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Conventional oil-in-water analyzers used by waterworks have hydrocarbon detection limits at mg/L levels and do not identify the type of oil compounds. The objectives of this study were to evaluate a more sensitive optical instrument and the analysis method to (1) determine the signature excitation and emission matrixs of each type of oil (such as diesel, heavy oil, gasoline and kerosene) or their indicator organic compounds and enter them into the instrument's software library and (2) test out the effectiveness of the instrument in detecting the above-mentioned oil in local waterworks’ source and treated water. The patented simultaneous absorbance-transmittance excitation-emission matrix (A-TEEM) instrument method was used to identify and quantify low levels of organic contaminants present in a much higher background of other dissolved organic matter components in raw and treated water. Multivariate regression and machine learning techniques were applied and shown to have potential for alerting plant operators to organic contamination events. HIGHLIGHTS An A-TEEM instrument method is an efficient qualification and quantification method for the detection of oil contaminants in water.; An A-TEEM method is effective in the detection of water soluble fractions of oil contaminants in ppb level in raw and treated water matrices.; An A-TEEM method provides early warning alert for proactive prevention and corrective actions in responding to contamination events.

BACKGROUND: Adipokines are emerging mediators of immune response, and may affect susceptibility to active TB.OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between adipokines and the risk of active TB.METHODS: In a case-control study nested within a prospective cohort of middle-aged and older adults in Singapore, 280 incident active TB cases who donated blood for research before diagnosis were matched with 280 controls. Serum levels of adiponectin, resistin, leptin and ghrelin were measured. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to compute the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between adipokines and the risk of active TB.RESULTS: Higher levels of leptin and resistin were associated with reduced risk of TB in a dose-dependent manner. Compared to those in the lowest quartile of leptin levels, those in the highest quartile had an OR of 0.46 (95%CI 0.26–0.82; P for trend = 0.009). Similarly, compared to those in the lowest quartile of resistin levels, those in the highest quartile had an OR of 0.46 (95%CI 0.24–0.90; P for trend = 0.03). Adiponectin and ghrelin levels were not associated with TB risk.CONCLUSION: Increased serum levels of leptin and resistin may be associated with reduced susceptibility to active TB infection.

Infant complementary feeding is important for establishing food preferences. Few studies exist on the effects of infant complementary feeding choices (food preparation methods) on dietary intake, growth or adiposity. We examined whether provision of homemade complementary food is associated with the development of dietary diversity, nutrient intakes and quality of infant growth.Secondary analysis of feeding practices from a randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation in 132 healthy breastfed 1-month-old infants from Montréal, Canada. This longitudinal study used diet records, anthropometric and body composition data (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) from assessments that occurred when infants were 6, 9, 12 and 36 months of age. Infants were grouped into three categories of food preparation method on the basis of whether or not they had consumed homemade or commercial meat or fruit and vegetable by 9 months (homemade, commercial and both). Multivariable regression controlled for family income, maternal education and infant sex.Dietary data were available for 65 infants. By 9 months, 22% of infants had exclusively received homemade (n=14), 14 infants had exclusively received commercial and 37 infants had received both. The development of dietary diversity (number of World Health Organization-recommended food groups) was higher (0.76 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.14, 1.38); P0.05) in the homemade group versus commercial. Energy and nutrient intakes did not differ by group over time. The homemade group had 773 g (-1364, -182; P0.01) lower whole-body fat mass and 7.1% (-12.6, -1.6; P0.05) lower % body fat at 12 months compared with the reference group (both homemade and commercial). Reduced whole-body fat mass in the homemade group persisted at 36 months (-696 g (95% CI: -1341, -52); P0.05). There were no differences between groups for changes in growth Z-scores (length-for-age, weight-for-age and body mass index-for-age).Provision of homemade complementary food is associated with increased dietary diversity during the first year of life and reduced adiposity.

The disposal of apoptotic bodies by professional phagocytes is crucial to effective inflammation resolution. Our ability to improve the disposal of apoptotic bodies by professional phagocytes is impaired by a limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the engulfment and digestion of the efferocytic cargo. Macrophages are professional phagocytes necessary for liver inflammation, fibrosis, and resolution, switching their phenotype from proinflammatory to restorative. Using sterile liver injury models, we show that the STAT3–IL-10–IL-6 axis is a positive regulator of macrophage efferocytosis, survival, and phenotypic conversion, directly linking debris engulfment to tissue repair.

