Potential Uses and Benefits Accurate diagnosis of and prediction of true labor will allow practitioners to start treatment early in patients with true labor and avert unnecessary treatment and hospitalization for patients who are having preterm contractions, but who are not in true labor. This facilitates treatment contributing to the prevention of pre-term labor and pre-term birth, thereby improving the survival rate of premature babies and reducing the cost of premature births to our healthcare system and reducing the cost to society for the care of handicapped survivors of  premature births. Clinical Condition Clinical Use Potential Benefits Antepartum Predict preterm delivery Prevent preterm delivery and improve perinatal income Early Labor Differentiate between false and true labor Prevent Unnecessary admissions Preterm Contractions Determine need for tocolysis Prevent unnecessary use of tocolytics and decrease cost Cervical Incompetence Rule out the presence of subclinical uterine electrical activity Better define candidates for post-cerclage tocolysis Better understanding of etiologies Induction of Labor Predict success of induction Determine if abnormal uterine activity is the cause Prevent unnecessary prolonged inductions Tocolysis Predict success of tocolysis More objective and accurate analysis of uterine activity Improved method to monitor and adjust tocolytic therapy Prevent complications from tocolytics Decrease time on tocolytics Noninvasive, in vivo measurements No interference from surgical procedures or implantable devices. Continuous measurements over time in the same animal. Define the mechanisms that regulate uterine and cervical function in term and preterm labor. Study different treatments to induce,augment, or inhibit these mechanisms . .