Intrauterine fetal death due to rupture of umbilical vessels: a rare case of furcate cord insertion.

Furcate cord insertion refers to the separation of umbilical vessels before reaching the placenta, where the branching vessels normally attach at the edge of the placental parenchyma or near the placental membranes. This is an extremely rare abnormal umbilical cord insertion. This paper reported a case of a furcate cord insertion, where the rupture of exposed umbilical vessels led to intrauterine fetal death at full term. Through literature review, we analyzed the prenatal ultrasound characteristics and pregnancy outcomes of furcate cord insertions, with the aim to improve detection rates and reduce the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

An analysis of the risk factors of preeclampsia and prediction based on combined biochemical indexes.

This study aims to investigate the risk factors and the joint biochemical indicators predictive value for preeclampsia. Related factors and biochemical indicators were investigated in 558 patients with preeclampsia and 435 normal pregnant women. Multiplicity analysis was performed by logistic regression. The predictive value of the biochemical index and joint biochemical indicators for predicting the incidence of pregnant women preeclampsia were analyzed by ROC curve. A progestation BMI of >24 kg/m2 (OR = 5.412, 95% CI: 1.169-9.447), hypertension history (OR = 7.487, 95% CI: 2.541-11.247) and advanced age (>35 years old, OR = 6.321, 95% CI: 3.142-20.342) are risk factors for preeclampsia. Tumor necrosis factor-α and plasma protein-A are valuable for preeclampsia prediction. The predictive success of preeclampsia could be improved by clinical risk factors associated with biochemical indicators detection.

The predictive value of the first-trimester maternal serum chemerin level for pre-eclampsia.

Chemerin is a novel adipokine linked to inflammation. The cross-sectional studies have reported that maternal chemerin serum concentrations are significantly increased in pre-eclampsia. However, limited data are available regarding the cause-effect relationship between chemerin and pre-eclampsia. The aim of this prospective observational study was to evaluate predictive significance of the first-trimester maternal serum chemerin levels for pre-eclampsia and to further confirm the hypothesis that chemerin is an important causative factor in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. 518 pregnancy women were recruited. The first-trimester maternal serum chemerin levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The first-trimester maternal serum chemerin levels were statistically significantly elevated in women with pre-eclampsia compared with those without pre-eclampsia and in severe pre-eclampsia women compared with mild pre-eclampsia women. Serum chemerin levels remained positively associated with plasma C-reactive protein levels using a linear regression model. A logistic-regression analysis demonstrated that body mass index and serum chemerin levels appeared to be the independent predictors of pre-eclampsia. A receiver­operating characteristic curve analysis identified that serum chemerin levels predicted pre-eclampsia with high predictive value. The predictive value of the chemerin concentrations was similar to that of body mass index. Chemerin improved the predictive value of body mass index statistically significantly. Thus, our results suggest that high serum chemerin levels are associated with inflammation and pre-eclampsia independently, as well as chemerin may play a role as predictive biomarker for pre-eclampsia and be an important causative factor in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia.