the initial programme. Prevention is action that must be applied before the beginning of disease. The risk analysis was the first step, and showed that most known risk factors (young age, previous preterm birth, bleeding during pregnancy) could not be changed and could not form the basis of a prevention strategy. Other risk factors were described, particularly lifestyle and severity of work, which promoted uterine contractions. Uterine contractions can be recognized by individual women. Shortening of the cervix is also an important risk factor. The intervention strategy involved modifying lifestyle to reduce the workload of women, thereby reducing uterine contractions and/or premature maturation of the cervix. This national policy was evaluated by two techniques; one was performed on successive representative samples of all pregnant French women in 1972, 1976 and 1981, and repeated in 1988/9, and the second (from 1971 to 1982) involved a longitudinal study in a district hospital and included 16,000 women from the city of Haguenau. Preterm deliveries were significantly reduced in France from 7.9% in 1971 to 5.8% in 1981. The reduction was more significant in 1988-9, with a preterm delivery rate of 4.1%. This was associated with a major reduction in early preterm births (before 32 weeks of gestation): 1.6% of births in 1972, 0.7% of births in 1981 and 0.5% of births in 1988-9. As this intervention was intended for all pregnant women and not as a controlled trial, it was not possible to directly demonstrate a causal relationship between the intervention and the observed effects. However, it is argued that a close relationship exists between the intervention programme and the effective reduction of preterm births in France during that time.
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In order to evaluate the level of maternal mortality at Conakry, capital of Guinea (West Africa), a descriptive epidemiological study was made of all maternal deaths occurring between July 1st, 1989 and June 30th, 1990. To ensure that cases of maternal death were recorded as exhaustively as possible, we conducted this study over 1 year in municipal and hospital maternity units, and 3 months in the urban community. One hundred thirty-nine maternal deaths were registered, representing an annual maternal mortality rate of 559/100,000 live births. The main causes of maternal death were abortion, complications linked with hypertension, and postpartum bleeding.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk factors of maternal mortality in an urban area of West Africa (Conakry, capital of Guinea). METHOD: A case-control study where 102 maternal deaths were compared with 338 control women who had given birth and survived, during 1 year (from July 1, 1989 to June 30, 1990). RESULT: Of all the socio-demographic variables studied, only a low family income (R = 2.6; 1.1-6.5) was found to be a risk factor for maternal death In the obstetrical part of the survey, neither parity nor the number or location of pre-natal consultations constituted risk factors. However, the presence during pregnancy or delivery of signs of infection (R = 3.7; 1.4-9.8), anemia (R = 2.1; 1.1-4.1), hypertension (R = 19.8; 5.8-67.8) and dystocia (R = 9.0; 3.7-21.5) were found to be the main predictive risk factors of maternal death. The maternal mortality risk was multiplied by 12 if the women had had a cesarean section, and by 4 in the case of complications in the post-partum period. CONCLUSION: To achieve substantial reductions in maternal mortality levels, work must be done on these specific risk factors, and future programs must urgently be concentrated on a higher standard of pre-natal monitoring, obstetrical emergency facilities and training of obstetrical staff.
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A public health programme was instituted on the island of Martinique (in the Carribean archipelago) between 1977 and 1984. Its aim was to reduce the perinatal death rate in Martinique which was 25.7 per thousand in 1977 to the level found in France in the same year, namely 14 per thousand. The measures taken to improve the safety of deliveries included closing small maternity homes and improving the hospitals both public and private. The chief measure however, was to improve the availability of specialised antenatal care chiefly administered by midwives (free care consultations near the homes) for the poor and the less well educated women. The results showed that perinatal deaths in the island dropped to 14.9 per thousand in 1984. The major improvement was that women who had been attended by midwives had 10 per thousand perinatal deaths. This involved half the population of the island and the same results were found as to the wealthier and more educated women who were attended by private obstetricians. It was found to be possible to reduce the difference in the perinatal death rate between an African population in Martinique and an European population in European France.
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AZT-therapy during pregnancy is actually contraindicated. Two HIV-positive pregnant women who were due to have an induced abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy, were treated with AZT. Blood samples from mothers and fetuses and amniotic fluid samples were taken simultaneously. AZT crossed the placental barrier in the two patients. AZT and GAZT concentrations from the two fetuses were close to those obtained in the two women and in six non-pregnant volunteers.
A case-control study was conducted in 1988 in seven Paris area maternity hospitals to evaluate the role of several risk factors, particularly infectious factors, in ectopic pregnancy. A total of 279 cases and 279 controls were compared for sociodemographic characteristics, cigarette smoking, sexual, reproductive and surgical histories, and conditions of conception. Pelvic inflammatory disease confirmed by celioscopy (odds ratio (OR) = 5.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.1-13.9) and Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity (OR = 3.9, 95% CI 2.3-6.7) appeared to be important risk factors for ectopic pregnancy. Other risk factors found to be associated with an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy were dose-related cigarette smoking at the time of conception (ORs 1.3 to 2.5), appendectomy (OR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.5), prior tubal surgery (OR = 5.1, 95% CI 1.7-15.4), induced conception cycle (OR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.1-9.3), and prior ectopic pregnancy (OR = 13.3, 95% CI 4.5-39.2). However, some of the latter risk factors, i.e., prior tubal surgery, prior ectopic pregnancy, and perhaps appendectomy, may be considered to be the results of pelvic inflammatory disease and sexually transmitted diseases. Maternal age, parity, prior induced abortion, and prior spontaneous abortion were not associated with ectopic pregnancy. Use of intrauterine device, progestagen micropill, and also combined estroprogestative pill at the time of conception were associated with a better prevention of intrauterine pregnancy than of ectopic pregnancy. These findings confirm the importance of several previously reported risk factors of ectopic pregnancy: sexually transmitted diseases, cigarette smoking, and prior ectopic pregnancy. They also identified new risk factors, appendectomy and induced conception cycle, and revealed that the combined estroprogestative pill does not prevent ectopic pregnancy as effectively as it does intrauterine pregnancy.