Interleukin-6: effects on and production by rat granulosa cells in vitro.

Treatment of FSH-stimulated granulosa cells with increasing amounts of interleukin-6 (IL-6) caused a significant concentration-dependent suppression of progesterone biosynthesis. However, basal progesterone production in non-FSH-stimulated cells remained unresponsive to the cytokine. Quantitation of IL-6 in the conditioned media from untreated granulosa cells by the 7TD1 hybridoma cell bioassay revealed detectable levels of IL-6. Further, FSH treatment caused a significant concentration-dependent increase in IL-6 release. In contrast, both basal and FSH-stimulated IL-6 release could be significantly suppressed by interferon gamma (INF-gamma). The results of the present study suggest: 1) a role for IL-6 in the regulation of progesterone production, 2) that the granulosa cell is a source of IL-6 and 3) that the release of IL-6 by the granulosa cell is a regulated event.     

Alternative Treatments for Asthma: Assessing the Need

Alternative treatments such as troleandomycin methotrexate, gold, and intravenous gamma globulin are sometimes considered for severe asthmatics to minimize the need for systemic corticosteroids and reduce adverse effects. These alternative therapies may also be associated with significant toxicity and expense. The ability to reduce corticosteroid use and the need for alternative treatment interventions in 125 pediatric patients at our institution were reviewed. Because corticosteroid requirements were reduced significantly, only 23 of 125 children evaluated were considered for treatment alternatives with only 10 receiving such therapy. This study emphasizes the importance of a thorough and comprehensive review of corticosteroid requirements and usage prior to initiating alternative approaches to treatment in moderate to severe asthmatics as well as in patients thought to be “steroid-dependent.”     

Manic episode with psychotic symptoms induced by subthalamic nucleus stimulation in a patient with Parkinson's disease.

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is an established therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). A manic episode with psychotic symptoms induced by STN-DBS occurred in a previously psychiatrically healthy patient, focusing on the role of STN-DBS in influencing not only motor but also emotional behaviour.     

The indirect estimation of hemoglobin concentration in whole blood.

The present conventional methods for determination of Hemoglobin (Hb) concentration in whole blood depend on the direct colorimetric measurement of chemically modified Hb following its release from red cells by lysis. This paper examines an alternative, indirect method which does not require initial red cell lysis, corrects for the falsely elevated Hb due to the lipemic plasma and determines whether elevated WBC count effects a change in the Hb value, without the tedious laboratory manipulations currently required to correct for these artifacts. The method is simple, uncomplicated and is based on the observation of a constant ratio (2.98) between the Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) and the Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) indices obtained from standard electronic counters in use in most laboratories. The Hb concentration is calculated by the equation: [formula: see text]. The resultant Hb measurements show an acceptable degree of accuracy and precision when compared with the direct measurements obtained from a Coulter Model S + I, even in the presence of a high WBC or lipid.     

Adjunctive leuprolide therapy does not improve cycle fecundity in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and intrauterine insemination of subfertile women

Problems arising from controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for intrauterine insemination, such as premature luteinization and asynchronous ovarian follicular development, are identical to those encountered with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT). It has been suggested that the adjunctive use of GnRH agonists for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation improves the efficiency of GIFT and IVF cycles. We hypothesized that adjunctive use of leuprolide acetate, a GnRH agonist, would have a similarly beneficial effect on cycle quality and cycle fecundity in subfertile women treated with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and intrauterine insemination. We randomly assigned the first cycle of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and intrauterine insemination for each of 97 subfertile women to include either human menopausal gonadotropins (hMGs) alone or hMGs following midluteal pre-treatment with leuprolide. If a pregnancy did not occur in the first cycle, the woman was given the other treatment in the second cycle. Although the cycles that included leuprolide required a larger amount of hMGs and more days of stimulation per cycle, the mean estradiol concentrations and numbers of follicles were not different. Despite prevention of premature luteinization with leuprolide, the cycle fecundity was not different between groups (0.11 with adjunctive leuprolide treatment and 0.22 with hMGs alone). We conclude that in unselected subfertile patients, the adjunctive use of leuprolide for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and intrauterine insemination does not improve cycle fecundity compared with treatment cycles that do not include adjunctive leuprolide therapy.     

