Experience of menopause in aboriginal women: a systematic review

Every woman experiences the menopause transition period in a very individual way. Menopause symptoms and management are greatly influenced by socioeconomic status in addition to genetic background and medical history. Because of their very unique cultural heritage and often holistic view of health and well-being, menopause symptoms and management might differ greatly in aboriginals compared to non-aboriginals. Our aim was to investigate the extent and scope of the current literature in describing the menopause experience of aboriginal women. Our systematic literature review included nine health-related databases using the keywords 'menopause' and 'climacteric symptoms' in combination with various keywords describing aboriginal populations. Data were collected from selected articles and descriptive analysis was applied. Twenty-eight relevant articles were included in our analysis. These articles represent data from 12 countries and aboriginal groups from at least eight distinctive geographical regions. Knowledge of menopause and symptom experience vary greatly among study groups. The average age of menopause onset appears earlier in most aboriginal groups, often attributed to malnutrition and a harsher lifestyle. This literature review highlights a need for further research of the menopause transition period among aboriginal women to fully explore understanding and treatment of menopause symptoms and ultimately advance an important dialogue about women's health care.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of small molecule-based PET radioligands for the 5-hydroxytryptamine 7 receptor

A new prospective approach for PET imaging of 5-HT₇ by a small molecule ligand.

Pharmacophore and docking-based virtual screening approach for the design of new dual inhibitors of Janus kinase 1 and Janus kinase 2

Janus kinase 1 and 2, non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases, are implicated in various cancerous diseases. Involvement of these two enzymes in the pathways that stimulate cell proliferation in cancerous conditions makes them potential therapeutic targets for designing new dual-targeted agents for the treatment of cancer. In the present study, two separate pharmacophore models were developed and the best models for JAK1 (AAADH.25) and JAK2 (ADRR.92) were selected on the basis of their external predictive ability. Both models were subjected to a systematic virtual screening (VS) protocol using a PHASE database of 1.5 million molecules. The hits retrieved in VS were investigated for ADME properties to avoid selection of molecules with a poor pharmacokinetic profile. The molecules considered to be within the range of acceptable limits of ADME properties were further employed for docking simulations with JAK1 and JAK2 proteins to explore the final hits that possess structural features of both pharmacophore models as well as display essential interactions with both of them. Thus, the new molecules obtained in this way should show inhibitory activity against JAK1 and JAK2 and may serve as novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancerous disease conditions.

Imidazo[1,2-a]pyrazine inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase alpha (PI3Kα): 3D-QSAR analysis utilizing the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm to refine receptor-ligand complexes for molecular alignment

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase alpha (PI3Kα) is a lipid kinase involved in several cellular functions such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation and survival, and its anomalous regulation leads to cancerous conditions. PI3Kα inhibition completely blocks the cancer signalling pathway, hence it can be explored as an important therapeutic target for cancer treatment. In the present study, docking analysis of 49 selective imidazo[1,2-a]pyrazine inhibitors of PI3Kα was carried out using the QM-Polarized ligand docking (QPLD) program of the Schrödinger software, followed by the refinement of receptor-ligand conformations using the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm in the Liaison program, and alignment of refined conformations of inhibitors was utilized for the development of an atom-based 3D-QSAR model in the PHASE program. Among the five generated models, the best model was selected corresponding to PLS factor 2, displaying the highest value of Q(2)test (0.650). The selected model also displayed high values of r(2)train (0.917), F-value (166.5) and Pearson-r (0.877) and a low value of SD (0.265). The contour plots generated for the selected 3D-QSAR model were correlated with the results of docking simulations. Finally, this combined information generated from 3D-QSAR and docking analysis was used to design new congeners.

Objective measurement of motor speech characteristics in the healthy pediatric population

OBJECTIVE

To obtain objective measurements of motor speech characteristics in normal children, using a computer-based motor speech software program.

