Indomethacin, an inhibitor of prostaglandin (PG) synthesis, was used to assess the r\l=o^\leof PG in ovulation and gonadotrophin release. The block to ovulation induced by indomethacin in normal pro-oestrous rats and immature rats primed with PMSG could be overcome by exogenous PG. The same block could not be overcome in cyclic rats and immature rats primed with PMSG by administration of LH-releasing hormone (decapeptide-LH-RH) or HCG at a dose level sufficient to induce ovulation in rats in which block had been induced by pentobarbital. Indomethacin did not interfere with the pro-oestrous surge of LH and FSH secretion although ovulation was prevented in 83% of animals. When indomethacin was given to cyclic rats at pro-oestrus, dioestrus persisted for 5 to 12 days until a return to the normal 4-day cycle occurred after reversal of the indomethacin-induced block to ovulation by treatment with PG. It is concluded that indomethacin, at least as a single injection, does not block LH release, but exerts its antiovulatory action directly on the ovary. It may also act at the hypothalamo-pituitary level.
Inhibitory effect of the hot water extracts prepared from various kinds of teas on the platelet aggregation induced by collagen or ADP was investigated by use of turbidimetry. A standard method used was the extraction with 40ml of boiling water for 3min on each 1g tea sample. Examination on various teas with the different manufacturing process indicated that the aggregation inhibitory effect was observed generally on any kind of tea extracts tested, though the activity differed from a strong one (e.g. Japanese green tea, the inhibition ratio is over 50%) to a weak one (e.g. Aoyagi tea, about 10%). Among the black teas, Kenya and Sri Lanka Uva teas showed strong activity, while Darjeeling tea was weak. Japanese green teas were generally effective and the activity was on the order of Sencha> Maccha>Gyokuro.Chinese semi-fermented teas gave only a weak activity. High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis on the main black and green tea extracts showed that the effective ones were rich in the content of catechins in the Japanese green teas and of theaflavin and catechins in the black teas. Among the purified samples of six catechins and three theaflavins and caffeine, (-)-epicatechin, (+)-catechin, (+)-gallocatechin, and theaflavin mono-gallate showed a marked inhibitory activity.
Needs identification is an important component of program planning in continuing professional education. Learners, professional associations, and society all have a stake in ensuring that programs are relevant and focused on important educational needs of professionals. This study compared two different methods of identifying learning needs--perceived needs and knowledge-based needs--for a group of practicing pharmacists (N= 113). The Canadian Consensus Asthma Management Guidelines (1996) provided the framework for the needs assessments and the standard against which pharmacists' knowledge of asthma treatment was assessed. Using data collected via a questionnaire, rank correlation tests showed no relationship between perceived needs and knowledge-based needs. While there was correspondence between the two methods on a few items, overall they did not identify the same needs. This confirmed the results of other research that there are some educational needs of which learners are unaware. Even with the limitations of perceived needs, few continuing professional educators would advocate abandoning this method, although most advocate a combination of methods. The following article discusses the implications of these and other research findings, and current literature on needs assessment in continuing professional education. Many questions remain, however, and there is a need for more research on needs assessment in continuing professional education.
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