Effects of prenatal androgenization and postnatal steroid treatment on growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor I and II, insulin, thyroxine, and triidothyronine concentrations in beef heifers

A 2 x 3 factorial arrangement of treatments was used to elucidate the mechanism(s) by which prenatal androgenization improves postnatal rate and efficiency of growth and composition of gain in beef heifers. Fifteen control (C) and 15 prenatally androgenized (PA) Angus x Simmental heifers (prenatal treatment, Pretrt) received no (N), estrogen (E), or estrogen and testosterone (ET) implants postnatally (postnatal treatment, Posttrt) to evaluate whether the postpubertal growth response after prenatal androgenization could be induced in prepubertal heifers. Blood was collected from the heifers at 6 +/- 1, 9 +/- 1, and 12 +/- 1 mo of age and analyzed from serum concentrations of growth hormone (GH), IGF-I, IGF-II, insulin, thyroxine (T4), and triiodothyronine (T3). Season of the year had a greater effect on hormone concentrations than either Pretrt or Posttrt, and there were no Pretrt x Posttrt interactions. Prenatal treatment, PA, had no effect on GH; however, Posttrt E and ET increased (P < .001) GH concentrations. Prenatal treatment, PA, increased (P < .05) IGF-I concentrations, and there was a nonsignificant increase (P = .11) in IGF-I concentrations with Posttrt E and ET. Concentrations of IGF-II were unaffected by Pretrt PA; however, they were lower (P < .01) in the Posttrt E and ET groups. Insulin, T4, T3, BW, and ADG were not affected by Pretrt and Posttrt. Concentrations of GH and IGF-I were increased in heifers that received Pretrt PA and(or) Posttrt E and ET in a manner to support improved growth performance; however, BW and ADG were similar. In prepubertal beef heifers, factors in addition to increased GH and IGF-I seem to be necessary for improved growth performance.     

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: a national health information resource

This article describes the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the third in a series of nationally representative surveys of medical care use and expenditures sponsored by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The MEPS is designed to provide extensive data on the types of health care services American use, how frequently they use them, how much is paid for the services, and who pays for them. It also will provide information on the types and costs of private health insurance available to the U.S. population. The survey is unparalleled in its degree of detail, as well as its ability to link medical care use, payments, and health insurance coverage to specific survey respondents and their families. It allows analysts to examine how individual and family characteristics, including the characteristics of their health insurance, affect medical care use and spending. This article discusses each of the MEPS components, focusing on design enhancements that have been made since the survey was last conducted nearly a decade ago.     

Reductions in self-injury produced by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is used to reduce pain but also may be useful for self-injurious behavior (SIB). In the current investigation, a microcurrent electromedical device, classified as a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS), was applied with a man with Down syndrome who displayed SIB that persisted in the absence of social contingencies. Although clinically significant results were not maintained, a clear difference in the rates of SIB during active and inactive TENS was observed.     

Fine needle aspiration cytology of papillary neoplasms

This article covers the fine needle aspiration biopsy cytomorphology of papillary carcinomas of different organs, differential diagnoses, and clinical correlation. Diagnostic problems and helpful cytologic features are emphasized. The purpose is to have a concise source of information that helps the pathologist to evaluate these neoplasms.     

D-erythro-neopterin biosynthesis in the methanogenic archaea Methanococcus thermophila and Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum deltaH

The steps in the biosynthetic transformation of GTP to 7,8-dihydro-D-erythro-neopterin (H2neopterin), the precursor to the modified folates found in the methanogenic archaea, has been elucidated for the first time in two members of the domain Archaea. In Methanococcus thermophila and Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum deltaH, it has been demonstrated that H2neopterin 2':3'-cyclic phosphate is an intermediate in this conversion. In addition, the formation of the pterin ring of the H2neopterin 2':3'-cyclic phosphate is catalyzed not by a single enzyme, as is known to occur with GTP cyclohydrolase I in the Eucarya and Bacteria, but rather by two or more enzymes. A 2,4,5-triamino-4(3H)-pyrimidinone-containing molecule, most likely 2,5-diamino-6-ribosylamino-4(3H)-pyrimidinone 5'-triphosphate, has been identified as an intermediate in the formation of the H2neopterin 2':3'-cyclic phosphate. Synthetic H2neopterin 2':3'-cyclic phosphate was found to be readily hydrolyzed by cell extracts of M. thermophila via the H2neopterin 3'-phosphate to H2neopterin, a known precursor to the pterin portion of methanopterin.     