Aim Different treatment strategies have been used to manage adolescents with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes. We investigated whether a brief elective hospital admission improves haemoglobin A 1c (HbA 1c ) over 12months. Methods We studied a retrospective cohort of adolescents with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes attending a tertiary care pediatric diabetes clinic in Montreal, Canada, between January 2005 and December 2010. Hospitalized adolescents (admitted group) were matched with controls (non-admitted group) for age and baseline HbA 1c . HbA 1c values at baseline, 6 and 12months were obtained from the clinic database. Results Thirty patients aged 11 to 17 years with a first elective admission for poor metabolic control were paired with 30 non-admitted patients. At baseline, HbA 1c was 12.2±1.6% in admitted and 12.0±1.2% in non-admitted patients. There were no clinically important differences in potential confounders between groups. There was no improvement in the primary outcome as assessed by the change in HbA 1c at 12months in the admitted group (–1.3±2.3%) compared with the non-admitted group (–2.1±1.7%) ( P =0.078). No improvement in intermediary measures of glycaemic control was observed (HbA 1c at 6months or change at 6months). After 12months, HbA 1c values were higher in the admitted group (10.9±1.9%) versus the non-admitted group (9.9±1.4%) ( P =0.016). Conclusion Elective hospital admission for adolescents with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes does not seem to be an effective strategy to improve HbA 1c over 12months.

Purpose: The effectiveness of using a combination of three sources, 60Co, 192Ir and 169Yb, is analyzed. Different combinations are compared against a single 192Ir source on prostate cancer cases. A novel inverse planning interior point algorithm is developed in-house to generate the treatment plans. Methods: Thirteen prostate cancer patients are separated into two groups: Group A includes eight patients with the prostate as target volume, while group B consists of four patients with a boost nodule inside the prostate that is assigned 150% of the prescription dose. The mean target volume is 35.7±9.3cc and 30.6±8.5cc for groups A and B, respectively. All patients are treated with each source individually, then with paired sources, and finally with all three sources. To compare the results, boost volume V150 and D90, urethra Dmax and D10, and rectum Dmax and V80 are evaluated. For fair comparison, all plans are normalized to a uniform V100=100. Results: Overall, double- and triple-source plans were better than single-source plans. The triple-source plans resulted in an average decrease of 21.7% and 1.5% in urethra Dmax and D10, respectively, and 8.0% and 0.8% in rectum Dmax and V80, respectively, for group A. For group B, boost volume V150 and D90 increased by 4.7% and 3.0%, respectively, while keeping similar dose delivered to the urethra and rectum. 60Co and 192Ir produced better plans than their counterparts in the double-source category, whereas 60Co produced more favorable results than the remaining individual sources. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the potential advantage of using a combination of two or three sources, reflected in dose reduction to organs-at-risk and more conformal dose to the target. three sources, reflected in dose reduction to organs-at-risk and more conformal dose to the target. Our results show that 60Co, 192Ir and 169Yb produce the best plans when used simultaneously and can thus be an alternative to 192Ir-only in high-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy.

This study was designed to evaluate a series of patients who underwent surgical management due to cervical cancer stage IA1 fitting the 1995 FIGO definition. A total of 149 patients were followed from 3 years to 11.7 years with a median follow-up interval of 5 years. The cases with invasions of ≤ 1 mm and > 1 mm but ≤ 3 mm were noted in 89 (59.7%) and 60 (41.3%) patients, respectively. Lymphvascular space invasion was identified in five patients. In 49 patients, conization or nonradical hysterectomy was performed without pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) and pelvic recurrence developed in one patient who had an extended hysterectomy. PLND was performed in 100 patients and the average number of lymph nodes examined per case was 26.5 ± 10.1. None of the 100 patients had metastasis to the pelvic lymph node and recurrence. None of the 149 patients has died from recurrent disease. In conclusion, this study suggests that patients with cervical cancer stage IA1 have an extremely low risk of pelvic lymph node metastasis, very rarely recur, and present an excellent prognosis, so nonradical management that excludes PLND could be as effective as radical surgery in these patients.

To compare food and water intakes, adult male Wistar rats were infused during 7 days with serotonin (5-HT, 2.5 nmol/24 h) or artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in a three-way selection of macronutrient-rich diets. Nocturnal energy intake from the casein-rich diet was significantly lower during infusion of 5-HT than before infusion. Decrease in nocturnal casein consumption was significant in the middle dark phase. Within the infusion period, water intake was reduced by 5-HT infusion during the early, middle and late light phase. The present results reinforce the hypothesis of a serotonergic control of water intake and provide evidence for SCN 5-HT involvement in casein-specific dietary selection.