METHODS

Cross-sectional, observational design in a university-based ambulatory pediatric otolaryngology clinic. Participants included 112 subjects (54 females and 58 males) aged 4-18 years. Participants with previously diagnosed hearing loss, voice and motor disorders, and children unable to repeat a passage in English were excluded. Voice samples were recorded and analysed using the Motor Speech Profile (MSP) software (KayPENTAX, Lincoln Park, NJ). The MSP produced measures of diadochokinetics, second formant transition, intonation, and syllabic rates.

RESULTS

Demographic data, including sex, age, and cigarette smoke exposure were obtained. Normative data for several motor speech characteristics were derived for children ranging from age 4 to 18 years. A number of age-dependent changes were indentified, including an increase in average diadochokinetic rate (p<0.001) and standard syllabic duration (p<0.001) with age. There were no identified differences in motor speech characteristics between males and females across the measured age range. Variations in fundamental frequency (Fo) during speech did not change significantly with age for both males and females.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first pediatric normative database for the MSP progam. The MSP is suitable for testing children and can be used to study developmental changes in motor speech. The analysis demonstrated that males and females behave similarly and show the same relationship with age for the motor speech characteristics studied. This normative database will provide essential comparative data for future studies exploring alterations in motor speech that may occur with hearing, voice, and motor disorders and to assess the results of targeted therapies.

Bilateral tension pneumothorax following rigid bronchoscopy: A report of an epignathus in a newborn delivered by the EXIT procedure with a fatal outcome

We describe a case of a newborn baby with a prenatal diagnosis of an epignathus (oropharyngeal teratoma). With the potential for airway problems at birth, he was delivered by an elective EXIT (Extra Utero Intrapartum Treatment) procedure at 38 weeks of pregnancy. The airway was secured and rigid bronchoscopy performed. Initially he was stable, but developed cardiorespiratory difficulties 40 minutes after birth and died from a cardiac arrest 17 minuteslater. Tension pneumothorax is a devastating complication that can occur with lower airway manipulation for anaesthesia and rigid bronchoscopy. The addition of positive pressure during mechanical ventilation converts the pneumothorax into a tension pneumothorax. The possibility of tension pneumothorax should be entertained in a mechanically ventilated patient whose ventilatory pressures are increasing, with diminishing cardiac output. A complicated case is presented, where the diagnosis was missed with a fatal outcome.

Strategies for purification of four reproductive hormones from the same batch of buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) pituitaries

The occurrence of different reproductive hormones like LH, FSH, TSH and prolactin, in different side fractions obtained during the extraction of buffalo pituitary glands either by the procedure of Papkoff et al. [Arch Biochem Biophys, 111 (1965) 431] or by that of Ellis [Endocrinology, 69 (1961) 554], was examined with the aid of antisera to respective heterologous hormones as well as bio-assays. Thus in the procedure of Papkoff et al., the SP-Sephadex fractions could be taken for purification of LH and TSH, while the acid pellet yielded prolactin. Further it was shown that 50% (NH4)2SO4 could be directly size fractionated and following cation exchange chromatography yields LH and TSH. FSH could be purified from 80% ammonium sulphate pellet. In another protocol of Ellis, differential extraction and chromatographic separation yielded all the four reproductive hormones. Some of the physico-chemical and immunobiological characteristics of these hormones are described.

Physico-chemical and immunological characteristics of pituitary prolactin from water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

Prolactin (PRL) was purified from freshly frozen pituitary glands of water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) by a combination of existing procedures of Ellis and Jiang and Wilhelmi involving serial extraction of different pituitary proteins. The partially purified preparation was further fractionated on DEAE-Sephadex followed by Sephadex G-100 chromatography. This was finally purified on HPLC. This preparation was found to be homogeneous by SDS-PAGE and HPLC and had a single N-terminus amino acid (Threonine). The molecular size was estimated to be 24K +/- 0.5 by SDS-PAGE and approximately 25K by GPC-HPLC. The buffalo PRL gave a dose dependent inhibition curve in a rat liver based radio receptor assay with a potency of 30-35 I.U./mg and also in a partial homologous RIA using 125I-buffalo PRL and rabbit anti-oPRL serum giving a potency of 30 I.U./mg. Metabolic labelling studies using 35SO4(2-) with buffalo pituitary minces showed the incorporation of radioactive sulfate into immunoprecipitable PRL-like material. Physico-chemical characterization of the site of the linkage between sulfate and PRL revealed the presence of Tyr-O-SO4 in bu-PRL. A high affinity monoclonal antibody (MAB) with Ka of 10(10) L/M, belonging to IgG1 isotype, and capable of cross reacting with ovine and bovine PRL was generated. This MAB was conformation specific as reduced and carboxymethylated PRL did not react with it. A homologous RIA system using this MAB has been standardised.

