These findings demonstrate that age and tumor size are important factors in making a differential diagnosis. In addition, SCC and CEA levels should be measured in patients age 45 years or older who have an MCT-like ovarian tumor larger than 99 mm in greatest dimension.

Design of a long-acting follitropin agonist by fusing the C-terminal sequence of the chorionic gonadotropin f3 subunit to the follitropin (8 subunit (biologic Communicated by Oliver H. Lowry, February 5, 1992 ABSTRACT Follitropin (FSH) is a pituitary glycoprotein hormone that is essential for the development of ovarian follicles and testicular seminiferous tubules. FSH is used clinically to stimulate follicular maturation for in vitro fertilization and treatment of anovulatory women. One issue regarding the clinical use of FSH is its short half-life in the circulation. To address this point, we constructed chimeric genes containing the sequence encoding the C-terminal peptide of the chorionic gonadotropin 13 subunit (CG1) fused to the translated sequence of the human FSH P subunit (FSH(8). This region of CGI3 is important for maintaining the prolonged plasma half-life of human CG dimer. The presence of the C-terminal peptide sequence did not significantly affect assembly of FSH(3 with the a subunit or secretion of the dimer. In vitro receptor binding and steroidogenic activity of dimer bearing the FSHf-Cterminal peptide chimera were the same as wild-type FSH.However, both the in vivo potency and half-life in circulation of the dimer bearing either one or two C-terminal peptide units were enhanced. Dimers containing FSH(-CGI3 chimeras could serve as potent FSH agonists for clinical use, and the present strategy may have wide applications for enhancing the in vivo half-life of diverse proteins.

BackgroundStriae gravidarum is a physiological skin change that many pregnant women experience during pregnancy. The striae are often accompanied by a reddish purple color during pregnancy, and then lose pigmentation and become atrophic in the long term after pregnancy. Striae gravidarum seems to be undesirable to many pregnant women. However, the impact of striae gravidarum on pregnant women who experience it has not been clarified. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of striae gravidarum on the generic and dermatology-specific quality of life (QOL) of pregnant women.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at three private clinics in a typical urban area in Japan. We recruited 447 pregnant women at 36 weeks of gestation; One hundred and ninety-nine pregnant women at 36 weeks of gestation participated in the study and 179, consisting of 94 primiparae and 85 multiparae, were analyzed.We used and assessed Davey’s score for striae gravidarum, World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment questionnaire for generic QOL, and Skindex-29 for dermatology-specific QOL.ResultsThe prevalence of striae gravidarum was 39.1% (27.7% in primiparae, and 51.8% in multiparae). Although there were no differences in generic QOL scores between the presence and absence of striae gravidarum and with their severity, the whole group of pregnant women and the multiparae group showed significant differences in scores on emotion of Skindex-29 between the presence and absence of striae gravidarum (p = 0.012 and p = 0.011). Pregnant women with severe striae gravidarum showed significantly higher scores on emotion of Skindex-29 compared with those with absent or mild striae gravidarum (p < 0.001 and p = 0.005).ConclusionsThere was no difference in generic QOL of pregnant women between the presence and absence of striae gravidarum, although the occurrence and severity of striae gravidarum influenced their dermatology-specific QOL. Multiparae women were especially impaired by striae gravidarum and it is considered important to prevent or reduce the severity of striae gravidarum of the multiparae group.

This study suggests that pathologic factors, grade, and mode of infiltration can provide valuable information for predicting the survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma arising from mature cystic teratoma. In addition, squamous cell carcinoma antigen may be a useful marker to detect this disease preoperatively.

These results show the anastomosis of at least the bilateral uterine arteries and the unilateral ovarian vein is required for uterus transplantation. This is the first report of a natural pregnancy in a primate following uterine autotransplantation.

