Most research on life span and aging has been based on captive populations of short-lived animals; however, we know very little about the expression of these traits in wild populations of such organisms. Because life span and aging are major components of fitness, the extent to which the results of many evolutionary studies in the laboratory can be generalized to natural settings depends on the degree to which the expression of life span and aging differ in natural environments versus laboratory environments and whether such environmental effects interact with phenotypic variation. We investigated life span and aging in Telostylinus angusticollis in the wild while simultaneously estimating these parameters under a range of conditions in a laboratory stock that was recently established from the same wild population. We found that males live less than one-fifth as long and age at least twice as rapidly in the wild as do their captive counterparts. In contrast, we found no evidence of aging in wild females. These striking sex-specific differences between captive and wild flies support the emerging view that environment exerts a profound influence on the expression of life span and aging. These findings have important implications for evolutionary gerontology and, more generally, for the interpretation of fitness estimates in captive populations.

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Objective: To determine whether a diminished intrapartum amniotic fluid volume represents a risk of adverse neonatal outcome when it occurs in conjunction with prolonged labor. Methods: The intrapartum amniotic fluid index (iAFI) was measured in 242 parturients over 35 weeks of gestation during 1st-stage labor, and the umbilical artery blood gas was analyzed at delivery. The subjects were divided into group A (n = 99), having a diminished amniotic fluid volume (iAFI ≤8.0 cm) and group B (n = 143), having a normal amniotic fluid volume (iAFI 8.1–20.0 cm), and selected antenatal, delivery, and neonatal variables were compared. In addition, the two groups were subdivided according to the duration of labor. Statistical analysis was performed using independent Student’s t test, Mann-Whitney U test, chi-square analysis, and Fisher’s exact test where appropriate. p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The patient characteristics and pregnancy outcomes were similar in groups A and B, as were the incidences of an umbilical artery blood pH <7.20 and/or an Apgar score <7 (group A 9.5%, group B 10.1%). In group A, however, the incidence of an adverse neonatal outcome was 23.5% in cases in whom the duration of labor was longer than 8 h which was significantly higher than in cases in whom the duration of labor was 8 h or less (2.8%; p < 0.01). In group B, the incidence of an adverse neonatal outcome was similar in the two subgroups. Conclusions: The risk of an adverse neonatal outcome is higher in patients with diminished amniotic fluid volume if labor is prolonged. Consequently, determination of the iAFI could be a useful admission test.

A case of cerebellar arteriovenous malformation (AVM) during pregnancy is reported. A 26-year-old primigravida had cerebellar hemorrhage at 32 weeks of gestation. She was conservatively controlled until term with a good outcome accomplished by elective cesarean section. AVM in the left cerebellar hemisphere was confirmed by angiography after delivery and successfully removed. Here we present a review of AVM during pregnancy and a few case reports of cerebellar AVM-complicated pregnancy published in available literatures.