Potential roles for gonadal steroids and insulin-like growth factor I during final cervical ripening.

Objective: To determine whether gonadal steroids and insulin-like growth factor I influence the final cervical remodeling during parturition.

Methods: Cervical biopsies were obtained transvaginally before labor (n = 10) and after spontaneous cervical ripening and vaginal delivery (n = 20). Levels of estrogen and progesterone receptors, their messenger RNAs, insulin-like growth factor I messenger RNA, and serum estradiol and progesterone were measured.

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in the general population. 'The Study of Men Born in 1913'.

Background: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are common public health problems. Still, little is known about the epidemiology and the natural history of venous thromboembolism.

Methods: In the Study of Men Born in 1913, 855 men were followed up prospectively from the age of 50 years to the age of 80 years.

Conditions for the adsorption of proteins on ultrastable zeolite Y and its use in protein purification.

The adsorption of proteins on ultrastable zeolites was investigated. Protein binding to one of these, ultrastable zeolite Y (USY), was studied in detail. Protein binding to USY, with a Si/Al ratio of > 240, was found to be dependent on the pH of the solution, being highest at or just below the pI of the protein.

Subcutaneous recombinant hirudin (HBW 023) versus intravenous sodium heparin in treatment of established acute deep vein thrombosis of the legs: a multicentre prospective dose-ranging randomized trial. International Multicentre Hirudin Study Group.

The aim of this multicentre, prospective, randomised, dose-ranging study was to compare the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous recombinant hirudin (HBW 023) against intravenous sodium heparin in acute lower limb deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Patients were randomized to treatment with either HBW 023 or heparin for 5 +/- 1 days. HBW 023 was given according to body-weight in three dose groups.

Insulin-like growth factor-I in the porcine endometrium and placenta: localization and concentration in relation to steroid influence during early pregnancy.

To initiate the establishment of an epitheliochorial placenta, the developing porcine conceptuses contact the maternal endometrium on its mesometrial side. The porcine conceptuses secrete estrogens which, together with circulating maternal hormones, govern variations in the structure as well as expression and levels of steroid receptors and growth factors during early pregnancy. Mesometrial samples of endometrium or placenta were collected from 15 early pregnant (8-30 days after the onset of estrus) and six cycling (days 1-14) gilts.

Specific inhibition of the cGMP-inhibited cAMP phosphodiesterase blocks the insulin-like antilipolytic effect of growth hormone in rat adipocytes.

Growth hormone (GH) exerts acute insulin-like effects, such as increased lipogenesis and inhibition of catecholamine-induced lipolysis, in rat adipocytes that have not been exposed to GH during the preceding three hours. We found that OPC3911, a highly specific inhibitor of the cGMP-inhibited cAMP phosphodiesterase, completely blocked the antilipolytic but not the lipogenic effect of GH. This indicates that the antilipolytic effect of GH is mediated through activation of this phosphodiesterase leading to reduction of cAMP levels in the same manner as has been shown for insulin.

Recovery and outcome after propofol and isoflurane anesthesia in patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Background: Laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH) is expected to provide fast and comfortable recovery, plus an early return to normal daily activities. This study was carried out to compare the outcome after LH in patients anesthetized with isoflurane or propofol.

Methods: Sixty-two patients undergoing LH were randomized to receive either isoflurane-N2O or propofol-N2O anesthesia.

Generation of development environments for the Arden Syntax.

Providing appropriate development environments for specialized languages requires a significant development and maintenance effort. Specialized environments are therefore expensive when compared to their general-language counterparts. The Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Modules (MLM) is a standardized language for representing medical knowledge.

Proteolytic cleavage of MHC class I by complement C1-esterases--an overlooked mechanism?

The complement C1-esterases have been shown to cleave the MHC class I molecules, which are important participants in the activation of T lymphocytes, between the alpha 2- and the alpha 3-domain of the heavy chain. The possible involvement of the C1-esterases in the regulation of peripheral self-tolerance is discussed. It is hypothesized that the C1-esterase-mediated cleavage of the MHC class I molecules either induces: a soluble fragment of the outer two domains of the MHC class I molecule, in association with beta 2-microglobulin, to bind to the T cell receptors and prevent the cells from being activated, or produces a change in the exposure of the alpha 3-domain that remain on the cell surface, acting as mediator of a 'veto signal' that prevents these cells from being activated.

Influence of blockers for the estrogen receptor (ER) and type 1 IGF-receptor on the levels of ER, ER mRNA and IGF-I mRNA in the rat uterus.

The effects on the uterine concentration of the estrogen receptor (ER), ER mRNA and IGF-I mRNA were monitored in ovariectomized (OVX) rats treated with blockers for the estrogen receptor (ER) (ICI 182780) or the type 1 IGF receptor (H-1356), alone or in combination with estradiol (E2). The hormone-mediated increase in uterine wet weight after E2 treatment was prevented by a simultaneous injection of ICI 182780. The levels of IGF-I mRNA and ER mRNA increased in rats given estradiol (E2), but not in those also receiving ICI 182780.