Alternative splicing of fibronectin pre-mRNA at two distinct regions, termed ED-A and IIICS, was investigated with human adult and fetal tissues by the nuclease S1 protection assay. A clear tissue specificity was observed in the splicing pattern at the ED-A region. More ED-A+ than ED-A- mRNAs were identified in lung, whereas ED-A- mRNAs were predominantly expressed in liver. Endometrium contained nearly equal amounts of ED-A+ and ED-A- mRNAs. The splicing pattern at the ED-A region was also different between adult and fetal liver but not between adult and fetal lung. Tissue type specific splicing was also observed at the IIICS region. Although the mRNA species containing the complete IIICS sequence comprised 40-65% of the total fibronectin mRNAs irrespective of tissue types, expression of the mRNA species lacking a part or all of the IIICS sequence was more pronounced in adult liver than in other tissues including fetal liver. These results strongly suggest that the alternative splicing of fibronectin pre-mRNA in vivo is regulated in a tissue type specific manner at both the ED-A and IIICS regions and that it is developmentally regulated in liver but not in lung. On the basis of these and other observations reported previously, a possibility that a part of the fibronectins synthesized and secreted by hepatocytes is deposited in the tissue matrix is discussed.

Aim: Uterine transplantation (UTx) is a potential option for child-bearing in women with uterine infertility. Recovery of uterine function after allogeneic UTx in non-human primates has not been reported. The objective of this study is to establish the functional uterine transplant model in non-human primates. Methods: Uteri of two cynomolgus monkeys were simultaneously removed, cooled at 4°C and perfused with heparin saline. The uteri were interchanged with each other and then orthotopically transplanted. Immunosuppressive protocols included use of three agents (tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil and methylprednisolone) in case 1 and two agents (tacrolimus and methylprednisolone) in case 2. Transabdominal ultrasonography, vaginoscopy and biopsy of the transplanted uterine cervix were routinely conducted to monitor rejection after surgery. Results: The blood concentration of tacrolimus decreased 11 days after surgery and evidence of rejection was found in biopsy of the uterine cervix in both cases. The suspected rejection disappeared 23 days after surgery in case 1 and temporary menstruation resumed at 3 months after surgery. In case 2, blood flow to the uterine artery gradually decreased and the uterus resulted in atrophy due to ischemia, which has been triggered by rejection. Conclusion: Allogeneic UTx in the cynomolgus monkeys resulted in temporary recovery of menstruation with three immunosuppressants and uterine atrophy with two immunosuppressants. This preliminary experience suggests that recovery of uterine function after allogeneic UTx in non-human primates is possible but more experiments are required.

Abstract. Chorionic gonadotropin (CG) and lutropin (LH) are members of a family of glycoprotein hormones that share a common a subunit but differ in their hormone-specific fl subunits. The glycoprotein hormone ~ subunits share a high degree of amino acid homology that is most evident for the LHfl and CGfl subunits having >80% sequence similarity. However, transfection studies have shown that human CGfl and ot can be secreted as monomers and can combine efficiently to form dimer, whereas secretion and assembly of human LHfl is less efficient. To determine which specific regions of the LHfl and CGfl subunits are responsible for these differences, mutant and chimeric LH/%CGfl genes were constructed and transfected into CHO cells. Expression of these subunits showed that both the hydrophobic carboxy-terminal seven amino acids and amino acids Trp s, Ile ~5, Met 42, and Asp 77 together inhibit the secretion of LHfl. The carboxy-terminal amino acids, along with Trp s, Ile ~, Met 42, and Thr 5s are implicated in the delayed assembly of LHfl. These unique features of LHfl may also play an important role in pituitary intracellular events and may be responsible for the differential glycosylation and sorting of LH and FSH in gonadotrophs. HUMAN chorionic gonadotropin (CG), t lutropin (LH), follitropin (FSH), and thyrotropin (TSH) are a family of heterodimeric glycoprotein hormones that share a common t~ subunit but differ in their hormonespecific fl subunits (8,45,52). Combination of the ot and subunits begins in the endoplasmic reticulum (18, 43) and for CG, dimerization is completed before the addition of the O-linked oligosaccharides in the Golgi (43). Although the fl subunits determine biological specificity of the hormones, there is a high degree of amino acid homology between these subunits (50), which is most apparent for LHfl and CGfl. They are 85 % homologous in the first 114 amino acids (51), and this relationship is responsible for the binding of CG and LH to a common gonadal receptor (8, 45, 52). However, CGfl and LHfl contain two prominent structural differences: (a) LHfl contains one N-linked oligosaccharide at position 30, whereas CGfl contains two N-linked units at sites 13 and 30; and (b) CGfl contains a 31-amino acid hydrophilic COOH-terminal extension with four O-linked oligosaccharides (3, 7, 21, 23) compared with a shorter, 7-amino acid, hydrophobic stretch on LH/~