Social history of a research project: A study on early post-partum discharge

This paper has a two-fold aim: first we report the results of a study in which 66 recently- delivered women were asked their opinion about a possible program of early post-partum discharge, and about their recent experience of birth and hospital stay. The data show that, while most of the mothers were critical of a number of aspects related to personnel behaviour and hospital organization, only a minority would have appreciated early post-partum discharge. The second aim was to present and discuss the social history of this research project: the reasons why the authors carried out the study, the difficulties in interpreting the results and, above all, the obstacles encountered in trying to have them circulated, discussed and applied. It was felt that these problems were not specific to this study, and that it was therefore worthwhile to discuss them openly.early post-partum discharge mothers' experience ethics and politics in hospital-based research

Alteration in sulfobromophthalein hepatic storage capacity (S) in non-pregnant women previously affected with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.

The pathogenesis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is still unknown, although it is currently accepted that the disease represents an abnormal reaction of genetically predisposed maternal liver, to estrogen hormones. To gain a better insight into the hepatic handling of cholephilic anions outside of pregnancy itself, we determined, using the perfusion technique of Wheeler et al. (1960), the hepatic maximum excretory rate (Tm) and the storage capacity (S) of sulfobromphthalein (BSP) in 6 women with a past history of ICP and in 6 controls, matched for age and parity, but with no history of ICP or other liver disease. The BSP Tm in the group with previous ICP did not differ significantly from that measured in the control group (9.22 +/- 2.37 vs 7.92 +/- 1.20). By contrast, BSP S values in the 'previous ICP' group was critically higher than that of the controls (120.43 +/- 55.89 vs 39.15 +/- 16.17: t-test p less than 0.005, U-test p less than 0.001). A possible explanation for this result could be the existence of a metabolic defect responsible for an increased intrahepatic concentration of the cholephilic substances inside the liver cells