Roberto Romero

TL;DR: A short cervical length and a raised cervical-vaginal fetal fibronectin concentration are the strongest predictors of spontaneous preterm birth.

TL;DR: A novel placenta-derived soluble TGF-β coreceptor, endoglin (sEng), which is elevated in the sera of preeclamptic individuals, correlates with disease severity and falls after delivery, suggest that sEng may act in concert with sFlt1 to induce severe preeclampsia.

TL;DR: Rising circulating levels of soluble endoglin and ratios of sFlt1:PlGF herald the onset of preeclampsia, which was greatest among women in the highest quartile of the control distributions for both biomarkers but not for either biomarker alone.

TL;DR: The current understanding of the mechanisms of disease implicated in preterm labor are summarized and advances relevant to intra-amniotic infection, decidual senescence, and breakdown of maternal-fetal tolerance are reviewed.

TL;DR: The evidence indicating that the pathological processes implicated in the preterm parturition syndrome include: intrauterine infection/inflammation; uterine ischaemia; (3) uterine overdistension; (4) abnormal allograft reaction; (5) allergy; (6) cervical insufficiency; and (7) hormonal disorders (progesterone related and corticotrophin‐releasing factor related).