Immunologic assessment of a cluster of asymptomatic HTLV-I-infected individuals in New Orleans

PURPOSE

Although clusters of individuals infected with the human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I) have been identified in the United States, no systematic evaluation of the immunologic status of these persons has been reported. We therefore studied a group of 11 HTLV-I-infected former intravenous drug abusers who were long-term participants in a methadone maintenance program in New Orleans, Louisiana, to determine the effects of HTLV-I and chronic opiate use on immunity.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Mitogenic responses and results of serologic studies, cell phenotype analysis, and cytotoxicity assays were compared to those in two other HTLV-I seronegative groups: a similar group of 17 methadone users and 15 healthy age-, sex-, and race-matched control subjects. All study participants were seronegative for human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

RESULTS

Percentages and numbers of total T lymphocytes (CD2+,CD3+), T-suppressor/cytotoxic lymphocytes (CD8+), cytotoxic lymphocytes (Leu7+, Leu11+, NKH-1+) and B lymphocytes (B4+) were similar among the study groups. Although percentages and numbers of total T-helper lymphocytes (CD4+) were also similar among the groups, HTLV-I-infected subjects had higher percentages and proportions of helper/inducer cells (CD4:4B4+) than did HTLV-I seronegative methadone users. Both methadone using groups had decreased percentages and numbers of suppressor/inducer T lymphocytes (CD4:2H4+). Major histocompatibility complex unrestricted T-cell cytotoxicity (lectin-dependent cellular cytotoxicity), natural killer cell function, and mitogenic responses to the T-cell mitogen phytohemagglutin were similar among the three study groups. Pokeweed mitogen responses were severely depressed in the HTLV-I-infected population.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that HTLV-I infection is associated with abnormalities in T-cell-dependent B-cell proliferative responses. Furthermore, both long-term methadone use and HTLV-I infection are associated with abnormalities in the distribution of CD4+ cell subpopulations. The increase in the helper/inducer and T-cell cell populations and decrease in the pokeweed mitogenic response noted in HTLV-I-infected subjects appear to be markers for infection with this retrovirus.

Presence of tyrosine-O-sulfate in sheep pituitary prolactin

When the metabolically obtained 35S-labelled sheep pituitary prolactin-rich fraction was subjected to chemical deglycosylation the radioactivity was retained in the immunoprecipitable prolactin. 35S-labelled prolactin-rich pituitary extract was fractionated on SDS-PAGE and protein was extracted from prolactin positive bands. When the extracted 35S-labelled prolactin was hydrolysed by alkali and then chromatographed on a thin layer of silica, it showed the presence of a radioactive compound which had an Rf value identical to the standard Tyr-O-SO4 synthesized and characterized in our laboratory.

Are sheep and buffalo prolactins sulfated?

Radioactive sulfate (35SO2-4) has been shown to be incorporated into immunoprecipitable prolactin-like material from incubated minces of sheep and buffalo pituitaries. The 35S-labelled prolactin could be purified by standard procedures. On SDS-PAGE, the 35S-labelled prolactin rich fraction gives two major Coomassie blue bands around 25KDa and these on Western blot analysis gave positive bands. Radioactive [14C]- mannose was also found incorporated into the prolactin like material. The nature of sulphate link to the peptide is not known. It could be sugar-SO4 and/or Tyrosine-SO4.