John Whitridge Williams' contribution to democracy abroad. (The fetus treated as a patient).

The idealism of American pioneers was a driving force in the development of science, democracy, and sociology in the United States. It also served as a model for the development of new democracies abroad. The first American grafted democracy was established in Czechoslovakia in 1918, under Thomas Garrigue Masaryk as President.

Human ovulation and plasma oxytocin.

Plasma oxytocin (OT) concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) method without extracting plasma in 11 normal menstruating women. Mean plasma OT level began to increase steadily from the 7th day of the menstrual cycle and this level rose up to 20 +/- 5 microU/ml (Mean +/- S.E.

Plasma oxytocin concentrations in a pregnant woman with total vasopressin deficiency.

Plasma concentrations of oxytocin and vasopressin were determined by radioimmunoassay in a woman with clinical diabetes insipidus. Plasma oxytocin levels were normal and ranged from less than 0.25 microU/ml to 76 microU/ml during the last month of pregnancy and during spontaneous labor.

Plasma oxytocin in initiation of labor.

Serial radioimmunoassay measurements of plasma oxytocin (OT) in maternal venous blood have been carried out in 15 patients, during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Fetal plasma OT was also measured in the blood from the umbilical vein and umbilical artery. The results indicate that: (1) during pregnancy, plasma OT is present in maternal blood; (2) the quantity of plasma OT increases with advancing pregnancy; (3) no OT surge occurs around the onset of labor; (4) the plasma OT surge occurs with cervical dilatation and vaginal distention.