Age dependent accumulation of cadmium in the human ovary.

Cadmium (Cd) was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry in small pieces (< 1 g) of healthy human ovaries excised for histologic examination. Cd levels in the ovary increased linearly between 30 and 65 years of age. Below 30 years, there was no age dependent increase and over 65 a tendency was observed for ovarian Cd levels to decrease.

Magnesium content of human myometrium and placenta during various stages of gestation, and of different body fluids at term.

Pregnancy is marked by a state of hypomagnesaemia but not much is known about the effects of maternal magnesium deprivation on the fetus. The aim of this study was therefore to measure magnesium concentrations in human myometrial and placental tissues and in different body fluids during pregnancy and at term, using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The magnesium concentration in umbilical cord blood was higher than in the maternal blood, supporting the existence of an active magnesium transport system.

Interactive effects of volatile anesthetics, verapamil, and ryanodine on contractility and calcium homeostasis of isolated pregnant rat myometrium.

Objective: Both volatile anesthetics and Ca2+ antagonists decrease uterine contractility. The interactive effects of anesthetics, verapamil, and ryanodine on myometrial muscular activity and on intracellular Ca2+ availability were examined.

Study Design: The effects of minimum alveolar concentrations of 0.

Magnesium transport in human pregnancy (magnesium content of human gestation tissues and tissue fluids).

Authors used atom absorption spectrophotometry to determine the magnesium content of gestation tissues (placenta, myometrium) and tissue fluids (maternal blood, cord blood, amniotic fluid) taken in different periods of gestation. Magnesium concentration was found higher in the cord blood than in the maternal serum. It was assumed that the concentration gradient between mother and fetus resulted from active transport.

Pregnancy in women with chronic renal disease: a 14-year study.

Between 1975 and 1988 authors encountered 44 pregnancies in 26 women who had had chronic renal disease and unimpaired renal function before the conception. Complications during pregnancy and the outcome of pregnancy were studied. There were 5 spontaneous abortions between the 11th and 20th weeks of gestation, 1 therapeutic abortion, 3 still births at weeks 28, 32 and 33, 6 neonatal deaths at age of 26 to 35 weeks, 11 preterm newborns, 35 live births, 9 infants with intrauterine growth retardation including 4 preterm newborns and 1 fetal malformation and 2 cases with premature rupture of the fetal membranes.

Effects of beta 2-adrenergic stimulants on the progesterone and oestradiol-17 beta serum levels in pseudopregnant rats.

In CFY rats pseudopregnancy (PSP) was induced by mechanical stimulation of cervix uteri. On the days 1 or 7 of PSP indvelling catheter was built in one of the jugular veins and blood was collected daily until 7th or 14th days of PSP respectively, meanwhile the animals were daily injected with clenbuterol (0.1 mg/kg bw), fenoterol (0.

Treatment of severe hyaline membrane disease with surfactant (Curosurf). A collaborative clinical study.

We investigated the clinical efficacy of a new surfactant product, Curosurf, isolated from porcine lungs by liquid-gel chromatography. Ten premature newborn infants (birth weight 850-1850 g), all ventilated artificially for severe hyaline membrane disease categorized radiologically as stage III-IV, received a single dose of Curosurf (200 mg/kg) via the tracheal tube. This treatment resulted in a rapid improvement of oxygenation, similar to that observed by other teams collaborating in the study and, in an astonishingly fast resolution of the radiological changes.

Effects of GABA on the spontaneous muscular activity of the human fallopian tube ampullar segments in vitro.

The effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and some GABA ergic compounds were examined on the spontaneous contractile activity of the ampullar segment of human Fallopian tubes in vitro. In both circular and longitudinal smooth muscle layers, GABA increased the frequency, and decreased the amplitude of the contractions. In longitudinal muscle layer, this effect occurred independently of endocrine status, while in the circular muscle layer, the amplitude was affected only in follicular phase and in postmenopause, but not in the luteal phase.

[Histologic changes of the endometrium after Danazol treatment].

Authors have applied Danazol-treatment to 15 sexually mature patients because of beningn, menorrhagic bleeding disturbances. Three months after daily 400 to 600 mg Danazol an amenorrhea ensued. Steroid determinations during drug administration were complemented by endometrial biopsy in the amenorrheal state.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid, its related enzymes and receptor-binding sites in the human ovary and fallopian tube.

The concentration of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the activities of related enzymes, i.e. glutamate decarboxylase and GABA transaminase, as well as the level of specific GABA binding sites were determined in ovaries and fallopian tubes obtained surgically from 31 women.

Amphicrine tumor of the vulva.

We resected a vulvar tumor, present for five years, from a 75-year-old female, and performed light and electron microscopy. Simultaneous proliferation of exo-, endo- and amphicrine cells was demonstrated. Based on histological evidence, the case is considered as a hitherto undescribed amphicrine tumor of the vulva.

Spontaneous periodic contraction of the ampullar segment of the human fallopian tube in vitro.

Spontaneous mechanical activity of 36 segments from the ampullar part of human Fallopian tubes was studied in vitro. The age of the patients varied between 37-64 years. Outer diameter and axial tension were continuously measured at an intraluminal pressure of 5 mmHg (0.

