No abstract

Stocker cattle (Bos spp. L.) performance has been adversely affected on tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) pasture infected with the endophyte (Acremonium coenophialum Morgan‐Jones and Gams). Grazing results, however, cannot be completely evaluated until the carryover effects on the animal are evaluated through the feedlot phase to the final product, the carcass. In this study 60 Angus (B. taurus L.), Brahman (B. indicus L.)‐Angus, Angus × Braham‐Angus, and Simmental (B. taurus L.) × Brahman‐Angus, 12‐ to 19‐mo‐old steers in 1987, and 54 in 1988, were used to study effects of grazing ‘Kentucky 31’ tall fescue on subsequent feedlot performance. Steers had been grazing fescue pastures from November to May. The pasture treatments were: (i) high endophyte (HE) with 76% infected fescue; (ii) HE with 74% infected fescue interseeded with a mixture of clovers (HE + Clo); and (iii) low endophyte (LE) with 0.7% infected fescue. Steers were removed from these pastures in eastern Oklahoma on 21 May, held for 6 d on bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.]‐ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) pastures and shipped 450 mi to a feedlot in western Oklahoma. Steers were then fed for 117 or 113 d (years 1987 and 1988, respectively) and slaughtered. No treatment × year interaction was noted and data were pooled across years. The HE steers weighed 101 lb less than LE steers at the end of grazing, but HE steers gained 66 lb more during the feedlot phase than LE steers. The HE steers gained faster during the 6‐d holding period, tended to lose less weight in transit to the feedlot, and gained faster during the first 48 or 49 d (years 1987 and 1988, respectively) in the feedlot. Steers which had been grazing HE + Clo pastures gained similarly to LE steers in the feedlot. The HE + Clo steers had heavier final body and carcass weights than LE steers because of slightly greater gains on pasture and in the feedlot, plus greater gains during the 6‐d holding period. Rectal temperature was higher for HE than for LE at the end of fescue grazing and after the 6‐d holding period. Temperatures of steers that grazed HE + Clo were intermediate. No differences in rectal temperatures were noted the morning following arrival at the feedlot. Carcass weights were lighter and quality grade tended to be lower for HE steers. These results suggest that steers showing clinical signs of fescue toxicosis can compensate for up to 67% of the reduced gains resulting from grazing fescue.

A sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for measuring serum thyroglobulin (Tg) is described. The assay has a functional sensitivity of 0.03 ng/mL and values obtained in sera from patients with treated differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC; n = 24, 17 of whom showed some evidence of recurrence) and from healthy blood donors (n = 48) were in agreement with those obtained by Tg immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) (functional sensitivity = 0.6 ng/ml) (r = 0.99 and 0.98 for the two groups, respectively). The Tg levels measured by ELISA in 47 of the healthy blood donor sera ranged from 2.3 to 139 ng/ml with 1 serum giving a value of 0.03 ng/mL. The mean +/- standard deviation (SD) Tg concentration for the healthy blood donors was 20.3+/-23 ng/mL. Studies with a recovery test suggest that Tg measurements by ELISA were not always reliable when Tg autoantibodies were present. Analysis of samples from 167 patients treated successfully for DTC (papillary carcinoma, 94; follicular carcinoma, 73) showed that 139 were negative for Tg autoantibodies and of these 106 (76%) had Tg levels measurable by ELISA (0.03 ng/mL or greater). In contrast, only 7 (5%) of these 139 sera had Tg levels measurable by IRMA (0.6 ng/mL or greater). It is possible that this ability to measure Tg simply and easily in most treated DTC patients will have significant advantages for patient care. In particular, the Tg level after initial ablative treatment will usually be measurable rather than undetectable. Furthermore, any increases in serum Tg levels which may herald relapse will be detectable earlier.

SummARyPuerperal (postpartum) psychosis -the acute onset of a manic or psychotic episode shortly after child birth -most commonly occurs in women with a bi polar disorder diathesis who have a vulnerability to a specific childbirthrelated trigger. Women with bipolar disorder are at particularly high risk of puer peral psychosis, with a severe affective episode following between 25 and 50% of deliveries. Suicide is a leading cause of maternal death in the UK and it is clear that we must do more to identify and better manage women at high risk of illness related to childbirth. The clinical picture of puerperal psy chosis can vary dramatically from hour to hour and can escalate quickly to a true psychiatric emer gency. It is vital that clinical services identify women who are unwell and can respond quickly to the severity of illness, delivering treatment in the most appropriate setting for the mother and her baby. DECLARATIon of InTERESTI.J. has received honoraria or consultancy fees from Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Lundbeck, Janssen and AstraZeneca and research funding from GlaxoSmithKline.The concept of puerperal or postpartum psycho sis has a long history, but has fallen somewhat into disrepute in the age of ICD and DSM classi fications that do not recognise this disorder as a nosological entity. The importance of this condition is underlined, however, by a number of tragic cases in which women experiencing puerperal psychosis have taken their own lives or harmed their baby (Jones 2005). The past three confidential enquiries into maternal deaths in the UK have found suicide to be a leading cause of maternal death (Lewis 2001(Lewis , 2004(Lewis , 2007 and it is clear that a high proportion of maternal suicides occur in women with an acute onset of psychosis in the early postpartum period (Oates 2003a). Therefore, the stakes are high and emphasise the importance of the early recognition and prompt treatment of women who become ill.In this review we will pose, and attempt to answer, a number of questions in relation to puerperal psychosis. We will consider first what constitutes an episode of this disorder, then what is known about its aetiology and finally focus our attention on how to identify and care for women at risk.

Trophoblasts, the fetal cells that line the villous placenta and separate maternal blood from fetal tissue, express both Fas antigen and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor p55 (TNFRp55), two members of the TNF receptor family that contain a cytoplasmic "death domain" that mediates apoptotic signals. We show that Fas mRNA expressed by cultured villous cytotrophoblasts isolated from term placentas encodes transmembrane sequences and that the protein is full-length (approximately 45 kDa), suggesting that the product is an active plasma membrane-anchored receptor. Its location on the cell surface was confirmed by cellular ELISA analysis of live cells. Although cytotrophoblast apoptosis was induced by TNFalpha, and both anti-Fas antibody (CH11) and FasL-expressing T lymphocyte hybridoma (activated A1.1) cells induced HeLa cell apoptosis, neither CH11 antibody nor activated A1.1 cells stimulated apoptosis in term or first-trimester cytotrophoblasts or in term syncytiotrophoblasts. We conclude that Fas- but not TNFRp55-mediated apoptosis is blocked in primary villous trophoblasts. These data suggest that the Fas response is specifically inactivated by unknown mechanisms to avoid autocrine or paracrine killing by Fas ligand constitutively expressed on neighboring cyto- or syncytiotrophoblasts.