OBJECTIVE To evaluate pregnancy outcomes and the incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) using a sliding scale hCG protocol to trigger oocyte maturity and establish a threshold level of serum b-hCG associated with optimal oocyte maturity. DESIGN Retrospective cohort. SETTING Academic medical center. PATIENTS Fresh IVF cycles from 9/2004-12/2011. INTERVENTION 10,427 fresh I...

BACKGROUND First-trimester prenatal screening for aneuploidy by use of dried blood spots (DBSs) may offer practical benefits in settings where the instability of intact human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is problematic. We evaluated a DBS pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and free β-subunit of hCG (free hCGβ) dual assay and compared it to serum screening. METHODS Hematocrit-corre...

AIM To assess whether glycoform variants of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) are present in altered concentrations in the maternal serum in pregnancies affected by Down syndrome. METHODS In a series of 50 cases of pregnancies complicated by Down syndrome and 278 unaffected pregnancies, we have examined maternal serum levels of hCG glycoforms (GlyhCG) in samples collected in the second trim...

Analyses of B and R band observations of four compact groups reveal the presence of a considerable amount of diffuse, intergalactic light in two of them (HCG 79 and HCG 95). The diffuse component is presumably due to stellar material that has been tidally stripped from the galaxy group members. A new approach is used to measure this diffuse background light, using wavelet techniques for detecti...

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a glycoprotein hormone composed of two dissimilar subunits, alpha and beta. Nicks or missing peptide linkages have been found in the beta 44-52 region of the beta-subunit of hCG, whether from pregnancy or trophoblast disease. This article reviews recent reports about the location of nicks in hCG, their origin and occurrence, their effects on the steroidogen...

We describe a first attempt to study the antibody-combining sites recognized by monoclonal antibodies raised against the beta-subunit of human choriogonadotropin (hCG). Two groups of antibodies were first defined by their ability to recognize only the free beta-subunit or the free and combined subunit. Antibodies FBT-11 and FBT-11-L bind only to hCG beta-subunit but not to hCG, whereas antibodi...

Regarding the false negative results of culdocentesis, it is believed that the protocol of B-hCG, sonography, D&C and free use of laparoscopy gives more reliable information to the physician than the protocol of B-hCG, sonography and culdocentesis. We used the former protocol on 50 patients suspected of having ectopic pregnancy. The most common diagnoses were EP (48%) and PID (16%), respec...

HCG is composed of two subunits, HCGalpha and HCGbeta. During early pregnancy, HCG stimulates progesterone production in the corpus luteum, and injection of HCG is widely used to induce ovulation in assisted reproduction treatment (ART). Under experimental conditions, the free subunits have been shown to exert functions other than those of HCG, but the relevance of these remains to be determine...

OBJECTIVE To define the contribution of maternal variables which influence the measured level of maternal serum free β-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) in screening for pregnancy complications. METHODS Maternal characteristics and medical history were recorded and serum free β-hCG was measured in women with a singleton pregnancy attending for three routine hospital visits at 11 + 0 to 13 ...

In 45 cases of trisomy 18 and 493 control pregnancies at 10-14 weeks of gestation, maternal serum inhibin A, total activin A, free beta-hCG and PAPP-A were measured. In the trisomy 18 pregnancies the median values were 0.74 MoM for inhibin A, 1.23 MoM for activin A, 0.38 MoM for free beta-hCG and 0.16 MoM for PAPP-A. The degree of deviation from normal in the levels of inhibin and activin is sm...