Cesarean scar ectopic pregnancy is becoming increasingly common at tertiary care hospitals around the world. It is a condition in which the embryo implants within the myometrium at the site of a previous cesarean hysterotomy, and it can occur in women with only one prior cesarean delivery. We present four cases of cesarean scar ectopic pregnancy diagnosed within a 6-month period between 2007 and 2008. Their initial presentations and management are discussed, followed by a review of the published literature summarizing both diagnostic and management recommendations.

The results of a new experiment, which records transient, pulsed-laser-induced surface photovoltages by following photoemission shifts measured with synchrotron radiation, are reported. Comparison of the surface photovoltage decays with numerical simulations reveals large surface-recombination rates for a variety of Si(l 11) surface preparations. The space-charge layer near the surface is found to govern the surface and bulk carrier concentrations to a remarkable extent, particularly when band bending is large.PACS numbers: 73.25.+i, 72.20.Jv, 72.40,+w Electron-hole pairs introduced with a light pulse near the space-charge layer (SCL) at the surface of a semiconductor move to reduce the band bending, thereby producing a transient surface photovoltage (SPV). Since band bending represents a potential barrier to one sign of carrier and a potential well to the other, its instantaneous magnitude strongly influences the carrier densities near the surface. In spite of the importance of the surface carrier density to photochemical processes, such as etching, deposition, and desorption, there is little experimental knowledge of SPV transients and their role in controlling surface recombination and carrier density, particularly in larger excitation regimes. Here we report the first measurements and analyses of SPV on well characterized surfaces using a new photoemission technique which combines pulsed-laser excitation with synchrotron radiation and provides nanosecond resolution. 1 The method uses a pulsed copper-vapor laser to inject carriers within 1 //m of SiCl 11) surfaces, and the SPV is measured in real time via the shift of the Si 2p core-level photoemission spectrum.The principal conclusions of the work thus far are as follows. To high accuracy, the core-level spectrum shifts rigidly with excitation up to carrier concentrations of 5xl0 18 cm" 3 at the surface. A numerical transport model has been shown to simulate the SPV decay over a wide range of excitation levels, strongly suggesting that for this set of n-and p-type Si(l 11) samples with clean, hydrogenated, air-oxidized, or disordered surfaces, the primary determinant of the SPV decays on nanosecond and longer time scales is carrier transport within the SCL as opposed to dynamics of trapped surface charge. For all surfaces investigated, the recombination velocity at the surface, so, is large, of the order of 10 6 cm/s. In addition, we have discovered that, for large initial band bending, the SCL can play a dominant role in governing carrier diffusion into the bulk, because it acts as a reservoir for photoexcited carriers. Recombination is suppressed in the reservoir because electrons and holes are separated, and this can enhance carrier density long after

Fusion proteins made up of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and exendin-4 (EX-4) fused to a nonglycosylated form of human transferrin (GLP-1-Tf or EX-4-Tf) were produced and characterized. GLP-1-Tf activated the GLP-1 receptor, was resistant to inactivation by peptidases, and had a half-life of approximately 2 days, compared with 1 to 2 min for native GLP-1. GLP-1-Tf retained the acute, glucose-dependent insulin-secretory properties of native GLP-1 in diabetic animals and had a profound effect on proliferation of pancreatic ␤-cells. In addition, Tf and the fusion proteins did not cross the blood-brain-barrier but still reduced food intake after peripheral administration. EX-4-Tf proved to be as effective as EX-4 but had longer lived effects on blood glucose and food intake. This novel transferrin fusion technology could improve the pharmacology of various peptides.

GH specifically interacts with a soluble binding protein in serum. The GH-binding protein (GHBP) has been shown to contain the extracellular portion of the cell surface GH receptor (GHR). In rats and mice there is a unique mRNA that encodes the GHBP. This mRNA contains an alternatively spliced exon that replaces the transmembrane and intracellular domains of the receptor with a short hydrophilic carboxy-terminus of 17 and 25 amino acids, respectively, in rats and mice. In humans and other species no mRNAs encoding the GHBP have been identified, suggesting that the GHBP is in these cases a proteolytically processed GHR. In this study a monoclonal antibody (GHBP 4.3) was raised to the rat GHBP using as immunogen a synthetic peptide containing the unique C-terminal 17 amino acids that are not found in the rat GHR. As predicted, this antibody is specific to rat GHBP and does not cross-react with rat GHR. In combination with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies that recognize both GHBP and GHR, this antibody was used to show that all, or most, of the GHBP in rat serum is indeed derived from the alternatively spliced GHBP mRNA and not from proteolytic processing of the GHR. In addition, endogenous rat serum GHBP was found to exist in two forms, with apparent mol wt of 52 and 44 kDa, arising from a single protein core of 32 kDa by extensive glycosylation. The concentrations of GHBP in male and female rat plasma were also estimated to be 300 and 575 ng/ml, respectively (measured in nonglycosylated GHBP equivalents).

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