A prospective study of the effect of fundoplication on primary and secondary peristalsis in the esophagus

BACKGROUND: Delay of prenatal care is an important risk for poor birth outcome, yet its association with maternal knowledge and beliefs remains insufficiently studied. This research examined the relationship of unintended childbearing and beliefs about the importance of prenatal care with initiation after the first trimester, adjusting for key sociodemographic determinants. METHODS: One hundred fifty-four Texas hospitals accounting for 80 percent of state births were asked to collect surveys from all women delivering infants during a one-week interval in 1986. Seventy-four percent of hospitals and 70 percent of women participated (n = 2032). No differences occurred between the sample and the population on rates of delayed care and low birthweight or maternal demographics. RESULTS: Since delayed prenatal care is more frequent among low-income women, analyses were limited to those below the 200 percent poverty level. After adjustment for maternal age, marital status, education, parity, race, and health insurance status employing logistic regression, unintended births were 1.6 times more likely to involve delayed care. Mothers who believed prenatal care was unimportant were 2.1 times more likely to delay care. These coefficients exceeded or about equaled those for the covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Preconception education about the value of prenatal care and family planning programs to prevent unintended pregnancies should be conducted together with efforts to overcome financial and structural barriers if progress toward national prenatal care objectives is to be achieved.     

Individual differences in boys' and girls' timing and tempo of puberty: Modeling development with nonlinear growth models.

Pubertal development is a nonlinear process progressing from prepubescent beginnings through biological, physical, and psychological changes to full sexual maturity. To tether theoretical concepts of puberty with sophisticated longitudinal, analytical models capable of articulating pubertal development more accurately, we used nonlinear mixed-effects models to describe both the timing and tempo of pubertal development in the sample of 364 White boys and 373 White girls measured across 6 years as part of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Individual differences in timing and tempo were extracted with models of logistic growth. Differential relations emerged for how boys' and girls' timing and tempo of development were related to physical characteristics (body mass index, height, and weight) and psychological outcomes (internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and risky sexual behavior). Timing and tempo are associated in boys but not girls. Pubertal timing and tempo are particularly important for predicting psychological outcomes in girls but only sparsely related to boys' psychological outcomes. Results highlight the importance of considering the nonlinear nature of puberty and expand the repertoire of possibilities for examining important aspects of how and when pubertal processes contribute to development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Near‐Infrared Intraoperative Chemiluminescence Imaging

Intraoperative imaging technologies recently entered the operating room, and their implementation is revolutionizing how physicians plan, monitor, and perform surgical interventions. In this work, we present a novel surgical imaging reporter system: intraoperative chemiluminescence imaging (ICI). To this end, we have leveraged the ability of a chemiluminescent metal complex to generate near‐infrared light upon exposure to an aqueous solution of Ce⁴⁺ in the presence of reducing tissue or blood components. An optical camera spatially resolves the resulting photon flux. We describe the construction and application of a prototype imaging setup, which achieves a detection limit as low as 6.9 pmol cm^?2 of the transition‐metal‐based ICI agent. As a proof of concept, we use ICI for the in vivo detection of our transition metal tracer following both systemic and subdermal injections. The very high signal‐to‐noise ratios make ICI an interesting candidate for the development of new intraoperative imaging technologies.     

Exploring the Structural Space of the Galectin‐1–Ligand Interaction

Galectin‐1 is a tumor‐associated protein recognizing the Galβ1‐4GlcNAc motif of cell‐surface glycoconjugates. Herein, we report the stepwise expansion of a multifunctional natural scaffold based on N‐acetyllactosamine (LacNAc). We obtained a LacNAc mimetic equipped with an alkynyl function on the 3′‐hydroxy group of the disaccharide facing towards a binding pocket adjacent to the carbohydrate‐recognition domain. It served as an anchor motif for further expansion by the Sharpless–Huisgen–Meldal reaction, which resulted in ligands with a binding mode almost identical to that of the natural carbohydrate template. X‐ray crystallography provided a structural understanding of the galectin‐1–ligand interactions. The results of this study enable the development of bespoke ligands for members of the galectin target family.     

Deep-level Transient Spectroscopy of GaAs/AlGaAs Multi-Quantum Wells Grown on (100) and (311)B GaAs Substrates

Si-doped GaAs/AlGaAs multi-quantum wells structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (100) and (311)B GaAs substrates have been studied by using conventional deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and high-resolution Laplace DLTS techniques. One dominant electron-emitting level is observed in the quantum wells structure grown on (100) plane whose activation energy varies from 0.47 to 1.3 eV as junction electric field varies from zero field (edge of the depletion region) to 4.7 × 10⁶ V/m. Two defect states with activation energies of 0.24 and 0.80 eV are detected in the structures grown on (311)B plane. The E_c-0.24 eV trap shows that its capture cross-section is strongly temperature dependent, whilst the other two traps show no such dependence. The value of the capture barrier energy of the trap at E_c-0.24 eV is 0.39 eV.