A solid phase radioimmunoassay for detection of early pregnancy in the South Indian bonnet monkey Macaca radiata

Using an antibody raised in the rabbit to ovine leutenizing hormone β subunit coupled to activated cellulose, a solid phase radioimmunoassay to detect early pregnancy in the South Indian bonnet monkey has been developed. Non-specific inhibition due to serum was eliminated by inclusion of new born calf serum in the assay tubes. The assay is simple, needs only one centrifugation and can be completed in 6 h at room temperature with no false positive results

Effect of human chorionic gonadotropin on serum levels of progesterone and estrogens in the pregnant bonnet monkey (Macaca radiata)

Administration of human chorionic gonadotropin to pregnant bonnet monkeys (Macaca radiata) at 55-60 days and 130-140 days of pregnancy resulted in a significant increase in serum progesterone levels. This effect could be observed even in lutectomized monkeys. However, no significant change in the serum estrogen level was noticed. These results suggest that although no chorionic gonadotropin is detectable in the serum after 35 days of pregnancy, the foetoplacental steroidogenic system is still responsive to exogenous gonadotropic stimulation

Serum concentrations of chorionic gonadotrophin, oestradiol-17β and progesterone during early pregnancy in the south Indian bonnet monkey (Macaca radiata)

Serum concentrations of chorionic gonadotrophin (CG) during early pregnancy in the bonnet monkey (Macaca radiata), were determined by a radioimmunoassay validated for measuring monkey chorionic gonadotrophin. The earliest time at which CG could be detected was on the 28th day of a fertile cycle and it could not be detected beyond the 50th day. During a fertile cycle, mean values of oestradiol-17β in addition to exhibiting a preovulatory peak around Days 9-10 of cycle, exhibited a secondary peak around Day 30 of the cycle. Serum progesterone levels remained elevated throughout the period of study from Day 18 to Day 50 and at no time did the levels fall below 2 ng/ml

Effect of administration of luteinizing hormone (LH) and deprival of LH on the proteins of smooth endoplasmic reticulum of immature and adult rat Leydig cells

Analysis of proteins of smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) of Leydig cells from immature and adult rats by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed the presence of several new proteins in the adult rats. Administration of human chorionic gonadotropin to immature rats for ten days also resulted in a significant increase as well as the appearance of several new proteins. The general pattern of SDS-PAGE analysis of the SER proteins of Leydig cells resembled that of the adult rat. SDS-PAGE analysis of the SER proteins of Leydig cells from adult rats following deprivation of endogenous luteinizing hormone by administration of antiserum to ovine luteinizing hormone resulted in a pattern which to certain extent resembled that of an immature rat. Western Blot analysis of luteinizing hormone antiserum treated rat Leydig cell proteins revealed a decrease in the 17-α-hydroxylase compared to the control. These results provide biochemical evidence for the suggestion that one of the main functions of luteinizing hormone is the control of biogenesis and/or turnover SER of Leydig cells in the rat

Initiation of ovulation and regulation of Luteal function

An attempt has been made in the present paper to review the current status of our knowledge on the subject of relative role of Luteinzing Hormone (LH) and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) in the initiation of ovolution and regulation of luteal function. Emphasis is laid on studies in laboratory rodents and primates and work from our laboratory and others are reviewed. The use of specific, well-characterized anti-gonadotropins in delineating the the role of LH and FSH in these has been highlighted. Evidence has been furnished in support of LH being the true physiological trigger for ovulation to occur. Data in support of the concept that both prolactin and LH are needed to maintain luteal function is furnished; the former responsible for providing adequate substrate stores as well as maintain a basic cell matrix needed for active steroidogenesis, while the latter regulates the quantum of steroid syhthesis by amplification of the signal

Hanford Tank Farms Waste Certification Flow Loop Phase IV: PulseEcho Sensor Evaluation

Hanford Tank Farms Waste Certification Flow Loop Phase IV: PulseEcho Sensor Evaluatio

Hanford Tank Farms Waste Certification Flow Loop Test Plan

A future requirement of Hanford Tank Farm operations will involve transfer of wastes from double shell tanks to the Waste Treatment Plant. As the U.S. Department of Energy contractor for Tank Farm Operations, Washington River Protection Solutions anticipates the need to certify that waste transfers comply with contractual requirements. This test plan describes the approach for evaluating several instruments that have potential to detect the onset of flow stratification and critical suspension velocity. The testing will be conducted in an existing pipe loop in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s facility that is being modified to accommodate the testing of instruments over a range of simulated waste properties and flow conditions. The testing phases, test matrix and types of simulants needed and the range of testing conditions required to evaluate the instruments are describe

