Prostaglandin F and progesterone secretion by porcine endometrium and corpus luteum in vitro

Slices of porcine endometrium and corpus luteum tissue obtained from mature sows throughout the luteal phase of the oestrous cycle were incubated in culture medium which was analysed at regular intervals over a period of 8 hours for prostaglandin F and progesterone. Prostaglandin F secretion was greatest by endometrium obtained during the mid III to late I luteal stage of the cycle and the increased levels secreted by this tissue were paralleled by high levels of secretion from corpus luteum tissue. The addition of indomethacin (10 mug/ml) to the culture medium completely abolished prostaglandin F secretion by both endometrium and luteal tissue indicating that the high levels of the prostaglandin were due to synthesis. Progesterone secretion by the corpus luteum was maximal from early luteal tissue and had declined to considerably lower levels by late stage tissue when prostaglandin secretion was greatest. The possible physiological significance of luteal prostaglandin F secretion is discussed.     

Effect of cholesterol and cholestyramine feeding and of fasting on sterol synthesis in the liver, lleum, and lung of the guinea pig

The effects of feeding diest containing either cholesterol (0.24% w/w) or cholestyramine (2.5% w/w) and of fasting on sterol synthesis in the liver, ileum, and lung of both male and female guinea pigs have been studied by measuring the incorporation by tissue slices of 14C-labeled acetate into total digitoninpredipitable sterols. Cholesterol feeding significantly decreased (P less than 0.05) sterol synthesis in the liver, ileum, and lung of the males and in the ileum of females. Cholestyramine feeding stimulated the rate of hepatic sterol synthesis 13-fold but did not significantly affect sterologenesis in the ileum. Sterol synthesis in the lung was significantly increased (P less than 0.05) but to a much lesser extent than in the liver. Fatty acid synthesis in the liver, ileum, and lung was not significantly affected by either cholesterol or cholestyramine feeding. In guinea pigs fasted for 24 hr, sterol synthesis was inhibited in all three tissues, the most pronounced effect occurring in the liver. Only in the lung was fatty acid synthesis significantly decreased (P less than 0.001) by fasting. Cholesterol feeding resulted in increased concentrations of cholesterol in the plasma and liver. Cholestyramine feeding reduced plasma cholesterol concentration by 81% in females and by 64% in males. However, it did not significantly change the tissue cholesterol concentrations. Fasting resulted in a significant increase (P less than 0.05) in plasma cholesterol concentration but did not effect the concentration of cholesterol in the tissues. It was concluded that in the normal guinea pig, the feedback inhibition produced by both cholesterol and also possibly by bile acids suppresses sterol synthesis in the liver to very low rates compared to those in the small intestine, where sterologenesis is not only less sensitive to the cholesterol negative feedback system than that in the liver, but also is not subject to regulation by the bile acid negative feedback system.     

Acute reductions in serum testosterone levels by narcotics in the male rat: stereospecificity, blockade by naloxone and tolerance

The effects of a single injection of morphine (20 mg/kg) on serum testosterone levels were examined in the male rat. Within 2 hours after the morphine injection, testosterone levels were significantly lower than control levels. The decline in testosterone levels reached a maximum 4 hours after the administration of morphine, at which time testosterone levels were reduced by more than 85% with respect to controls. The ability of a large number of narcotics to depress serum testosterone levels, 4 hours after their administration, was also examined. All narcotics depressed testosterone levels significantly and their potency relative to morphine was comparable to that observed in several other preparations, such as the guinea-pig ileum and mouse vas deferens. The testosterone-depleting effects of the narcotics appear to represent specific narcotic effects since the (-)-isomers of the narcotics were considerably more potent than the (+)-isomers, naloxone competitively inhibited the effects of morphine on testosterone levels and tolerance developed to the testosterone-depleting effects of these drugs. Acute treatment with morphine also lowered serum luteinizing hormone levels, and this reduction preceded the fall in testosterone levels by 1 to 2 hours.     

