Active clinical trials for "Premature Birth"

To study concentrations of choline, its metabolites, and phospholipids in cord blood and remnants of clinically indicated blood samples

The goal of IMPROV is to identify molecular mechanisms that contribute to lung injury and long-term breathing problems in preterm infants by investigating two interrelated biochemical pathways: the urea cycle-nitric oxide pathway and the glutathione pathway. The investigators hypothesize that prematurity-related limitations in the function of these important biochemical pathways contribute to respiratory disease risk over the first year of life.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether early life exposures such as premature birth or exposure to preeclampsia before you are born results in long-term alterations in the cardiovascular system that increase risk of cardiovascular disease development.

Prelabour rupture of membrane is defined as rupture of membranes prior to the onset of labour. Approximately 8% of pregnant women at term experience PROM, but the decision as to how term PROM should be managed clinically remains controversial, and there is wide variation in practice with no clear consensus on what constitutes optimal treatment. Although for the majority of women labour will start spontaneously within 24 hours following term PROM, up to 4%of women will not experience spontaneous onset of labour within seven days.

The purpose of this study is to determine how coders who have seen multiple time points of the same dyad, and are therefore familiar with the case, rate emotional connection using the WECS compared to coders who are blinded to the case's previous time points. The investigator hypothesizes that the WECS will show external validity: that all coders will have high reliability on their WECS scores, despite exposure to the dyads' past videos by the clinical coders.

Epipage 2 (epidemiologic study on small-for-gestational-age children) is a nationwide study implemented to improve our knowledge of the outcome of preterm children in France. This study was launched on March 28, 2011 and includes three groups of preterm children, all born before 35 weeks: extremely preterm infants (born between 22 and 26 completed weeks of gestation), very preterm children (born between 27 and 31 completed weeks) and moderately preterm children (born between 32 and 34 completed weeks). These children are being studied from their birth up to the age of 12 years. At birth, data on maternal and infants' characteristics were collected from medical records. At one and two years, questionnaires sent to families and to physicians (at two years only) allowed to collect data about the children's life and health. At five and a half years, medical and psychological assessments are specifically implemented for the study in order to evaluate motor and cognitive disorders in this population.

All included patients will have their fetal heart rate recording performed with an EDAN F3 fetal monitor that allowed the back up recording of the fetal heart rate beat to beat detection. Fetal heart rate variability analysis will be performed using Matalb® software.

Objective: To study the natural history of normal pregnancy and the most frequent pregnancy complications responsible for the excessive rate of perinatal morbidity and mortality, in order to develop models to predict the occurrence of these complications of pregnancy at the earliest possible time. The study focuses on the prediction of preterm labor with intact membranes, preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PROM), preeclampsia, small for gestational age, gestational diabetes, and fetal death. These complications account for a minimum of $30 billion annually in the US alone. Study population: A cohort of pregnant women seeking care at the prenatal clinic of the Perinatology Research Branch in Detroit, Michigan. Design: A prospective observational cohort study of the natural history of women with a normal pregnancy, a history of adverse outcome, or those with a complication in the index pregnancy; therefore, this study will include nulliparous and parous women. Data will be collected at the time of clinic visits and will include interviews, clinical measurements, and ultrasound studies. We will assemble a biorepository of maternal biological fluids (blood, urine, saliva, cervicovaginal fluid, gingival crevicular fluid, swabs to characterize microbiota, amniotic fluid when a clinically indicated amniocentesis is performed). Placentas will be collected at the time of delivery as well as umbilical blood, and swabs to characterize the neonatal microbiota. We will use a retrospective case control and case-cohort design to generate models for the prediction of the most common pregnancy complications. These models will be developed by classifying obstetrical complications according to clinical presentation and histologic placental lesions. Models will be developed and subsequently validated in an independent cohort. Outcome measures: The goal is to develop sensitive, specific, and parsimonious predictive models to identify the patients at risk for developing complications of pregnancy using a combination of clinical and biological markers (biochemical and biophysical).

Preterm birth continues to be a major public health problem with lasting family and societal repercussions. Despite tremendous research effort, prevention strategies have failed, and the prevalence of preterm birth in the United States reached 12.3% in 2003. Prematurity causes 70% of fetal/neonatal deaths. 11.4% of births are at < 37 weeks' gestation. The rate of prematurity increases dramatically with the number of fetuses - singletons 10%; twins 54.9%; and triplets 93.6%

The aim of the pilot study is to explore and identify the issues of concern to parents whose babies have been cared for in a neonatal unit and exposed to imaging, its influence on diagnosis and information-giving process