Low-rate dynamic contact angles of 30 liquids on a FC-725-coated wafer surface were measured by an automated axisymmetric drop shape analysis-profile (ADSA-P). Surprisingly, results indicate that FC-725 behaves differently in some respects from what one would expect for non-polar surfaces: only nine liquids yield essentially constant contact angles whereas the others show slip/stick contact angle behaviour. In the worst case, the contact angle increases from ca 50 to 160° at essentially constant three-phase contact radius. These angles should be disregarded for the interpretation in terms of surface energetics since there is no guarantee that Young's equation is applicable. If one employs a conventional goniometer-sessile drop technique, such contact angle behaviour cannot be easily seen in all cases. These results indicate that the claim from van Oss et al. [Langmuir 4 (1988) 884] that liquids with the same contact angles do not have the same surface tensions is misleading. If the meaningful contact angles are plotted as the liquid–vapour surface tension times cosine of the contact angle versus the liquid–vapour surface tension, that is, γlv cos θ versus γlv, a smooth curve emerges. Thus, intermolecular forces (or surface tension components) do not have an additional and independent effect on the contact angles, in good agreement with the results from other studies on non-polar and polar polymers.

Nam J-H, Kim J-H, Park Y, Huh J, Kim Y-M, Kim Y-M, Mok J-E. Placental sitetrophoblastic tumor: Can it be treated by chemotherapy alone without surgery?Int J Gynecol Cancer 1997; 7: 381–387. Placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) is a rare form of gestationaltrophoblastic disease and the mainstay of treatment is surgical removal of thetumor by hysterectomy.However, if retention of fertility is desired, several authors have suggestedthat conservative management can be adopted. This report presents twoadditional cases of PSTT treatedby chemotherapy alone following endometrial curettage without definitivesurgery. One patient, a 33 year-old gravida one, para one female with nometastatic lesion, was treatedwith four cycles of MTX-CF and exhibited successful remission for 13 monthsuntil the time of this report. The other patient, a 25 year-old gravida two,para one female withmultiple metastatic nodules in lung and brain, was managed by five cycles ofEMACO regimen and whole-brain irradiation of 4,000 cGy. Metastatic nodulesdisappeared and serumbeta-hCG level was normalized after completion of therapy for 11 months throughthe time of this report. We provide a report of these two cases combined with a review of theliterature on the issue of conservative treatment of PSTT by chemotherapyalone.

ISSUE: With the threat of smallpox bioterrorism, health officials face the decision of pre-emptive or post-release vaccination. One argument is that preemptive vaccination can reduce the severity of outbreaks. However, the possibility of adverse and even fatal side effects plus the limited immunization period of smallpox vaccines (typically 3–5 years) make the evaluation of the post-release policy a necessity. A computer simulation model was developed to compare the viral infection rates for the two policies. PROJECT: A graphical finite-state computer simulation model was developed to simulate the deliberate release and spread of the smallpox virus through random human roaming and “chance encounters” in a typical urban setting. The model took into consideration realistic smallpox biological factors (such as disease infectiousness during the incubation, prodromal, and symptomatic periods) as well as social/spatial structure and demographic characteristics. Simulation runs were conducted to compare preemptive and post-release vaccination scenarios over various mass vaccination coverage levels (vaccinating from 0–100% of the population). In all post-release scenarios, vaccination took place upon the earliest detectable onset of an outbreak. RESULTS: Simulation results indicated that preemptive vaccinations showed no benefit over the post-release vaccination strategy when the mass vaccination coverage levels were below 70%. Above 70%, the preemptive vaccination strategy achieved an exponential growth in effectiveness and significantly improved the control performance (e.g., the simulation study found that preemptive vaccination at 75% coverage level equated to that of 95% for the post-release case). In order for the infection to be confined to a small percentage of the population (i.e., below 5%), it is necessary that over 70% of the population be vaccinated for the preemptive case and over 90% for the post-release strategy (when no other outbreak control measures were taken simultaneously). LESSONS LEARNED: Unless mass vaccination at a coverage level of 70% or above is an achievable goal, the study shows that it is best to invest resources in the early detection and rapid rollout of a post-release vaccination program. Preemptive vaccination could be an effective outbreak-control mechanism, but only when there is a substantial vaccinated population base to effectively curb the roaming bioterrorist contagion. The developed computer model proved valuable for supporting health policy decisions. Its application can be extended to analyze the control policies for other epidemics.

