The findings suggest that depressed feelings postpartum may be explained in terms of losses and changes. However, postpartum depressive symptoms remain hidden and it is important to understand the complexity of postpartum depressive mood, described here as struggling with life related to three different dimensions: the self, the child, and the partner.

The present study investigated if acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) and terbutaline in combination increased the clinical pregnancy rate in patients undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF)/intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). A randomised controlled trial was designed, in which 167 patients were randomised to taking ASA for 9 weeks after embryo transfer and terbutaline around the time of embryo transfer as adjuvant medication. A total of 112 patients were randomised to no adjuvant medication. The clinical pregnancy rate per controlled ovarian hyperstimulation was 30.5% in the intervention group and 42.0% in the control group. This difference was not statistically significant, and we conclude that ASA and terbutaline in combination do not increase the clinical pregnancy rate after IVF/ICSI treatment.

Animal experiments on the distribution and excretion of inorganic mercury have previously been reported. Not until recent years, however, has a method become available for determining small concentrations of mercury in biological material with reasonable accuracy. Among such studies may be mentioned those of ADAM (1951), FITZHUGH et al. (1950) and ASHE et al. (1953).ADAM investigated the effect of dithiols on the distribution of mercury in rabbits. After a single intravenous injection of 1.35 mg of mercuric chloride, the kidneys showed the highest concentration of the element, with the liver next. The lungs also contained relatively large amounts of mercury, but only low concentrations were found in other organs. After 14 days 39% of the injected mercury had been excreted in the urine and 27 % in the faeces. *) c. p. m. = counts per minute.

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The fentanyl HCl iontophoretic transdermal system (ITS) is a compact, needle-free, pre-programmed patient-controlled analgesic system that was developed to address limitations to existing therapies for postoperative pain management. A randomized, controlled trial was conducted in 11 European countries to evaluate the efficacy and safety of postoperative pain control using fentanyl ITS compared with a standard regimen of morphine provided by an intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) pump. This article summarizes results from Nurse Ease-of-Care Questionnaires which were completed to assess the convenience and ease of use of each pain management modality from the perspective of the nurse. Nurses' ratings of patient-care tasks associated with each pain management system were significantly more favourable for fentanyl ITS than for morphine IV PCA. These findings suggest that nurses consider fentanyl ITS to be easier to use than morphine IV PCA.