Placental weight and its relationship with the birth weight of term infants and body mass index of the mothers.

OBJECTIVE: Placental pathology is a well-known cause of perinatal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, and may correlate with placental growth, which can be assessed indirectly by anthropometric placental measurements. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate mean placental weight and its relationship with birthweight and maternal body mass index (BMI). METHODS: Fresh (not formalin fixed) consecutively delivered placentae of term newborns (37-42 weeks), collected between February 2022 and August 2022, and the mothers and newborns, were included. Mean placental weight, birthweight and maternal BMI were calculated. Pearson's correlation coefficient, linear regression, and one-way analysis of variance were used to analyse continuous and categorical data. RESULTS: Out of 390 samples, 211 placentae (with 211 newborns and mothers) were included in this study after exclusion criteria were applied. Mean placental weight was 494.45 ± 110.39 g, and mean term birth weight/placental weight ratio was 6.21 ± 1.21 (range, 3.35-11.62 g). Placental weight was positively correlated with birthweight and maternal BMI, but not with newborn sex. Linear regression effect estimation of placental weight on birthweight revealed a medium correlation (R2 = 0.212; formula, 1.4553 × X + 2246.7, where X is placental weight [g]). CONCLUSION: Placental weight was revealed to positively correlate with birthweight and maternal BMI.

Accidental Choking in Children: An Area To Be Focused on.

Choking is one of the important modes of death in young children who are dying of unintentional injuries. Anatomical and physiological characteristics while eating could increase the incidence of choking in children under four years. Here, we have described two classical cases of choking in young children and discussed the important areas to be addressed. Parental awareness and education will be the important strategy that can prevent the incidence of choking.

Kounis Syndrome and Multiorgan Failure Following Multiple Wasp Stings.

Wasp and bee stings are common in Sri Lanka, and systemic envenomation causes a spectrum of clinical manifestations that includes simple local allergic reaction to life-threatening multiple organ injury or failure. However, wasp toxin-induced acute myocardial infarction is very rare in the literature. Here, we describe a pregnant lady with mass wasp stings who developed toxin-induced acute myocardial infarction with multiorgan injury. The treating physician should anticipate the complications of massive envenomation following multiple wasp stings.