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M G Metcalf

Publications and source records attributed to M G Metcalf.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Distribution of positive moods in women with the premenstrual syndrome and in normal women.

A daily mood record was kept by 44 women presenting with PMS (PMS+ group: 133 menstrual cycles) and by 48 normal women (PMS- group: 100 cycles). Peaks of maximum positive mood were located after fitting either a 5-term or a 3-term Fourier series to the data. In the PMS+ group mood peaks were clustered to a significant degree (p < 0.001) around day 11 in a 28-day menstrual cycle (95% confidence interval: days 10-12); this is the time of the pre-ovulatory oestrogen surge. In the PMS- group clustering was insignificant. Menstrual cycle parameters were similar in the two groups (PMS+ vs. PMS-: mean duration cycle, 27.6 +/- 3.2(SD) vs. 26.7 +/- 2.5 days; incidence ovulatory cycles, 95.5 vs. 93.0%). The evidence suggests either that the ovarian hormone cycle has no effect on mood, or that it has an effect only in women with PMS.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Assessment of the effect of ovarian suppressants on women with the premenstrual syndrome: iterative spectral analysis.

The daily mood symptoms of four women with the premenstrual syndrome (PMS) were recorded before, and after spontaneous or induced ovarian failure. Response was assessed by iterative spectral analysis and the results compared with techniques based on changes in the mean or median mood score, or the measurement of premenstrual tension in arbitrary 'menstrual' cycles. Only iterative spectral analysis had the capacity to establish the significance of a change in symptom cyclicity, an important attribute for a condition such as the PMS.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The premenstrual syndrome: amelioration of symptoms after hysterectomy.

What is the role of the uterus in the aetiology of the premenstrual syndrome (PMS)? Twelve women kept a daily symptom record before and after hysterectomy. Psychological and physical symptom patterns were analysed by Fourier analysis and the response to hysterectomy by maximum likelihood ANOVA. Hysterectomy was associated with a 66% reduction in mean premenstrual tension (PMT) severity for both psychological and physical symptoms (p less than 0.005). The milder symptoms appeared unrelated to post-operative changes in health or ovarian function. Seven women experienced mood-related PMT in every pre-hysterectomy cycle; the persistence of unfailing mood-related PMT in one of these women after hysterectomy suggests that her symptoms were hormonally controlled and the loss of regular PMT in the other six women suggests that a uterine factor, or psychological factors associated with the menstrual cycle were implicated. We conclude that a uterus is not essential for the expression of PMT, but that its removal often results in the amelioration of symptoms.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Symptom cyclicity in women with the premenstrual syndrome: an 8-year follow-up study.

Does premenstrual tension (PMT) change with time? In 1982 and again in 1990, nine women with the premenstrual syndrome kept a daily record of eight psychological and five physical symptoms for three menstrual cycles. Urine samples were collected once or twice weekly for the analysis of pregnanediol. Premenstrual tension was estimated by Fourier analysis. By 1990, all the women continued to menstruate at regular intervals and there was little change in either PMT prevalence or in mean PMT severity (ANOVA, p = 0.43 for psychological symptoms and 0.52 for physical symptoms). It is concluded that age-related changes in PMT may be trivial.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Retention of normal ovarian function after hysterectomy.

What are the long-term effects of hysterectomy on the ovaries of normal women? Ninety-three women aged 29-44 years (median, 38 years) who had undergone hysterectomy for benign reasons 0.3-9.1 years prior to investigation, contributed urine samples twice weekly for a period of 53-149 days (median 102 days) for pregnanediol analysis. The interval between successive pregnanediol peaks and their increment over baseline were measured. The median peak interval was 27.3 days, and 93.3% of all intervals were of 21- to 35-days duration. Of the 337 peaks observed, 96.7% met the criteria previously used to define an ovulatory cycle. These are similar to the figures reported for menstruant women of comparable age. ANOVA showed no significant effect of age or time since hysterectomy on either the interval between peaks or peak increment (P > 0.10 in all cases). The evidence suggests that the ovaries of women who have no uterus behave like those of intact women.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Premenstrual syndrome in hysterectomized women: mood and physical symptom cyclicity.

In 36 hysterectomized women presenting with PMS, a daily record of eight mood states and five physical symptoms was kept during 109 ovarian cycles. Premenstrual tension (PMT) was estimated at a point 92% through the ovarian cycle after fitting a five-term Fourier series to the data. Although significant mood and physical-symptom swings were common (present in 71% and 69% of cycles respectively), the incidence of symptoms late in the luteal phase (PMT) was low (36%). In nine women no PMT was detected, in twenty-two women PMT was sporadic, and in five there was evidence of the consistent appearance of both mood and physical symptom-related PMT. Symptoms clustered significantly around a point 85% through the ovarian cycle for moods, and 83% for physical symptoms; this differs significantly from the 92% observed in menstruant women with PMS and is consistent with the removal of a factor associated with menstrual onset, which may contribute to the symptoms perceived by women as PMT.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Physical symptom cyclicity in women with and without the premenstrual syndrome.

