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Summary Sixty‐four healthy women were followed during normal pregnancies in which they took supplements of iron or iron+folate or an inactive placebo. The red cell size increased in those patients receiving iron alone or iron+folate. The group on the inactive placebo who received no supplemental iron had red cells of constant size and a falling serum iron. Nineteen women not included in the trial developed macrocytosis during pregnancy: marrow samples from these showed normoblastic erythropoiesis in 18 and minor megaloblastic changes in one. Macrocytosis developing during pregnancy is a physiological change in the majority of cases.

No abstract

Summary A single flexible active electrode for monitoring the fetal electroencephalogram (FEEG), has been designed specifically for use in routine obstetrics. It does not require penetration of or adherence to the fetal scalp, and it is reusable. The equipment's performance has been tested in 20 normal labours. The recordings obtained were not contaminated by the fetal electrocardiogram and were relatively free from artefact so that minimal filtering of the signal was required. No FEEG signal was obtained if the electrode was applied to breech presentations. The trace obtained from a healthy fetus was comparable with that recorded after delivery.

1. Maternal and umbilical cord plasma samples were collected from forty-seven Asian women, twenty-eight lifelong vegetarians and seventeen non-vegetarians, during delivery of their babies. The concentrations and fatty acid profiles of the plasma free fatty acid and triacylglycerol fractions were determined.2. There were no significant differences between the levels of free fatty acid and triacylglycerol in either maternal or cord plasma from vegetarian compared with non-vegetarian Asian women. The fatty acid profiles of the lipid fractions in the two groups were similar. Total plasma free fatty acid levels in the maternal circulation correlated with umbilical cord levels.3. Thelevels of linoleic acid in the maternal plasma free fatty acid fraction of the Asian women were much higher than previous reports on mixed populations of European women. In the Asian women arachidonic acid concentrations in both maternal and umbilical circulations were over four times higher than those reported for women unselected for race and diet.