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The present study examined whether maternal serum cytokine levels are useful for the diagnosis of histologic chorioamnionitis. The blood samples of 29 women who delivered preterm between 22 and 34 weeks of gestation were collected at delivery, and placentas were histopathologically examined for chorioamnionitis. The interleukin (IL) 6 titer was higher in 18 mothers with histologic chorioamnionitis (median 12.0 pg/ml, range 4.9-63.5 pg/ml) than that in 11 mothers without histologic chorioamnionitis (median 3.5 pg/ml, range 1.7–14.9 pg/ml; p < 0.0001). The C-reactive protein (CRP) titer also differed significantly between these two groups (chorioamnionitis group: median 5.2 mg/dl, range 0.1–12.3 mg/dl; no chorioamnionitis group: median 0.2 mg/dl, range 0.1–0.5 mg/dl; p = 0.0001). The IL-6 titer showed better clinical diagnostic indices and a higher odds ratio (9.78, 95% confidence interval 1.50-63.82) than did CRP (3.26, 95% confidence interval 1.22–8.67). The levels of IL-8, monocyte chemotactic and activating factor, and soluble IL·6 receptor did not differ between the two groups. These data suggest that the level of maternal serum IL·6 is more useful than other markers, including CRP, for the identification of women at risk of impending preterm labor with histologic chorioamnionitis.

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This paper proposes a learning model that enables a robot to acquire a body image for parts of its body that are invisible to itself. The model associates spatial perception based on motor experience and motor image with perception based on the activations of touch sensors and tactile image, both of which are supported by visual information. The tactile image can be acquired with the help of the motor image, which is thought to be the basis for spatial perception, because all spatial perceptions originate in motor experiences. Based on the proposed model, a robot estimates invisible hand positions using the Jacobian between the displacement of the joint angles and the optical flow of the hand. When the hand touches one of the invisible tactile sensor units on the face, the robot associates this sensor unit with the estimated hand position. The simulation results show that the spatial arrangement of tactile sensors is successfully acquired by the proposed model.

Color Doppler flow sonography is a valuable tool for detecting the blood flow of intraplacental villous arteries in vivo and the images agree with the vascular anatomy of placenta in vitro. These results may also provide the basic parameters for future studies of some complicated pregnancies.