Influence of serum, estrogen, and gonadotropins upon growth and progesterone secretion by cultures of granulosa cells from small porcine follicles

Granulosa cells from small (less than 2mm) antral porcine follicles were grown in culture to study the effects of various hormones on growth, morphology and progesterone secretion. Culture medium 199D + 4% serum was found to be most suitable since it maintained a fairly constant cell population. Estradiol (1mug/ml) and human FSH stimulated cell growth. LH and FSH stimulated progesterone secretion and induced morphological changes associated with luteinization. Estradiol (0.1 mug/ml) inhibited progesterone secretion by granulosa cells.     

Using Electronic Surveys in Organizational/Employee Communication Research: A Study at GE's Global Research Center

This study explores methodological issues that communication scholars and practitioners face when administering electronic surveys within for-profit organizations. In 2000, the researchers conducted a series of three cross-sectional studies within General Electric's (GE) Global Research Center. The Center is located in Niskayuna, NY. An equivalent version of a communication survey was administered electronically to a random stratified sample of GE employees three times that year. Each employee sample was subject to a different survey intervention: no intervention, follow-up reminder email only, and leader pre-announcement email plus a follow-up reminder. The researchers also recorded how long it took respondents to return their surveys. The highest response rate (41%) occurred in the third intervention. Across the three administrations, 465 GE employees completed the surveys; 98% of respondents returned their surveys electronically rather than printing out their responses and sending them to the researcher by postal mail. The article concludes with implications and suggestions for those who administer electronic surveys within organizations.     

Patterns of anesthesia and nursing care for interventional radiology procedures: a national survey of physician practices and preferences

Sera from randomly selected 49 professional blood donors, 617 pregnant women, 14 butchers, 528 slaughtered goats and 24 domestic cats in the district of Mymensingh were tested for the presence of T. gondii antibodies using a Latex agglutination test (LAT). Overall 12.4% blood donors, 11.18% pregnant women, 50.00% butchers, 12.88% slaughtered goats and 33.33% cats had diagnostically significant antibody titers (> or = 1:64) to T. gondii. Epidemiological studies on T. gondii infection with LAT were conducted in 25 family members with sero-positive cats and 9 family members with 2 sero-positive women without cats in the family. Significantly (p < 0.01) higher sero-positivity rate was recorded in the family members (24.00%) with positive cats in comparison to family members (11.11%) without cats. The epidemiologic study indicates that infected cats and goat meat might be significant sources of T. gondii infection for humans in Bangladesh.     

Computer Aided Engineering Methods for Implementing the Fastbus Standard

In this paper, we discuss the benefits of using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) methods for implementing a bus standard (Fastbus, ANSI/IEEE Std 960). We describe the CAE methods, how standard design implementations and reference models complement CAE tools to form an integrated engineering environment, and we propose to use these methods for future standard developments.