The home pregnancy test works by measuring human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone in urine. This hormone was initially studied in NICHD intramural laboratories as a reliable marker of certain tumors. Refinement of the assay for hCG detection to enhance specificity enabled its ready application to pregnancy detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSerum levels of IGF-I were measured in Barbadian children, aged 9-15 years, half of whom had experienced protein-energy malnutrition limited to the first year of life. Despite current nutritional adequacy, menarche was delayed more than one year in the girls with a history of early malnutrition and their IGF-I levels failed to show the 60% postmenarchic increase seen in the controls. In addition, the IGF-I levels of boys and girls with prior malnutrition in infancy were not significantly correlated with current anthropometric measurements, whereas IGF-I values of control boys and girls were significantly correlated for almost every growth parameter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis investigation assessed the syndromal nature of menstrual cycle changes in women who experience significant cyclicity of mood by exploring the time course of different symptoms in relation to endocrinologically defined segments of the menstrual cycle. Participants were accepted into the protocol on the basis of a prospectively documented history of perimenstrual mood change. The protocol included completion of the Daily Life Experiences Questionnaire and blood sampling during three menstrual cycles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA major portion of the hCG immunoreactivity detectable in pregnancy urine is derived from a fragment of hCG beta. This lacks the COOH-terminal portion of hCG beta, but retains immunoreactivity with most antibodies raised against the beta-subunit of hCG. To improve clinical measurements of hCG and assess the importance of such fragments in human urine, we have isolated and determined the structure of this molecule.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMenstrual cycle changes associated with vigorous exercise can range widely. They may be only subtle abnormalities, ranging from delayed onset of spontaneous menses or anovulatory cycles to loss of spontaneous menses. They may be more serious, however.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThese discussions will encompass important areas which relate to the pathophysiology of the menstrual cycle. Unfortunately, only a narrow window of the pathology that is associated with the menstrual cycle will be presented. For instance, areas not to be covered include menstrual dysfunction associated with drug abuse, environmental toxins, the effect of systemic illness on the menstrual cycle, the effects of weight and exercise on the menstrual cycle and, finally, genetic abnormalities that are associated with emenstrual dysfunction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo determine if human luteinizing hormone (hLH) follows the same subcellular route in the pseudo-pregnant rat ovary as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), the distribution of immunoreactive and bioactive hLH within cytosol, lysosomes, and a combined plasma membrane/prelysosomal vesicle fraction was examined. Immunoreactive levels were determined using a specific radioimmunoassay and bioactive levels were determined in an in vitro Leydig cell bioassay. Low cytosolic hLH levels were apparent the first few hours after hLH administration and may reflect at least some contamination by serum and interstitial fluid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe subcellular metabolism of internalized hCG was examined by monitoring the distribution of bioactive and immunoreactive hCG in subcellular fractions of pseudopregnant rat ovaries. Homogenates of ovaries from rats injected with 1.0 microgram (12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwenty consecutive men with partial seizures of temporal lobe origin were evaluated for sexual or reproductive dysfunction. Eleven (55%) had diminished sexual interest or reduced potency. Nine of them had reproductive endocrine disorders, with features of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in five, hyperprolactinemia in two, and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism in two.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOf 50 consecutive women with partial seizures of temporal lobe origin (temporal lobe epilepsy [TLE]) evaluated for reproductive dysfunction, 28 had menstrual problems. Of those, 19 had reproductive endocrine disorders. Polycystic ovarian syndrome and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism occurred significantly more often in women with TLE than in the general female population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
February 1986
Pseudopregnant rats were injected with either native human chorionic gonadotropin or with (125I)-human chorionic gonadotropin and their ovarian homogenates fractionated on Percoll density gradients. The levels of alpha and beta subunits within subcellular fractions were measured using radioimmunoassays specific for each subunit. Radioactivity measurements of fractions obtained from rats injected with (125I)-human chorionic gonadotropin were used as a separate index of alpha subunit distribution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn a random sample of 20 women with temporal lobe epilepsy (complex partial seizures, CPS), we found 5 women with the polycystic ovarian syndrome. This finding in a small sample suggests a fivefold overrepresentation of polycystic ovarian syndrome among women with CPS. Clinical and experimental data support the notion that CPS and polycystic ovarian syndrome either favor a mutual development or are parallel effects of a common pathogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOvarian metabolism of highly purified human LH (hLH) was studied in pseudopregnant rats. The animals were injected with 1.0 microgram (11.
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