Interactions among pulmonary surfactant, vernix caseosa, and intestinal enterocytes: intra-amniotic administration of fluorescently liposomes to pregnant rabbits.

Although vernix caseosa is known to be a natural biofilm at birth, human pulmonary surfactant commences to remove the vernix from fetal skin into the amniotic fluid at gestational week 34, i.e., well before delivery.

Hypomanic switching during influenza infection without intracranial infection in an adolescent patient with bipolar disorder.

Manic switching, which is mood changing from depression to mania, induced by intracranial viral infections have been previously reported. However, manic switching induced by influenza infection without intracranial viral infection in a patient with bipolar disorder (BD), has not been previously reported. We report a patient with adolescent BD who showed a first episode of hypomanic switching during influenza B infection without intracranial viral infection.

A comparison of uterine peristalsis in women with normal uteri and uterine leiomyoma by cine magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: The non-pregnant uterus shows wave-like activity (uterine peristalsis). This pilot study was intended to determine: (1) whether uterine peristalsis during the menstrual cycle is detectable by cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); (2) the effects of leiomyoma on uterine peristalsis.

Study Design: Mid-sagittal MRI was performed sequentially with T2-weighted single-shot fast spin-echo (SSFSE) in 3 normal ovulatory volunteers and 19 premenopausal women with uterine leiomyoma.

Micelles of pulmonary surfactant in human amniotic fluid at term.

Studies using in vitro analysis have shown that the interaction between pulmonary surfactant and vernix caseosa could explain the appearance of amniotic fluid turbidity. That phenomenon is interpreted based on the "roll-up" hypothesis. We tested the roll-up hypothesis by examining the presence of micelles of pulmonary surfactant in human amniotic fluid at term.

Effects of ovarian theca cells on granulosa cell differentiation during gonadotropin-independent follicular growth in cattle.

We investigated the effects of theca cells or FSH on granulosa cell differentiation and steroid production during bovine early follicular growth, using a co-culture system in which granulosa and theca cells were cultured on opposite sides of a collagen membrane. Follicular cells were isolated from early antral follicles (2-4 mm) that were assumed to be in gonadotropin-independent phase and just before recruitment into a follicular wave. Granulosa cells were cultured under serum-free conditions with and without theca cells or recombinant human FSH to test their effects on granulosa cell differentiation.