Special Issue "Entropy Analysis of the Heart Rate in Human and Laboratory Animal Studies"

Dear Colleagues,

Maternal–fetal monitoring has been developed to avoid poor maternal and fetal outcomes during the entire gestational period until the occurrence of birth, particularly concerning fetal asphyxia and dystocia. One of the methods most used in monitoring is the analysis of the fetal heart rate (HR) variability, for which there are computerized systems already used in clinical practice, and this procedure is also referred to as electronic fetal heart rate monitoring (EFM).

However, of concern to humans and related laboratory animal studies, HR variability analysis based solely on linear methods do not provide comprehensive characterization of all the physiological and pathophysiological situations. Actually, EFM is in fact an excellent example of how complex situations may not be successfully handled using simple algorithms. Although EFM was introduced into clinical practice more than 50 years ago, its initial expectations of decreasing perinatal mortality without increasing maternal interventions, namely cesarean sections, have not been met.

Therefore, the use of nonlinear methods, such as entropy, has justified particular interest, either in the analysis of a single fetal HR recording or when assessing maternal–fetal, fetal–fetal, or maternal–fetal interactions, whether in single or twin pregnancies. In recent years, increasing attention has also been devoted to the analysis of maternal HR variability as well as to the maternal–fetal HR interaction.

In this Special Issue of Entropy, we invite you to contribute with your latest developments or reviews regarding entropy analysis in human maternal–fetal and related laboratory animal HR studies, including studies on acute and chronic hypoxia, fetal gender and behavior, dystocia or preterm labor, and twin pregnancies, as well as in the development and validation of diagnostic and monitoring systems for clinical practice and medical education.

Prof. Dr. Hernâni Gonçalves
Prof. Dr. João Bernardes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Entropy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• animal model
• entropy
• fetal behavior
• fetal heart rate
• fetal hypoxia
• interaction
• human parturition
• maternal–fetal monitoring
• maternal heart rate
• medical simulation