The purpose of this study was to investigate women's experiences of pain, bleeding,to discover the fetus, hospitalization associated with medical abortion at home and toexplore differences in experiences between different groups of women, as age orprevious childbirth. The study was conducted at two gynecological clinics in Uppsalaand in Stockholm. A questionnaire was distributed and analyzed using a quantitativeanalysis method. The response rate was 30 %. Most women were satisfied with thepain relief given to them from the hospital. The group that had not given birth and theyounger women (18-28 years) experienced greater pain than the older women andthose women who had not given birth. Heat such as heating pad on the stomach wasthe most common non-pharmacological method of pain relief. A majority of thewomen in the study bled for six days, and many bled over 14 days. Many of theparticipants who felt that they noticed when the fetus descended described it as alump or a ball. Despite the low numbers of participation this study helps midwives inthe two clinics to provide better support and information to women seeking anabortion completed in the home.

To investigate the relation between amniotic fluid (amf) constituents and human fetal growth and birth weight (b.wt), amf was collected from 395 pregnant women undergoing routine amniocentesis at 14--16 weeks' gestation at the Royal Victoria (RVH), Jewish General (JGH), and St. Mary's (SMH) Hospitals. The fluid was analyzed for total protein, albumin, urea nitrogen, creatinine, uric acid, glucose, beta-hydroxybutyrate (betaHBA), and lactate. Maternal and neonatal data were collected from a questionnaire at the time of recruitment and from medical charts post-delivery. The mean b.wt in our population was 3409 +/- 552g. Birth weight differed significantly by infant gender, maternal height (ht), and prepregnancy weight (wt), as determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Of the amf constituents measured, glucose showed strong evidence of being a potential predictor of b.wt, such that for each mmol/L increase in amf glucose a 119.4g increase in b.wt was observed. Lactate showed a similar but weaker tendency toward predictive value. Ongoing research is currently being done to further examine the role of human amf constituents in predicting b.wt, the goal being to develop a predictive model that would aid in preparing for and preventing aberrations in fetal growth.

The foetus and its legal status in Sunni Islamic law constitute the topic of this thesis. This topic was chosen due to two main reasons. First, it is a topic of great social relevance, particularly with regards to the issues of abortion, ensoulment and foetal rights. Second, it is a topic that has received scant scholarly attention. Indeed, we find that many scholars deal with issues related to the foetus such as inheritance, bequests and blood-money inter alia in their discussions of such issues. We do not find a work concentrating solely on the foetus, thereby gathering many rulings concerning it in a single oeuvre. Hence, given the current state of scholarship as well as the social relevance of the rulings concerning the foetus, this topic was chosen as the main theme of this thesis. / This thesis explores the different tools utilized by jurists to arrive at these rulings. It tackles the issues of conception, ensoulment, abortion and gestation before proceeding to the rulings concerning the foetus' parentage, inheritance and blood-money. In doing so, it resorts to fiqh books from the four Sunni schools of law. It argues that the foetus was recognized as a "person" under the law and that great effort was extended towards securing many rights in its favour.

The clinical manifestations of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn mediated by anti-K, an antibody of the Kell blood group system, are distinguishable from the classical form of the disease. Affected fetuses have low numbers of circulating reticulocytes and antibody titers and bilirubin levels are not reliable predictors of anemia. These observations suggest that antibodies to Kell glycoprotein lead to anemia through suppression of erythropoiesis. This study established a liquid erythroid progenitor cell culture model in which to perform analyses on the mechanism of the suppressive growth effect of anti-Kell glycoprotein. Using this culture model, this study demonstrated the requirement for co-ligation of Kell glycoprotein by a bivalent antibody for growth suppression. The absence of markers of apoptosis in cell cultures treated with anti-Kell glycoprotein suggests that the mechanism of growth suppression is distinct from programmed cell death and necrosis. Furthermore, this growth suppression cannot be rescued by erythropoietin.

The primary objective of antenatal assessment and monitoring is to ensure wellbeing of the fetus and the mother. There are different methods of assessment during pregnancy and in labour. Doppler ultrasound is one of the tests widely used in clinical practice in the evaluation of pregnancies that are at a greater risk of developing maternal or fetal complications due to uteroplacental insufficiency. Doppler ultrasound enables evaluation of sequential changes in circulatory haemodynamics in the fetus by evaluation of the fetus for signs of brain sparing and severity of redistribution of circulation. Recognition of abnormal Doppler flow patterns helps the clinician to optimise the appropriate timing of delivery. Identification of the ‘high risk’ fetus, before any changes of fetal compromise become evident, still remains one of the major dilemmas in contemporary clinical practice. This thesis seeks to explore the role of Doppler monitoring fetal intrauterine central shunts as a method of identifying the ‘high-risk’ fetus before any other established parameters, such as, fetal biometry, fetal weight or flow waveforms in umbilical artery become abnormal. This thesis also evaluates the role of serial Doppler monitoring of fetal central shunts in those fetuses where IUGR has been established. This is based on the premise that the intrauterine shunts are present in fetal circulation to work closely with the placenta to ensure appropriate nutrition and oxygenation of the fetus, bypassing the lungs. Four prospective longitudinal studies were designed to evaluate the role of fetal intrauterine shunts in adaptive response mechanisms in cardiovascular stress. Two models were taken into consideration: an ‘acute cardiovascular stress’ model and a ‘chronic cardiovascular stress’ model. To study the ‘response to acute cardiovascular stress’ in high-risk fetuses, a cohort of mothers undergoing fetal intrauterine transfusion for fetal anaemia were selected. These fetuses were scanned immediately before and after transfusion, and Doppler flows through all the intrauterine shunts were documented and compared with fetoplacental and cerebral circulation. To study the ‘response to chronic cardiovascular stress’, a prospective longitudinal observational study was designed and the sequence of changes in Doppler ultrasound of the fetal central shunts studied and compared with the Doppler flow waveforms of normal pregnancies with a group of pregnancies complicated by uteroplacental insufficiency. Normograms were designed for all the Doppler parameters and flows from adverse pregnancy outcomes were compared to the normogram. The pregnancy outcomes in the longitudinal study were correlated with placental pathology. Our study showed that although changes were demonstrated in the flow patterns within central shunts, these changes were not statistically significant in the ‘acute cardiovascular stress model’, suggesting that there may be other haemodynamic alterations in acute cardiovascular stress. However, in the ‘chronic cardiovascular stress model’, the results suggest that the intrauterine cardiac shunts may play an important role in redistribution of fetal flows in early stages of growth restriction, suggesting that Doppler ultrasound monitoring of foramen ovale can be potentially used as a screening tool to identify high-risk fetuses as early as 16 weeks. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1349883 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, 2009

Thesis (MEdPsych)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [11-1]-11-19).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Paediatrics, 1999. / Bibliography: leaves 231-266.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Hons)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / "Thesis submitted to fulfil requirements for M. Sci. (Hons)" "January 2002" Bibliography: p. 193 - 214.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 1993.