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is an endogenous murine retrovirus that is expressed in the epithelial cells of the mammary and salivary glands, lungs, kidneys, and seminal vesicles and in the lymphoid cells of the spleen and thymus. Several studies have shown that the long terminal repeat (LTR) of this virus can direct the expression of reporter genes to the same tissues in transgenic mice. To determine whether multiple regulatory elements within the LTR are involved in this tissue-specific expression, we have established lines of transgenic mice containing transgenes that have deletions in the MMTV LTR. Deletions of all LTR sequences upstream of -364 or of LTR sequences from -165 to -665 both result in the expression of linked reporter genes such as the simian virus 40 early region or the bacterial enzyme chloramphenicol acetyltransferase in novel sites, such as the heart, brain, and skeletal muscle; expression of endogenous MMTV and transgenes containing the full-length LTR is not detected in these organs. Negative regulation appears to involve more than one region, since deletion of sequences between either -201 and -471 or -201 and -344, as well as sequences upstream of -364, results in inappropriate expression in heart, brain, and skeletal muscle. Therefore, a negative regulatory element(s) in the MMTV LTR can suppress transcription from the viral promoter in several different organs. This represents the first example of generalized negative regulatory elements that act in many different tissues in transgenic mice to prevent inappropriate expression of a gene.

Engineering surveyors are often required to monitor the inclination and the direction of tilt of structures. The plumbob and spirit level are considered to be the easiest and most efficient instrument used in most cases. However, when the structure is inaccessible, it is not possible to utilise these methods.

We present a structured model of context that supports an integrated approach to language acquisition and use. The model extends an existing formal notation, embodied construction grammar (ECG), with representations for tracking both entities and events in discourse and situational context. The notation employs an intermediate level of granularity between low-level sensorimotor representations (such as that suitable for dynamic models of action and events for grounded language learning) and the more schematic representations needed for learning and using grammar. The resulting model allows existing systems for simulation-based language understanding and comprehension-driven grammar learning to represent, interpret and acquire a variety of contextually grounded construction.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the outcomes of laparoscopic surgery with those of conventional abdominal surgery in patients with early endometrial cancer. From 1997 to 2003, 79 patients underwent laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy with or without lymphadenectomy. Laparoscopy was performed on patients deemed clinical stage I in preoperative studies. Of the 79 patients, 74 found to be surgical stage I or II were enrolled in the comparative study. As a control group, we selected 168 laparotomy cases at the same disease stage as the laparoscopy group. Operation time, amount of blood transfusion, and hemoglobin changes were similar for both groups. In the laparoscopy group, the number of lymph nodes obtained was significantly higher, and the number of postoperative complications was lower compared to the laparotomy group. The hospital stay was significantly shorter for laparoscopy group. Three-year recurrence-free survival rates were similar, being 97.5% for the laparoscopy group and 98.6% for the laparotomy group. We conclude that laparoscopic surgery for treatment of early endometrial cancer is a safe and effective alternative to laparotomy in terms of perioperative complications. Three-year recurrence-free survival did not differ significantly between the groups. However, long-term survival and risk of recurrence have yet to be determined.

The critical shortage of medical dosimetrists will require innovative methods to rapidly and adequately educate new personnel rapidly using limited resources. Distance learning through a world wide web site offers the opportunity for resources to be pooled to create a comprehensive teaching tool that can be used at multiple sites by many mentors. Web based distance learning has the capability to provide uniform training to every student at each site. Commercially available software provides authoring tools that can be used by mentors to create didactic lectures through the web. Examination tools in the software allow control of the pool of questions used in examinations and the automation of performance scoring. A prototype web site has been constructed for training medical dosimetrists. The example demonstrates the training techniques that can be implemented and the feasibility of a national dosimetrist education program.

To determine if an increase in intake at a meal before a long fast can be conditioned to food texture cues, male Sprague-Dawley rats were given a high- or low-fat diet in one texture (powder or pellet) for 1 h prior to a 12.5-h fast and in the other texture before a 3-h fast. Each group (N = 9) went through a pseudorandom sequence of four duplicates of each texture-fast pairing over 4 experimental days in each of three training trials, followed by one 4-day trial under extinction, i.e. without the difference in fast lengths between textures. Neither the high-fat group nor the low-fat group as a whole gave a clear indication of a learnt texture-cued increase in meal size before the longer fast relative to the shorter fast. However, the rats trained on the high-fat diet that had the highest intakes on the first 4 days of training showed a relative increase in the amount eaten of the texture predicting the longer fast during the third training trial, and this effect also approached statistical significance in the extinction test. These results provide some support for the conclusion that anticipatory hunger/satiety can be differentially conditioned to dietary texture cues, but only if sufficient food is eaten before a short fast to prevent the rise in hunger during longer fasts that reinforces the discriminative increase in meal size.

