Placental pathology: its impact on explaining prenatal and perinatal death

This review considers six main situations in which pathologists are expected to report and interpret placental messages for obstetricians, neonatologists and, indirectly, parents: (1) abortion is the body's corrective response to the embryonic defect suggested by malformed chorionic villi; (2) infection causing chorionic villous inflammation is specific and haematogenous; pathogen identification is mandatory, in contrast to chorioamnionitis caused by increased local immunosuppression allowing indiscriminate bacterial entry; (3) prematurity and (4) intrauterine growth restriction are often associated with pregnancy-specific disease (pre-eclampsia) or pre-existing maternal conditions (systemic lupus); parental studies may improve outcome in subsequent pregnancies; (5) intrauterine death near term is often due to placental dysmaturity featuring a severely reduced number of syncytiocapillary membranes; it accounts for the death in utero of 3 in 1000 pregnancies; detection helps to minimise recurrence in subsequent pregnancies; (6) twins are best confirmed as monozygous by the absence of chorionic tissue in the dividing membranes; most monochorionic twins have vascular connections whose detailed analysis is requested only if there are inter-twin differences in growth and colour. From a formal point of view, many more bits of pathology than discussed in this review can be found in placentas and, with the advances in ultrasonography, might even be seen prior to birth. The extent of such a disturbance might ultimately affect fetal growth, which is amenable to prenatal detection offering the chances for an appropriate management. In contrast, dysmaturity is a great challenge as no predictive tests are as yet availabl

Classification of finite congruence-simple semirings with zero

Our main result states that a finite semiring of order >2 with zero which is not a ring is congruence-simple if and only if it is isomorphic to a `dense' subsemiring of the endomorphism semiring of a finite idempotent commutative monoid. We also investigate those subsemirings further, addressing e.g. the question of isomorphy.Comment: 16 page

On the rank of semimodules over semirings

In this paper we investigate conditions on a semiring $S$ such that there are semimodules over $S$ with bases of different length. This includes and generalizes corresponding results on rings, in particular one due to P. Dubreil

Maternal serum interleukin-1β, -6 and -8 levels and potential determinants in pregnancy and peripartum

Aims: To measure maternal serum interleukins (IL) in pregnancy, delivery and early puerperium, and to identify their potential determinants. Methods: Prospective longitudinal measures of serum IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 in 38 healthy pregnant women at antenatal visits, through labor and delivery, with clinical correlates (infection, vaginal hemorrhage and anemia) recorded by questionnaire. Results: Pregnancy IL levels remained consistently low. IL-1β increased shortly before delivery, then returned to pregnant levels, except where blood loss exceeded 500 ml. IL-6 and IL-8 rose at labor onset and exceeded pregnancy levels through postpartum day three. Postpartum IL-6 was higher after non-elective cesarean section than after spontaneous delivery (P < 0.0001), and where blood loss exceeded 500 ml. IL-6 and IL-8 were higher with systemic infection during delivery (P < 0.0001) and on postpartum day one (P < 0.05); IL-8 was higher in anemia (delivery: P < 0.005; postpartum day 1: P < 0.05). Differences due to delivery mode and systemic infection remained significant after correction for other conditions. Conclusions: Labor-dependent inflammation increases all IL levels at delivery. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to establish reference values differentiating physiology from pathology as an aid to peripartum managemen

Finanzierung wissenschaftlicher Weiterbildung. Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten bei der Implementierung und Umsetzung von weiterbildenden Angeboten an Hochschulen Thematischer Bericht der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung des Bundes-Länder-Wettbewerbs "Aufstieg durch Bildung: offene Hochschulen".

Die Finanzierung wissenschaftlicher Weiterbildung stellt aufgrund der besonderen Stellung der Weiterbildung an Hochschulen die damit befassten Akteure vor zentrale Herausforderungen. Deutlich zeigt sich hier der Widerspruch zwischen der Forderung Weiterbildung als Kernaufgabe an den Hochschulen zu etablieren und der gesonderten Finanzierungsmodelle, die aufgrund der notwendigen Kostendeckung über Gebühren entstehen. Die damit einhergehenden Herausforderungen werden in dem Thematischen Bericht auf Ebene der a) Trennungsrechnung, b) Vollkostenrechnung, c) Gebühren- und Entgeltberechnung und d) der Lehrendenvergütung skizziert, Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten dargelegt sowie Bundesländer übergreifende Lösungsansätze entwickelt. (DIPF/Orig.