Mothers' perceptions of and feelings towards their babies' crying

The frequency and type of crying and the parents' perceptions of it were evaluated in 281 Finnish infants underthe age of 1 year. Not many mothers [14#pc] claimed that their babies cried often or very often. The infants less than three months old cried significantly more in the evening than the older ones. Most mothers [94#pc] reported that the crying aroused feelings of tenderness, but 4#pc found it irritating. The most common response to the cry [97#pc] was to pick the baby up. Additional help was wanted by 49 mothers because of their babies' disturbing crying spells. These mothers reorted that their infants cried more and they stated that the cry made them feel more irritated and more often gave them a feeling of failure than the mothers not in need of help. The majority of these mothers would have been glad to help, including advice, whent the infants were under 3 months of age.     

Intrauterine contraception with Nova-T and Copper-T-200 during three years

A randomized comparative trial on the clinical performance of two copper-releasing IUDs (Nova-T and Copper-T-200) was performed simultaneously in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. After three years the cumulative pregnancy rate was 1.9 for Nova-T and 5.0 for Copper-T. This difference in efficacy was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Copper-T had a lower expulsion rate (p < 0.05) in the total series but not in postmenstrual insertions. Differences between the two devices in other termination rates were not statistically significant. Analysis according to age and parity demonstrated that the pregnancy rate of Nova-T was lower than that of Copper-T in every age and parity group. The pregnancy rate of Nova-T was not affected by age or parity whereas the pregnancy rate and the expulsion rate of Copper-T decreased with increasing age and parity. The removal rate because of infection decreased markedly after the first year of use for both devices. The cumulative rate of removals for infection during the three years of use was not significantly correlated to age and there was no correlation to parity. The continuation rates increased with age and parity. The continuation rates of nulli- and primiparous women were almost identical with both devices and lower than continuation rates of women with 2 or three or more children. Only 11% of the women were lost to follow-up during 36 months. Nova-T had superior effectiveness in preventing undesired pregnancies when compared with Copper-T. The performance of Nova-T is less affected by age and parity than the performance of Copper-T. The silver core in copper wire gives a prolongation of the life-span for Nova-T. For these reasons, Nova-T appears to meet the requirements for an ideal IUD.     

The use of a contraceptive vaginal ring governed by the pattern of individual uterine bleeding.

Contraceptive vaginal rings (CVR) releasing levonorgestrel and estradiol were used for contraceptive purposes in eight women. They were instructed to remove the CVR for five days only, in the case of bleeding. Three selected subjects were followed by plasma sampling during the first 60 days of treatment. Plasma concentrations of levonorgestrel, progesterone, estradiol and gonadotropins were determined. All subjects kept bleeding records and were controlled clinically in the course of treatment. The subjects were protected an average of 163 days by the CVR. Three subjects used the CVR 170--180 days without removing it and two subjects had to remove the CVR only once. Two subjects experienced quite regular bleedings, and metrorrhagic bleeding was present in one case. No pregnancies were observed during the follow-up period of 1304 days. Clinical examination revealed no pathological findings. The vaginal mucosa tolerated the treatment well. Out of those subjects who were followed by plasma sampling, pituitary suppression was more marked in the subject with continuous use of CVR.     

Monoclonal gammopathy with neurological signs and symptoms

Clinical, neurophysiological and muscle biopsy findings in ten patients with monoclonal gammopathy are reported. Three patients had polyneuropathy, one had hemiparkinsonism, one migraine and radicular symptoms and one paresthesiae and radicular symptoms. Amyloidosis was not found in muscle biopsy specimens. All but one patient with neurological findings also had positive immunofluorescence staining for tissuebound immunoglobulins in muscle biopsy specimens. The tissue-bound immunoglobulins usually belonged to the same class as the M-component. None of the biopsies of patients without neurological findings were positive.     

