| |  The reversible and controlled induction of loss of motor and sensory function through the injection of local anesthetics into the epidural space is referred to as epidural anesthesia. This mode of anesthesia can be administered via an injector or catheter. The latter allows for the continuous addition of the local anesthetic throughout a surgical procedure and after it, to relieve postoperative pain as well. | |
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| |  These symptoms often signal the earliest phase of the first stage of labor, namely, the latent phase. This involves the thinning or effacement of the thick tubular cervix which is closed tightly throughout a normal pregnancy, so that it becomes a thin rim stretched over the uterine opening. | |
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| |  Supplementing the diet with vitamin B3 during pregnancy may treat the molecular deficiencies in women that can lead to birth defects, according to a landmark study in Australia. Over the last 12 years, developmental geneticist Sally Dunwoodie (Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney) and team have been studying the genes that influence fetal heart and bone development. | |
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| |  Pregnant women are an important but thus far largely overlooked group vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat linked to climate change, according to new research by Sabrina McCormick, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. | |
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| |  Normally childbirth involves labor pain which crescendos around the time of delivery. This significant level of pain can require much endurance from a woman, particularly if the labor takes longer than usual. | |
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| | _0dafc99ac68849439329caa72fa895cd-150x125__636384486838725774_multicolor_gray.jpg) Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that affects the lungs, pancreas, digestive system, and many other organs. It is caused by a defect in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. The CFTR protein controls transport of salt in and out of the cell, and mutations in the gene result in an imbalance in that transport system, leading to a build-up of thick, sticky mucus in the tissues. | |
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| |  By employing high-throughput sequencing and other modern molecular methods, the profiling of the microbial community with subsequent detailed determination of the vaginal microbiome was finally possible. | |
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| |  Researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin in collaboration with colleagues from the University of California Irvine, Oregon Health and Science University and the University of North Carolina in the USA have shown that increased levels of inflammatory markers during pregnancy can lead to changes in fetal brain development which, in turn, may increase the child's risk of developing psychiatric disorders. | |
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| |  The first few weeks after sperm meets egg still hold many mysteries. Among them: what causes the process to fail, leading to many cases of infertility. | |
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| |  There are other conditions as well which must be followed to ensure that a water birth is safe for both mother and infant. The question of a safe birth in water is a vexed one, with American paediatricians and obstetricians pitting their opposition to birth in water to the widespread endorsement of water birth as a safe alternative to land birth in most of Europe. | |
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| |  A new smartphone app called Natural Cycles has been formally approved as a method of contraception in the European Union. The app is one of various fertility-tracking phone apps available, but Natural Cycles is the first to be formally certified as a medical device and therefore a contraceptive. | |
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| |  Parents of very premature or very low birth weight babies have the same life satisfaction as parents of full-term babies, when their children reach adulthood- according to new research by the University of Warwick. | |
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| |  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have discovered that exposure to environmental levels of triclocarban (TCC), an antibacterial chemical common in personal care products like soaps and lotions as well as in the medical field, can transfer from mother to offspring and interfere with lipid metabolism. | |
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| |  The age at which girls have their first period may influence how long they stay in education. | |
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| |  A mutation in one of the sensors that the immune system uses to detect viruses can, in rare cases, turn infections with the chickenpox virus into a life-threatening matter. | |
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| |  Each year, thousands of infants in the United States end up in neonatal intensive care units with acute kidney injury (AKI), a condition in which the kidneys falter in performing the critical role of filtering waste products and excess fluid from the blood to produce urine. | |
