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Background: Higher Fetuin-A (FA) concentrations were found to be associated with obesity and there is an interest to the relation between maternal FA and pregnancy outcomes. Objective: In this study, our aim was to evaluate the association of maternal plasma levels of FA with fetal growth restriction (FGR). Materials and Methods: 41 pregnant women with FGR and 40 controls were recruited in this case-control study between July and November 2015. At the diagnosis of FGR, venous blood samples (10 cc) were obtained for FA analysis. Results: Maternal plasma FA levels were significantly higher in fetal growth-restricted pregnant women compared with controls (19.3 ± 3.0 ng/ml vs 25.9 ± 6.8 ng/ml, p = 0.001). Area under receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of FA in FGR was 0.815 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.718-0.912, p < 0.001). The maternal FA levels with values more than 22.5 ng/ml had a sensitivity of about 73.17% (95% CI: 56.79-85.25) and a specificity of about 82.5% (95% CI: 66.64-92.11) with positive and negative predictive values of about 81.08% (95% CI: 64.29-91.45) and 75% (95% CI: 59.35-86.30), respectively. Therefore, the diagnostic accuracy was obtained about 77.78%. Conclusion: The results of this study show higher maternal plasma levels of FA in FGR. Further studies are needed in order to demonstrate the long-term effects of FA in pregnancies complicated with FGR and early prediction of FGR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of our study was to evaluate the oxidative stress (OS) in pregnant women with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) by evaluating thiol/disulphide homeostasis using an alternative technique.Methods: A total of 57 pregnant women with ICP were compared with 50 gestational age and body mass index matched controls. A recently defined method was used for the measurement of plasma native-total thiol and disulphide levels. The independent two-sample t test, Mann-Whitney-U test, Chi-square test, binary logistic regression with backward elimination and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed for statistical analyses.Results: Pregnant women with ICP (n = 57) versus controls (n = 50) had significantly lower serum levels of native thiol (233.8 ± 47.4 μmol/L vs. 308.5 ± 51.7 μmol/L, p < .001), total thiol (258.4 ± 46.5 μmol/L vs. 328.0 ± 52.0 μmol/L, p < .001) and higher levels of disulphide (12.3 ± 3.6 μmol/L vs. 9.7 ± 3.4 μmol/L, p < .001). Binary logistic regression showed that the most important variables related to ICP were native thiol and total thiol. According to the ROC curve, the optimal cut-off level for native thiol was 280.0 μmol/L (sensitivity: 86%, specificity: 84.2%, area under the curve (AUC):0.896, 95% CI: 0.831-0.962, p < .001), and the optimal cut-off level for total thiol was 300.0 μmol/L (sensitivity: 86%, specificity: 80.7%, AUC: 0.883, 95% CI: 0.815-0.951, p < .001).Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study in the literature exploring thiol/disulphide balance in ICP. We found that thiol/disulphide balance indicate OS in pregnant woman with ICP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Vitamin D (VD) deficiency is a common public health problem worldwide in all age groups. Receptors and enzymes related to VD metabolism have been shown in many cells and tissues of the body. VD plays a crucial role in cellular growth and differentiation during embryogenesis. It has been suggested that VD deficiency may be associated with various diseases, and that lower maternal serum levels may be associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. In this study, we aimed to compare serum VD levels of pregnant women whose pregnancies complicated by congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) with healthy pregnant women. We also evaluated perinatal outcomes of these pregnancies.Methods: Total of 77 patients was included in this prospective and cross-sectional case-controlled study. 24 pregnant women having a fetus with CDH diagnosed prenatally formed the study group, and 53 healthy pregnants were eligible for the control group. Demographics and clinical characteristics of the cases with some laboratory parameters were recorded. Perinatal outcomes were also investigated.Results: No significant differences were observed between two groups in terms of demographics and clinical features. Mean maternal serum VD levels were significantly lower in the study group than in the controls (p: 0.019). Ionized calcium and corrected calcium levels were also found to be lower in pregnant women with CDH (p < 0.001). Moreover, the calcium-rich dietary habits were also more common in the control group. Four (16.7%) patients chose termination and one (4.2%) experienced a stillbirth. Fourteen (58.3%) infants died in the early neonatal period; although some had undergone surgical interventions, only 5 (20.8%) were still alive after surgery.Conclusions: Maternal serum VD and calcium levels were significantly lower in pregnancies complicated by CDH than healthy pregnant women. Hipovitaminosis D may play a vital role in the pathogenesis of CDH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Fetal cardiac left ventricular function in pregnant women with pregestational or gestational diabetes mellitus was investigated by exploring fetal myocardial performance index (MPI) and E wave/A wave peak velocity (E/A) ratio. Methods Seventy pregnant women with either pregestational or gestational diabetes mellitus and with no other systemic or pregnancy related disorders were compared with 70 gestational age matched healthy controls by means of fetal left ventricular MPI and E/A ratio. Opening and closing clicks of the mitral and aortic valves were used to define the three time periods: ejection time (ET), isovolumetric contraction time (ICT) and isovolumetric relaxation time (IRT), which were employed in the calculation of MPI (MPI = [ICT + IRT]/ET). Statistical analyses were conducted using receiver operating characteristic analysis and independent two-sample t, Mann-Whitney U and chi-square tests. Results Fetal left ventricular MPI values were significantly higher in the diabetic group compared with controls (0.56 ± 0.09 vs 0.36 ± 0.04, P < 0.001), whereas E/A ratio was lower (0.66 ± 0.11 vs 0.69 ± 0.09, P = 0.049). The adverse perinatal outcome rate was also higher in the diabetic group. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed > 0.39 as the optimal cut-off level for MPI in perinatal adverse outcome prediction (sensitivity: 90.9%, specificity: 47.7%, area under the curve: 0.690, 95% confidence interval: 0.598-0.782, P < 0.001). Conclusions We conclude that fetuses of diabetic mothers have significant left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction. MPI may be used in the prediction of adverse perinatal outcome in diabetic pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]