These findings demonstrate that age and tumor size are important factors in making a differential diagnosis. In addition, SCC and CEA levels should be measured in patients age 45 years or older who have an MCT-like ovarian tumor larger than 99 mm in greatest dimension.

Design of a long-acting follitropin agonist by fusing the C-terminal sequence of the chorionic gonadotropin f3 subunit to the follitropin (8 subunit (biologic Communicated by Oliver H. Lowry, February 5, 1992 ABSTRACT Follitropin (FSH) is a pituitary glycoprotein hormone that is essential for the development of ovarian follicles and testicular seminiferous tubules. FSH is used clinically to stimulate follicular maturation for in vitro fertilization and treatment of anovulatory women. One issue regarding the clinical use of FSH is its short half-life in the circulation. To address this point, we constructed chimeric genes containing the sequence encoding the C-terminal peptide of the chorionic gonadotropin 13 subunit (CG1) fused to the translated sequence of the human FSH P subunit (FSH(8). This region of CGI3 is important for maintaining the prolonged plasma half-life of human CG dimer. The presence of the C-terminal peptide sequence did not significantly affect assembly of FSH(3 with the a subunit or secretion of the dimer. In vitro receptor binding and steroidogenic activity of dimer bearing the FSHf-Cterminal peptide chimera were the same as wild-type FSH.However, both the in vivo potency and half-life in circulation of the dimer bearing either one or two C-terminal peptide units were enhanced. Dimers containing FSH(-CGI3 chimeras could serve as potent FSH agonists for clinical use, and the present strategy may have wide applications for enhancing the in vivo half-life of diverse proteins.

BackgroundStriae gravidarum is a physiological skin change that many pregnant women experience during pregnancy. The striae are often accompanied by a reddish purple color during pregnancy, and then lose pigmentation and become atrophic in the long term after pregnancy. Striae gravidarum seems to be undesirable to many pregnant women. However, the impact of striae gravidarum on pregnant women who experience it has not been clarified. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of striae gravidarum on the generic and dermatology-specific quality of life (QOL) of pregnant women.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at three private clinics in a typical urban area in Japan. We recruited 447 pregnant women at 36 weeks of gestation; One hundred and ninety-nine pregnant women at 36 weeks of gestation participated in the study and 179, consisting of 94 primiparae and 85 multiparae, were analyzed.We used and assessed Davey’s score for striae gravidarum, World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment questionnaire for generic QOL, and Skindex-29 for dermatology-specific QOL.ResultsThe prevalence of striae gravidarum was 39.1% (27.7% in primiparae, and 51.8% in multiparae). Although there were no differences in generic QOL scores between the presence and absence of striae gravidarum and with their severity, the whole group of pregnant women and the multiparae group showed significant differences in scores on emotion of Skindex-29 between the presence and absence of striae gravidarum (p = 0.012 and p = 0.011). Pregnant women with severe striae gravidarum showed significantly higher scores on emotion of Skindex-29 compared with those with absent or mild striae gravidarum (p < 0.001 and p = 0.005).ConclusionsThere was no difference in generic QOL of pregnant women between the presence and absence of striae gravidarum, although the occurrence and severity of striae gravidarum influenced their dermatology-specific QOL. Multiparae women were especially impaired by striae gravidarum and it is considered important to prevent or reduce the severity of striae gravidarum of the multiparae group.

This study suggests that pathologic factors, grade, and mode of infiltration can provide valuable information for predicting the survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma arising from mature cystic teratoma. In addition, squamous cell carcinoma antigen may be a useful marker to detect this disease preoperatively.