Comparison of ovarian response in the same women with the same or different lots of human menopausal gonadotropin.

A variation in the bioactivity of different production lots of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) has been suggested. Therefore, we evaluated ovarian response to hMG in 14 women during three separate IVF cycles. The first two cycles were performed with the same lot (#03310027; Cycles A1 and A2); the third cycle utilized different lots of hMG (Cycle B). In all cycles, hMG was administered 3 ampules/day beginning cycle Day 3 and continued for at least 6 days. Estradiol and ultrasound evaluations were performed on Day 3, and then daily, beginning on cycle Day 8. Fourteen women completed all three cycles. There were no significant differences in baseline estradiol and ultrasound. Estradiol levels on Day 8 (A1, 754 +/- 130; A2, 700 +/- 107; B, 520 +/- 80 pg/ml, analysis of variance p greater than 0.5) and on Day 9 (A1, 1051 +/- 144; A2, 1140 +/- 155; B, 840 +/- 124 pg/ml, p greater than 0.05) were similar as well. The number of small (1.0-1.4 cm) follicles, large (greater than or equal to 1.5 cm) follicles, and total follicles (Day 8: total A1, 5.5 +/- 0.9; A2, 4.0 +/- 0.7; B, 4.5 +/- 0.9, p greater than 0.05; Day 9: total A1, 6.7 +/- 0.9; A2, 6.9 +/- 0.8; B, 6.9 +/- 0.9, p greater than 0.05) in all three cycles were also similar.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Further evidence to support disconjugate eye torsion as a predictor of space motion sickness.

Disconjugate eye torsion in hypo- and hypergravity of parabolic flight was examined in four former astronauts and four previously tested ex-astronauts to replicate an earlier study and to further test the asymmetry hypothesis of otolith function. Results in the new subjects supported the asymmetry hypothesis and confirmed previous findings that those with low scores of torsional disconjugacy on the KC-135 did not suffer space motion sickness in their prior Shuttle missions while those with high scores did. Tilting subjects with high disconjugacy scores slightly to one side and the other failed to find a position that decreased disconjugacy in hypergravity, leading to the conclusion that a simple planar asymmetry about the y-axis was probably not the cause of the observed torsional differences in the two eyes. Disconjugacy increased at 0 G with increasing parabolas, much more so in subjects who had suffered SMS. Because of this, 10 to 20 parabolas were deemed to be a more certain discriminator than a fewer number.     

Evaluation of kemptide, a synthetic serine-containing heptapeptide, as a phosphate acceptor for the estimation of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase activity in respiratory tissues

In the search for a phosphate acceptor to estimate cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) activity in respiratory tissues devoid of the disadvantages inherent with the use of histones, we compared and contrasted a conventional substrate, histone IIa, with that of a novel heptapeptide phosphate acceptor, Kemptide (Kemp et al., J Biol Chem 252: 4888-4894, 1977). The specific activities of soluble A-kinase isolated from guinea-pig lung parenchyma and from bovine tracheal smooth muscle were significantly (12-16-fold) greater when Kemptide was used as substrate when compared to histone IIa. Moreover, studies with a specific inhibitor of A-kinase demonstrated that whilst the cyclic AMP-stimulated phosphorylation of Kemptide was catalysed exclusively by A-kinase, only approximately 89% of the phosphate incorporated into histone IIa was attributed to the activity of this enzyme. The activation constant (Kact) of cyclic AMP for A-kinase was estimated to be 1.5 microM when Kemptide was used as substrate, 25-fold higher than that obtained using histone IIa (60 nM) under identical conditions. In a complementary series of experiments it was found that both the basal and isoprenaline-stimulated A-kinase activity ratios were significantly higher when histone IIa was used as substrate when compared with that obtained using Kemptide. Elevating the ionic strength of the homogenization buffer or assay cocktail with NaCl produced a reversible (following dialysis), concentration-dependent, mixed uncompetitive, inhibition of cyclic AMP-stimulated histone phosphorylation; phosphokemptide formation was unaffected. The ability of salt to inhibit A-kinase activity also affected the elution profile of A-kinase isoenzymes following their separation by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. With histone IIa as substrate the Type I:Type II isoenzyme ratio in guinea-pig lung and in bovine tracheal smooth muscle was 9:91 and 35:65, respectively. Changing the phosphate acceptor to Kemptide reduced these respective ratios to 5:95 and 29:71. Although the effect on the isoenzyme ratio was small, the specific activities of the two isoenzymes isolated from both tissues were markedly attentuated by ca. 9% (Type I) and 36% (Type II). It is concluded that Kemptide is without many of the disadvantages inherent with histone IIa and is, thus, a preferable phosphate acceptor for estimating soluble A-kinase activity and determining the isoenzyme ratio in guinea-pig lung and in bovine tracheal smooth muscle.