A 5-year study on the effect of hormone therapy, tibolone and raloxifene on vaginal bleeding and endometrial thickness.

Objectives: To study the effect of standard and low-dose estrogen-progestin therapy (EPT), tibolone and raloxifene on the incidence of vaginal spotting/bleeding and endometrial thickness over a 5-year period.

Methods: Seven hundred eighty-six postmenopausal women were studied in an open prospective design. Vaginal spotting/bleeding and endometrial thickness as assessed by transvaginal ultrasonography was compared between six categories of women over a 5-year period: three categories in women on continuous combined estrogen-progestin therapy, one category under tibolone, one category under raloxifene and one under no treatment.

Concentrations of soluble Fas in maternal serum and amniotic fluid during uncomplicated pregnancies.

Objective: To determine, during normal pregnancy, maternal serum (MS) and amniotic fluid (AF) concentrations of soluble Fas (sFas), an apoptosis-suppressing molecule that might play a role in the apoptotic process. Soluble Fas levels might explain existing immunotolerance, fetal well being, and rupture of membranes at term.

Methods: Sixty-six healthy, nonsmoking, pregnant women (mean age 32.