Intrauterine devices and acute pelvic inflammatory disease

One of the most serious problems among women using the intrauterine device (IUD) has been pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Subjects for the present investigation were chosen from 15- to 44-year-old women seeking emergency medical attention at a large city hospital. Febrile and afebrile patients with PID and appropriate controls were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire concerning their demographic, reproductive, and contraceptive histories. Results showed a significantly higher proportion of IUD users among febrile cases of PID (38%) than among controls (11%). This implies that febrile PID is five times as likely to develop in an IUD user as in a nonuser.     

Binding of diethylstilboestrol to deoxyribonucleic acid by rat liver microsomal fractions in vitro and in mouse foetal cells in culture

Diethylstillboestrol, a synthetic and carcinogenic hormone, binds to DNA as a result of incubation with a liver microsomal preparation in vitro and on incubation with primary mouse foetal cells in culture. Enzymic digestion of DNA samples thus prepared gives several covalent deoxyribonucleoside-diethylstilboestrol products from the microsomal system. One of these is produced in small but significant yield in the tissue-culture system.