Recent studies clearly demonstrated that the novel expression of LH gene in the rat testis, and suggested the local action of the LH-like molecule. The present study was performed to analyze the expression of the LH genes in the rat accessory reproductive organs. Expression of LH subunit genes in the rat uterus and epididymis was demonstrated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and specific LH radioimmunoassay (RIA). The LHbeta transcripts in these organs contained the published cDNA structure, the pituitary type exons 1-3, which encoded the entire LHbeta/ polypeptide. Presence of the transcripts for the alpha-subunit in the rat reproductive tissues were also confirmed by RT-PCR. In the LH RIA, significant levels of LH were detected in crude extracts from the rat ovary, uterus and epididymis. The competition cuties with increasing amount of tissue extracts were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the immunoreactive LH-like materials in these tissues are similar to authentic pituitary LH molecule. In rat epididymis, the highest amount of immunoreactive LH was detected in corpus area. Our findings demonstrated that the genes for LH subunits are expressed in the rat accessory reproductive organs, and suggested that these extrapituitary LH may act as a local regulator with auto and/or paracrine manner.
Animals ; Complex Mixtures ; DNA, Complementary ; Epididymis* ; Exons ; Female ; Lutein* ; Luteinizing Hormone* ; Male ; Ovary ; Radioimmunoassay ; Rats* ; Testis ; Tissue Extracts ; Uterus*

No abstract available.
Dentures* ; Mucous Membrane*

It is still not well documented what the basic roles for the regulation of renin secretion from the kidney take place. Since the early study on the renal ischemia for the production of hypertension was introduced, the renin-angiotensin system has been regarded as the possible pathogenetic mechanism for the renovascular hypertension. The renin-angiotensin system, however, could be activated by various stimuli, such as, the changes of intrarenal perfusion pressure, the load or concentriation of sodium at the sites of macular densa, the changes of the sympathetic nervous activity and the changes of potassium balance. To investigate the renin-angiotensin system and the influence of sympathetic nervous system on the regulation of renin secretion, the renovascular hypertension was induced in the dogs by constriction of unilateral renal artery, and the plasma renin activity was measured. The sodium load at the sites of macula densa was attained by furosemide, and then the activity of sympathetic nervous system was depressed by reserpine. The plasma renin activity was assayed by the method of Helmer and Cohn. By this bio-assay method, the plasma renin activity equivalent to 1 nanogram angiotensin-II can be measurable and the prepared plasma was found to have still vasopressor activity. The results observed in this experimental work are summarized as follows. 1. The blood pressure reached maximum on the 3rd postoperative day, and declined gradually to the level of preoperative day on the day of from the 6th to 12th day following constriction of renal artery. 3. The plasma renin activity was found to be well correlated with the increase of blood pressure, and then declined to its preoperative level with the reduction of blood pressure. It appears, therefore, that the renin-angiotensin system plays an important role in the pathogenesis of renovascular hypertension. 4. The urine flow rate in normal and reserpinized dogs was the same before administration of furosemide, but its rate was significantly increased in both groups after furosemide. The urine flow rate of reserpinized dogs, however, was significantly lower than that of the normal dogs during the first 5 minutes. 5. The urinary sodium excretion in normal and reserpinized dogs was significantly increased in both groups after administration of furosemide and there were no difference between the two groups. 6. The plasma renin activity of renal venous blood was significantly higher than that of femoral arterial blood in both groups before and after administration of furosemide. 7. The plasma renin activity of reserpinized dogs was significantly lower than that of normal dogs before administration of furosemide. After furosemide, however, the plasma renin activity was significantly increased in 30 minutes in both groups. This increase of plasma renin activity was less prominent in resepinized dogs than in normal. This results would suggest that the intrarenal mechanism regulating renin secretion also requires an intact sympathetic nervous system.
Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Constriction ; Dogs ; Furosemide ; Hypertension ; Hypertension, Renovascular ; Ischemia ; Kidney ; Perfusion ; Plasma ; Potassium ; Renal Artery ; Renin* ; Renin-Angiotensin System ; Reserpine ; Sodium ; Sympathetic Nervous System

