Progesterone, estrogens, androgens and glucocorticoids all play important roles during pregnancy, from implantation to delivery. Focusing on selected steroid hormones in the peripartum period, we defined reference ranges measured using LS-MS/MS, and assessed relationships with maternal age, pregnancy weight gain, delivery type, and fetal sex. Samples were taken from 142 healthy women with physiological gravidity at the 37th week, during the first period of labor, and from newborn mixed cord blood. We found higher cortisol and 17-OH-pregnenolone plasma levels in mothers at the 37th week that carried male fetuses (p=0.03), but no significant differences in any studied hormones in newborns of different sex. Neither maternal age nor weight gain nor newborn birth weight had any relationships to any of the studied hormones. However, there were differences depending on vaginal versus planned cesarean section deliveries. In women carrying a male fetus we found significantly higher levels of 17-OH-pregnenolone, progesterone, cortisol, corticosterone and significantly lower levels of estradiol in those undergoing spontaneous vaginal delivery. However, we found no significant differences in the cord blood of newborn males from either delivery type. We established reference ranges for our analysis methods, which should be useful for further studies as well as in standard clinical practice., K. Adamcová, L. Kolátorová, T. Škodová, M. Šimková, A. Pařízek, L. Stárka, M. Dušková., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The striped hyaena Hyaena hyaena (Linnaeus, 1758) is globally categorised as “Near Threatened” and is nearly extinct in the Caucasus. In Armenia, the last published record dates back to 1925 and the last trustworthy sighting was in the late 1940s. Here, a dead hyaena is described which was found in 2010 near the Nrnadzor village in the extreme south of Armenia. Its skull was investigated, age was estimated by several methods (cementum layers, tooth eruption, fusion of cranial sutures, pulp cavity closure and tooth wear) and sex was determined from the sagittal, occipital and nuchal crests and by genotyping of skin DNA. The specimen was found out to be a female aged ca. 17-18 months. As this is the age of disperal and females play a pivotal role in the social life of this carnivore, the possibilities for recolonization and establishment of hyaena population in the Meghri district of southern Armenia are discussed. This area holds sufficient prey base and suitable arid landscapes for survival of this species. The recent record of another individual’s fresh tracks on sand near Nrnadzor supports this hypothesis. Usability of different techniques of sex determination and age estimation in the striped hyaena is considered.