Awareness and dreams during general anaesthesia for Caesarian section a study of incidence

One hundred Nigerian patients presenting for emergency caesarian section were interviewed within the first 24 hours post-operatively. The purpose was to determine the incidence of awareness and dreams. The standard anaesthetic technique consisted of atropine 0.6 mg and thiopentone 250 mg given intravenously at the time of induction, suxamethonium bromide 40 mg intravenously to facilitate tracheal intubation and nitrous oxide/oxygen/pancuronium for maintenance. The incidence of awareness was 4% while the incidence of dreaming was 17%. Most (94%) of the patients said they dreamed only occasionally at home and of these, 15% claimed they dreamed more frequently when pregnant than when not pregnant.     

The effects of drugs and anaesthetic agents on the urinary bladder and sphincters

The influence of sedative, anaesthetic and neuromuscular blocking drugs on diagnostic urethral pressure profiles and cystometrograms has been investigated. These agents have marked effects on the results obtained; in particular, the urethral pressure profile was raised by opiates and lowered by anaesthetic induction agents. Bladder capacity as measured by the cystometrogram was greatly increased by halothane. These findings indicate that urodynamic studies should be performed only on conscious unsedated patients.     

Multiple congenital defects associated with trisomy for long arm of No. 4

The most prevalent microorganisms isolated from urine specimens of dogs (385) and cats (132) with clinical signs of urinary tract infections were Escherichia coli, Proteus spp., and Staphylococcus aureus. The results of quantitative urine-culturing methods showed 48.6% of the canine and 12.1% of the feline specimens had more than 10(5) organisms per ml of urine. The bacteria isolated appear to have a greater resistance to antibacterial agents than previously reported.     

Neisseria lactamica meningitis

Neisseria lactamica was recovered from the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of a 7-month-old girl with acute purulent meningitis. The isolate was identified initially as N meningitidis. However, additional biochemical testing at the Center for Disease Control showed that the organism fermented lactose and produced beta-D-galactosidase, thereby confirming its identity as N lactamica.     

A comparison of distribution and composition of intramuscular fat in Duroc Jersey and Hampshire pigs at 100 kg liveweight

The intramuscular fat content, its fatty acid composition and that from the triglyceride fraction, were determined in several muscles from the right sides of four Duroc Jersey and four Hampshire castrated male pigs slaughtered at 100 kg liveweight. The Hampshires had heavier muscles than the Duroc Jersey pigs, but did not show significant differences in the percentages of intramuscular fat. The concentrations of linoleic acid were, in general, higher in the Hampshire than in the Duroc Jersey pigs and in many muscles the differences were highly significant (p < 0·05) The concentrations of linoleic acid (18:2) in the triglyceride fraction did not differ among muscles within breeds but were higher in Hampshire than in Duroc Jersey pigs.     

The TraceFood Framework – Principles and guidelines for implementing traceability in food value chains

Requirements related to food safety and associated legislation and certification have increased a lot in recent years. Among these are the requirements for systematic recordings to be made throughout the supply chain so that in case of a food crisis it is possible to trace back to source of contamination, and to perform a targeted recall of potentially affected food items. These systematic recordings must be connected to the food items through unique identifiers, and the recordings, the identifiers and the documentation of how ingredients and food items join or split up as they move through the supply chain is what constitutes a traceability system. For the food industry, the traceability system is also an important tool for controlling and optimizing production, for getting better industrial statistics and better decisions, and for profiling desirable product characteristics. Current status is that many food producers have good, often electronic traceability systems internally, but exchange (especially electronic exchange) of information between the links in the supply chain is very time-consuming or difficult due to the diversity and proprietary nature of the respective internal systems. To facilitate electronic interchange of this type of data, an international, non-proprietary standard is needed; one that describes how messages can be constructed, sent and received and also how the data elements in the messages should be identified, measured and interpreted. The TraceFood Framework was designed for this purpose, and it contains recommendations for “Good Traceability Practice”, common principles for unique identification of food items, a common generic standard for electronic exchange of traceability information (TraceCore XML), and sector-specific ontologies where the meaning and the inter-relationship of the data elements is defined. The TraceFood Framework is a joint collaboration of many EU-funded projects dealing with traceability of food products; especially the integrated project TRACE where most of the work related to specification, design and testing of the framework has taken place.