No abstract available.
Aerospace Medicine* ; Aviation* ; Hungary*

No abstract available.
Nutrition Policy*

This study relates to the problems of organizational performance in the Christian hospitals. In this study, quality of working life (QOWL), which harmonizes individual as well as organizational goals, was used as an indicator of organizational performance from the open systems view. In order to identify the behavioral factors influencing QOWL in hospitals, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 1,926 employees who were randomly selected from fifteen Christian hospitals from August 1 to August 30, 1986. The following results were obtained: 1) All correlation coefficients between QOWL and behavioral variables were statistically significant even though their magnitude varied according to hospital size. 2) Using factor analysis, 32 variables were parsimoniously grouped into four factors: individual conflicts, group behavior, organizational characteristics and situation, and job characteristics. The proportion of variance explained by these factors ranged from 33.5% to 38.6% according to hospital size. 3) The overall effects of the four factors in the multiple logistic models ranged from 0.85 to 3.12 according to hospital size. Among three hospital models, the model for small hospitals showed the best statistical fit. 4) The most influential factor was organizational characteristics and situation with an odds ratio ranging from 1.99 to 3.02. Again, the odds ratio was the highest for small hospitals. 5) For large hospitals, the two main factor effects were statistically significant: organizational characteristics and situation, and job characteristics. For medium hospitals, all main factor effects except job characteristics were statistically significant. For small hospitals, all main factor effects except group behavior were statistically significant. However, a factor interaction effect was shown only for large hospitals where it was statistically significant. 6) To examine whether the four factors influence financial performance, the four factor scores from the two financial performance groups were compared using Mann-Whitney test. The test results showed that the organizational characteristics and situation factor score was significantly different only for small hospitals.
Health Facility Size ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Organizational Objectives ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Lipoarabinomannans (LAM) is believed as a potential virulence factor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. LAM exhibits marked differences in biological activities depending on the types, arabinofuranosyl-terminated LAM (AraLAM) derived from a rapidly growing Mycobacterium sp. and heavily mannosylated LAM (ManLAM) derived from the Erdman strain. Collaboration between macrophages and T cells, especially macrophage activation by gamma interferon (IFN-r) and chemoattraction of T cells at the very inflammatory foci would be essential in defence against M. tubercu/osis. Chemokines Mig and IP-10 are inducible by IFN-r from macrophages and have been shown to act in vitro as T cell chemoattractants. However, little is known of LAMs capacity to induce chemokines Mig and IP-10 in macrophages. In this experiment, Mig and IP10 mRNA was expressed in the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) against BCG in BCG-immune mice. In some experiments, both Mig and IP-10 mRNA was evidently induced with different time courses in THP-1 cells stimulated with whole live M. tubercu/osis H37Rv (Erdman). To investigate whether Mig and IP-10 genes are differentially induced depending on the type of LAM, PCR amplification was used to detect mRNA of Mig and IP-10 from the THP-1 human monocytic cells stimulated with LAM. AraLAM, but not ManLAM, induced weakly Mig and IP-10 mRNA in the THP-1 cells. The induction of Mig and IP-10 was dependent upon the dose of AraLAM and exhibited different time courses. The mRNA for Mig and IP-10 was induced within 2 hr and 4 hr from the initiation of treatrnent and has disappeared by 8 hr and 24 hr under the experimental conditions used in this study, respectively. IFN-y at 100 U/ml, but not at 10 U/ml, was itself a good stimulus of both Mig and IP- 10 expression, and synergized with either AraLAM or ManLAM for induction of both Mig and IP-10. The expression patterns of MCP-3 were somewhat similar to those of Mig and IP10 in all of the experiments. These data indicate that IFN-r may contribute to effective macrophage function if macrophages are not fully affected by ManLAM, and chemokines Mig and IP-10 may a role in recruitment of T cells at inflammatory foci of tuberculosis.
Animals ; Chemokines* ; Chemotactic Factors ; Cooperative Behavior ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Interferons ; Macrophage Activation ; Macrophages ; Mice ; Mycobacterium ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger* ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tuberculosis ; Virulence

No abstract available.
Allografts* ; Skin* ; Tuberculosis*

BACKGROUNDS: Peripheral neuropathy secondary to diabetes mellitus is believed to cause postural insta- bility which is associated with an increased risk of falling. Posturography enables early detection of postural control failure. This study is to evaluate the relationship between postural sway assessed by a computerized dynamic posturography and peripheral neuropathy in diabetic patients who have not develo- ped clinical symptom of unsteadiness. METHODS: Computerized dynamic posturography and electrophysiological tests were performed in the following age-matched subjects: 40 type 2 diabetic patients without peripheral neuropathy, 30 type 2 dia- betic patients with peripheral neuropathy, and 30 healthy control subjects. Patients had no symptoms or clinical evidence of postural instability. RESULTS: Sensory organization test showed significant dysfunction of somatosensory function of type 2 diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy. Posturographic parameters were all significantly impaired in the patients with peripheral neuropathy. There were no significant differences in posturographic parameters between diabetic patients without neuropathy and the healthy control subjects. Posturographic parameters showed a direct relationship with some parameters of peripheral nerve conduction. CONCLUSION: Computerized dynamic posturography showed that Type 2 diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy have greater postural instability than those without neuropathy. A strong correlation of insta- bility with peripheral neuropathy is present in diabetic patients. This result implies that peripheral neuro- pathy plays an essential role in the instability in type 2 diabetic patients. Posturographic study allows a disclosure of the failure of postural control even in the absence of clinical evidence of postural instability.
Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetic Neuropathies ; Disclosure ; Humans ; Peripheral Nerves ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases*

No abstract available.
Female ; Mammaplasty*