Cellular localization of the inhibitory action of relaxin against uterine spasm.

1. The aim of this study was to determine whether the site of action of relaxin as a relaxant of rat myometrium is at the cell membrane or at an intracellular-site. Therefore, the potency of relaxin was determined against spasms reliant predominantly upon either extracellular Ca2+ or intracellular Ca2+. Uterine spasms dependent upon extracellular Ca2+ were elicited by (i) oxytocin (0.2 nM) (ii) Bay K 8644 (1 microM) in 10 mM K(+)-rich PSS and (iii) KCl (80 mM). Uterine spasm dependent upon intracellular Ca2+ was elicited by oxytocin (20 nM) in the presence of nifedipine (500 nM). The effects of relaxin against these spasmogens were compared with those of levcromakalim, nifedipine and salbutamol. 2. Relaxin (0.2-6.3 nM), levcromakalim (25-800 nM), salbutamol (1-63 nM) and nifedipine (1-250 nM) caused concentration-dependent inhibition of the spasm evoked by oxytocin (0.2 nM) and relaxin was the most potent relaxant. 3. Relaxin and nifedipine were slightly less potent against the spasm induced by Bay K 8644 (1 microM) than against spasm induced by oxytocin (0.2 nM) (15 fold and 13 fold respectively). Levcromakalim and salbutamol were equipotent against the spasm evoked by Bay K 8644 (1 microM) and that evoked by oxytocin (0.2 nM). 4. Relaxin induced only 47 +/- 7% inhibition of the KCl (80 mM)-evoked spasm at a concentration of 0.8 microM. Levcromakalim was much less potent (427 fold) against the spasm evoked by KCl (80 mM) than against the spasm evoked by oxytocin (0.2 nM). The potency of salbutamol against the spasm evoked by KCl (80 mM) was modestly reduced (14 fold) compared to that against the spasm evoked by oxytocin (0.2 nM). The potency of nifedipine against the KCl (80 mM)-evoked spasm was not different from that against the oxytocin (0.2 nM)-evoked spasm. 5. The potencies of relaxin and levcromakalim against the spasm evoked by oxytocin (20 nM) + nifedipine (500 nM) were greatly reduced (74 fold and 234 fold respectively) compared to their potencies against the spasm evoked by oxytocin (0.2 nM). The potency of salbutamol against these two spasmogens was not different. 6. Relaxin was much less potent against the spasm dependent upon intracellular Ca2+ (that induced by oxytocin (20 nM) + nifedipine (500 nM)) than against the spasms dependent upon extracellular Ca2+, those induced by oxytocin (0.2 nM) and Bay K 8644 (1 microM). In this regard, relaxin resembled levcromakalim and nifedipine rather than salbutamol. Therefore, the major site of action of relaxin appears to be located at the plasma membrane rather than at an intracellular level. The observation that relaxin was less effective against the KCl (80 mM)-induced spasm than against the oxytocin (0.2 nM)-evoked spasm may indicate that relaxin has a minor action involving K(+)-channel opening. 7. High concentrations of relaxin (up to 1 microM) induced significant inhibition of the spasm dependent upon intracellular Ca2+. Thus at high concentrations relaxin also appears to have an additional intracellular action.     

Role of Doppler ultrasound flowmetry in the diagnosis of breast lumps

One hundred and five patients with discrete breast lumps were examined with a 10 MHz Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter. Doppler flow signals were analysed on an Angioscan spectrum analyser. Recordings from the opposite normal breast were taken as controls and signals from the two sides compared. In 23 patients signals from the normal breast could not be recorded and therefore results of the remaining 82 patients are reported. These included 39 patients with carcinoma, 20 with fibroadenoma, 12 with cyclical nodularity and 11 with cysts. Malignant lumps exhibited significantly higher peak systolic (S) and minimum diastolic frequencies (D) in comparison to the control breast. Fibroadenoma also had a higher S and D than those of the opposite normal breast. Signals over cysts and cyclical nodularity showed no significant difference from the recordings over the control side. Despite significantly higher systolic and diastolic frequencies in the cancer group in comparison to benign lumps and normal breast, considerable overlap in the values was seen between cancer and other groups. Therefore the patterns on 10 MHz Doppler sonography are not sufficiently specific to discriminate benign from malignant breast lumps.     