A daily record of five physical symptoms was kept by 44 women self-selected as having the premenstrual syndrome (PMS+ group, 133 menstrual cycles) and 48 women self-selected as not having PMS (PMS- group, 100 cycles). Symptoms were analysed after fitting the first five terms of a Fourier series. PMS+ women differed significantly from PMS- women in (i) the incidence of significant physical symptom swings (present in 81.2% vs 33.0% of cycles), (ii) the incidence of significant physical symptoms in the premenstruum (PMT: present in 80.5% vs 24.0% of cycles), and (iii) PMT severity (mean +/- SE, 1.37 +/- 0.08 vs 0.27 +/- 0.04). Pregnanediol excretion and the distribution of stomach cramps were similar in the two groups. The small but significant symptom increase observed in the premenstruum of PMS-women is consistent with the view that premenstrual physical symptoms, unlike premenstrual psychological symptoms, may be associated with the normal menstrual cycle. For confirmation more evidence is required.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Mood cyclicity in women with an without the premenstrual syndrome.

A daily record of seven mood states was kept (a) by 44 women self-selected as having the premenstrual syndrome (PMS+ group, 133 menstrual cycles) and (b) by 48 women self-selected as not having PMS (PMS- group, 100 cycles). Mood patterns were analysed after fitting the data to a 5-term Fourier series. PMS+ women differed significantly from PMS- women in (i) the self-rating of PMS at interview (62.1 +/- 2.8 (SE) vs 8.8 +/- 1.2), (ii) the incidence of significant mood swings (present in 76.7 vs 54.0% of cycles, (iii) the incidence of premenstrual tension (PMT present in 69.9% vs 8.0% of cycles), (iv) the score for PMT severity (96.0 +/- 12.6 vs 4.1 +/- 5.2), (v) the background mood score (31.6 +/- 10.0 vs 23.6 +/- 12.0). It is concluded that significant mood changes occur both in women with PMS and in women without PMS, but that the changes are larger and the dysphoria concentrated in the premenstrual period in the PMS+ group. In PMS- women dysphoria occurred sporadically and was not confined to the premenstruum.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Assessment of the significance and severity of premenstrual tension--I. A new model.

A method is proposed for analysing daily mood scores for premenstrual tension (PMT) in single menstrual cycles by fitting an approximation function consisting of the first two harmonics of a Fourier series. On the basis of harmonic analysis of 133 cycles of daily mood scores obtained from women perceiving themselves to have the premenstrual syndrome (PMS), the severity of PMT is taken to be the difference between the mean and the fitted function at a point 92% of the way through the menstrual cycle. The significance of the severity is calculated statistically. Significant PMT was detected in 70% of the 133 cycles; this compared with an 8% incidence in women who considered that they did not have PMS. The method improves on previously described methods for detecting PMT by: (1) using statistical criteria; (2) modelling cycles with asymmetric and double peaks; (3) using a difference rather than a ratio as the severity estimate; (4) smoothing the data and (5) giving valid estimates when data points are missing. There was no evidence for the presence of distinct periodicities with wavelengths less than half that of the menstrual cycle.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Assessment of the significance and severity of premenstrual tension--II. Comparison of methods.

Seven methods for the detection of premenstrual tension (PMT) have been compared, using daily records of bipolar mood scores kept by 44 women with the premenstrual syndrome during 133 menstrual cycles. Four of the methods were simple procedures based on contrasting the premenstrual scores with those elsewhere in the cycle and using either a ratio or difference to detect PMT. In the other three methods, the mood scores were fitted to a model. The comparison suggest that methods which (1) use bipolar scores, (2) optimise the thresholds separating PMT+ from PMT- cycles and (3) are based on known PMT symptom patterns, are likely to be satisfactory whatever their level of sophistication. Methods based on unipolar scores on the other hand, succeed only when PMT severity is measured as the difference between two quantities, and fail when ratios are used. In this study with its bipolar mood score data base, six of the methods gave similar results. Discrepancies between methods (9-23%) were associated with double symptom peaks and with the appearance of symptoms early in the luteal phase. For such cycles only the method based on a 5-term Fourier series provided useful information.

Emotions↗
PubMed1988

The approach of menopause: a New Zealand study.

Once weekly observations of the excretion of FSH, LH, oestrogens and pregnanediol have been used to monitor the changes which occur as New Zealand women approach and pass through the menopause. There were 3 patterns of hormone excretion. (1) Premenopausal women (aged 40-51 yr) had regular menstrual cyclicity with hormone patterns similar to those seen in the ovulatory cycles of fertile young women. (2) Women in the menopausal transition (40-55 yr) had irregular menstrual cyclicity with erratic hormone fluctuations. There were ovulatory cycles, postmenopausal episodes in which amenorrhoea was associated with high gonadotrophin levels and low urinary oestrogens, and times when the excretion of both gonadotrophins and oestrogens soared. Ovarian activity did not cease at the menopause, and postmenopausal women in the 6 months following final menstruation (44-55 yr) had hormone patterns which were indistinguishable from those observed in the long anovulatory cycles of the menopausal transition. (3) Older women (57-67 yr) had senescent ovaries with the unvarying high gonadotrophin and low oestrogen levels which are a consequence of ovarian failure.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Technique for locating the start of the ovarian cycle in women who have no uterus.