Large-Scale Spray Releases: Additional Aerosol Test Results

One of the events postulated in the hazard analysis for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) and other U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear facilities is a breach in process piping that produces aerosols with droplet sizes in the respirable range. The current approach for predicting the size and concentration of aerosols produced in a spray leak event involves extrapolating from correlations reported in the literature. These correlations are based on results obtained from small engineered spray nozzles using pure liquids that behave as a Newtonian fluid. The narrow ranges of physical properties on which the correlations are based do not cover the wide range of slurries and viscous materials that will be processed in the WTP and in processing facilities across the DOE complex. To expand the data set upon which the WTP accident and safety analyses were based, an aerosol spray leak testing program was conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL’s test program addressed two key technical areas to improve the WTP methodology (Larson and Allen 2010). The first technical area was to quantify the role of slurry particles in small breaches where slurry particles may plug the hole and prevent high-pressure sprays. The results from an effort to address this first technical area can be found in Mahoney et al. (2012a). The second technical area was to determine aerosol droplet size distribution and total droplet volume from prototypic breaches and fluids, including sprays from larger breaches and sprays of slurries for which literature data are mostly absent. To address the second technical area, the testing program collected aerosol generation data at two scales, commonly referred to as small-scale and large-scale testing. The small-scale testing and resultant data are described in Mahoney et al. (2012b), and the large-scale testing and resultant data are presented in Schonewill et al. (2012). In tests at both scales, simulants were used to mimic the relevant physical properties projected for actual WTP process streams

PJM Controller Testing with Prototypic PJM Nozzle Configuration

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of River Protection’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) is being designed and built to pre-treat and then vitrify a large portion of the wastes in Hanford’s 177 underground waste storage tanks. The WTP consists of three primary facilities—pretreatment, low-activity waste (LAW) vitrification, and high-level waste (HLW) vitrification. The pretreatment facility will receive waste piped from the Hanford tank farms and separate it into a high-volume, low-activity liquid stream stripped of most solids and radionuclides and a much smaller volume of HLW slurry containing most of the solids and most of the radioactivity. Many of the vessels in the pretreatment facility will contain pulse jet mixers (PJM) that will provide some or all of the mixing in the vessels. Pulse jet mixer technology was selected for use in black cell regions of the WTP, where maintenance cannot be performed once hot testing and operations commence. The PJMs have no moving mechanical parts that require maintenance. The vessels with the most concentrated slurries will also be mixed with air spargers and/or steady jets in addition to the mixing provided by the PJMs. Pulse jet mixers are susceptible to overblows that can generate large hydrodynamic forces, forces that can damage mixing vessels or their internal parts. The probability of an overblow increases if a PJM does not fill completely. The purpose of the testing performed for this report was to determine how reliable and repeatable the primary and safety (or backup) PJM control systems are at detecting drive overblows (DOB) and charge vessel full (CVF) conditions. Testing was performed on the ABB 800xA and Triconex control systems. The controllers operated an array of four PJMs installed in an approximately 13 ft diameter × 15 ft tall tank located in the high bay of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) 336 Building test facility. The PJMs were fitted with 4 inch diameter discharge nozzles representative of the nozzles to be used in the WTP. This work supplemented earlier controller tests done on PJMs with 2 inch nozzles (Bontha et al. 2007). Those earlier tests enabled the selection of appropriate pressure transmitters with associated piping and resulted in an alternate overblow detection algorithm that uses data from pressure transmitters mounted in a water flush line on the PJM airlines. Much of that earlier work was only qualitative, however, due to a data logger equipment failure that occurred during the 2007 testing. The objectives of the current work focused on providing quantitative determinations of the ability of the BNI controllers to detect DOB and CVF conditions. On both control systems, a DOB or CVF is indicated when the values of particular internal functions, called confidence values, cross predetermined thresholds. There are two types of confidence values; one based on a transformation of jet pump pair (JPP) drive and suction pressures, the other based on the pressure in the flush line. In the present testing, we collected confidence levels output from the ABB and Triconex controllers. These data were analyzed in terms of the true and noise confidence peaks generated during multiple cycles of DOB and CVF events. The distributions of peak and noise amplitudes were compared to see if thresholds could be set that would enable the detection of DOB and CVF events at high probabilities, while keeping false detections to low probabilities. Supporting data were also collected on PJM operation, including data on PJM pressures and levels, to provide direct experimental evidence of when PJMs were filling, full, driving, or overblowing