Endocrine regulation of the onset of parturition in rats.

The endocrine regulation of parturition exhibits several interspecies differences. Among the endocrine parameters considered to be the most important ones from the point of view of the regulation of parturition the concentration of oestrogens (oestradiol, oestriol and oestrone), progesterone, PGF2 alfa and its degradation product PGFM, was determined in both peripheral and uterine venous blood by RIA method in rats starting from the 15th day of pregnancy to the 3rd or 4th day following parturition. In the pregnant rat oestriol could only be detected on the day of parturition (21th day).

Effect of pharmacological agents on the activity of the circular and longitudinal smooth muscle layers of human fallopian tube ampullar segments.

The in vitro determination of the effects of some pharmacological agents on the outer diameter and axial tension of human Fallopian tube ampullar segments showed that some drugs may act on the circular and longitudinal smooth muscle layers relatively separately. PGF2 alpha elicited an excitatory response in both muscle layers while norepinephrine and isoproterenol decreased the activity. Oxytocin and indomethacin had relatively limited effects on the spontaneous motility of the ampullar segments.

Increase of progesterone production in human and rat luteal cells by beta-adrenergic stimulation.

The effects of the beta 2-adrenergic agonist hexoprenaline were studied on the progesterone production of rat and human corpora lutea and compared to hCG-induced hormone production. Human corpora lutea were obtained from healthy patients, rat corpora lutea were harvested on day 6 of pseudopregnancy. Corpora lutea were digested by trypsin and homogeneous luteal cell suspension (6 X 10(5) cells/ml) was incubated for 2 h.

[Experiences in treatment of urinary incontinence in the female by electrostimulation].

Electrostimulation-treatment was carried out in 47 female patients suffering from urinary stress incontinence. A special electrode-pair was applicated in the vagina under the bladder neck. The electrostimulation lasted for 8 hours daily through 3 to 8 days on one hand, and on the other hand for 24 hours 3 to 5 times successively.

Continuous, high-dose progestogen treatment of endometrial cancer.

The morphological effect of a high-dose progestogen (Depo-Provera) on highly differentiated endometrial carcinoma was studied. Thirteen patients were treated by progestogen only, given at the beginning of the treatment in a weekly dose of 1,000 mg for 3 month. Then, progestogen 500 mg was administered for 12 months.

Endocrine consequences of danazol treatment in menorrhagia.

In order to study the endocrine side-effects of danazol, 15 patients with severe, benign menorrhagias, were individually treated with this drug to stop bleeding. LH, FSH, testosterone, free testosterone, DES-S, androstenedione, prolactin, estradiol and cortisol serum concentrations were measured before and after the 3 month treatment period. Danazol was found to be effective in reducing the amount of bleeding in patients with benign, severe menorrhagias; however, the weight gain of patients was significant during the 3 month period.

LHRH treatment of hypothalamic amenorrhoea.

Chronic intermittent intravenous administration of 13 micrograms LHRH every 88 minutes for 28 days, was successful in inducing ovulation in two patients with 3a type secondary hypothalamic amenorrhoea. A catheter phlebitis was the only side effect of the treatment and it could be easily prevented by more flexible, thin venous catheters. The minimum laboratory need for monitoring the treatment, and the absence of hyperstimulation of the ovaries suggested the superiority of this substance to hMG for ovulation induction in clomiphene negative patients.

The effect of fetectomy on prostaglandin receptors of the rat myometrium.

It has been postulated that intrauterine volume plays a role in the timing of parturition. In previous studies we found that the onset of parturition in the rat was associated with significant increases in the concentration of receptors for PGF2 alpha in the myometrium. To determine the effect of intrauterine volume on the concentrations of this myometrial receptor, we compared receptor levels in pregnant and fetectomized horns from unilaterally fetectomized pregnant rats near the time of parturition (n = 3).

Effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on the ovarian blood flow, progesterone and oestradiol-17 beta secretion in oestrous rats.

Oestrous rats were anaesthetized with pentobarbital, one of the femoral arteries and veins and one of the ovarian veins were cannulated, and a thin polyethylene cannula was fixed in the ovarian bursa. Five-min blood fractions were collected from the ovary for 50 min. Following the control fractions 15 mU of oxytocin, 15 mU of vasopressin or 50 microliter of 0.

Lung maturation and prevention of hyaline membrane disease.

Small pieces of 7 to 12 week old human foetal lung, derived from legal abortions, were maintained in organ culture for 21 days. In the last 5 days of cultivation the explants were treated with dexamethasone (10 ng/ml) or betamethasone (10 ng/ml) or fenoterol (10 ng/ml), or fenoterol + dexamethasone, or bromhexine VIII metabolite (ambroxol: 12 ng/ml) and were then prepared for electronmicroscopic examination. In another experimental group the pregnant were treated before the interruption of 14-17-week old pregnancies with ambroxol (total dose, 1080 mg).

Presence of gamma-aminobutyric acid and its specific receptor binding sites in the human term placenta.

The concentration of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the activity of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), and the presence of specific GABA receptor binding sites have been examined in human term placentas. The estimated values of GABA concentration and GAD activity in the placenta were about 50 nmol/g tissue and 1.1 nmol/mg protein/h, respectively.