No abstract available.
Diabetic Nephropathies*

No abstract available.
Iodine*

The present study was designed to investigate if antithyroid antibodies (ATA) could affect the pregnancy outcome in euthyroid women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). From October 1995 to September. 1996, 28 euthyroid women with ATA who underwent IVF-ET were studied. Fifty-one euthyroid women without ATA who underwent IVF-ET served as control. Thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOA) and thyroglobulin antibody (TGA) were assayed using radio ligand assay kits as ATA. All patients included in study and control groups had only tubal factor in infertility. Long protocol of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) was used to. controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) in all patients. There were no significant differences between study and control groups in patient characteristics such as age, infertility duration and hormonal profile. There were also no significant differences between two groups with respect to the clinical response to COH and IVF results such as number of retrieved oocytes, fertilization rate, number of embryos frozen and number of embryos transfered. There were no correlations between ATA (TPOA and TGA) titers and fertilization rate. The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle seemed to be lower in the study group than in the control group (26.3% vs 39.3%), but the difference was not statistically significant. The biochemical pregnancy rate per cycle and miscarriage rate were significantly higher in the study group at 18.4% (7/38) and 40.0% (4/10) compared with 5.6% (5/89) and 11.4% (4/35) in the control group. In the study group, both TPOA and TGA titers were significantly higher in the biochemical pregnancy group than in the clinical pregnancy group or non-pregnancy group. In 10 women with ATA who achieved pregnancy following IVF-ET, both TPOA and TGA titers were significantly higher in the miscarriage group than in the ongoing or delivery group. In conclusion, euthyroid women with ATA appear to represent a less favorable subset within other tubal factor patients when treated with IVF-ET.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Antibodies* ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures ; Female ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Humans ; Infertility ; Iodide Peroxidase ; Oocytes ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnancy Rate ; Thyroglobulin

No abstract available.
Transcription Factors*

Programmed cell death (PCD), or apoptosis, plays an important role in embryonic development, metamorphsis, hormone-dependent atrophy and tumor growth, as a physiological event regulating the cell number or eliminating damaged cells. Currently hybridoma cell production, resulting from the fusion of myeloma cells with antibody producing spleen cells, is widely used in various fields of life science. This technique requires a hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) deficient mutant myeloma cell line as a fusion partner. When these rnutant cells are treated with aminopterin plus hypoxanthine-thymidine (HAT) after the cell fusion they are selectively and efficiently eliminated so that one could get only fused hybridoma cells. But there hasn't been any report regarding this selective elimination mechanism of HGPRT mutant myeloma cell. By using HGPRT myeloma V653 as a model system this study demonstrated that PCD was induced by aminopterin treatment of this V653 cell. And this PCD was further characterized by cotreatement of cycloheximide, actinomycin-D, and calcium ionophore A23187 together with aminopterin. The apoptotic endonuclease involved in this PCD process was also detected and characterized. When V653 cells were incubated for the various periods of time in the presence of 0.4 uM aminopterin, the viability was continued to decrease until 48 hours of aminopterin treatment and there was no viable cell affer 36 hours of incubation. DNA fragmentation was detectable 3 hours of incubation and peaked between 12 and 18 hours of aminopterin treatment. The induction of cell death and DNA fragmentation of V653 cells by aminopterin were inhibited by protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide, and RNA synthesis inhibitor, actinomycin-D and maximal inhibitory effects on cell death were seen at concentrations of 2 ug/ml and 0.5 uM, respectively. Ca2+ ionophore A23187 promoted aminopterin-induced cell death of V653. When the cells were coincubated with A23187 in the presence of aminopterin, cell viability was remarkably decreased at concentrations of more than 2 uM and DNA fragmentation was increased at concentrations of more than 0.2 uM. A23187 also induced cell death when the cells were treated with A23187 alone. When endogenous endonuclease activities of nuclei isolated from intact healthy cells and aminopterin-treated cells were compared for four different conditions, there were notable increases in the Ca2+/Mg2+ -independent and the Mg2+ -dependent endonuclease activity after incubation with aminopterin for 12 hours. In northern blot analysis, induction of c-myc gene was observed in aminopterin-treated V653 cell reached peak at 2 hours and thern decreased drastically.
Aminopterin* ; Animals ; Apoptosis* ; Atrophy ; Biological Science Disciplines ; Blotting, Northern ; Calcimycin ; Calcium ; Cell Count ; Cell Death ; Cell Fusion ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; Cycloheximide ; DNA Fragmentation ; Embryonic Development ; Female ; Genes, myc ; Guanine ; Hybridomas ; Hypoxanthine ; Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase ; Mice* ; Pregnancy ; RNA ; Spleen ; Transferases

No abstract available.
Diskectomy ; Ear Cartilage ; Temporomandibular Joint ; Transplants

No abstract available.
Splints

No abstract available.
Arthroplasty* ; Knee* ; Osteoarthritis*

No abstract available.
Base Sequence* ; DNA, Complementary* ; Hantaan virus*

No abstract available.