Word: prostaglandin
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...taker? Its proponents, especially those hoping to make the clinic protesters vanish, agree that France's tightly controlled distribution method was devised, as a New England Journal of Medicine editorial put it, "for political rather than scientific reasons." One common yet radical suggestion is that RU 486 and prostaglandin could be sold to women as prescription drugs and taken at home. "To even suggest that you could do that is ridiculous," protests Judie Brown, president of the American Life League. That sentiment finds some support even from Baulieu. He opposes distribution by prescription because of what he calls "the cousin...
...invention was announced in 1982 by Baulieu, a French physician who worked as a researcher at Roussel Uclaf. The concept was rather simple: RU 486, an antiprogestin, could break a fertilized egg's bond to the uterine wall and thus induce a miscarriage. An injection two days later of prostaglandin, a hormone-like substance, would force uterine contractions and speed the ejection of the embryo. It took six more years and tests on more than 17,000 women before the French government announced that RU 486 would be made available for public...
...Some prostaglandins promote inflammation, fever and pain by sensitizing nerves to other chemicals released from injured cells. Aspirin's most familiar benefits come from interfering with these noisome processes. However, prostaglandins are also responsible for stimulating the production of the stomach's protective lining of mucus, which explains why too much aspirin can cause gastric distress and bleeding. Aspirin's ability to prevent strokes and heart attacks stems from its disruption of a prostaglandin that promotes blood clotting. As for colon-cancer prevention, it is possible that aspirin inhibits substances that play a role in cell proliferation. At least...
...pregnancy-ending techniques. The drug, which is most effective if used within seven weeks of conception, prevents the hormone progesterone from being absorbed by the lining of the uterus. Without that nourishment the uterus cannot support the growth of the embedded fertilized egg, and the woman miscarries. Taken with prostaglandin, a naturally occurring substance that causes mild uterine contractions, the drug is 95% effective. Developed in 1982 by Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu, RU 486 has so far been used by an estimated 55,000 women in 15 countries...
...approved by French health officials in September, and is manufactured under the trade name Mifepristone. Administered within the first five weeks of pregnancy, it causes abortions by blocking the action of the hormone progesterone, thus provoking the uterine lining to slough off the embryo. If taken with a prostaglandin, a substance that makes the uterus contract, RU 486 is about 95% effective. Some 8,000 women have used the pill, which has been available only in hospitals and medical clinics and has no harmful side effects...