No description available.

The objective of this study is to remove or, at least, reduce the noise in uterine EMG recordings, which at their present noise level render the data unusable. Predicting when true labor will start and recognizing when labor actually starts are important for both normal and complex pregnancies. For normal pregnancy, the prognosis of labor is important for reducing unnecessary hospital costs. About 10% of the four million babies born each year in the United States are born prematurely. At $1,500 a day for neonatal intensive care, this comprises national health care expenses of well over $5 billion. Spectral analysis, filter design, and 1/3 octave analysis were applied to analyze the uterine EMG recordings. Signal-to-noise ratio was increased with IIR Butterworth bandstop filter. The spectral band between 0.25 and 0.4 Hz shows matching of the Toco belt via spectral analysis. Nevertheless, 1/3 octave analysis gives the highest correct detection percentage compare with frequency analysis and filter design.

The objective of this study is to remove or, at least, reduce the noise in uterine EMG recordings, which at their present noise level render the data unusable. Predicting when true labor will start and recognizing when labor actually starts are important for both normal and complex pregnancies. For normal pregnancy, the prognosis of labor is important for reducing unnecessary hospital costs. About 10% of the four million babies born each year in the United States are born prematurely. At $1,500 a day for neonatal intensive care, this comprises national health care expenses of well over $5 billion. Spectral analysis, filter design, and 1/3 octave analysis were applied to analyze the uterine EMG recordings. Signal-to-noise ratio was increased with IIR Butterworth bandstop filter. The spectral band between 0.25 and 0.4 Hz shows matching of the Toco belt via spectral analysis. Nevertheless, 1/3 octave analysis gives the highest correct detection percentage compare with frequency analysis and filter design.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-54). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (MTech (Biomedical Technology))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town,1997 / The aims of this study were to measure: 1. Myometrial cells of menopausal uteri to establish whether they atrophy after the menopause. 2. Myometrial cells at different phases of the menstrual cycle to investigate the influences of oestrogen and progesterone during the cycle. 3. Myometrial cells in the fundus and lower uterine segment to establish whether they differ in size. 4. Myometrial cells of pregnant uteri to investigate the effect of the hormonal status of pregnant women on the size of myometrial cells. 5. Neoplastic cells of leiomyomas of the uterus to investigate whether these benign tumours behave in the same manner as myometrium or, because they are neoplastic, they react differently. A preliminary investigation was undertaken to establish the optimal methodology for this study to measure myometrial and leiomyoma nuclei in the uterus. The aims of this preliminary investigation were: 1. To test the reproducibility of measurements of myometrial and leiomyoma nuclei in transverse and cross section. 2. To test five histological staining methods to ascertain the best method for a morphometric study on uterine cells. 3. To find the minimum sample size of nuclei per section of myometrium or leiomyoma in order to yield statistically significant results. This preliminary study found that the Haematoxylin and Eosin stain gave the most statistically reproducible measurements. Subjective assessment of the five staining methods also found Haematoxylin and Eosin to be optimal. It was also found during the preliminary study that measuring the myometrial nuclei in cross rather than transverse section gave the most statistically reproducible measurements. It was also found that it was best to use an axial ratio criterion of 0,9 when measuring cross-sectioned myometrial nuclei. The optimum sample size per section was also investigated and it was found that measuring 100 nuclei was optimal. It was found that in the uteri used in this study there was no statistically significant decrease in nuclear size after the menopause. It was also found that there was no statistically significant difference in nuclear size during the different phases of the menstrual cycle. There was also no notable difference in nuclear size between nuclei in the fundus and lower segment of the uteri in this study. It was found that there was a significant increase in the size of nuclei in leiomyomas compared to the normal myometrial nuclei from the same patient. The myometrial nuclei from pregnant uteri were also significantly larger than those from non-gravid uteri.

No description available.

No description available.

Understanding the physiology of pregnancy enables effective management of pregnancy complications that could otherwise be life threatening for both mother and fetus. A functional uterus (a) retains the fetus in utero during pregnancy without initiating stretch-induced contractions and (b) is able to dilate the cervix and contract the myometrium at term to deliver the fetus. The onset of labour is associated with successful cervical remodelling and contraction of myometrium, arising from concomitant activation of uterine immune and endocrine systems. A large body of evidence suggest that the action of local sex hormones may drive changes occurring in the uterine microenvironment at term. Although there have been a number of studies considering the potential role(s) played by progesterone and estrogens at the time of parturition, the role of androgens has received less scrutiny. The overarching aim of this thesis was to investigate the potential roles of androgens in myometrial biology at the time of pregnancy. We examined both the genetranscription dependent (genomic) and independent (non-genomic) action of androgens on the uterine smooth muscle, employing in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo approaches. We found that the androgen receptor (AR) mRNA was significantly increased in the myometrium during labour when compared to the term non-labouring myometrium. Our gene expression studies revealed that ligand-dependent AR signalling in the myometrium might play a role in regulation of uterine smooth muscle cell contractility. We explored the effect of androgens on contraction of uterine smooth muscle strips obtained from both human myometrial biopsies collected at term and murine uterine horns. We found that testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in a range of 10-100 μM concentrations rapidly relaxed spontaneous and oxytocin-initiated contractions. The relaxant effect was not mediated by the classical intracellular AR nor was cell-surface initiated as shown by experiments employing a specific AR antagonist (flutamide) and a cell-surface impermeable androgen (TBSA). We investigated whether the relaxant effect was specific to androgens or a generic effect of sex hormones. We demonstrated that both estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) were also capable of relaxing the human and murine myometrium at the same dose range. In addition, a sex hormone “cocktail” (all four sex hormones combined at 10 μM dose each) mimicked the relaxant effect that each individual sex hormone elicited at a 40 μM dose, implying that the effect was possibly attributable to the steroid structure of the sex hormones. To study the underlying molecular events that mediate the relaxant effect of sex hormones observed ex vivo, we employed two human myometrial cell lines namely PHM1-41s and UtSMCs. We demonstrated that the androgen-induced relaxation in vitro was not induced by cell death but was mediated by a physiological mechanism whereby incubation with the androgen impaired the stimulated-Ca2+ entry into the uterine myocytes, which in turn resulted in poor phosphorylation of myosin light chain protein. Finally, we conducted a pilot study to explore the hypothesis that administration of androgen could relax the uterine muscle in vivo. We utilised a mouse model of infection-induced preterm labour, where infection was induced by intrauterine administration of liposaccharide (LPS) on day 17 of murine pregnancy. Our preliminary data showed that intrauterine administration of DHT on day 17 did not significantly reduce the rate of LPS-induced preterm birth in the doses tested in this study. In conclusion, the androgen-induced in vitro tocolysis appears to be sex hormone-specific rather than androgen-specific. Therefore, sex hormones might have the potential to be used for effective in vivo tocolysis to inhibit premature-initiated contractions. Our investigation of the androgen-dependent signalling in the myometrium contributed to the development of novel hypotheses regarding the role of androgens in the regulation of the phenotypic transition of MSMCs during pregnancy. These hypotheses remain to be confirmed in future studies.

Leung Yee Fong. / "August 2002." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 262-287). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.