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Journal Article 2004; 25(Suppl 1): 169-182 PubMed PMID: 15735599 Citation  Keywords:  Empathy, Female, Fetus, Humans, Mothers:psychology, Object Attachment, Pregnancy:psychology, Pregnancy Trimester, Third, Pregnancy, Unplanned:psychology, Pregnancy, Unwanted:psychology,.   

: Maternal-fetal attachment is the purest source of the powerful attachment relationship, the gradual internalisation of the life within unspoilt by the realities and complexities of early parenting. This qualitative study searches for a definition of attachment utilising a phenomenological framework. An opportunity sample of 10 women in the final trimester of pregnancy was interviewed. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using Glaser & Strauss's (1967) constant comparative methodology. Thirteen key themes were identified, of these 4 were specific to parenting experience. A novel finding contrary to earlier studies was that women reported their overwhelming emotion was not love but an innate desire to protect. Protection, the developmental nature of attachment and importance of the emotional and physical support of a partner or parent form the kernel of an evolving paradigm....

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Journal Article 2004; 25(Suppl 1): 35-41 PubMed PMID: 15735584 Citation  Keywords:  Female, Humans, Obstetric Labor, Premature:diagnosis, Pregnancy,.   

: Preterm birth is a major public health problem, affecting up to 10% of pregnancies. The cause of premature labour in humans is not known, although some risk factors have been identified. Currently it is not possible to predict which women will go into labour prematurely or deliver preterm. New possible methods for the detection of premature labour are the measurement of biochemical markers in cervical or vaginal secretions, the measurement of collagen in cervical tissue and the recording of electrical properties of contractions of the uterus. Agents used to prevent premature labour include beta-agonist drugs, magnesium sulphate, calcium channel blockers, nitric oxide donors and prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors. A new approach is the use of oxytocin antagonists. Premature labour is still not completely understood, but some advances are being made, arising from basic research....

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Journal Article 2004; 25(6): 429-434 PubMed PMID: 15665805 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Cholesterol, HDL:blood, Cholesterol, LDL:blood, Female, Humans, Hysterectomy, Leiomyoma:blood, Lipids:blood, Middle Aged, Ovariectomy, Postoperative Period, Triglycerides:blood, Uterine Neoplasms:blood,.   

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to asses the influence of operative treatment of leiomyomas on lipid profile. The study was conducted from April 1, 2000, through April 30, 2002 in The Department of Septic Gynecology and Obstetrics at Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University.

METHODOLOGY: Most hysterectomies are performed because of leiomyomas, which are the most common benign tumors of the female reproductive organ. Pathogenesis and evolution of uterine leiomyomas are not well understood. Treatment of leiomyomas is divided into operative and inoperative. Operative methods include generally laparoscopic myomectomy, conservative myomectomy and hysterectomy. 130 women with diagnosed leiomyomas were analyzed in four groups.

CONCLUSION: Regardless of the type of performed surgery, decrease in cholesterol, HDL and LDL are observed 10 days after operation, with return to preoperative values at 6 months after surgical procedure. The highest level of cholesterol and LDL (6 moths from surgery) is observed in patients who underwent hysterectomy with bilateral oophorectomy....

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Clinical Trial 2004; 25(5): 373-380 PubMed PMID: 15580173 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Adult, Anti-Bacterial Agents:therapeutic use, Combined Modality Therapy, Female, Gestational Age, Humans, Obstetric Labor, Premature:therapy, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Outcome, Tocolysis, Treatment Outcome,.   

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine: a) to what extent application of antibiotics enhances efficiency of tocolysis; b) whether the duration of antibiotic treatment influences its efficacy; c) what criterion is decisive for efficacy of tocolysis assisted by antibiotic therapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: 223 successive women with unifetal pregnancies, aged 17 to 42 (average age 27.3), admitted to the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the JU Medical College in the period from January 1, 1999 to September 9, 2001, were enrolled in the study. Using clinical methods such as: assessment of contractile activity of the uterus, of uterine cervix and membranes, presence of bleeding and other clinical symptoms, these women were diagnosed with imminent preterm labour.

CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotic treatment enhances the efficacy of tocolysis, influencing the time of prolonging pregnancy in imminent preterm delivery. This synergistic effect is clinically crucial as in this way significantly larger number of children will be born at term and also a number of premature neonates who survive may be increased....

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Comparative Study 2004; 25(5): 323-330 PubMed PMID: 15580165 Citation  Keywords:  Alkaloids:administration & dosage, Animals, Benzylisoquinolines:administration & dosage, Bivalvia:metabolism, Cell Line, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Ganglia, Invertebrate:metabolism, Humans, Monocytes:drug effects, Morphine:metabolism, Nitric Oxide:.   

OBJECTIVES: Given the presence of morphine, its metabolites and precursors in mammalian and invertebrate tissues, it became important to determine if exposing tissues to an opiate alkaloid precursor, reticuline, would result in increasing endogenous morphine levels.

