Adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence for hygiene testing of rubber liners and tubes on dairy farms.

Prevention of biofilm formation in milking equipment is important to ensure good hygiene quality of raw milk. Key factors to achieving good results are a successful cleaning procedure and a method to check the cleanliness of milking equipment surfaces. Adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence is a fast and easy method for investigating bacterial contamination of surfaces.

Invasive procedures for fetal karyotyping: no cause of subsequent gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia.

The aim was to estimate the risk of maternal hypertensive complications following first- or second-trimester invasive diagnostic procedures, i.e. chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis (AC).

Low agreement was found between pharmacy data and physician reported use of hospital-administered antenatal corticosteroids.

Objective: To evaluate physicians' recall accuracy on starting year of routine use of antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) to women facing imminent preterm delivery.

Study Design And Setting: Starting year of routine treatment with ACS was evaluated by a questionnaire mailed to all 52 Swedish maternity wards. The information was compared with that obtained from a telephone interview with physicians involved in the introduction of routine ACS and with pharmacy data.

Screening for Down syndrome based on maternal age or fetal nuchal translucency: a randomized controlled trial in 39,572 pregnancies.

Objectives: Nuchal translucency (NT) screening increases antenatal detection of Down syndrome (DS) compared to maternal age-based screening. We wanted to determine if a change in policy for prenatal diagnosis would result in fewer babies born with DS.

Methods: A total of 39,572 pregnant women were randomized to a scan at 12-14 gestational weeks including NT screening for DS (12-week group) or to a scan at 15-20 weeks with screening for DS based on maternal age (18-week group).

Infant morbidity following amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling for prenatal karyotyping.

Objective: To investigate whether amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling increase the risk of postural deformities, limb reduction defects, respiratory problems in the newborn, fetal and infant mortality, prematurity, low birthweight and fetal distress, and to investigate the impact of gestational length at the time of the procedure.

Design: A population-based cohort study.

Setting: Sweden, 1991-1996.

Maternal complications following amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling for prenatal karyotyping.

Objective: To investigate whether amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling increase the risk of bleeding, placental abruption, complications related to amniotic cavity and membranes, abnormal labour, operative deliveries and to investigate the impact of gestational length at the time of the procedure.

Design: A population-based cohort study.

Setting: Sweden, 1991-1996.

Psychological distress before and after prenatal invasive karyotyping.

Background: The aim was to evaluate the psychological and physical impact on women submitting to early amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling and their preferences concerning fetal invasive procedures in a forthcoming pregnancy.

Method: Fifty-one women undergoing early amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling at 10-13 weeks gestation participated. The women completed questionnaires including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale on three occasions: before, immediately after, and one week after the invasive procedure.

Women's knowledge, concerns and psychological reactions before undergoing an invasive procedure for prenatal karyotyping.

Objectives: To evaluate women's reasons for having an invasive procedure, their knowledge, how information was obtained, their satisfaction with this information, their concerns about complications and psychological reactions and distress evoked by the procedure.

Methods: Ninety-four pregnant women undergoing early amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS) at 10-13 weeks' gestation participated in a questionnaire study. The women could choose between early amniocentesis (n = 38) and CVS (n = 31), or to be randomized to either of them (n = 25).

Very prolonged membrane rupture and delayed delivery of the second twin.

Objectives: To present the complications of twin pregnancies with delayed delivery of the second twin, 32 days after expulsion of the first twin.

Case: A 29-year-old woman with a twin pregnancy at gestational age 13 weeks and 5 days presenting with a rupture of the membranes of the first twin. At 21 completed weeks the umbilical cord prolapsed and at 23 weeks the first twin was stillborn with the placenta in the uterus.

A prospective comparative study on transabdominal chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis performed at 10-13 week's gestation.

Women with single, viable pregnancies at 10 + 5 to 13 + 6 weeks, gestation who requested fetal karyotyping for maternal age, parental anxiety, or a previous history of chromosomal aberration were offered participation in this study. With a transabdominal ultrasound-guided technique, early amniocentesis (EA) was performed on 147 women and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) on 174. Spontaneous fetal loss occurred in 6.

Histidine pKa shifts accompanying the inactivating Asp121----Asn substitution in a semisynthetic bovine pancreatic ribonuclease.

A semisynthetic RNase, RNase-(1-118).(111-124), consisting of a noncovalent complex between residues 1-118 of RNase (obtained from the proteolytic digestion of RNase A), and a synthetic 14-residue peptide containing residues 111-124 of RNase, exhibits 98% of the enzymatic activity of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (EC 3.1.

Thrombospondin interaction with plasminogen. Evidence for binding to a specific region of the kringle structure of plasminogen.

Platelet thrombospondin interacts with plasminogen in a specific and saturable manner. Thrombospondin was found to specifically bind to plasminogen and the nonenzyme chain of plasmin. Preincubation of 125I-labeled thrombospondin with 30 mmol/L lysine was without effect in the binding of thrombospondin to immobilized plasminogen; preincubation of 125I-labeled plasminogen with 30 mmol/L lysine, on the other hand, significantly reduced the binding of plasminogen to immobilized thrombospondin, suggesting that the interaction of thrombospondin with plasminogen is not the direct result of the lysine binding sites of plasminogen.