Cardiovascular actions of cadmium at environmental exposure levels

A low intake of dietary cadmium induces specific dose-dependent functional and biochemical changes in the cardiovascular tissues of rats. Maximum changes occur when the cadmium intake is 10 to 20 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day. The changes reflect the accumulation of "critical" concentrations of cadmium in the cardiovascular tissues. The biologic activity of cadmium is demonstrated for intakes that approach those of the average American adult exposed to the usual environmental concentrations of the element but not to industrial concentrations. The sensitivity of the cardiovascular system to low doses of cadmium could not be anticipated by extrapolation from data on exposure to high concentrations of cadmium. The data support the hypothesis that ingested or inhaled environmental cadmium may contribute to essential hypertension in humans.     

Oxytocin receptors and human parturition: a dual role for oxytocin in the initiation of labor

The concentration of oxytocin receptors increased in the myometrium of pregnant women and reached maximum levels in early labor. Concentrations of oxytocin receptors were also high in the decidua and reached a maximum at parturition. In vitro, prostaglandin production by the decidua, but not by the myometrium, was increased by the addition of oxytocin. Oxytocin may therefore stimulate uterine contractions by acting both directly on the myometrium and indirectly on decidual prostaglandin production. Oxytocin receptors are probably crucial for the onset of human labor, and the stimulus for the increase in uterine prostaglandins may be oxytocin originating from the fetus.     

Fossil land mammal from antarctica

A fossil land mammal, apparently the first found in Antarctica, belongs to the extinct marsupial family Polydolopidae. The fossils were recovered from rocks about 40 million years old on Seymour Island, in the northern Antarctic Peninsula. The newly discovered marsupials support theories that predicted their former presence in Antarctica and strengthen proposals that Australian marsupials perhaps originated from South American species that dispersed across Antarctica when Australia still was attached to it, prior to 56 million years ago.