---

ABSTRACT Introduction & Objective: Chlamydia trachomatis infection is one of the most common sexual infections among childbearing women. Proper treatment of this infection in pregnant women is an important public bealth issue. Our goal was to compare the efficacy of amoxicillin and erythromycin on treatment of asymptomatic acute and chronic chlamydia trachomatis infection in pregnant women. Material & Methods: A randomized cohort trial of pregnant women with chlamydia trachomatis IgM and IgG positive serum receiving care at two inner city, university - based prenatal clinics were randomly assigned to receive either oral amoxicillin, 500 mg three times daily for 7 days (case grouP 1), erythromycin 400 mg four times for 7 days (case group2) or placebo 500mg three times for 7 days(control group). Participants referred for retesting 4 weeks after initiation of treatment and the patients were followed till delivery.Patients with positive folllow up blood tests were crossed over into the alternate treatment and retested at a later visit. Statitical analysis was performed by using McNemar ,exact Fisher tests and chi square analysis. Results: 333 pregnant women were enrolled in this study and 92 chlamydia infected women (27.62%) completed the protocol. There was no significant difference between delivery gestational age of the groups (39.05, 38.72, 38.6 week) showing that chlamydia infection was not associated with preterm labor. Acute chlamydia infection rates before and after treatment in both amoxicillin and erythromycin groups were significantly different.The rates of acute chlamydia infection reduced from 83.87% before treatment to 35.48% after treatment (p<0.001) in group treated by amoxicillin.This change was 64.51% before treatment vs 29.03 after treatment (p<0.001) in erythromycin group.Chronic chlamydia infection rates in erythromycin group was significantly reduced in compare amoxicillin group after treatment. Based on the results of this study, the rates of chronic chlamydia infection in erythromycin group reduced from 41.93% before treatment to 19.35% after treatment (p=0.01). The change in amoxicillin group was observed before treatment 19.35% vs 12.9% after treatment. In the amoxicillin group , 6 women (19.35%) were intolerant ,compared with 10 women (32.25%) in erythromycin group . Conclusion: Chlamydia infection was not associated with preterm labor. Two kinds of treatments used in this sudy had the similar effects on acute chlamydia infection but erythromycin was more effective than amoxicillin on chronic chlamydia infection .Women treated by amoxicillin had less gastrointestinal complications than those treated by erythromycin .

---

ABSTRACT: Introduction & Objective: Social relationships have a positive effect on physical health and psychological well-being. Social relationships are thought to be supportive of the extent that they provide individuals with transition as well as general sense of self-worth psychological well-being, and control over their environment. Support may also motivate mother to engage in positive health behaviors and to make lifestyle changes that can improve her physical health. Thus, there are multiple pathways through which social support may be linked to improved maternal and fetal health and consequently better birth outcomes. Pregnant women need the support of caring family members, friends and professionals. The purpose of this study was to identify physical and social status of pregnant women and their association with demographic factors. Materials & Methods: 290 pregnant women referred to Iran- Shiraz prenatal clinic in 2004 were included in this randomized analytic descriptive study. Physical, familiar, occupational, personal and social status of pregnant women and association of these indicators with demographic factors were evaluated. To collect data, we used Holmes and Cooper’s life change questionnaires. To identify reliability of questionnaire, we used pilot study with 40 cases and the reliability was estimated to be 95%. For data analysis, chi square, non parametric spearman and Mann- Whitney U were used. Results: Most of pregnant women had low education (64.4%) and were housekeepers (94.1%). The frequency of pregnancy interval> 2 years and intended pregnancy were reported 57.9% and 72.4% respectively. Physical status of pregnant women showed that the most physical problems were changes of sleeping habit (64.2%), eating habit disorders (51.6%), vacation changes (82.1%) and changes in personal habits (93.8%).The results also showed that gravida has negative effect on physical status, it means higher gravida is related to low physical health (p=0.004) but education level and pregnancy interval aren’t related to physical status. Regarding family-relative status, the most negative events were: husband work problems (30.8%), family members’ conflicts of pregnant women (27.4%), and conflict with husband’s family members (25.7%), conflict with husband (31%), sexual desire decrease (48.7%), husband’s sexual desire decrease (27.6%) and change in residence (32.8%). High education (p<0.001) and low gravida (p=0.02) had positive effects on social-familiar support but pregnancy interval was not related to it (p>0.05). The results also showed that education, gravida and pregnancy interval did not have any relationships with financial, occupational, personal and social status, but personal and social status of pregnant women had positive effect on occupational status (p=0.001). Physical and financial statuses were not connected to occupational status. Conclusion: Lower gravida improves physical status of pregnant women. High level of education increases familiar-social support but these factors have no effect on financial, occupational, personal and social status. Good personal and social status makes better occupational status.

