Primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) is an uncommon but serious disease. Most patients with PPH are young women and the disease is more serious and eventful in pregnant women. We have experienced a patient with PPH in pregnancy, who was delivered successfully but died suddenly on the 7th day after the delivery. We report the obstetric course and the clinical management for the delivery of the patient with PPH.

The lower the % free T, the lower the rate of subsequent abortion. The value of % free T may be able to predict pregnancy outcome in early pregnancy.

1. We examined the preganglionic splanchnic nerve activity and postganglionic renal nerve activity before and after a local injection of naloxone (20 &kg) into the coeliac ganglion of anaesthetized rabbits. This was done during graded hypertension, induced by the administration of phenylephrine (0.5-10 kg/kg, i.v.) and with selective intraganglionic injection of methionine-enkephalin (ME) and bunitrolol, which is a beta-blocker.2. During hypertension both pre-and postganglionic discharge decreased, but only postganglionic discharge was inhibited by naloxone treatment into the ganglion.3. Local injection of ME (0.1-10 pg/kg) into the coeliac ganglion decreased postganglionic activity by 9.0 f 1 .O to 4 I .2 ? 4.7% from control, and this decrease was inhibited by naloxone. Administration of bunitrolol( 1-300 @kg) decreased postganglionic discharge by 3 . 9 t 1.4 to 39.7 +2.4% of the control and this decrease was also inhibited by naloxone.5. These results suggest that opioid receptors in the coeliac ganglion play an inhibitory role in neural ganglionic transmission and that this inhibitory action reduces postganglionic sympathetic discharge.

The CTD activity in abnormal pregnancies was excessively elevated due to a damaged placenta under progressive deterioration. This CTD assay was simple and had predictive value for the prognosis of an infant of an abnormal pregnancy.

Serum free testosterone (T) % in the follicular phase of 11 normal women, 11 normal men and 30 pregnant women of 5 to 39 weeks of gestation were determined by the centrifugal ultrafiltration method (CUF), which was performed at the centrifugation of 5 minutes, 1000 g and 37 degrees C, using the Amicon MPS-3 and YMT membrane. These conditions were shown to be appropriate for measuring the free T. There was a significant correlation between the percentage of free T due to the CUF and the equilibrium dialysis method (ED) (r = 0.88, p less than 0.01). Serum free T % and free T concentrations by the CUF method were, respectively, 2.89 +/- 0.09 (SE) % and 166.3 +/- 9.8 pg/ml in normal men, 1.76 +/- 0.09% and 9.4 +/- 0.7 pg/ml in non-pregnant women and 1.14 +/- 0.03%, 22.4 +/- 1.4 pg/ml in pregnant women. Serum free T % in non-pregnant women was significantly lower than in men (p less than 0.001) and higher than in pregnant women (p less than 0.001). In the CUF method the intra-assay CV was 4.9% in women, 6.0% in men and the inter-assay CV was 5.1% in women, 6.2% in men. The CUF method was more simple, rapid and accurate on the determination of the free T in serum than the ED method.