Purpose: During image‐guided radiation therapy, gold seeds as fiducial markers are often implanted to the target to track the tumor motion. The presence of the gold seeds could perturb the dose distribution and may cause either cold or hot spots in the target. This study investigates the dosimetric effects of gold seeds by film measurements and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Methods: A gold seed of 5mm long and 1mm in diameter was sandwiched between a piece of EBT2 film and a bolus material, with film under the seed, and was positioned at 10 cm depth in a 30×30×20 cm3 solid‐water phantom. Three plans were delivered with 6MV radiation beams: (1) a single field in anterior‐posterior direction; (2) a single field in posterior‐anterior direction; (3) 9 fields in equally‐spaced gantry angles. Film dosimetry was performed and the measured dose profiles were compared to MC calculations. CT image‐based MC calculations were performed for several lung tumor IMRT cases with gold seeds implanted. Dose comparison was performed between overriding the seed with tissue and with gold material. Results: For single field irradiations, film measurement shows significant dose enhancement (∼25%) in proximal side and dose attenuation (∼15%) in the distal side of the seed. However, the attenuation effect disappears for the 9 field irradiation. The dose enhancement for the 9 field plan is up to 7∼8% in regions within 1mm to the seed. MC calculations also support the measurements. For the IMRT lung cancer cases, the dose enhancement is around 4∼8% adjacent to the seed. Conclusion: For multiple‐field IMRT/Arc treatment, the tissue adjacent to the implanted gold marker will most likely get hot instead of cold. This is because the dose enhancement in the proximal side outruns the attenuation in the distal side of seeds and dose enhancement presents in all the other directions.

We conducted a 2-year prospective clinical outcome study to evaluate the usefulness of amniotic fluid lamellar body count (LBC) as a screening test for fetal lung maturity. During the interval under study, outcomes of 170 neonates were used to evaluate the test; 14 neonates had respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Both LBC and lecithin-sphingomyelin ratio (L/S ratio) test results were available in 129 cases. All the cases of RDS had LBC of 50,000/microliter or less and L/S ratio of 2.8 or less; 72.7% of cases with no RDS had LBC greater than 50,000/microliter, and 80.4% of normal cases had L/S ratio higher than 2.8. LBC test results showed good correlation with L/S ratio test results between 26 weeks and 33 weeks of gestation (r = 0.78, p0.0001). With the cutoff value of 50,000/microliter for LBC, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 80%, respectively. Determining LBC by cell counter is justified as a useful rapid initial screening test for the assessment of fetal lung maturity.

The long terminal repeat (LTR) of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is known to contain a number of transcriptional regulatory elements, including glucocorticoid response elements. In this study, we showed that a mammary gland/salivary gland enhancer found in the LTR of this virus directs expression of a heterologous promoter to both virgin and lactating mammary glands in transgenic mice. Using transgenic mice containing hybrid gene constructs with various deletions of the LTR sequences linked to marker genes, we also showed that the dramatic increase in MMTV expression that occurs during lactation is due to the glucocorticoid response elements. Thus, the MMTV LTR encodes two distinct elements, both of which are required for a high level of expression in lactating mammary glands.

5076 Background: To investigate clinical outcome of occult cervical cancer diagnosed after extrafascial hysterectomy(EH) and to assess an efficacy of radical parametrectomy(RP) as a treatment optio...

Water-suppressed and slice-selective proton spectra of live human brain exhibited several resonances that were tentatively assigned to metabolites such as N-acetylaspartate, glutamate, phosphocreatine and creatine, choline derivatives, and taurine. In the liver spectrum of a healthy volunteer, the major resonance was tentatively assigned to a fatty acyl methylene and the minor resonances to protons in carnitine, taurine, glutamate, and glutamine. In the spectrum of a cancerous liver, resonances in addition to those present in the normal liver were seen. Protein degradation in the liver with cancer was indicated by resonances from urea and from the ring protons in tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine. Furthermore, increased nucleic acid synthesis was indicated by resonances from nucleotide protons.

