Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) report frequently hyperinsulinemia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of 16-weeks therapy with essential amino acids supplements on ...metabolic and clinical indices in PCOS.
For this study ten women with PCOS and fasting hyperinsulinemia were enrolled. The study comprised 16 weeks of therapy with oral essential amino acids (Aminopril, NAMED, Milan, Italy) administered 4 g twice per day. Body mass index, hirsutism score, serum levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein B, lipoprotein(a), serum adrenal and ovarian androgens, fasting glucose and insulin concentrations, T, DHEAS, gonadotropins, and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), were assessed before and after treatment with essential amino acids.
A significant decrease in fasting insulin, total T, luteneizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone was reported after amino acids therapy and increase in SHBG, leading to a decrease in the free T index. In addition, a significant reduction in hirsutism score was reported. No significant decrease in mean body mass index and in lipid pattern was reported.
A decline of insulin after treatment with essential amino acids was observed in women with PCOS as well as total and bioavailable T, leading to significant improvement of clinical symptoms of hyperandrogenism.
Our aim was to determine the diagnostic accuracy and reliability of four tests for the assessment of fetal lung maturity (FLM): shake test, optical density at 650 nm (OD650), lecithin to ...sphingomyelin ratio (L/S) by planimetry and stechiometry, and presence of phosphatydylglycerol. Amniotic fluid was obtained from 74 patients at various gestational ages. The shake test and the OD650 were performed according to published methods L/S was determined by TLC (thin-layer chromatography) and the ratio assessed by planimetry and stechiometrically by measurement of organic phosphorus from the chromatographic spots. PG was assessed similarly by TLC. When correlated with gestational age at amniocentesis, all tests correlated positively: shake test (r = 0.46, p < 0.005); OD650 (r = 0.31, p < 0.005); planimetric L/S (r = 0.77, p < 0.005); stechiometric L/S (r = 0.52, p < 0.005) and PG (r = 0.54, p < 0.005). The diagnostic accuracy of each test was as follows: the shake test and the OD650 had a sensitivity of 50%, while the steciometric L/S had a sensitivity of 75%, the planimetric L/S and the presence of PG were 100%. All four tests demonstrated a specificity greater than 64%, the highest for the PG presence being (83%) and the shake test (86%). Predictive negative values for lung maturity were > 93% for all tests, with the highest for the planimetric L/S and presence of PG being (100%). The study confirms that the determination of L/S ratio is still superior to other tests in terms of overall diagnostic accuracy. In addition, it was found that presence of PG was highly associated with the absence of respiratory complications in the newborn.
Pregnancy in adolescents. A case-control study Unfer, V; Piazze Garnica, J; Di Benedetto, M R ...
Clinical and experimental obstetrics & gynecology,
1995, Letnik:
22, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
to investigate pregnancy outcome and incidence of pregnancy-related disorders in the adolescent.
a matched control retrospective study.
pregnant adolescents aged 14 to 19 years admitted to the ...Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology--Policlinico Umberto I, between the years 1984 and 1993; a comparable number of pregnancies aged 20 to 24 years was considered as a control group.
In the 10 yrs. period a total of 304 pregnancies in adolescents were considered. Preterm deliveries were 9.5% in the adolescent group vs 5.9% in control (P > 0.05). A higher incidence was found in number of cesarean section (P < 0.001), spontaneous abortion (P = 0.003), intrauterine growth retardation (P = 0.04) and fetal distress (P = 0.04) in the adolescent group vs matched controls. Also mean birth weight was significantly lower in the adolescent group when compared with normal group (P < 0.001).
we found a higher incidence of obstetric complications, such as IUGR, acute fetal distress in labor and lower birth weight, in the adolescent group, resulting in a higher number of cesarean sections. We hypothesise that the relative state of "hypoarterialisation" characteristic of the adolescent uterus may be involved in the afore-mentioned complications.
The filoviruses, Ebola virus and Marburg virus, cause severe hemorrhagic fever with up to 90% human mortality. Virus‐like particles of EBOV (eVLPs) and MARV (mVLPs) are attractive vaccine candidates. ...For the development of stable vaccines, the conformational stability of these two enveloped VLPs produced in insect cells was characterized by various spectroscopic techniques over a wide pH and temperature range. Temperature‐induced aggregation of the VLPs at various pH values was monitored by light scattering. Temperature/pH empirical phase diagrams (EPDs) of the two VLPs were constructed to summarize the large volume of data generated. The EPDs show that both VLPs lose their conformational integrity above about 50°C–60°C, depending on solution pH. The VLPs were maximally thermal stable in solution at pH 7–8, with a significant reduction in stability at pH 5 and 6. They were much less stable in solution at pH 3–4 due to increased susceptibility of the VLPs to aggregation. The characterization data and conformational stability profiles from these studies provide a basis for selection of optimized solution conditions for further vaccine formulation and long‐term stability studies of eVLPs and mVLPs.
The lead and calcium content of calcium supplements available in Brazil were determined by graphite furnace and flame atomic absorption spectrometry, respectively. Samples were microwave-digested in ...concentrated HNO
3
. Citric acid was used as a chemical modifier in the lead analysis. Supplements were classified into six categories: oyster industrialized (OI, n = 4), oyster prepared in pharmacy (OP, n = 3), refined industrialized (RI, n = 6), refined prepared in pharmacy (RP, n = 3), bone meal (B, n = 3), and dolomite (D, n = 4). Lead levels (µg g
−1
of measured calcium) were higher in D products (2.33), followed by OI, RP, OP, and RI products (1.46, 1.32, 1.29, 0.75), while B products had levels lower than the limit of quantification (0.02 µg g
−1
unit weight). Daily lead intake of eight supplements exceeded the limit of California, USA (1.5 µg g
−1
calcium), but none exceeded the federal limit of USA (7.5 µg g
−1
calcium) or the provisional tolerable lead intake by FAO/WHO (25 µg kg
−1
per week).
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Aquatic toxicity assessments based on inhibition of algal growth have been performed, as described in the French standardized procedure T90-304. The cellular growth was monitored by acoustic ...micro-sensors (quartz thickness shear mode) instead of the usual optical techniques. These experiments have shown that the real component of the interfacial acoustic impedance, measured by the sensor, displayed a large linear variation along the 3-day algal growth. The acoustic technique appears to have an interesting potential for conducting automatic algal bioassays.
