Sheldon J. Segal - Böcker

Is Menstruation Obsolete? argues that regular monthly bleeding is not the "natural" state of women, and that it actually places them at risk of several medical conditions of varying severity. The authors maintain that while menstruation may be culturally significant, it is not medically meaningful. Moreover, they propose that suppressing menstruation has remarkable health advantages.Because of cultural changes, shorter durations of breast feeding, and birth control, the reproductive patterns of modern women no longer resemble that of their Stone age ancestors. Women have moved from the age of incessant reproduction to the age of incessant menstruation. Consequently, they often suffer from clinical disorders related to menstruation: anemia, endometriosis, and PMS, just to name a few. The authors encourage readers to recognize what has gone previously unnoticed that this monthly discomfort is simply not obligatory. They present compelling evidence that the suppression of menstruation is a viable option for women today, and that it can be easily attained through the use of birth control pills. In fact, they reveal that contraceptive manufacturers, knowing that many women equate menstruation with femininity and that without monthly bleeding would fear that they were pregnant, engineered pill dosage regimens to ensure the continuation of their cycles. Indeed, throughout history societies have assigned menstruation powerful meaning, and Is Menstruation Obsolete? presents a fascinating history of how menstruation inspired doctors to try therapeutic bleeding for a variety of ailments, and how this therapy remained dominant in Western medicine until the early 20th century. Is Menstruation Obsolete? offers women a fresh view of menstruation, providing them with the information they need to make progressive choices about their health. This is a message whose time has come.

This book, by two of the most distinguished figures in fertility and reproduction research, answers all the most common questions about menopause and andropause, and hormone resupplement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women. It offers explanations of all aspects of this subject, presenting balanced and reliable information about benefits, risks, and prospects for this field. Segal invented Norplant, the first long-term implantable contraceptive, and as the leader of Reproductive Biology at the Population Council, he orchestrated and coordinated the research and trials leading to basically every new contraceptive introduced over a period of about 25 years. Mastroianni did more than anyone else to develop in vitro fertizilation as a viable treatment option, and was for many years the chairman of the largest department of obstetrics and gynecology, and the director of the most successful IVF clinic. This book is unique in including coverage of the climacteric in men.

The search for a reversible male contraceptive has centered upon the suppression of sperm production or sperm motility. Gossypol, a natural substance extracted from the cotton plant, appears to cause both of these effects. Its ability to reduce spermatogenesis in men is undeniable and has been demonstrated in both large studies in China and a smaller confirmatory study in Brazil. These investiga­ tions have revealed the remarkable fact that with gossypol, it is possible to separate an effect on the testis' gamete-producing function from an effect on its hormone-producing function. Thus, it is possible to maintain normal testosterone levels and libido while sperm counts (and motility) fall. Because of this unique and important action, gossypol warrants the fullest possible evaluation as a potential male contraceptive. Sheldon J. Segal vii ACKNOWLEDGMENT Lynn C. Landman played a major role in this publication by skillfully editing the manuscripts which were submitted for inclusion in this volume. Janet O'Connell added her efforts in editing, assembling texts and figures and handling final details required for publication. I thank these talented colleagues for their invaluable contributions.

Over the past decade, the AIDS pandemic has propagated so widely and exerted such a dev­ astating impact that one may properly ask the question, Why not concentrate all AIDS efforts on disease control alone? Why link AIDS with women's reproductive health? What is the scientific basis for this linkage? And how might AID~ control and women's health objectives be promot­ ed simultaneously? These questions constitute the principal themes addressed in this monograph. The 15 chapters in this volume are intended to provide state-of-the-art reviews of key interac­ tions between AIDS and women's reproductive health for an audience of scientists and policy makers in the AIDS and population fields. Impetus for this monograph comes in pan from what we perceive to be an inadequate global response, thus far, to AIDS and women's health ;>roblems. A common platform has failed to emerge among the disparate professional communities working in the areas of AIDS, STDs, and family planning. As a result, endeavors in these fields have been isolated, and opportunities for joint action have been missed. An enormous and, as yet, unharnessed potential exists for power­ ful interdisciplinary collaborations that could strengthen policies and programs against these pressing health problems of humankind.

Recently intraovarian control of steroidogenesis and oocyte maturation has become a subject of interest. Non steroidal sub- stances secreted locally by the ovarian follicle and corpus luteum have been implicated in control of oocyte maturation follicular ma- turation and steroidogenesis as well as luteal function. In addi- tion some ovarian polypeptides such as inhibin F (folliculostatin) leave the ovary and act as modulators of pituitary function which in turn regulates ovarian function by exhibiting changes in follicle stimulating hormone secretion in response to changes in inhibin. It was desired to see how these intraovarian regulators act to control ovarian function. In addition it was of interest to see what the chemical nature of these intraovarian regulators is. To achieve these ends a meeting was held at the Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio situated overlooking Lake Como. Leaders in this field were invited and asked to vigorously discuss the subject of intraovarian control mechanisms. Their manuscripts comprise this volume. C. P. Channing S. J.Segal CONTENTS Maturation, Morphology, and Endocrine Function of the Ovarian Follicle **************************** 1 Lars Bjersing Role of Ovarian Inhibin (Folliculostatin) in Regulating FSH Secretion in the Female Rat ****** 15 Neena B. Schwartz Purification, Characterization, and In Vitro Produc tion of Inhibin ****************************** 37 F. H. de Jong, E. H. J. M. Jansen, W. P. Hermans, and H. J. van der Molen Hormonal Control of Inhibin Secretion *. ****************** 53 Larry D. Anderson and Dennis J.

This volume is devoted to the chemistry, immunology, molecular biology, and physiology of the human chorionic gonadotropin, heG. For this glycoprotein molecule the course from discovery to chemical deciphering covered about fifty years. It was in 1928 that Ascheim and Zondek reported that urine from pregnant women contains something that stimulates the ovaries of mice or rats. This provided the basis for the famous A-Z test for pregnancy and for the "rabbit test" modification introduced by Friedman. As researchers sought to find more sensitive responses to heG, they used a wide variety of species including the South African aquatic toad, Xenopus Zaevis, the terrestrial toad of South America, Bufo arinarus, and the African weaver finch, EupZeetes afra. The weaver finch feather reaction was particularly noteworthy, for it disclosed a non-gonadal response to heG/LH. In retrospect, this may have been an important evolutionary clue to the realization that the designation of the hormone as a "gonadotropin" may have been only partially descriptive of the molecule's physiological function--a concept that is gaining attention, as the papers in this 1980 volume divulge.