A technique was required to identify the start of the ovarian cycle in hysterectomized women. Daily observations of the excretion of pregnanediol relative to creatinine by menstruant women during the course of 15 ovulatory cycles have been used to establish (a) that the centre of the pregnanediol peak can be located from as few as two pregnanediol measurements per week and (b) that this centre precedes the start of menstruation by 7.14 +/- 0.07 days (mean +/- SEM). With this information the onset of menstrual bleeding in an ovulatory cycle can be predicted. Comparison of the prediction with the observation of menstrual onset in 50 cycles gave a mean deviation of 0.276 +/- 0.109 days with a maximum deviation of 1.9 days. In three women observed before and after hysterectomy there was no significant change in the length of the ovarian cycle. It is concluded that this procedure provides a way of identifying the start of a new ovarian cycle in women who have no uterus. The procedure is only applicable to ovulatory cycles.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Pregnanediol excretion in fertile women: age-related changes.

In normal women reproductive capacity diminishes with age; the decline has been detected before the start of the menopausal transition. It is known that in premenopausal women most menstrual cycles are ovulatory. An investigation was set up to examine the possibility that there is an age-related decline in the ability of the corpus luteum to secrete progesterone at this time. Once-weekly urine samples for the measurement of pregnanediol were collected from 100 women aged 20-48 years, all of whom had regular 20- to 35-day menstrual cycles (1124 samples collected during the course of 312 menstrual cycles of which 96.8% were ovulatory). Pregnanediol excretion rates parallel the levels of progesterone in plasma. Examination of the rank correlation between age and pregnanediol excretion identified a significant negative correlation during the early and mid-follicular phases, but failed to detect any age-related change during the luteal phase. The evidence does not support the concept of an age-related increase in luteal phase defects before the start of the menopausal transition.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Counting cells as DNA: estimation of ovine pituitary cells on Sephadex columns.

A technique is described for estimating the number of sheep pituitary cells remaining on Bio-Gel P2-Sephadex G-25 columns at the conclusion of perifusion experiments. After they were washed to remove growth medium, the cells were lysed by sonication in a hypotonic solution. The resultant DNA was eluted through a 10-micron filter and measured by fluorometric analysis after reaction with the Hoechst fluorochrome, H33258. DNA recovery increased in parallel with the number of cells added to a column (correlation coefficient for 52 observations on 9000-500,000 cells, 0.993; interassay coefficient of variation, 8.4%). The relevance of this technique to the general problem of counting cells in the presence of a finely divided solid phase is discussed. The loss of pituitary cells from 42 columns during a 10-h perifusion study ranged from less than or equal to 10% (24 columns) to greater than 10-25% (10 columns), greater than 25-50% (6 columns), and greater than 50% (2 columns). It is concluded (i) that pituitary cells mixed with Sephadex and Bio-Gel may be counted as DNA and (ii) that the measurement of pituitary cell loss is a necessary prerequisite for the valid interpretation of the results of perifusion experiments.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

The premenstrual syndrome: selection of women for treatment trials.

Statements made at interview by 31 women presenting with the premenstrual syndrome (PMS) were compared with the moods and physical symptoms reported daily during the next 6 menstrual cycles. Diagnosis was confirmed in 21 women (premenstrual tension (PMT) present in greater than or equal to 5/6 cycles), not substantiated in two (PMT in less than or equal to 1/6 cycles) and in doubt in eight. Placebo treatment was associated with a significant over-all reduction in both the incidence and the severity of mood-related PMT, but had no clear effect on premenstrual physical symptoms; women with PMT in 5 cycles were usually placebo-resistant. Criteria are proposed for the selection of women for treatment trials based on their response to placebo.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Menstrual cycle and exposure to oestrogens unopposed by progesterone: relevance to studies on breast cancer incidence.

It is claimed that the exposure of women to oestrogens unopposed by progesterone increases the risk of breast cancer. Despite indirect evidence in support of this claim, the impracticability of monitoring oestrogen and progesterone levels in large numbers of women for prolonged periods of time has meant that no direct demonstration of the effect has been made. A possible technique is suggested. The ratio (R) of oestrogens to pregnanediol in urine has been used as an index of oestrogen exposure relative to progesterone. Samples were collected at weekly intervals on 700 occasions from 30 perimenopausal women, and on 519 occasions from 66 women with a history of regular menstrual cyclicity. Unusually prolonged episodes of unopposed high oestrogen excretion (R greater than or equal to 100 for greater than or equal to 2 successive weeks) were observed on 30 occasions in 15 of the perimenopausal women and on four occasions in the other women. In the perimenopausal group, these episodes occurred in 46.9% of the 32 menstrual cycles which were longer than 50 days compared with 6.9% of the 72 cycles which were shorter than 35 days (P less than 0.001). The association of prolonged episodes of unopposed high oestrogen excretion with long menstrual cycles suggests the possibility of using menstrual cycle length as an index of oestrogen exposure during the menopausal transition.

Adult↗