Word: amnion
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...these passages he employs the imagery of water: the river that runs past his lows home. a different stream every day; the rhythm of its droughts and floods, in tune with Offutt's changing perspectives on his unborn child, and above all, the still waters of the amnion that houses the fetus. The novel reaches its climax in a narrative juxtaposition; Offutt braves a surprisingly mild hurricane in Florida as his wife's water breaks and his son is born, In both cases, Offutt's anxieties prove unfounded...
...even more important technique enables physicians to examine the cells of the unborn only months after conception and to determine with accuracy whether or not the infant will inherit his parents' defective genes. The procedure is known as amniocentesis, from the Greek amnion (membrane) and kentesis (pricking); it is performed by inserting a long needle through the mother's abdomen and drawing off a small sample of the amniotic fluid, the amber liquid in which the fetus floats. Physicians then separate the fetal skin cells from the fluid and place the cells in a nutrient bath where they continue...
...Enders put a series of assistants to work on it in turn. Each kept the virus growing while transplanting it from one tissue-culture pot to another. One grew it in cultures of cells from human kidneys. Another kept it going through 28 transplantations in cells of human amnion ("bag of waters"). A third got it to flourish in the amnion of fertilized hens' eggs. Dr. Samuel L. Katz took it from there, found that by this time the virus would multiply in chick-embryo cells growing in test tubes...
...progress reports: ¶ Harvard's Dr. John F. Enders (Nobel prizeman because his test-tube foundations made the Salk vaccine possible) and Dr. Samuel L. Katz have worked along orthodox lines, weakened the measles virus by growing it 70 times in tissue cultures of human kidney and amnion, and finally chick embryo cells. Despite this "attenuation," it has retained its power to stimulate the system to produce antibodies against itself-just as does an attack of the natural disease, which confers lifelong immunity. Some children who got this vaccine developed a slight rash and low fever, but no severe...
...Poliomyelitis viruses for vaccine production can be grown in human afterbirth, which may replace monkey kidneys as the basis of production-line tissue cultures, suggested three University of California researchers. Cells from the inner layer (amnion) of the placenta grow at about the same rate as monkey kidney cells and in the same chemical food baths, reported Elsa M. Zitcer and colleagues. Advantages: less danger of sensitization, and freer supply of placentas, since India is sensitive about continued export of the revered monkeys...