METHOD: Endogenous morphine levels were determined by high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to electrochemical detection and radioimmunoassay following incubation of Mytilus edulis pedal ganglia with reticuline. Nitric oxide (NO) release was determined in real-time via an amperometric probe. Mu opiate receptor affinity for opiate alkaloid precursors was determined by a receptor displacement assay.

RESULTS: Morphine is present in the pedal ganglia of Mytilus edulis (1.43 +/- 0.41 ng/mg +/- SEM ganglionic wet weight). Ganglia incubated with 50 ng of reticuline, a morphine precursor in plants, for 1 hour exhibited a statistical increase in their endogenous morphine levels (6.7 +/- 0.7 ng/mg tissue wet weight; P<0.01). This phenomenon is concentration dependent. The increase in ganglionic morphine levels occurs gradually over the 60 min incubation period, beginning 10 minutes post reticuline addition. We show that reticuline (10(-6) M) does not stimulate ganglionic NO release in a manner resembling that of morphine (10(-6) M), which releases NO seconds after its exposure to the ganglia and lasts for 5 minutes. With reticuline, there is a 3 minute delay, which is followed by an extended release period. Furthermore, in binding displacement experiments both reticuline and salutaridine (another morphine precursor) exhibit no binding affinity for the pedal ganglia mu opiate receptor subtype. This finding is further substantiated using the positive control of human monocytes where the mu3 opiate receptor subtype has been cloned.

CONCLUSION: Taken together, we surmise that the morphine's precursors are being converted to morphine. The experiments strongly indicate that pedal ganglia can synthesize morphine from reticuline....

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Clinical Trial 2004; 25(4): 302-306 PubMed PMID: 15361822 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Adult, Biomarkers, C-Reactive Protein:metabolism, Cystinyl Aminopeptidase:blood, Female, Humans, Isoenzymes:blood, Middle Aged, Predictive Value of Tests, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Outcome, Pregnancy Trimester, Third, Premature Birth:blood, Prenata.   

OBJECTIVES: Preterm deliveries represent still one of the most important problems in contemporary obstetrics. They are associated with prematurity and higher rate of perinatal mortality and morbidity. During the last few years, the role of C-reactive protein (CRP) in prediction of threatening preterm delivery was emphasized. CRP is produced mainly inside the liver as a response to acute and chronic inflammatory processes.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess relations between C-reactive protein, oxytocinase, izooxytocinase and vaginal culture in prediction of preterm delivery.

METHODS: This study was performed in the years 2000-2004 in the Department of Septic Obstetrics and Gynecology of Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University. Some 389 patients hospitalized because of threatening preterm delivery or preterm delivery in tractu were enrolled into the trial.

CONCLUSION: C-reactive protein is a useful marker of threatening preterm delivery, overtaking the results of vaginal culture. CAP1 and CAP2 are effective biochemical markers in pregnancy monitoring....

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Comparative Study 2004; 25(1-2): 78-82 PubMed PMID: 15159688 Citation  Keywords:  Adenosine Triphosphatases:genetics, Animals, Cation Transport Proteins:genetics, Copper:deficiency, Disease Models, Animal, Female, Male, Median Eminence:diagnostic imaging, Menkes Kinky Hair Syndrome:genetics, Mice, Mice, Mutant Strains, Mutation, Recomb.   

OBJECTIVES: The mosaic mutation (Atp7a(mo-ms)) linked to X-chromosome is caused by changes in the Atp7a gene encoding CPx-type protein responsible for the ATP-dependent copper transport across cell membranes. Mosaic mutant males represent an animal model for Menkes disease in humans. Starting from the eighth day of life the mosaic males exhibit a progressive decrease in body weight with poor viability and progressive paresis of the hind limbs. In order to examine whether hypothalamic somatostatin metabolism may be different in normal and copper deficient mice, somatostatin accumulation at the level of median eminence in 14 days old normal and mosaic mutant males was compared.

METHODS: An electron microscopic immunocytochemical study on ultrathin brain slices was performed according to post-embedding immunogold procedure.

RESULTS: In non-mutant animals somatostatin has been detected in many synapses within median eminence. Gold particles moderately decorated synaptic vesicles and mitochondria. In mosaic mutant animals somatostatin expression within the median eminence was very low and only a few gold particles represented somatostatin. Particles were sporadically associated with synaptic vesicles, mitochondria or cytoskeleton elements. Moreover, pre- and post- synaptic parts of synapses were very often swollen.

CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrating that copper deficiency leads to the pathological changes within the median eminence ultrastructure and severe impairment of somatostatin expression suggest that this trace metal is an important element necessary for normal neurohormonal brain development....

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Biography 2004; 25(1-2): 50-51 PubMed PMID: 15159682 Citation  Keywords:  Czech Republic, Gynecology:history, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Obstetrics:history,.   

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