Is hypertension changing? Blood pressure development in cohorts of 50-year-old men between 1963 and 1993.

Objective: To study secular trends in the prevalence and treatment of hypertension in the general population, and the disease course.

Design: Health examinations of cohorts of 50-year-old men in 1963, 1973, 1983 and 1993.

Setting: The city of Göteborg, Sweden (about 400,000 inhabitants).

A new method to study the process of implantation of a human blastocyst in vitro.

Objectives: To develop a "miniorgan" culture of human endometrium dated according to the LH peak in order to study the process of implantation of a human blastocyst in vitro.

Design: Preliminary results of a more extensive study with the same objectives.

Setting: Hospital-based unit of reproductive health and university-related reproductive research laboratories.

Cervical ripening in humans: potential roles of estrogen, progesterone, and insulin-like growth factor-I.

Objective: During pregnancy in humans a gradual connective tissue remodeling takes place in the cervix. The aim of this study was to examine a possible relationship between the action of gonadal steroids and growth factors and the biochemically identifiable changes in connective tissues during cervical ripening.

Study Design: Cervical biopsy specimens and serum samples were taken from 20 term pregnant and 20 nonpregnant menstruating women.

Recovery profile after desflurane with or without ondansetron compared with propofol in patients undergoing outpatient gynecological laparoscopy.

We studied the effect of combining prophylactic ondansetron (4 mg intravenously [IV]) to desflurane-based anesthesia in 90 ASA grade I or 11 women undergoing outpatient gynecological laparoscopy. Recovery after anesthesia, with special focus on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), was assessed. Control groups received a similar desflurane anesthetic (placebo) or a propofol-infusion-based (active control) anesthetic.

Balanced analgesia improves recovery and outcome after outpatient tubal ligation.

Outpatient surgery benefits patients only if postoperative sequelae are effectively treated. After laparoscopic tubal ligation (TL) intense pain and consequent postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) has been a problem delaying recovery and resulting in hospital admission. Ninety patients were randomised to this double-blind study, the aim being to evaluate the effect of balanced analgesia on postoperative pain and recovery after sterilization.

Extracorporeal immunoadsorption from whole blood based on the avidin-biotin concept. Evaluation of a new method.

This study of 36 rats with rat colon adenocarcinoma transplants was carried out to investigate the efficacy of a new method of whole blood immunoadsorption (WBIA) in removing biotinylated monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directly from unseparated blood, in order to increase 'the tumor/normal-tissue uptake ratio', as compared with extracorporeal immunoadsorption (ECIA) of antibodies from plasma. Compared with the ECIA system, the overall volume of the WBIA system (comprising only a pump, an adsorption column, a drop-chamber and tubings) was less (3.6 vs.

Tyrosine phosphorylation of the growth hormone (GH) receptor and Janus tyrosine kinase-2 is involved in the insulin-like actions of GH in primary rat adipocytes.

The nature of tyrosine phosphorylations induced by GH in relation to the insulin-like metabolic effects in primary rat adipocytes was investigated. Unlike other cells, e.g.

Cellular neurotoxicity of trivalent manganese bound to transferrin or pyrophosphate studied in human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cell cultures.

Previous studies have shown that cellular uptake of manganese is related to its binding to transferrin. However, it is not known how transferrin binding influences manganese toxicity. Therefore, the cytotoxic activity of manganese bound as manganic ion to either transferrin or pyrophosphate was investigated in the cloned human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y.

Effect of intravenous ketoprofen on pain after outpatient laparoscopic sterilisation.

The effect of intravenous ketoprofen in reducing pain after laparoscopic sterilisation was studied in a placebo controlled, randomised setting in 100 patients undergoing outpatient laparoscopic sterilisation. The study group receive 100 mg ketoprofen i.v.

Inhibition of activation of human T lymphocytes by the complement C1 esterase inhibitor.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules have been shown to be substrates to both of the complement C1 esterases. The effect of a C1 esterase-mediated cleavage of the MHC class I molecules on the activation process of lymphocytes was investigated by including the complement C1 esterase inhibitor (C1-Inh) in the medium during activation of human peripheral lymphocytes by staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA). The C1-Inh was shown to inhibit the activation of both CD4+ and CD8+ cells.

A novel co-stimulatory T cell antigen co-expressed on renal cell carcinoma.

The A6H mAb raised primarily against human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has previously been shown to bind strongly to RCC, to some degree to colon carcinoma but only marginally to a variety of normal tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis or RCC tissues containing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes revealed that A6H stained both tumor cells and lymphocytes. FACS analysis of human peripheral blood cells demonstrated that A6H stained both tumor cells and lymphocytes.