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Diazoxide, a smooth muscle relaxant, was administered to 16 patients with intact membranes in normal term labor. The drug reduced both the intensity and the frequency of uterine contractions in a direct relationship to the amount administered. The cardiovascular effects were a dose-related rise in maternal heart rate and a transient hypotension which was dependent on individual sensitivity to the drug. No adverse effects on the fetus were observed. The ability of diazoxide to inhibit myometrial activity may be of therapeutic value.

Labor at term was electively induced in 50 clinically normal cases by a combined procedure (low amniotomy plus oral PGE 2 given as a draught). This type of induction is efficacious in both the primi- and the multiparous patient. Maternal side effects are negligible. The procedure appears to be safer for the fetus of a multipara than for the fetus of a primipara, as indicated by a significant though slight tendency toward acidosis and hypoxia, which becomes apparent in the course of the second stage of labor. A tentative explanation for this divergence in fetal behavior is advanced. For various reasons, uninterrupted electronic surveillance of the unborn is considered mandatory in cases in which PGE 2 is administered orally for labor induction.

Ritodrine (Du-21220) administered intravenously at rates from 100 to 200 μg per minute effectively inhibited uterine activity in 12 patients in normal labor at term. Uterine inhibition was associated with minimal cardiovascular effects, primarily a dose-related tachycardia. The effect of ritodrine, its clinical application, and its use in combination with beta-adrenergic-blocking agents are discussed.

The uterine and cardiovascular responses to ritodrine hydrochloride were studied in 16 patients immediately post partum and in 17 patients during term labor. Data of electronic monitoring of maternal and fetal responses to ritodrine, in contrast to those of the control series of patients, were subjected to statistical analysis. Ritodrine is an effective uterine inhibitor with minimal cardiovascular activity, except for maternal tachycardia, and is a promising compound for treatment of unwanted uterine activity.

Prostaglandins may act at several sites in the reproductive system. They may stimulate pituitary gonadotrophin secretion by mechanisms not yet clearly defined. These compounds probably play a direct role in the ovulatory process and may be the uterine luteolysin. Prostaglandins are best known for their stimulatory action on the uterus, and clinical experimentation has centered on their effectiveness as abortifacients. While prostaglandins have not been shown to be superior to oxytocin (Syntocinon) in the induction of term labor, and studies using these compounds as "contraceptives" have thus far been disappointing, they do appear to offer an effective and superior method of inducing midtrimester abortion.

Several recent investigations of the hypothesis that structural unemployment accounts for increased levels of unemployment since 1957 have uniformly led to rejection of that hypothesis. Nearly as uniformly, however, these investigations have recognized an important role for education in the longerterm perspective of the unemployment problem. L. E. Gallaway, writing in 1963,1 interpreted differential behavior of unemployment and wage rates as indicating the presence of barriers to labor movements across