---

ABSTRACT: Introduction & Objective: Investigations have shown that the emotional stress during the pregnancy period could have sustainable effects on the embryo. Different factors such as family members, spouse, supporting friends could relive these effects, but coping skills especially relaxation could be more effective on stress. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of relaxation training to pregnant mothers on health index such as Apgar index, weight, height, and cowlick grade in infants. Materials & Methods: This is a clinical trail in which 100 pregnant women who referred to health center of Yasuj (2006-2008) were selected using simple sampling method and assigned randomly to case and control groups. The relaxation was taught to the case group whereas nothing was taught to control groups. At the time of delivery the above mentioned indices were assessed. The gathered data was analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The results showed a significant difference between two groups in weight, height, cephalic index, and colic grade (with better situation in case group). There was no significant difference between two groups in Apgar scores. Conclusion: Considering the results of this study, it seems that teaching of relaxation to pregnant women could be effective in health index of children especially in the time of delivery. Therefore attention should be paid to different methods for reducing the stress in this group of mothers. Keywords: relaxation, pregnant women, infants, Apgar scores

---

Background & aim: Listeria monocytogenes is one of the causes of miscarriage and stillbirth. The aim of the present study was to compare the results of the standard culture method and polymerase chain reaction in pregnant women. Methods: This is an experimental study which was carried out at Imam Sajjad hospital in 2009 on 107 pregnant women. Specimens (311) including urine, blood, placenta and cervix swabs were collected. After enrichment course, for a period of 4 weeks in cold condition, ulture was performed for all specimens. The samples were also evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Collected data were analyzed using SPSS, using McNemar and Capa statistical tests. Results: Participants of this study were 15 to 38 years old women, with a mean age of 26.7 years. Frequencies of first and second abortion in the subjects were 59.8% and 12.1% respectively. No culture positive cases were found among the samples while PCR detected hly gene in 10.28% of the subjects. A significant different was observed between the two methods (p=0.022). Conclusion: Findings of this study demonstrated that PCR is more sensitive than culture method for diagnosis of Listeria infection in pregnant women.

---

Background & aim: During the outbreak of emerging infections such as the new coronavirus disease, pregnant women and their fetuses are more vulnerable than other populations. On the other hand, there are also researches and findings about the possible consequences of this disease during pregnancy in pregnant women, so the purpose of the study was to determine and investigate more knowledge of the maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women diagnosed with covid-19 in Shahid Jalil and Imam Sajjad (AS) hospitals. .

Methods: In the present descriptive-cross-sectional study, the research population included all pregnant women admitted to Shahid Jalil and Imam Sajjad hospitals to give birth (227 non-infected pregnant women and 109 pregnant women infected with Covid-19) from April 2019 to July 2019. Demographic information, pregnancy, covid-19 disease, childbirth and postpartum were collected using a questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using chi-score, t-test, and independent t-tests.

Results: The average age in the two studied groups was 30 years. 18.3% of infected women were in the 22nd week of pregnancy, and in the group of non-infected women, 20.7% were between 38 and 39 weeks and 17.2% were between 39 and 40 weeks of pregnancy. 26% of women with covid and 35% of non-infected women experienced their second pregnancy. Both groups had a history of abortion, stillbirth and multiple births. Blood group O+ and A+ were the most common blood groups in pregnant women with covid-19. The average Apgar score in pregnant women with covid was lower than that of non-infected pregnant women. 51.5% of women with covid gave birth by c-section. Premature delivery, respiratory diseases, pre-eclampsia and premature delivery were among the most common complications of covid in pregnant women with covid-19.

Conclusion: It seems that the infection of pregnant women with covid-19 can increase the severity of the disease and its complications and endanger the health of the mother and the fetus. To reduce the severity of the disease, pregnant women should be aware of the potential risks of the disease. Moreover, careful prenatal care, health protocols training, careful monitoring of mother and fetus during and after delivery are necessary to reduce maternal and neonatal complications.