A three-dimensional photon beam calculation is described which models the primary, first-scatter, and multiple-scatter dose components from first principles. Three key features of the model are (1) a multiple-scatter calculation based on diffusion theory, (2) the demonstration of the modulation transfer function of the radiation dose transport process, and (3) the use of the finite fast Fourier transform to perform the required convolutions. The results of calculations for cobalt-60 in a homogeneous phantom are used to verify the accuracy of the model.

Phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance (MR) spectra of leg muscles in patients with the neuromuscular diseases Duchenne dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, postpoliomyelitis, Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, and pedal dystonia were recorded. Ratios of beta-adenosine triphosphate (ATP), inorganic phosphate (Pi), alpha-glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC), and phosphomonoesters to phosphocreatine (PCr) were calculated from peak integrals and compared with normal muscle ratios. In all diseases studied, beta-ATP/PCr and Pi/PCr values showed an increase from normal values. The extent of increase in beta-ATP/PCr was related to the clinical severity of the disease, suggesting that this could be a useful noninvasive means of monitoring effectiveness of therapy for neuromuscular disorders. In myotonic dystrophy and Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, GPC/PCr values increased greatly. The intracellular pH in Duchenne and postpoliomyelitis muscles was slightly elevated compared with that in normal muscles. Hydrogen-1 MR images of muscles showed fat infiltration in all patients, more in weaker muscles and less in stronger muscles.

The influence of prostaglandin infusions on plasma progesterone (P) was determined in pregnant rats at various stages of gestation. Serial blood samples were collected from the right atrium through an indwelling catheter before, during and after prostaglandin (PG) administration. PGE2 and PGF 2α was given as intravenous infusions of 6 hours duration through the same catheter at rates varying from 0.33 to 5.5 μg/min (total dose: 125 to 2000 μg/rat). Control rats received an equal amount of 0.9 % saline solution. Prostaglandins suppressed plasma P levels at all stages of gestation, PGF2α being much more effective than PGE2. The effect of PGF2α was not dose-dependent above a threshold level of about 125 μg/rat. The decrease in plasma P was evident within 3 hours of the start of the infusion, with further decrease in the subsequent 3 hours of infusion. The degree of luteal suppression by PGF2α varied in the course of gestation, being greatest on days 10 and 18 of pregnancy and smallest on days 4 and 16. On days 10 and 18, plasma was reduced by 75 %, on the average, during the infusion of PGF2α with further decrease to 15 % of initial values within 24 hours. Pregnancy was terminated in these rats, but was maintained in most rats treated with PGF2α at other stages of gestation. Plasma P decreased, on the average, by 60 % during the infusion of PGF2α in all rats that remained pregnant, and progesterone concentrations remained at a level of 30 % of initial values for at least 2 days. Plasma P levels as low as 20 % of initial values were compatible with undisturbed gestation. Concomitant treatment with LH prevented the decrease in plasma P induced by PGF2α on days 4, 7 and 10, but had little effect on day 18. Prolactin, given alone or with oestradiol, was completely ineffective on day 10 but on day 4, prolactin had a marginal inhibitory effect on the PGF2α-induced fall in plasma progesterone.

1H MR spectra were recorded from human gastrocnemius muscle at 63.86 MHz using the body coil of the Signa scanner as transmitter and a 3-in. surface coil as receiver. The fat content of the muscle was quantified relative to that of water in a selected volume or slice. The fat/water ratio was 0.05-0.07 for normal muscle but increased to 0.5-6.0 in primary and secondary muscular disorders such as Duchenne and myotonic dystrophy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth and polio muscular atrophy, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida. In Werdnig-Hoffmann spinal atrophy the ratio was above 10. Water-suppressed and slice-selective 1H spectroscopy was used for qualitative analysis of fat. The 1H profile of gastrocnemius muscles between healthy individuals and patients with neuromuscular diseases showed two major differences. In the normal muscle spectra, the resonance from the -(CH2)n- protons at 1.6 ppm was the most pronounced, whereas in the diseased muscle spectra resonances also appeared between 1.1 and 1.4 ppm. Some diseased muscle spectra showed multiple resonances from -CH = CH- in polyunsaturated fatty acids between 5.5 and 7.0 ppm. The corresponding resonances from = CH-CH2-, 1.9-2.0 ppm, and = CH-CH2-CH =, 2.7-2.9 ppm, were also seen. These peaks are usually not detected in normal muscle.