Cardia: study design, recruitment, and some characteristics of the examined subjects

In 1984, a prospective cohort study, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) was initiated to investigate life-style and other factors that influence, favorably and unfavorably, the evolution of coronary heart disease risk factors during young adulthood. After a year of planning and protocol development, 5,116 black and white women and men, age 18-30 years, were recruited and examined in four urban areas: Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Oakland, California. The initial examination included carefully standardized measurements of major risk factors as well as assessments of psychosocial, dietary, and exercise-related characteristics that might influence them, or that might be independent risk factors. This report presents the recruitment and examination methods as well as the mean levels of blood pressure, total plasma cholesterol, height, weight and body mass index, and the prevalence of cigarette smoking by age, sex, race and educational level. Compared to recent national samples, smoking is less prevalent in CARDIA participants, and weight tends to be greater. Cholesterol levels are representative and somewhat lower blood pressures in CARDIA are probably, at least in part, due to differences in measurement methods. Especially noteworthy among several differences in risk factor levels by demographic subgroup, were a higher body mass index among black than white women and much higher prevalence of cigarette smoking among persons with no more than a high school education than among those with more education.     

The effect of corona discharge on Der p 1

BACKGROUND: Reduction of house dust mite allergens in the domestic environment can play an important part in reducing sensitization and in the amelioration of symptoms in atopic individuals. Chemical and physical methods have been tried with varied levels of success. The present paper presents a novel electrostatic way of destroying Der p 1, the major mite allergen. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of negative Trichel, negative continuous glow, positive pulse and positive continuous glow corona in destroying Der p 1. To determine whether ozone has any effect on the integrity of Der p 1 in the experimental conditions present. METHODS: A simple point-to-plane apparatus was used to irradiate samples of Der p 1 for periods of 1, 15, 30, 45, 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 min. Controls were exposed to the atmosphere with no corona products present for the equivalent time. The effect of the corona by-product ozone was investigated alone by exposing samples of Der p 1 to molecular ozone for 60 min. Der p 1 concentration was quantified by two-site monoclonal antibody ELISA. RESULTS: High current negative glow resulted in a 67.37% reduction in Der p 1 concentration after 300 min compared with a 50.5% reduction from a low current Trichel regime. High current positive glow corona gave a reduction of 25.22% while a low current positive pulse corona caused a 13.72% reduction after 300 min. All these reductions were statistically significant (P < 0.05) compared with unexposed controls. Negative corona always gave greater percentage reductions in Der p 1 concentration for each time exposure investigated. The pattern of percentage reduction follows an exponential rise to maximum relationship in respect to time. Samples of Der p 1 were not affected by exposure to molecular ozone. CONCLUSION: These data indicate corona products to be a powerful new method of destroying Der p 1 allergen that is not dependent on the presence of the oxidizing corona product ozone.     

Maternal syphilis and congenital syphilis in Latin America: big problem, simple solution]

From the data submitted to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) by nationwide programs against sexually transmitted diseases (STD), HIV infection, and AIDS (2002), one can estimate the overall prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women to be 3.1% and to range from 1.00% in Peru to 6.21% in Paraguay. According to these data, the incidence of congenital syphilis ranges from 1.4 per 1000 live births in El Salvador to 12.0 per 1000 live births in Honduras. Among men who engage in sex with other men, who often classify themselves as heterosexual, as well as in female sex workers, the prevalence of syphilis ranged from 5% to 15%. Factors that determine the persistence of congenital syphilis as public health problem include a lack of awareness of the seriousness of the problem among politicians, health officials, and health care providers, difficult access to prenatal care, and screening services, a low demand for the test among users, and the stigma and discrimination that surround sexually transmitted diseases (STD). This paper seeks to focus the attention of health professionals on maternal and congenital syphilis so they will undertake actions, using an interprogrammatic approach, to eliminate congenital syphilis from Latin America and the Caribbean. Eliminating congenital syphilis will only become possible if interventions targeting vulnerable groups are also implemented. PAHO's role in eliminating congenital syphilis includes determining the baseline situation in the Region as a whole and in each country, developing communication and procurement strategies, supporting nationwide programs, promoting operational research, and facilitating interprogrammatic coordination.