A multicentre trial was carried out to find out the safety and efficacy of 15(S)15 methyl PGF 2 α (Prostin 15M, Upjohn) for induction of menses in early pregnancy (up to 49 days). Two hundred and eighty-four cases were recruited for the study. All patients received two doses of 0.5 mg (2.0 ml) Prostin 15M by the intramuscular route and antiemetic and antidiarrhoeal medication prior to the administration of the prostaglandin analogue. The overall success rate (complete abortion) at two weeks evaluation visit was 87.7%. The success rate was 92% up to 42 days and 100% up to 35 days of the last menstrual period. The side effects were mainly gastrointestinal and majority of the patients had less than three episodes of vomiting or diarrhoea. The duration of bleeding was prolonged (up to 7 days) with Prostin 15M treatment. Intramuscular Prostin 15M seems to be effective in inducing menses in early pregnancy especially if the duration of amenorrhea is up to 35 days.

A multicentre trial was carried out to find out the safety and efficacy of 15(S)15 methyl PGF2α (Prostin 15M, Upjohn) for induction of menses in early pregnancy (up to 49 days). Two hundred and eighty‐four cases were recruited for the study. All patients received two doses of 0.5 mg (2.0 ml) Prostin 15M by the intramuscular route and antiemetic and antidiarrhoeal medication prior to the administration of the prostaglandin analogue. The overall success rate (complete abortion) at two weeks evaluation visit was 87.7%. The success rate was 92% up to 42 days and 100% up to 35 days of the last menstrual period. The side effects were mainly gastrointestinal and majority of the patients had less than three episodes of vomiting or diarrhoea. The duration of bleeding was prolonged (up to 7 days) with Prostin 15M treatment. Intramuscular Prostin 15M seems to be effective in inducing menses in early pregnancy especially if the duration of amenorrhea is up to 35 days.

A comparative evaluation of three different techniques (Madlener's, Wood's and Filshie Clip Mark IV) for female sterilization was carried out in adult female rhesus monkeys with the aim of finding out the efficacy and the extent of tissue damage in the fallopian tube. The severity of pathological changes would indicate the chances of future successful reversal. The experiment was carried out in two phases. In Phase-I, no post-operative antibiotics were given whereas in Phase-II in addition to post-operative antibiotics, two sham-operated controls were also kept. This study revealed that the Filshie's clip is associated with significantly (p less than 0.01-0.001) greater tissue damage of the fallopian tubes with formation of dense adhesions as compared to the Madlener's or Wood's technique. Further, Filshie's clip had slipped off from 4 tubes out of 14 tubes where it was applied.

AbstractA rare case of bleeding from oesophageal varices complicating pregnanc‐, without an‐ intrahepatic or extra‐hepatic patholog‐ has been reported and the differential diagnosis has been discussed.

The efficacy, incidence of side effects, and discontinuation were studied in 50 subjects who received intramuscular norethisterone enanthate (200 mg) in 2 treatment schedules over an 18 month period. Subjects in group A received the injection every 2 months during the study period whereas those in group B received the injection at a 2 month interval for the 1st 6 months and every 3 months thereafter for 18 months. No pregnancy occurred in either group. Longer cycles and a higher incidence of amenorrhea were noted in the group B subjects. The bleeding pattern showed an increase in spotting episodes in group A at the 4th injection, following which no apparent difference in the bleeding pattern was noted in the 2 groups. The discontinuation rate was 80% at the end of the study, 28% of the subjects having dropped out for amenorrhea, 16% for irregular bleeding, and spotting, and 6% for minor medical complaints.

Les β 1 glycoproteines sont mesurees a differentes semaines de la gestation chez des femmes a grossesse normale et chez des femmes a grossesse pathologique. Les auteurs, concluent que la mesure des β 1 glycoproteines peut etre un parametre valable pour controler la fonction placentaire

In a trial of 71 women, 15(S) 15 methyl PGF2α was administered intravenously at the dose level of 1 μg/min for termination of pregnancy of between 11 weeks and 20 weeks of gestation. Sixty-one subjects (85.9%) aborted within 30 h of administration of the drug. The mean induction abortion interval was 15.65 h. The mean number of episodes of vomiting and diarrhea was 0.9 and 0.6, respectively. The effectiveness of the method is comparable to that of intramuscular method of administration, but the side effects are much less in comparison.

