Oligohydramnios in women with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes and adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between the presence of oligohydramnios, determined as an amniotic fluid index ≤ 5 cm and the intra-amniotic inflammatory response, fetal inflammatory response and neonatal outcomes in actively managed preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM). METHODS: Women with singleton pregnancies complicated by PPROM at a gestational age of between 24+0 and 36+6 weeks were included in the study. Ultrasound assessments of the amniotic fluid index and evaluation of the amniotic fluid interleukin (IL)-6 levels were performed at admission. The umbilical cord blood IL-6 levels were evaluated after delivery. RESULTS: In total, 74 women were included. The women with oligohydramnios did not have different amniotic fluid IL-6 levels [with oligohydramnios: median 342 pg/mL, interquartile range (IQR) 110-1809 vs. without oligohydramnios: median 256 pg/mL, IQR 122-748; p = 0.71] or umbilical cord blood IL-6 levels (with oligohydramnios: median 8.2 pg/mL, IQR 3.8-146.9 vs. without oligohydramnios: median 5.9 pg/mL, IQR 2.1-27.9; p = 0.14) than those without oligohydramnios. No association between oligohydramnios and neonatal morbidity was found. A correlation between the amniotic fluid index and the interval from rupture of membranes to amniocentesis was observed (rho = -0.34; p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: The presence of oligohydramnios is not associated with an adverse outcome in actively managed PPROM in singleton pregnancies in the absence of other complications

The amniotic fluid (a) and umbilical cord blood (b) interleukin-6 levels with respect to the presence and absence of oligohydramnios.

<p>The horizontal bars indicate the median values.</p

The correlation between the amniotic fluid level determined by the amniotic fluid index (cm) and an interval from PPROM to amniocentesis (hours).

<p>The correlation between the amniotic fluid level determined by the amniotic fluid index (cm) and an interval from PPROM to amniocentesis (hours).</p

Maternal and neonatal characteristics in the group of women with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes with respect to the presence and absence of oligohydramnios.

<p>The continuous variables were compared using an unpaired t-test (values presented as the means ± SD) or the non-parametric Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> test [values presented as the medians (range)]. The categorical variables were compared using Fisher's exact test [values presented as numbers (%)].</p><p>The statistically significant differences are marked in bold.</p><p>Abbreviations:</p><p>PPROM preterm prelabor rupture of membranes.</p><p>IL-6 interleukin-6.</p><p>CRP C-reactive protein.</p><p>WBC white blood cells.</p><p>Maternal and neonatal characteristics in the group of women with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes with respect to the presence and absence of oligohydramnios.</p

Blind prediction of host-guest binding affinities: a new SAMPL3 challenge

The computational prediction of protein-ligand binding affinities is of central interest in early-stage drug-discovery, and there is a widely recognized need for improved methods. Low molecular weight receptors and their ligands-i.e., host-guest systems-represent valuable test-beds for such affinity prediction methods, because their small size makes for fast calculations and relatively facile numerical convergence. The SAMPL3 community exercise included the first ever blind prediction challenge for host-guest binding affinities, through the incorporation of 11 new host-guest complexes. Ten participating research groups addressed this challenge with a variety of approaches. Statistical assessment indicates that, although most methods performed well at predicting some general trends in binding affinity, overall accuracy was not high, as all the methods suffered from either poor correlation or high RMS errors or both. There was no clear advantage in using explicit versus implicit solvent models, any particular force field, or any particular approach to conformational sampling. In a few cases, predictions using very similar energy models but different sampling and/or free-energy methods resulted in significantly different results. The protonation states of one host and some guest molecules emerged as key uncertainties beyond the choice of computational approach. The present results have implications for methods development and future blind prediction exercises