The effect of hydroxychloroquine on pregnancy outcomes in patients with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss: a placebo-controlled study "pilot study".

This double-blind placebo-controlled study investigated the effect of hydroxychloroquine on pregnancy outcomes in people with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (URPL). The inclusion criteria included gestational age ≤6 weeks and a history of at least two miscarriages. The exclusion criteria included any known cause for previous abortions or a history of any chronic diseases. Participants were given 200 mg hydroxychloroquine or placebo twice a day until gestational week 20. Twenty-nine women were enrolled. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, BMI, gravidity, previous abortion, relative married couple, and infertility. Miscarriage occurred in five women including one in the hydroxychloroquine group (7.69%) and four women in the placebo group (28.57%) (OR: 2.36, 95% PL CI:1.07, 8.93). However, after adjusting for potential confounders, there was no significant difference between the two groups (aOR: 2.96, 95%CI: 0.91, 10.02).IMPACT STATEMENTWhat is already known on this subject? Miscarriage, a prevalent concern in the field reproductive medicine, causes psychological and family problems for couples. Unfortunately, no effective treatment has been yet found for URPL. There are some hypotheses about the role of immunological factors in URPL. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has various immunological effects and may theoretically have a role in the treatment of URPL. Although few studies have been registered to investigate the effect of HCQ on URPL, none of them has been published.What do the results of this study add? In our double-blind placebo-controlled trial, the prevalence of abortion in the HCQ group was four times lower than that in the placebo group, however, this difference was not statistically significant, which can be attributed to the small sample size.What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? We hope that HCQ will be of interest to researchers and future research help clarify the role of HCQ in preventing URPL.

Comprehensive transcriptome mining identified the gene expression signature and differentially regulated pathways of the late-onset preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia (PE) is categorized as a pregnancy-related hypertensive disorder and is a serious concern in pregnancies. Several factors, including genetic factors (placenta gene expression, and imprinting), oxidative stress, the inaccurate immune response of the mother, and the environmental factors are responsible for PE development, but still, the exact mechanism of the pathogenesis has remained unknown. The main aim of the present study is to identify the gene expression signature in placenta tissue, to unveil disease etiology mechanisms. The GEO, PubMed, and ArrayExpress databases have selected to identify gene expression datasets on placenta samples of both preeclampsia and the normotensive controls. A comprehensive gene expression meta-analysis of fourteen publicly available microarray data of preeclampsia disease has performed to identify gene expression signature and responsible biological pathways and processes. Using two different meta-analysis pipeline (in-house and INMEX) we have identified a total of 1234 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with in-house method, including 713 overexpressed and 356 under-expressed genes whereas 272 DEGs (131 over and 141 under-expressed) have identified with INMEX, across PEs and healthy controls. Comprehensive functional enrichment and pathway analysis was performed by EnrichR library, whic revealed "Asparagine N-linked glycosylation Homo sapiens", "Nef and signal transduction", "Hemostasis", and "immune system" among the most enriched terms. The present study sets out to explain a novel database of candidate genetic markers and biological pathways that play a critical role in PE development, which might aid in the identification of diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic informative molecules.

An Overview on Guidelines on COVID-19 Virus and Natural and Assisted Reproductive Techniques Pregnancies.