Immunosuppressive properties of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), pregnancy specific B1-glycoprotein (SP-1), human alpha foetoprotein (AFP), and human placental lactogen (HPL) in mitogen-stimulated lymphocyte transformation were studied. A pregnancy serum containing high serum levels of these specific proteins was prepared from a number of pregnancy sera. The inhibitory effect of pregnancy sera on lymphocyte response to mitogen was examined after sequential removal of each of the proteins from the pregnancy serum by affinity chromatography. Greatest decrease in the suppression was observed when human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) alone or human chorionic gonadotropin in combination with all other three specific proteins was removed from the pregnancy serum. Pregnancy specific B1-glycoprotein (SP-1) also significantly decreased the inhibitory effect of pregnancy serum. But the other two specific proteins (AFP and HPL) had minimal effect on the decrease an immunosuppression by pregnancy serum. However, even after removal of all the four pregnancy specific proteins from the pregnancy serum, complete return to normal values for lymphocyte transformation by mitogen was not observed, which indicates the presence of some other suppressive factor(s) in the pregnancy serum.

Twenty two subjects with the diagnosis of missed abortion were induced with 15(S) 15 methyl Prostaglandin F2α by the intramuscular route of administration. The induction succeeded in all cases. The mean induction abortion interval was 16 hours with a range of 2 hours 30 minutes to 32 hours 10 minutes. The average dose of 15 methyl PGF2α required was 1675 μg. Nine subjects (42%) had complete abortion. Seven subjects (31.8%) had no gastrointestinal side effects. The mean number of episodes of vomiting and diarrhoea was 1.3 and 0.8, respectively, 15(S) 15 methyl Prostaglandin F2α has high degree of efficacy in the management of missed abortion.

Five fractions of human seminal plasma were isolated on Sephadex G-100 column. The in vitro effect of whole human seminal plasma and its fractions on the lymphocyte transformation induced by phytomitogen was studied. A significant inhibition of lymphocyte response to mitogen was observed with whole seminal plasma fractions I and III at a concentration of 100-200 micrograms/ml. However fraction II stimulates the in vitro human lymphocyte transformation induced by phytomitogen at a concentration of 200 micrograms/ml. Maximum amount of inhibition by whole seminal plasma and its fractions I and III was achieved by preexposure of lymphocytes to these antigens. Pre-exposure of lymphocytes to these antigens, followed by washing, does not result in suppression of lymphocyte response to mitogen. These observations suggest that the antigens of the whole seminal plasma or of fractions I, III, and II act by simple competition with mitogen for the receptor sites on the lymphocyte membrane. Therefore, the human seminal plasma may play an immunoregulatory role against the auto- or isosensitization towards spermatozoal antigens.

Intravesical 15(3)-15 methyl prostaglandin F2-alpha was instilled in 21 patients with urinary retention or large volumes of residual urine because of neurogenic vesicourethral dysfunction. Administration of this prostaglandin analogue may prove useful in promoting bladder emptying in selected patients with incomplete suprasacral spinal lesions who do not exhibit detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia.

The pharmacokinetics of a dose of 50 microgram ethynyloestradiol administered orally was studied in fourteen centres. Absorption was rapid and the highest serum concentrations of total ethynyloestradiol were found in most subjects at 1 h and by 24 h concentrations were less than 250 pg/ml. Calculation of the half-lives for absorption, distribution and elimination showed wide variations between subjects, the half-life of elimination varying from 2.5 h to more than 30 h. Bioavailability as measured by the area under the serum ethynyloestradiol concentration-time curve also showed more than a ten-fold variation. Intra-centre differences in the various parameters measured were as large as the inter-centre differences.