Pediatrics

There's good news for North American women who are at low risk for complications and want to give birth at home.

Contrary to some previous findings, inhaled nitric oxide therapy does not reduce the risk of death or further lung problems in premature infants weighing less than 1,500 g and should not be administered to this population, according to a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. However, a separate prospective, longitudinal study of similarly sick and premature infants found that those treated with nitric oxide at birth had improved neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years of age.

Women with gestational diabetes who receive dietary advice, blood glucose monitoring, and insulin therapy as needed experience significantly fewer serious perinatal complications and seem to have a higher health-related quality of life than women who receive routine care; however, more of them have their labor induced and more of their infants are admitted to the neonatal nursery.

Women with gestational diabetes who receive dietary advice, blood glucose monitoring, and insulin therapy as needed experience significantly fewer serious perinatal complications and seem to have a higher health-related quality of life than women who receive routine care; however, more of them have their labor induced and more of their infants are admitted to the neonatal nursery.

Ob/gyns have welcomed the expanded role of pharmacists in providing quality care to women. The detailed instructions that pharmacists give when dispensing medication reinforce the information we give in the office.

Whether to test for GDM is a common quandary in ob/gyn practice. This article will help you make evidence-based decisions about which patients to test and which assay to use.

Doing so can lead to serious—even fatal—complications. To protect mother and fetus alike, manage these patients just as aggressively as your nonpregnant asthmatics.

Because Tv infection is so widespread, increases with age, and—according to important new evidence—raises the risk of both acquiring and shedding HIV, accurately diagnosing this sexually transmitted infection may be an important strategy in fighting the HIV epidemic.

Cervical length assessment is just one of several powerful tools for detecting or excluding patients at risk for preterm birth. An expert tells how to assess and counsel a patient pregnant with triplets on her chances of carrying all three fetuses to at least 32 weeks.

Low-dose aspirin combined with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) during pregnancy is just as safe and effective as aspirin with unfractionated heparin (UFH) for preventing recurrent pregnancy loss due to antiphospholipid syndrome, according to a prospective, controlled, multicenter pilot study.

The caduceus is the modern American symbol of the medical profession. But the Asklepian, which I encountered on a recent trip to the Greek island of Kos, may be a far better emblem for the values we as ob/gyns hold dear. Allow me to explain the import of two snakes versus one.

Postterm birth seems to get a lot less attention than preterm birth when clinicians are discussing the risks of complications and death. But, unlike babies born too soon, timely delivery can almost entirely prevent the risks—including stillbirth—linked with prolonged pregnancy.

Evidently not, according to a large, Danish, population-based, case–control study.

Contrary to the "fetal origins" hypothesis and suggestions of a strong inverse relationship between birthweight and subsequent blood cholesterol levels, a recent study finds that 1-kg lower birthweight may be associated with at most about 2.0 mg/dL (0.05 mmol/L) higher total cholesterol later in life—an amount unlikely to have much impact on public health.

Some say left ventricular intracardiac echogenic focus (ICEF) in the second trimester may signal the presence of Down syndrome.

Women with twin pregnancies should not be given prophylactic cerclage simply because they are carrying two fetuses. A 14-year retrospective study of twins using data from Matria Healthcare indicates that prophylactic cerclage is associated with a higher frequency of very premature delivery, low birth weight and very low birth weight infants, and more nursery days

The 4th Current Issues Update yesterday offered late breaking news in five specialty areas: urogynecology, STD treatment guidelines, reproductive medicine, gynecologic oncology, and maternal-fetal medicine.

Healthy women who have had a prior cesarean delivery can safely delivery vaginally. That is the conclusion of a 14-year retrospective study at the John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, IL.

Delivering an extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infant (

We can do a better job of screening and testing sexually active teens and young adults for STIs. Keeping up with the latest evidence can help you decide when to test, whom to test, and which of a wide array of office- and lab-based tests to choose.

Delivering an extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infant (

The risks of neonatal convulsions and neonatal withdrawal syndrome seem to increase when a pregnant women uses selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), with paroxetine being the worst offender, according to cases reported by 72 countries to the World Health Organization's Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring in Uppsala, Sweden.

Early diagnosis of m?llerian anomalies is important because they can have a significant impact on a woman?s reproductive potential. Sonographic clues lead the way to prompt and precise classification.

An improved version of this long-standing technique is back in favor and once again yielding impressive cure rates. Two experts give step-by-step guidelines for an easy-to-perform ablative alternative for persistent low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

When is OVD indicated? When do the risks outweigh the potential advantages? What should your pre-op assessment include? To answer these and related questions, two experts take an in-depth look at the research data.