Acid Phosphatases of the Human Testis Separation and Enzyme Characteristics

Acid phosphatase activities of human testicular tissue were studied after gel filtration on Sepharose 6B and rechromatography on DE-52 cellulose. Four enzyme activity peaks were detected by using p-nitrophenyl phosphate, α-naphthyl phosphate and thymolphthalein phosphate as substrates. Pooled fractions representing each peak were used to analyse the pH-optima, thermal inactivation and modifier characteristics.
Enzyme I was eluted with the first protein peak obtained in gel filtration. Its optimum was at pH 4 and it was the most resistant among the four enzymes to thermal treatment. Enzyme I showed a moderate inhibition with tartrate and fluoride. The three substrates tested were readily hydrolysed by this activity.
Enzyme II was co-eluted with Enzyme IV in the second peak of gel filtration. After cellulose chromatography of this peak Enzyme II was eluted first from the column. Its optimum activity was at pH 3.5. About 80% of its activity was lost by a 15-min incubation at 60°C. The enzyme was the most sensitive to both tartrate and fluoride. All three substrates were also hydrolysed by this enzyme.
Enzyme III was eluted in the third peak of gel filtration. Its optimal activity was at pH 5. It was the most thermolabile among the enzymes. Another unique feature of this enzyme was also the high sensitivity to cadmium, copper and high concentration of zinc and resistance to both tartrate and fluoride, α-naphthyl phosphate and thymolphthalein phosphate were not hydrolysed by this enzyme.
Enzyme IV was co-eluted with Enzyme II in the second peak of gel filtration but could be separated from the latter in DE-52 cellulose chromatography. Its optimum was at pH 5.5. It was resistant to low concentrations     

Acquired pure red-cell aplasia: A consequence of increased natural killer cell activity?

A 19-year-old man with severe pure red-cell aplasia is described. An unusually high proportion of this patient's lymphocytes were large granular lymphocytes (LGL), both in the blood (40%) and in the bone marrow (50%). His blood leukocytes displayed a strongly elevated natural killer (NK) cell activity in vitro against the erythroblastic leukemia line K562. The patient's non-T blood lymphocytes inhibited in vitro erythroid colony formation (BFU-E and CFU-E) but not the granulocyte-monocyte colony growth (CFU-GM) from autologous and allogeneic bone marrow. Neither T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity nor circulating antibodies against erythroid precursors could be demonstrated. The patient's haemoglobin values returned to normal levels after three weeks of glucocorticoid treatment and have since then remained stable with continued prednisone administration. Attempts to reduce the prednisone dose to less than 10 mg/day have led to relapses. It is tempting to suggest that the patient's disease might be caused by hyperactivity of cytotoxic non-T (NK) cells specific for K562 cells and early erythroid precursors.     

L-tryptophan and neuroendocrine regulation in neurologic patients: hormone responses to L-tryptophan loading in patients with hypothalamic lesions

1. Oral administration of 2 g of l-tryptophan induced a marked plasma elevation of total and free tryptophan during the 2 hr of sampling in both normal subjects and in neurologic patients. Plasma free trytophan concentration showed a peak about 60 min after loading with l-tryptophan. 2. Plasma immunoreactive follitrophin (FSH) and lutrophin (LH) levels were not altered after l-tryptophan treatment. 3. Plasma immunoreactive somatotrophin (growth hormone, GH) levels showed a statistically significant elevation after l-tryptophan loading in both normal subjects and in neurologic control patients. In two acromegalic patients there was a very marked elevation of plasma somatotrophin levels 90 min after loading. No responses of plasma somatotrophin to l-tryptophan were observed in patients with hypothalamic lesion or with hypopituitarism. 4. Plasma cortisol levels showed significant morning decline during loading either with l-tryptophan or with l-leucine as placebo in normal subjects and in neurologic control patients. In patients with hypothalamic lesion the monitoring of plasma cortisol concentrations during l-tryptophan loading revealed a primary elevation with a subsequent slight decline. No variation of plasma cortisol was found in patients with hypopituitarism. 5. It was concluded that the brain serotoninergic system can be activated by l-tryptophan treatment which results in alterations of the hypothalamic regulation of somatotrophin secretion. When neuroendocrine dysfunction is due to structural lesions in the hypothalamus or in related regions, l-tryptophan loading is unable to modify somatotrophin secretion. The normal morning decline of plasma cortisol levels is lacking in such patients.     

