The dominant role of amide group at c-terminus for recognition by antibody in primates against gonadotropin releasing hormone

A monkey and a baboon immunized with GnRH-tetanus toxoid conjugate developed high anti-GnRH antibody titres which resulted in disruption of cyclicity and low estradiol and progesterone levels indicative of the inhibition of follicular development and ovulation. Sera of both animals reacted with GnRH(NH<SUB>2</SUB>) but were devoid of reactivity with peptide sequences, 4-6, 7-10 and 4-10 of GnRH as well as GnRH free acid. Both sera were however reactive with GnRH-Lys-muramyl dipeptide analogue and GnRH-Ala-Ala-Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-OH. As these compounds differ from GnRH-free acid by the presence of amide linkage at C-terminus of GnRH, these studies point to the importance of the conformation involving amide group at this position for immunoreactivity

Exercise performance after univentricular palliation

Background : The optimal timing, need for primary/staged procedure in patients undergoing univentricular palliation, is debatable. Aims : We performed this study to assess the exercise performance of patients undergoing various forms of univentricular palliation. Setting and Design : This was a retrospective, prospective comparative study conducted at a multispecialty tertiary referral center. Patients and Methods : Between January 2012 and June 2015, 117 patients undergoing either bidirectional Glenn (BDG) (n = 43) or Fontan (total cavopulmonary connection [TCPC]) (n = 74) underwent exercise testing. Statistical Analysis : Comparisons between subgroups for continuous data were made with Student's ttest if normally distributed and Wilcoxon ranksum test otherwise. Tests between subgroups for qualitative data were made with Pearson's Chisquare test. Results : Patients who underwent BDG with open antegrade pulmonary blood flow (APBF) had higher saturations (oxygen saturation [SpO2]) compared to those without it (87.5 ± 5.0% vs. 81.1 ± 4.8%; P = 0.0001). However, we found no differences in exercise parameters of patients undergoing BDG with or without APBF. Extracardiac TCPC (n = 42) patients demonstrated better exercise capacity (15.0 ± 7.7 vs. 11.2 ± 6.2 min; P = 0.02) and increased SpO2 on exercise (87.0 ± 8.0% vs. 83.4 ± 7.6%; P ≤ 0.05) compared to lateral tunnel TCPC (n = 32). Fenestrated TCPC (n = 30) patients had higher exercise capacity reflected by higher metabolic equivalents (METs) consumption (6.4 ± 2.3 vs. 5.2 ± 2.0 METs, P = 0.02), fewer pleural effusions (7.0 ± 3.2 vs. 9.2 ± 6.2 days, P ≤ 0.05), and lower hospital stay (9.5 ± 4.0 vs. 12.7 ± 7.7 days, P = 0.04) compared to nonfenestrated TCPC (n = 44) patients. Conclusions : We observed no differences in exercise parameters of patients undergoing BDG with or without APBF. Extracardiac TCPC patients had better exercise capacity but longer postoperative hospital stay and pleural effusions than patients with lateral tunnel Fontan. Fenestrated TCPC patients seemed to fare better than nonfenestrated ones. Patients undergoing TCPC had better exercise capacity than patients undergoing BDG alone