Practical guidelines for the assessment and treatment of selective mutism.

Objective: To provide practical guidelines for the assessment and treatment of children with selective mutism, in light of the recent hypothesis that selective mutism might be best conceptualized as a childhood anxiety disorder.

Method: An extensive literature review was completed on the phenomenology, evaluation, and treatment of children with selective mutism. Additional recommendations were based on clinical experience from the authors' selective mutism clinic.

Early sex differences in hormonal potentialities of gonads from quail embryos with a sex-linked pigmentation marker: an in vitro radioimmunoassay study.

Quail embryos with a sex-linked eye pigmentation marker allowing sex identification at autopsy provided a biological model for radioimmunoassay of sex steroids in embryonic quail gonads at a very early stage (51/2 and 61/2 days). The purpose was to demonstrate a sex difference in hormonal potentialities of the gonads before any morphological indication of sexual differentiation. Evidence of early steroidogenesis by undifferentiated gonads could be obtained: estrogen synthesis characterized female gonads, while testosterone was produced by the gonads of both sexes.

Effects of early tamoxifen treatment on hormonal content of 15-day quail embryo gonads.

An early treatment of quail eggs with an antiestrogen (Tamoxifen = TAM) modifies the female gonads morphologically. In the left ovary, the proliferation of the germinal epithelium and formation of a cortex is markedly inhibited, while the medulla on both sides becomes more developed and keeps a cordal organization. The effects of TAM on the hormonal potentialities of 15-day embryo gonads have been investigated by radioimmunoassay.

Control of the hormonal secretions of quail embryo gonads (normal and DES-treated): in vitro effects of testosterone and of hCG.

In vitro effects of factors such as testosterone or hCG on steroidogenesis by 12-day quail embryo gonads have been investigated by radioimmunoassays. The purpose was to compare the hormonal potentialities (estradiol, estrone, and dihydrotestosterone; E1, E2, DHT) of normal and diethylstilbestrol-treated gonads. The results demonstrate that the reduced steroid production by the treated ovaries does not result from their inability to respond to both factors, but reflects their weakened stimulation in vivo at the time of explantation.

Effects of early hypophysectomy in the aging rat ovary. Ultrastructural study on regression and on delayed epithelial proliferation in the interstitial tissue.

This report describes the fine structure of the "wheel" cells and of epithelial structures which both characterize the interstitial tissue of hypophysectomized and intact senescent rats. The regressive changes induced in normal ovarian interstitial cells of 25-26 day-old hypophysectomized rats were studied from 7 days to 15 months after the operation. They mainly consist in a rapid cytoplasmic dedifferentiation of these steroidogenic cells which, by one month after hypophysectomy, could be only identified by their specific nuclear pattern ("wheel" cells).

[Inhibitory effects of tamoxifen on the normal differentiation of the female gonads of the quail embryo].

Early treatment of Quail eggs by tamoxifen produces a striking inhibition on normal differentiation of the female gonads. This anti-estrogen restricts cortical proliferation in the ovary while it favours the development of the medulla of both gonads. As a result their morphology and organization diverge toward a more neutral or even testicular pattern.

[Chick embryo ovarian differentiation after experimental mesonephros agenesis (author's transl)].

Agenesis of the mesonephros was obtained by preventing its early induction by the Wolffian duct. In the older embryos (14 to 19 days) studied, the ovaries differentiated in the absence of the underlying mesonephros, but were reduced in size. Their different cell populations (somatic and germinal) were however present and showed typical cytological features.

Induction of H-Y antigen in the gonads of male quail embryos by diethylstilbestrol.

In quails, H-Y antigen is induced by oestrogens in the gonads of the originally H-Y negative homogametic sex but not in non-gonadal tissues. This is consistent with the view that oestrogens act via H-Y antigen in the organization of the avian gonad.

Feminization of the quail by early diethylstilbestrol treatment: histoenzymological investigations on steroid dehydrogenases in the gonads.

Early treatment of Quail eggs by DES promotes a transient feminization of the gonads in genetic males and a strong stimulation of the Müllerian ducts. The left ovotestis results from the juxtaposition of a testicular medulla and an induced female-type cortex, which develops follicles and a characteristic 17 beta-HSD activity. The right testis is reduced but keeps a consistent structure.

[Retroperitoneal injuries: fractures of the spine and pelvis (author's transl)].

Within the area of retroperitoneal injuries, bone injuries of the spine and pelvis are discussed in terms of immediate diagnosis and early treatment. Particular attention should be given to the required operative position and to the intensive postoperative care in terms of the stability or instability of spinal injuries. In view of the total injury, pelvic fractures are often underrated.

Light and electron microscopy of the ovarian interstitial tissue in the senile rat: normal aspect and response to HCG of "deficiency cells' and 'epithelial cords'.

The two components of the interstitial tissue in the senile rat's ovary--deficiency cells and epithelial cellular cords--both contain steroidogenic organelles at a very low level of activity, which can be notably raised by HCG. Deficiency cells and epithelial cords are not the expression of primary ovarian aging, but the consequence of senile gonadotropic hypofunctioning. For that same reason, these ovarian structures become permanent and their possible cellular aging can thus be studied.

LES CELLULES SECRETRICES TESTICULAIRES DU POUSSIN DE LA CAILLE JAPONAISE: DIFFERENCIATION DE LEUR ULTRASTRUCTURE ET RAPPORTS AVEC LEURS POTENTIALITES STEROIDOGENES.

The differentiation of the Quail testis progresses slowly after hatching. The Leydig cells, not yet typical, store up lipids which indicate already their future capacities; Δ -3β HSDH activity being rather low, the conversion from pregnenolone into progesterone is restricted. However, differentiation accelerates from the third week on, after the beginning of germ cell meiosis.