Materials and Methods: A total of 11 female rabbits were anesthetized and prepared to measure urethral, vaginal and anal

canal pressure using manometric methods. Pressure was recorded at rest, after administration of pharmacological agents and during electrical stimulation of the puborectalis and rhabdosphincter sphincter muscles. Phenylephrine, sodium nitroprusside (Sigma-Aldrich (R)) and rocuronium bromide (PharMEDium, Lake Forest, Illinois) were used to define the relative contribution of smooth and striated muscles to urethral pressure. Histology of the pelvic floor hiatus was also studied.

Results: At rest mean +/- SEM maximum urethral pressure was 13 +/- 6 mm Hg. Sodium nitroprusside (50 mu g/kg) infusion resulted in a 30% to 40% decrease in resting urethral pressure (mean 7.2 +/- 0.2 Selleck Verubecestat mm Hg). Phenylephrine produced a dose dependent increase in urethral pressure (mean 17 +/- 6, 25 +/- selleck screening library 5 and 29 +/- 6 for 5, 10 and 50 mu g/kg intravenously, respectively). Electrical stimulation of the puborectalis muscle induced a stimulus dependent increase in urethral, vaginal and anal canal pressure. On the other hand, rhabdosphincter stimulation induced a stimulus intensity dependent increase in urethral pressure only. The increase in urethral pressure after puborectalis muscle stimulation was more than twofold higher than after

rhabdosphincter stimulation.

Conclusions: Our data prove that the puborectalis, a component of the pelvic floor muscles, is an important contributor to urethral pressure in the rabbit.”
“Recent research emphasizes the contribution of environmental as well as genetic factors to the etiology of autism but studies testing associations between chemical exposures and autism have been limited. Prenatal exposure to persistent organic

pollutants (POPs) has previously been associated with decrements in cognitive and developmental performance. We conducted a pilot study in the Finnish Prenatal Study of Autism (FiPS-A). Seventy-five cases with autism and 75 controls matched on sex, birth year, urbanization and AICAR price maternal age were sampled from first-born children in the Finnish Maternity Cohort, which includes over 1 million births. The study sample included births occurring from 1991 to 2000. Subjects were followed up for autism through 2007. DDT, DDE, PCB-118, PCB-138, PCB-153, PCB-156, PCB-170, PCB-180, hexachlorobenzene, and BDE-47 were measured in archived maternal serum samples taken during pregnancy using gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. Correlations between pollutant measures were assessed and mechanistically-related weighting schemes for summarizing PCB levels were compared. Case and control differences were assessed using graphical and statistical methods. All analytes, with the exception of DDT and BDE-47, were detected above the limit of quantification in all samples.