While some previous studies have suggested that carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke may have a protective effect against preeclampsia, a recent study conducted by the Genetics of Pre-Eclampsia Consortium in the United Kingdom found that smokers were five times more likely to develop pre-eclampsia.Nicotine alone has been shown to be a teratogen which affects the autonomic nervous system, leading to increased susceptibility to hypoxia-induced brain damage. Maternal anemia in which smoking has also been implicated is another factor associated with IH/BA. Smoking by expectant mothers causes a decrease in maternal nucleated red blood cells, thereby reducing the amount of red blood cells available for oxygen transport.Utero-placental hypoxia is associated with abnormal placental implantation, impaired vascular remodeling and vascular diseases. It is also associated with pregnancies complicated by gestational hypertension, intrauterine growth restriction, and pre-eclampsia.Post-placental hypoxia is associated with mechanical obstructions of the umbilical cords, reduced uterine artery flow, progressive fetal cardiac failure, and genetic anomalies.The perinatal brain injury occurring as a result of birth asphyxia, manifesting within 48 hours of birth, is a form of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Diagnosis
Treatment
Treatment of infants with birth asphyxia by lowering the core body temperature is now known to be an effective therapy to reduce mortality and improve neurological outcome in survivors, and hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy begun within 6 hours of birth significantly increases the chance of normal survival in affected infants.There has long been a debate over whether newborn infants with birth asphyxia should be resuscitated with 100% oxygen or normal air.
Keratolytic Winter erythema (also known as Oudtshoorn disease or Oudtshoorn skin) is a rare autosomal dominant skin disease of unknown cause which causes redness and peeling of the skin on the palms and soles. Onset, increased prominence and severity usually occurs during winter. It is a type of genodermatosis.The name "Oudtshoorn skin" derives from the town of Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape province of South Africa, where the disorder was first described. It is one of several genetic disorders known to be highly prevalent among the Afrikaner population. Presentation
KWE is characterized by a number of anomalies affecting the skin. Erythema causes redness of the skin, which is generally associated with inflammation and irritation. Including erythema and hyperkeratosis (thickening of the stratum corneum), naturally occurring keratolytic peeling and scaling, with increased manifestation in winter, are prevailing features of the disorder.Erythema in KWE has been attributed to necrobiosis (cellular death) within the Malpighian layer (the innermost layer of the epidermis). Peeling and scaling are caused by spreading dissection of the stratum corneum, correlating to the underlying necrobiosis.The effects of KWE appear intermittently as patches on the skin of the palms and soles, with these patches appearing on the limbs, buttocks and torso in severe cases. Facial lesions of this type have also been reported with the disorder, though this is considered to be an extremely rare occurrence.Onset and cyclical recurrence of KWE have shown to be associated with the arrival of winter, or winter-like weather.