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Aim: To assess whether imminent amniocentesis is associated with the perception of increased stress and state anxiety in women and their partners and whether greater partner's involvement during pregnancy alleviates women's stress and anxiety., Methods: Two hundred twenty women awaiting amniocentesis and 90 male partners participated in the study. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, and Partner's Involvement in Pregnancy Scale were administered. Statistical analysis was performed using t test, one way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation test., Results: Imminent amniocentesis caused increased stress (17.6 +/- 6.8; t = 7.32, P < 0.001) and anxiety (42.0 +/- 11.9; t = 8.51, P < 0.001) in pregnant women, but not their partners (stress: 14.3 +/- 6.1; t = 0.17, P = 0.862; anxiety: 36.4 +/- 10.40; t = 0.66, P = 0.510). Stress was even more pronounced in women who experienced another stressor, like unplanned pregnancy, prenatal-related nausea and vomiting, or chromosomal aberration in a previous pregnancy. Significant negative correlation was found for women's stress and their perception of their partner's involvement during pregnancy (r = -0.23; P = 0.001); the same was not found for women's anxiety., Conclusion: Greater partner's involvement during pregnancy could diminish women's stress, but elevated state anxiety just before amniocentesis could not be alleviated in the same way. Thus, health care professionals must pay greater attention to the psychological status of women undergoing amniocentesis to help them better cope with the situation.

Aim To determine the lamellar body count (LBC) cutoff value for fetal lung maturity and to evaluate the clinical usefulness of LBC In predicting the severity of neonatal re-spiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Methods A prospective study was conducted from 2002 until 2010. LBC was estimated in uncentrifugated amniotic fluid samples using Cell-Dyn 1800 analyzer. Amniotic fluid samples were obtained by amniocentesis or by punctur-ing embryonic membranes during cesarean section. The presence of mild, moderate, and severe RDS was assessed by neonatology. Results A total of 313 patients with singleton pregnan-cies (24-41 weeks) were included in the study and 294 met the inclusion criteria. RDS was diagnosed in 28 neonates -mild in 8, moderate in 10, and severe in 10. In premature neonates (<37 gestational weeks), significant differences in LBC were only found between the subgroup without RDS and the group with moderate and the group with se-vere RDS (P<0.001). In all neonates, significant differences were found between neonates without RDS and neonates with RDS. Using LBC cutoff value of >20,000/|jL, sensitiv-ity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of LBC in determining mature fetal lungs were 96%, 88%, 45.6%, and 99.5%, respectively. Conclusion This study suggests that LBC cutoff value of >20,0004iL can predict pulmonary maturity and reduce the risk of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To use amniotic fluid (AF) lamellar body count (LBC) to assess the influence of pre-eclampsia and associated pathologic conditions on fetal lung maturity (FLM). Methods: A prospective study was conducted to analyze 378 AF samples containing 5mL of AF from 306 singleton pregnancies at 26–39weeks. Stratified by gestational age groups, pregnancies were categorized as follows: pre-eclampsia (n=25); intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) (n=74); pre-eclampsia and IUGR (n=63); and control (n=144). Amniotic fluid LBC in each group was estimated and medians were compared for defined gestational age periods. Statistical analyses were performed via non-parametric tests. Results: Between 31 and 33weeks, significantly lower median LBCs were found in the pre-eclampsia group than in the IUGR group (P =0.022) and in pregnancies with both entities (P =0.031). Between 34 and 36weeks, there were significantly lower median LBCs in the pre-eclampsia and the pre-eclampsia/IUGR groups than in the IUGR group (P =0.026 and P =0.004, respectively), as well as in the pre-eclampsia/IUGR group compared with the control group (P =0.04). Conclusion: Significantly lower LBCs in pre-eclamptic pregnancies between 31 and 36weeks of gestation indicate delayed FLM associated with pre-eclampsia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]