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Reducing
High-Order Multiple Pregnancies
Among infertile women in whom ovulation
is induced by the administration of menopausal gonadotropins, the incidence
of multiple pregnancy is high. In a retrospective study of 3347 cycles of
ovulation induction in 1494 infertile women, 441 cycles resulted in intrauterine
pregnancy. High total numbers of follicles and high peak serum estradiol
concentrations were directly correlated with the incidence of high-order
multiple pregnancies.
Sex
Differences in the Treatment of Myocardial Infarction
Are women and men with acute myocardial infarction treated differently,
and do they have different outcomes? In this large study, women were less
likely than men to undergo cardiac catheterization, but there were only
small differences between men and women in the use of thrombolytic therapy,
aspirin, beta-blockers, and angiotensin-convertingenzyme inhibitors. Women
were more likely than men to receive do-not-resuscitate orders, although
30-day mortality rates were the same for women and men.
Prevention
of Coronary Events in Women through Diet and Lifestyle
Risk factors for coronary disease that are related to lifestyle include
smoking, overweight, lack of exercise, and poor diet. In this report from
the Nurses¹ Health Study (involving 84,129 women), the effect of these risk
factors considered together was investigated. Women who had none of the
risk factors, who represented 3 percent of the study population, had a very
low risk of coronary events (83 percent lower than the rest of the women).
Adherence to lifestyle-related guidelines may greatly lower the risk of
coronary disease among women.
Antibodies
against Desmoglein 1 in Endemic Pemphigus Foliaceus in Brazil
 Pemphigus
foliaceus occurs in both sporadic and endemic forms in Brazil; the latter
is known as fogo selvagem. Affected persons have serum antibodies against
desmoglein 1, a protein that forms bridges between epidermal cells. In this
study of fogo selvagem in Brazil, 98 percent of patients and 55 percent
of normal subjects in the area of endemic disease had serum antibodies against
desmoglein 1. Antibody production may be initiated by exposure to a geographically
localized environmental agent. |
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Protection
against Pemphigus Foliaceus by Desmoglein 3 in Neonates
Pemphigus foliaceus is characterized by blisters, which probably
form because autoantibodies against desmoglein 1 interfere with
the intercellular adhesive action of this protein in the superficial
epidermis. Women with 
these antibodies pass them on to their offspring, but the neonates
rarely have blisters. Postulating that neonates are protected by
the presence of desmoglein 3, which is not found in the superficial
epidermis of adults, these investigators created transgenic mice
with desmoglein 3 expression; the group found that serum from patients
with pemphigus foliaceus did not cause blisters in these mice, but
did in normal mice. Thus desmoglein 3, which disappears from the
superficial epidermis with maturation, may protect fetuses and neonates
from passively transferred antibodies against desmoglein 1.
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