IN 1956, Csapo put forward the theory of the local action of placental progesterone in an attempt to explain the separate delivery of human twins, several weeks apart. This theory, which holds that progesterone from the placenta can reach the overlying myometrium by a direct route and produce a functional asymmetry ofthe uterus, has been criticised (Short, 1960) on the ground that such progeste...

BACKGROUND The purpose of the study was to determine if the effect of llama OIF on LH secretion is mediated by stimulation of the hypothalamus or pituitary gland. METHODS Using a 2-by-2 factorial design to examine the effects of OIF vs GnRH with or without a GnRH antagonist, llamas with a growing ovarian follicle greater than or equal to 8 mm were assigned randomly to four groups (n = 7 per g...

BACKGROUND Cachexia describes a complex pathological syndrome of muscle wasting, anorexia and weight loss. Progesterone therapies have been shown to improve appetite and promote weight gain in patients with cachexia; however, research has focused heavily on patients with cancer, and its effectiveness in other diseases remains unclear. AIMS This systematic review aimed to present the evidence ...

or quarterly cyclic hormone therapy (2 mg of estradiol on days 1-78 and 1 mg of estradiol on days 79-84, with 1 mg of norethindrone on days 69-78) was stopped after 2-3 years of the planned 5 years of treatment because of an unacceptably high rate of endometrial pathology (including one en-dometrial cancer) in the quarterly compared with the monthly cycle group (6.2% versus 0.8%; P ‫ס‬ .004). A...

Young intact (18 days old) and adult castrated males of CBA and C3H/Di mice were used for measuring the estrogenicity on the basis of growth response of mammary epithelial structures and the weight of seminal vesicles. It was demonstrated that heavier young males had disproportionally heavier seminal vesicles (sex steroid-responsive organs) than small animals at day 33 of age (that is on the da...

Medroxyprogesterone Acetate To the Editor: I have read the article by Wakatsuki et al1 with considerable interest. The study showed that the continuous oral treatment of postmenopausal women for 3 months with conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) (0.625 mg/day) alone or with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) at the dose of 2.5 mg/day, significantly increased serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and amylo...

Estradiol dehydrogenase (E2DH) is a well-known progesterone-dependent enzyme in human endometrium, and its induction has been proposed as a means to test hormonal sensitivity of endometrial carcinoma. While administration of progestins to some patients with endometrial carcinoma resulted in increased endometrial E2DH activity, efforts to induce this enzyme, in vitro, in these tumors have been u...

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) regulates several physiological functions, including immune function and apoptosis. The HIV-1 virus accessory protein, viral protein R (Vpr), can modulate the transcriptional response of the GR. Glucocorticoids (GCs) and Vpr have been reported to induce apoptosis in various cells, including T-cells. We have previously shown that the injectable contraceptive, med...