The third meeting of the European Placenta Group and the Rochester Trophoblast Conference in 1989 was concerned with placental communication; this volume presents selected contributions from the meeting, in four thematic sections: Growth, Differentiation, and Establishment of Pregnancy; Signals which regulate Placental Gonadotropin and Lactogen Secretion; Trophoblastic Signal Mechanisms, and Signals and Placental Vasculature.

The placenta is an organ that connects the developing fetus to the uterine wall, thereby allowing nutrient uptake, waste elimination, and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply. Proper vascular development in the placenta is fundamental to ensuring a healthy fetus and successful pregnancy. This book provides an up-to-date summary and synthesis of knowledge regarding placental vascular biology and discusses the relevance of this vascular bed to the functions of the human placenta.

Developmental programming is a rapidly advancing discipline of great importance to basic scientists and health professionals alike. This text integrates, for the first time, contributions from world experts to explore the role of the placenta in developmental programming. The book considers the materno-fetal supply line, and how perturbations of placental development impact on its functional capacity. Chapters examine ways in which environmental, immunological and vascular insults regulate expression of conventional and imprinted genes, along with their impact on placental shape and size, transport, metabolism and endocrine function. Research in animal models is integrated with human clinical and epidemiological data, and questions for future research are identified. Transcripts of discussions between the authors allow readers to engage with controversial issues. Essential reading for researchers in placental biology and developmental programming, as well as specialists and trainees in the wider field of reproductive medicine.

As women of childbearing age have become heavier, the trade-off between maternal and child health created by variation in gestational weight gain has become more difficult to reconcile. Weight Gain During Pregnancy responds to the need for a reexamination of the 1990 Institute of Medicine guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy. It builds on the conceptual framework that underscored the 1990 weight gain guidelines and addresses the need to update them through a comprehensive review of the literature and independent analyses of existing databases. The book explores relationships between weight gain during pregnancy and a variety of factors (e.g., the mother's weight and height before pregnancy) and places this in the context of the health of the infant and the mother, presenting specific, updated target ranges for weight gain during pregnancy and guidelines for proper measurement. New features of this book include a specific range of recommended gain for obese women. Weight Gain During Pregnancy is intended to assist practitioners who care for women of childbearing age, policy makers, educators, researchers, and the pregnant women themselves to understand the role of gestational weight gain and to provide them with the tools needed to promote optimal pregnancy outcomes.

The placenta is fascinating and complex. Basically foreign to the maternal body, it can be thought of as an organ transplanted onto the mother's host tissue. As such it embodies all the principles of tissue acceptance and rejection. Many of the risks of pregnancy and labor have now been eliminated and the placenta is likely to be at the root of many of the dangers to the unborn child that remain. A breakdown of the relationship between the placenta and the maternal tissue may turn out to be the cause of the majority of early lost pregnancies.

A comprehensive, cutting-edge review of the complex interactions between maternal and fetal-placental tissues that control the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, the proper development of the fetus, the birth process, and the behavioral aspects of bonding between mother and newborn. Expert researchers review the endocrine and physiological events that culminate in the delivery of offspring, and provide a solid base of comparative information on the menstrual cycle of primates, including humans. They also discuss the sources and functions of both steroid and protein hormones from the placenta and the details of their effects on uterine function, placental development, fetal growth and well-being, and maternal responses to pregnancy. This book will become the standard reference source not only for reproductive scientists, but also for those clinicians who want better to understand the complex factors that affect pregnancy-and their pregnant patients.

Proceedings of a symposium, satellite to the 24th International Congress of Physiological Sciences, University of Pennsylvania.