{"title":"Introductory Chapter: Environmental, Genetic, and Epigenetic Risk Factors in Adverse Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes","authors":"Wei Wu","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76902","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76902","url":null,"abstract":"It is well established that pregnancy complications and adverse birth outcomes are important public health concerns in both developed and developing countries. Prenatal development refers to the process in which an embryo and later fetus develop during gestation. Each pregnancy can be divided into three trimesters of approximately 3 months each. A normal, full-term pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. During the 40 weeks of pregnancy, the embryo and fetus are heavily influenced by environment (Figure 1).","PeriodicalId":353342,"journal":{"name":"Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114245051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Respiratory Distress Syndrome Management in Delivery Room","authors":"G. Lista, G. Schmölzer, I. Bresesti","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.73090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.73090","url":null,"abstract":"The proper management of respiratory distress syndrome in the delivery room is a crucial step in the transition to extrauterine life, especially for preterm infants. In fact, it has been widely established that the optimization of the cardiovascular and the respiratory changes, which normally happen as soon as a term healthy baby is delivered, can have long-term effects. For this reason, every clinician approaching the delivery room should be aware of the consequences an inappropriate management could lead to and should know how to perform a proper resuscitation, using, where available, the most recent techniques. Regardless of the level of care provided by the hospital, there are some key interventions, which can be applied easily in every setting and are of crucial importance. In this chapter, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the most relevant measures to manage respiratory distress syndrome from the delivery room, starting from an explanation of the disease and moving toward the most recent evidence, from the basic concepts to the most advanced techniques to monitor fetal-neonatal transition.","PeriodicalId":353342,"journal":{"name":"Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131292362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gestational Age and Pregnancy Outcomes","authors":"Y. Neggers","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.72419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.72419","url":null,"abstract":"Some of the important pregnancy outcomes such as preterm delivery, growth restriction and low birth weight (LBW) infant, stillbirth, and some long-term chronic diseases vary by race and ethnicity but also tend to be associated with gestational age of the infant at birth. In the United States, during the last 25–30 years, the rate of low birth weight has increased, as has the rate of preterm delivery among both whites and blacks. Examination of causes for these secular trends has focused mainly on changes in the distribution of maternal age, race, and certain psychosocial factors. However, gestational age at birth is associated with most of these pregnancy outcomes, particularly infant mortality, certain morbidities, birth weight, and preterm birth. In this chapter, the association between ges- tational age and some significant pregnancy outcomes will be discussed.","PeriodicalId":353342,"journal":{"name":"Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130532481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of APC-Resistance for Predicting Venous Thrombosis and Pregnancy Complications in Carriers of Factor V Leiden (1691) G/A Mutation","authors":"A. Momot, M. Nikolaeva, V. Elykomov, K. A. Momot","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.72210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.72210","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter presents the results of the prospective cohort study of 500 females with factor V Leiden, FVL, 1691 GA genotype, during 2008–2015. The association between FVL (regardless of its laboratory phenotype—factor Va resistance to activated protein C, APC resistance) and the development of VTEC (both outside of and during pregnancy) and gestational complications such as preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and miscarriage has been established. Additionally, the leading role of APC resistance degree in the clinical manifestation of FVL 1691 GA genotype as thrombotic events and pregnancy complications has been proved. Based on the data obtained, advanced approaches for the stratification of pregnant women into risk groups for the development of venous thromboembolic complications and pregnancy complications at different gestational ages adjusted for APC resistance degree are proposed. The found patterns can be useful in assessing the need for heparin prophylaxis during pregnancy from the standpoint of personalized medicine.","PeriodicalId":353342,"journal":{"name":"Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes","volume":"145 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127944291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Smoking: An Important Environmental Risk Factor in Pregnancy","authors":"Qing Xia, Jing Yang, Q. Tang","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.72209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.72209","url":null,"abstract":"It is generally recognized that smoking has been one of the most public health disorders around the world. Nowadays, more and more studies have proved that smoking during pregnancy is responsible for both maternal and fetal health disorders along with several general health effects. It may lead to various kinds of pregnancy illness and cause risk to the fetus during perinatal stage. After birth, this behavior can also have harmful influences on neonates, and even on children. However, smoking during pregnancy has several adverse effects, the molecular mechanism of it remains unclear. Recently, some studies have proved that it is associated with aberrant epigenetic modifications. All of these remind us that more attention should be paid to maternal cigarette smoking, and more studies should be carried out to confirm the effects and investigate the molecular mechanisms. In this chapter, a brief review is given on the perinatal effects and long-term influences of maternal and passive smoking. We also briefly clarify the epigenetic mecha nisms underlying the adverse effects of passive smoking during pregnancy.","PeriodicalId":353342,"journal":{"name":"Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125140809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}