In this article, we reviewed and compared some of COVID-19 and pregnancy guidelines; this can be useful for pregnant women including those with a history of infertility specially those undergone assisted reproductive techniques (ART). The general advice given for prenatal care is to reduce face-to-face visits. All women who refer for prenatal visits should be evaluated for signs of the infection at the time of entry. The triage of suspected women should be done separately from other patients. Outpatient monitoring with a 14-day selfquarantine can be considered for asymptomatic infected women and for those with mild symptoms. Inpatient management criteria include moderate to severe symptoms and the target level of oxygen saturation is 92 to 95% in different guidelines. In the presence of fever, it is important to conduct a thorough examination of other causes of the fever. It is important to monitor fluid intake and output, maintain fluid and electrolyte balance and prevent fluid overload. Thromboembolic prophylaxis is recommended. Corticosteroid administration is based on obstetrics indications, while in critical ill cases, it should be based on multi-disciplinary teams (MDT) decision. A positive COVID-19 result in the absence of other obstetrics causes, cannot be considered an indication for delivery in mild and asymptomatic cases. In critically ill pregnant women, an individualized decision should be made about delivery time by the MDT. General anesthetic should be avoided unless inevitable for standard procedures such as intubation is an aerosol-generating procedure (AGP). There is agreement on the point that babies born to infected mothers, even if isolated from the mother at birth, should be considered a close contact of the mother and tested for COVID-19 and separated from other neonates. Breastfeeding is encouraged and hand hygiene and face mask during feeding are highly recommended by all guidelines.

Maternal and neonatal outcomes in COVID-19 infected pregnancies: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Despite the large number of pregnant women with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there is not enough analytical study to compare maternal and fetal consequences of COVID-19 infected with non-infected pregnancies. This cohort study aimed to compare maternal and fetal consequences of COVID-19 infected with non-infected pregnancies. METHODS: We included pregnant women with and without COVID-19 who were admitted to Arash Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from 1 March to 1 September 2020. Clinical features, treatments, and maternal and fetal outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 199 women enrolled, including 66 COVID-19 infected and 133 non-infected pregnant women prospectively. Caesarean section was carried out in total 105 women (52.76%). A significant difference was found in term of delivery type between COVID-19 infected and non-infected pregnant women [adjusted risk ratio (aRR): 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04, 1.65, P = 0.024]. No significant association was found between COVID-19 infection and preterm birth (aRR: 1.16, 95% CI: 0.54, 2.48, P = 0.689), low birth weight (aRR: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.55, 2.31, P = 0.723), gestational diabetes (aRR: 1.67, 95% CI: 0.81, 3.42, P = 0.160), pre-eclampsia (aRR: 2.02, 95% CI: 0.42, 6.78, P = 0.315), intrauterine growth restriction (aRR: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.02, 1.86, P = 0.145), preterm rupture of membrane (aRR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.02, 2.20, P = 0.186), stillbirth (aRR: 1.41, 95% CI: 0.08, 18.37, P = 0.614), postpartum haemorrhage (aRR: 1.84, 95% CI: 0.39, 8.63, P = 0.185), neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) admission (aRR: 1.84, 95% CI: 0.77, 4.39, P = 0.168) and neonatal sepsis (aRR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.48, 1.48, P = 0.568). The percentage of patients (4/66, 6.06%) being admitted to the ICU was significantly higher than the control group (0%) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Basically, although pregnancy and neonatal outcomes were not significantly different, the need for ICU care for pregnant women with COVID-19 was significantly higher compared with those without COVID-19.

The Value of Routine Hysteroscopy before the First Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Treatment Cycle.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To assess uterine cavity with office hysteroscopy in order to diagnose and treat pathologies in patients who have started their first intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles and evaluate its impact on pregnancy rate. METHODS: A number of 220 infertile women scheduled for ICSI participated in this prospective randomized study. They were randomly divided into 2 equal groups. Group I (intervention) underwent office hysteroscopy before starting assisted reproductive techniques (ART) cycle. Group II (control) started ART cycles without office hysteroscopy. All women had normal transvaginal ultrasonography and hysterosalpingography. The detected intrauterine abnormalities were treated during hysteroscopy. Four weeks after embryo transfer, ultrasonography was done for detecting clinical pregnancy. RESULTS: Abnormal findings were seen in hysteroscopy in 22.7% of the intervention group. The pregnancy rate in the intervention group (48.20%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (38.60%; p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Routine office hysteroscopy before ICSI cycles provides direct evaluation of uterine cavity. Also, pregnancy rate improves after correction of endometrial cavity abnormalities.