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Pregnancy rates to a single appointment insemination were compared in seven groups of beef or dairy heifers following estrus synchronization with the prostaglandin F(2a) product, cloprostenol, versus the progestín product, Syncro-Mate-B. For cloprostenol synchronization, two injections of cloprostenol were given 11 d apart, with insemination occurring at 61+/-1 h after the second injection. The Syncro-Mate-B treatment consisted of a norgestomet/estradiol injection and a norgestomet implant on Day 0, followed by insemination at 49+/-1 h after implant removal on Day 9. Treatments were coordinated so all heifers in each group were housed together at the time of and for 48 h before a common insemination time so that the treatment received by individual heifers was not known. Overall pregnancy rates did not differ between treatment groups: 42% for 111 heifers treated with cloprostenol and 38% for 108 heifers treated with Syncro-Mate-B. Four blood samples per heifer taken during each replicate showed that two groups (n = 67) had many noncyclic heifers, while five groups (n = 152) had very few. Differences in pregnancy rates between these categories existed for both estrus synchronization methods, 18 versus 53% for cloprostenol and 21 versus 45% for Syncro-Mate-B. Thus the two methods were equally effective for cyclic heifers and equally ineffective for noncyclic heifers.

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a world wide health problem of exceptional magnitude with considerable effect in many areas : individual, social, economic, demographic and cultural. Current literature clearly indicates the emotional impact of the losses occasionnée by those suffering from this fatal disease. There include strong anxiety, fear, anger powerlessness and hopelessness. To this psychological distress is added isolation of AIDS victims. The negative reaction of society contributes to discrimination and stigmatization of these victims. AIDS may be seen as a personnal tragedy which often spells the collapse of family life. The psychosocial repercussions of this disease require intervention and further research with respect to the many unresolved problems generated by this syndrome.

This study is a contribution to the French validation of the Derogatis (1977) Symptom Check-List SCL-90-R. Norms reflecting the mental health status of a representative sample of French-speaking women from Montreal, Canada, are provided. Results indicated that the women in our sample generally obtained higher raw scores than those reported by Derogatis for the nonpatient group for the nine symptom scales and the three global scores. The reliability of the French version yielded a satisfactory Cronbach alpha of .91. High and significant positive correlations were found on the test-retest as well as on the Spearman-Brown split-half test. Validity was assessed using the principal component analysis on six factors accounting for 88% of the variance. The correlations between the symptom scales ranged from .32 to .74, indicating the relative independence of the dimensions of the French version of the SCL-90-R. The usefulness of the method will be enhanced by further cross-validation and concurrent validity studies including patient populations.

The peribacteroid membrane (pbm) of root nodules is derived from the plant cell plasma membrane but contains in addition several nodule-specific host proteins (nodulins). Antibodies raised against purified pbm of soybean were used to immunoprecipitate polysomes to isolate an RNA fraction that served as a template for the synthesis of a cDNA probe for screening a nodule-specific cDNA library. Clone p1B1 was found to encode a 26.5 kDa polypeptide (nodulin-26) which is immunoprecipitable specifically with the anti-pbm serum. Nodulin-26 has features of a transmembrane protein and its structure differs from that of nodulin-24 which appears to be a surface protein of pbm. The expression of these two pbm nodulins was examined in nodules induced by Bradyrhizobium japonicum Tn5 mutants that arrest nodule development at different stages of pbm biosynthesis. Nodules that do not show release of bacteria from the infection thread express nodulin-24 at a very low level. In contrast, the expression of nodulin-26 occurs fully in nodules that form infection threads only and is not affected by the release of bacteria from the threads.