The Role of Catecholaminergic and Serotoninergic Systems in Sexual Differentiation of the Mammalian Brain

The neurotransmitters have an organizational role in the sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain. In rodents sex differences in brain amine concentrations appear to be dependent upon the levels of androgens circulating during the perinatal period. To examine the role of biogenic amines in sexual differentiation of the brain, newborn male rats were castrated, or sham-operated upon within 2k hours of birth. Newborn female rats received either 5 daily sc injections of 100 ug testosterone (in oil) or were administered oil vehicle only. Groups of animals were decapitated at the following assigned ages, 12, 60, 75, 90, 120 and 180 days. The brains were removed and separated into hypothalamus, amygdala, cerebral cortex, cerebellum, corpus callosum, hippocampus, corpus striatum and corpora quadrigemina. Circulating LH concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay from blood samples collected from the above animals. Monoamine levels in each region of the brain were determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical detection. Between 12 and 60 days, the biogenic amine content in almost all the brain regions increased more in control males and androgenised females than in control females and castrated males. Between 60 and 180 days there were variations with no clear pattern; at 180 days the amine contents were similar in control females and castrated males, and higher than those in control males and androgenised females, which were also similar to each other. Neonatal castration of male rats resulted in a significant depletion of the brain catecholaminergic content in the younger animals, after which a pronounced rise occurred by four to six months of age. This observation was generally true for all the regions examined. The rise in catecholamine content in the androgenized females observed at 60 days of age was however short-lived, and a gradual diminution then followed which continued through to 180 days of age. The brain 5-HT and 5-HIAA content of the neonatally castrated males was also reduced in the younger animals. However the situation was completely reversed by the time these rats reached 120-180 days of age. The 5-HT and 5-HIAA brain content of the androgenized females was higher than that of the controls at 60 days, but in the older experimental females the 5-HT content was greatly reduced compared to that of the oil-treated animals. These marked alterations in the central neurotransmitter systems are the results of a long-lasting generalized effect on the cell bodies of different neuronal groups. These modifications of the development of the brain biogenic amine systems may be a result of changes not only in mechanisms regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, but also of changes in certain non-reproductive functions sensitive to the neonatal androgen environment. An attempt was made to investigate the sex differences in the biogenic amine content of the hypothalamus, cerebral cortex and cerebellum of 17 human fetal brains obtained from prostaglandin-terminated mid-term pregnancies. There was a considerable variation in the amine levels of the tissues obtained from this source. This finding prompted a study of the post-mortem stability of monoamines in the rat brain and also an investigation of the effect of prostaglandins on neurotransmitter levels in fetal rabbit brain tissue. The stability of the monoamines varied differentially in various regions of the brain, leading to the suggestion that a correction factor be used to compensate for the changes seen. The experiments on the fetal rabbit brains confirmed that tissue obtained from prostaglandin-terminated pregnancies is not an ideal source for studying the androgen-dependent sex differences in the biogenic amine concentrations. This is because the prostaglandin itself interferes with the detection of the neurotransmitters. In the present study the results obtained are discussed in the light of previous work

Pap smear screening in antenatal women: an opportunistic way to save life

Background: Cancer cervix is the most common genital tract malignancy encountered in developing countries. In India, first visit to the gynaecologist for most women is during pregnancy and it may be the only visit. Hence, prenatal care offers an excellent opportunity to implement cervical screening in patients of young age, especially in women who do not seek routine health care. Therefore, this study was conducted to know the prevalence of abnormal Pap smear among the ante-natal women and to evaluate the result in relation to various risk factors.Methods: Cross sectional observational study conducted on 425 ante-natal women attending the antenatal clinic using questioner addressing various socio-demographic variables. Measures of central tendency calculated and result was tabulated by using chi-square test.Results: Maximum number of cases in our study was NILM i.e.314 (74%) followed by 68 cases of Candida (16%), 30 cases of Bacterial vaginosis (7.1%) and 10 cases of Trichomonas vaginalis (2.4%). Only 3 cases of abnormal Pap smear was reported i.e. 2 of ASCUS and 1 of LSIL. Thus, prevalence of abnormal Pap smear was 0.7%.Conclusions: In country like India where organised screening programme are not available, as well as the awareness and uptake of available services by the target population is also poor; screening in pregnancy is worthwhile and may be a viable option to reduce the burden of cervical carcinoma.

