Transiently decreased sialylation of thyrotropin (TSH) in a patient with the euthyroid sick syndrome.

A 60-year old woman was admitted to the medical intensive care unit with respiratory distress and worsening renal function, and was found to have bilateral renal artery occlusion. Aggressive nutrition per nasogastric tube was begun on day 8 of her illness, and she eventually recovered after bilateral renal artery bypass surgery, which was performed on day 15. She developed the euthyroid sick syndrome. Levels of serum TSH, T3, and T4 fell during the first few days of her illness, then all trended to normal levels by day 28. The TSH level declined from 1.6 microU/mL on day 2 to 0.2 microU/mL on day 5, then rose to 4.5 microU/mL on day 10, and was 3.8 microU/mL on day 14. The ratios of free T4/TSH, a crude measure of the bioactivity of TSH, were 1.4, 8.0, 0.16, 0.32, and 1.14 on days 2, 5, 10, 14 and 28, respectively. TSH was immunoaffinity concentrated from serum collected on four dates. The TSH oligosaccharides were enzymatically released, treated with or without neuraminidase, labeled with a fluorescent probe, and analyzed by gel electrophoresis. The TSH oligosaccharides were found to be transiently less sialylated on day 13 as compared to days 2, 4, and 24. Three gel bands representing poorly sialylated oligosaccharides represented a mean of 20.6% of TSH oligosaccharides on days 2, 4, and 24, but represented 33.7% of TSH oligosaccharides on day 13. This is the first report of altered TSH oligosaccharide sialylation in the euthyroid sick syndrome. If confirmed by studies of additional patients, altered TSH sialylation may, in part, explain the altered TSH bioactivity that has been described in the euthyroid sick syndrome.

Border disease of sheep: spinal cord morphometry.

Semi-automated planimetry was used to determine cross-sectional areas of spinal grey and white matter by direct microscopy of paraffin sections of spinal cord from Border disease (BD) and normal lambs at segments C4, C8, T6 and L4. Spinal cord cross-sectional area was significantly reduced in cases of BD produced by either intramuscular or intranasal inoculation of ewes in the first half of pregnancy with Weybridge strains of BD virus. The reduction was apparent at all 4 levels and in both grey and white matter, though the white matter was the more severely affected. Spinal cord areas tended to be smaller in the progeny of ewes exposed earlier in gestation or to larger doses of virus, but these differences were not statistically significant.

Estimation of the developmental age of the bovine fetus and newborn calf.

Jersey cows from several herds provided 97 fetuses and 24 calves at fixed gestational intervals between 80 and 290 days after conception. The fetuses and calves were killed, weighed and measured and, after dissection, the sizes and weights of a range of skeletal and soft tissues were recorded. Six morphological measurements emerged as most suitable for the determination of developmental age in the normal fetus. By plotting their mean values and 95 per cent tolerance limits, the rates of growth and the variability of each measurement were defined. Long bone length was the most useful single measurement for predicting the developmental age of the fetus. Brain weight, bodyweight, crown-anus length and long bone length showed curvilinear growth patterns; age prediction equations derived from these measurements are complicated to use and additional simplified formulae have been derived. The number of appendicular ossification centres also had predictive value, but it could not be used to determine fetal developmental age between 100 and 160 days gestation.

Growth rates and patterns of organs and tissues in the bovine fetus.

Ninety-two purebred Jersey fetuses from clinically normal dams derived from a variety of sources but unexposed to experimental infection, were killed between 80 and 260 days after conception and dissected to provide basic parameters of a normal population. Organs and tissues were weighed and measured and the equations for the regression of the values on fetal age evaluated. Growth followed a sigmoid curve with rapid changes in growth rate between 140 and 170 days' gestation. While a few variables increased their growth rate over the late fetal period, the majority maintained a low even rate of growth. Thyroid and cerebellum weights showed a marked reduction in growth rate at this time. Long bone length and crown-anus length were the most predictable parameters for a given gestational age.

End point of the rp process on accreting neutron stars.

We calculate the rapid proton ( rp) capture process of hydrogen burning on the surface of an accreting neutron star with an updated reaction network that extends up to Xe, far beyond previous work. In both steady-state nuclear burning appropriate for rapidly accreting neutron stars (such as the magnetic polar caps of accreting x-ray pulsars) and unstable burning of type I x-ray bursts, we find that the rp process ends in a closed SnSbTe cycle. This prevents the synthesis of elements heavier than Te and has important consequences for x-ray burst profiles, the composition of accreting neutron stars, and potentially galactic nucleosynthesis of light p nuclei.