Binding of progestins to the glucocorticoid receptor: Correlation to their glucocorticoid-like effects on in vitro functions of human mononuclear leukocytes

A number of physiological and synthetic progestins were tested for their ability to compete with [³H]dexamethasone for the binding to the glucocorticoid receptor of human mononuclear leukocytes and their ability to elicit glucocorticoid-like effects on the same cells. As compared to the reference compound dexamethasone (relative receptor binding affinity defined as 100%), two potent synthetic progestins with a pregnane-type structure, megestrol acetate and medroxyprogesterone acetate, were found to display a considerable binding affinity towards the receptor (46 and 42%, respectively). The relative binding affinity of the naturally occurring ligand, cortisol, to the receptor was clearly lower (25%). The effective binding of medroxyprogesterone acetate to the glucocorticoid receptor was confirmed by direct binding studies utilizing a tritiated derivative of this steroid. No evidence for the existence of a specific progesterone receptor in human mononuclear leukocytes was obtained as judged by the results of competition experiments where a progesterone receptor-specific ligand [³H]Org 2058 was used. Medroxyprogesterone acetate and megestrol acetate also induced glucocorticoid-like effects on the lymphocyte functions. These included inhibition of the proliferative responses to the T-cell mitogens concanavalin A and phytohaemagglutinin and an enhanced accumulation of immunoglobulin secreting cells in pokeweed mitogen-stimulated cultures. The progestin effect appears to be mediated through a radiosensitive (suppressor) subpopulation of T lymphocytes. In contrast, the synthetic progestins related structurally to 19-nortestosterone, norethisterone and d-norgestrel, were virtually devoid of binding affinity towards the glucocorticoid receptor nor did they measurably influence the in vitro lymphocyte functions. These studies demonstrate that certain progestins in common clinical use probably possess inherent glucocorticoid activity and suggest that side effects attributable to this character (e.g. suppression of the pituitary-adrenal axis) might be expected when these compounds are used in pharmacological doses.     

Vaginal contraception with gossypol: A clinical study

A clinical study concerning the vaginal contraceptive efficacy of gossypol acetic acid was performed. Fifteen women who had undergone tubal sterilization volunteered for the study. The effect of vaginal gossypol-containing gel on spermatozoa was determined by postcoital tests performed in subjects without and after using gossypol gel. After gossypol application, the number of spermatozoa found in cervical mucus was greatly decreased and, in eleven of the fifteen women, all spermatozoa seen were immobilized. In four cases a few poorly motile spermatozoa were seen but they showed no forward progression. We have previously reported that gossypol has an inhibitory effect on herpes simplex virus type 2 $\text{in vitro}$. This antiviral property of gossypol makes it particularly attractive as a topical barrier contraceptive. The present study shows that gossypol is also promising as a vaginal contraceptive agent in human $\text{in vivo}$ experiments.     

Serum antibody response to periodontal pathogens and herpes simplex virus in relation to classic risk factors of cardiovascular disease

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence links chronic infections, especially burden of several infections, with increased risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). We studied joint immune response against two major periodontal pathogens and herpes simplex virus (HSV) in relation to established risk factors of CVD. METHODS: Serum antibody levels to HSV, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis were determined by ELISA. The study included 1107 subjects, 734 from Finland and 373 from Russia. RESULTS: Combined antibody response to periodontal pathogens was associated inversely (OR, 95% CI) with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration (beta = 0.35; 0.20, 0.60; P < 0.001) and directly with HSV antibody quartiles: compared with the first quartile, ORs (95% CI) for quartiles 2-4 were 1.43 (0.88-2.32), 1.74 (1.07-2.82), and 1.89 (1.18-3.02), respectively (P for trend <0.001), after adjusting for age, gender, area, education, smoking, BMI, alcohol, triglycerides, and number of teeth. In linear regression analysis, the 3-pathogen antibody score (comprising antibody levels against periodontal pathogens and HSV) was inversely associated with HDL cholesterol concentration (beta = -0.067/1 mmol/l; -0.235, -0.018; P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HSV infection may promote infection by periodontal pathogens. Furthermore, the infectious burden comprising HSV and periodontitis may increase the risk for CVD by clearly decreasing HDL cholesterol concentrations.