Effect of Prenatal Dietary Pattern on Maternal Anemia and Low Birth Weight in Rural Areas of Kanpur

Background: In India, the dietary pattern of women from low socioeconomic status are almost same during pre-pregnant, pregnant and lactating periods. Additional foods are required to improve weight gain in pregnancy and birth weight of infants. Aim & Objective: To identify the impact of prenatal dietary pattern on maternal anemia and low birth weight in rural areas of Kanpur Nagar. Methods: This study was a cross sectional study conducted amongst mothers who recently delivered (RDW) in rural blocks of District Kanpur Nagar. Data was collected by interviewing study subjects using a semi-structured interview schedule after applying multistage random sampling technique. Results: Out of 102 women studied, 39.2% women had consumed >90 IFA tablets, 49.1% of mothers had practiced MMF and 47.1% of women practiced MDD during their prenatal period and 40.1% babies of current pregnancy were born as LBW. IFA consumption during pregnancy was significantly associated with maternal anemia. MMF during pregnancy was significantly associated with LBW. Conclusions: In our study it was found that IFA consumption, MMF and MDD during antenatal is a key preventive measure to reduce anemia status in pregnant females and birth weight of baby during prenatal period

Molten Salt Electrolytes for Electrodeposition of CdTe Films

We report preliminary investigation of several molten salt electrolytes containing CdCl2 and TeCl4 for the electrodeposition of CdTe films at temperatures well above (\u3e250 °C) those used with aqueous and organic electrolytes. These high temperatures have potential todramatically increase the crystallite size (Poole, Engelken, et al., 1994), as is important for optoelectronic device applications of CdTe, a leading II-VIsemiconductor. This paper willsurvey the results obtained withelectrolytes such as B2O,/HBO2 (m.p. - 230\u27C), NaCH3COO (m.p. » 324°C), ZnCl2 (m.p. - 283*C), and LiCl/KCl (m.p. * 350 °C), with an emphasis on the latter two. Key material to be presented includes 1) voltammetric data for the solutions, 2) x-ray diffractometry data for deposited films, 3) a discussion of the numerous practical problems associated withhigh temperature electrochemistry, especially incorrosive, volatile systems, and 4) emphasis of the value of an operationally feasible high temperature plating system to the commercial viabilityof electrodeposited semiconductor films

Diagnostics of CdTe Electrodeposition by Rest Potential Voltammetry

Due to the extreme sensitivity of the partial elemental currents (i.e.,iCd, iTe) and, hence, stoichiometry to deposition voltage, temperature, mass transport, and ambient light intensity during electrodeposition of semiconductor films, it is important to implement in-situ methods for monitoring the stoichiometry and related semiconductor efficacy of the growing film. We report investigation of open circuit rest potential (Eoc) voltammetry as one such method during electrodeposition of CdTe from aprotic electrolytes such as ethylene glycol. Plots of transient open circuit potential versus sweep voltage exhibit distinct transition and plateau structures corresponding to Te, CdTe, and Cd phases and correlating with the appearance/disappearance of photocurrent, x-ray diffraction evidence of the three phases, and optical obsorption spectroscopy. In particular, the Eoc plateau corresponding to deposition of near-stoichiometric CdTe can be used to monitor and control the deposition process

Assessment of Statistical Approaches to Model Low Count Data: An Empirical Application to Youth Delinquency

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors associated with number of crime committed by youth (Youth Delinquency) between ages 10-17, using Ordinary Least Square (OLS), Poisson Regression model (PRM), Negative Binomial Regression model (NBRM)& Zero Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) with the aim to choose the most appropriate model for the observed count data.Methodology: The data in the study was collected from youth whose mothers enrolled in Philadelphia Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP). School and delinquency record (between ages 10-17) was obtained by the Centre for studies in Criminology and Criminal Law. Literature search suggest that factors associated with child delinquency can be divided into four main factors as Individual, Family, School and Peer. Therefore we included variables in the analysis accordingly.Result: For OLS scatter plot of residuals versus estimated counts showed definite pattern of heterogeneity (non-constant variance). The likelihood-ratio (LR) test of over dispersion yields the significant p-value, which implied that the outcome variable is overdispersed. The plot of the difference between the actual probabilities and the mean predicted probabilities for each model showed that PRM has poor predictions for low counts (0-2).Conclusion: NBRM and ZINB both performed well, however fit statistics revealed that NBRM has provided more closed predication as compare ZINB.NB modeling techniques provides much more compelling and accurate results instead of basic PRM or those available through simple linear or log-linear modeling techniques