The purpose of this Winthrop-University Hospital, NY study was to evaluate whether computerized analysis of fetal heart rate variation may improve fetal surveillance in post term pregnancy. The study concluded that a computerized numeric analysis of fetal heart rate variation may improve fetal surveillance in post term pregnancy.
NIH PubMed Central Archives of Disease in Childhood - Umbilical venous blood ph: a useful aid in the diagnosis of asphyxia at birth. Umbilical venous blood, and umbilical arterial blood pH, PO2, PCO2, and base excess were determined in 453 term infants at birth. The results indicate that umbilical venous blood pH, and umbilical arterial blood pH are significantly related to each another.
National Institute of Health NIH, National Library of Medicine PubMed article Abstract: Defining cerebral palsy: pathogenesis, pathophysiology and new intervention. The focus of this paper is to explore antenatal antecedents as etiologies of CP and the impact of obstetric care on the prevention of CP.
University of Weatern Ontario, Canada study to estimate to what extent computerized fetal heart rate (FHR) parameters are affected by labor and to estimate the relationship between FHR parameters and the degree of fetal metabolic acidosis in laboring patients at term.
Study concluded that in term pregnant women with reassuring FHR tracing, labor causes an increase in both short- and long-term FHR variation, which was abolished in the presence of nonreassuring FHR tracing. Computer-derived FHR parameters studied during the last hour of labor were not correlated with the degree of metabolic acidosis as measured in the umbilical artery at birth.
Article abstract of French study assessing neonatal outcomes after instrumental vaginal delivery. Many of the most severe neonatal complications are observed when perinatal asphyxia has occurred. Extractor types and quality of use under defined criteria are closely associated with neonatal adverse outcomes in operative vaginal delivery. Forceps deliveries are as safe as vacuum deliveries to the neonate. In conclusion, operative vaginal delivery performed for maternal or fetal reasons are associated with several neonatal adverse events, usually non specific and with a short term good prognosis.
NIH PubMed Abstract of University of Maryland study reviewing the physiology of acid-base balance and fetal gas exchange as well as the current scientific understanding of the role of intrauterine asphyxia in the pathophysiology of neonatal excephalopathy and cerebral palsy.
Canadian study to examine the roles of clinical risk scoring, electronic fetal heart monitoring and fetal blood gas and acid-base assessement in the prediction of intrapartum fetal asphyxia in term pregnancies. The study concluded that although fetal heart rate patterns will not discriminate all asphyxial exposures, continuous fetal heart rate monitoring supplemented by fetal blood gas and acid-base assessment can be a useful fetal assessment paradigm for intrapartum fetal asphyxia
PubMed Abstract of study: Clinical and brain imaging heterogeneity of severe microcephaly. The aim of this research was to group a large cohort of patients with primary microcephaly into more discrete subtypes, to optimize assessment of the patients based on their clinical and brain imaging findings
PubMed Study Abstract - A retrospective analysis of 8,839 singleton deliveries was undertaken to determine the relationships of maternal age, maternal hemoglobin concentrations, and past obstetric performance to the incidence of low-birth-weight (LBC) deliveryct: Patients at high risk for low-birth-weight delivery.
PubMed Abstract of study conducted to determine what biomechanic characteristics of knee joint motion and walking show potential to quantitatively differentiate spasticity and dystonia in Cerebral Palsy (CP).
PubMed Abstract - Early surfactant administration with brief ventilation vs. selective surfctant and continued mechanical ventilation for preterm infants with or at risk for respiratory distress syndrome. Purpose of the purpose of this review was to compare outcomes between two strategies of surfactant administration in infants with RDS; prophylactic or early surfactant administration followed by prompt extubation, compared with later, selective use of surfactant followed by continued mechanical ventilation.
PubMed Abstract: CFP MFC Official Publication of the College of Family Physicians of Canada - Microcephaly and Vulnerability of the Brain int he Etiology of Cerebral Palsy
PubMed Abstract - The cerebellum: anatomy, distribution of mediators and their receptors, communication with hypothalamic structures and comparison with the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus under conditions of stress
PubMed Abstract: Neuromuscular Junction - the neuromuscular junction: anatomical features and adaptations to various forms of increased or decreased neuromuscular activity