RESUMEN
Funding agencies, both public and private, do not adequately meet the needs of Canadian amputees. This often leaves amputees without access to appropriate prosthetic care due to outstanding balances that are to be paid out of pocket, or by charitable organizations. There are several factors that result in these inadequacies. As healthcare is a provincial responsibility in Canada, provinces and territories have the authority to create individual public regimes, each with their own weaknesses. In fact, there are a few provincial regimes which do not include prosthetic funding at all. Private healthcare is meant to offset the remaining balance; however, their lack of knowledge regarding amputation has resulted in the creation of policies with ambiguous language, limiting the funding available for prosthetic care. Attitudinal barriers and missed legislative opportunities further exacerbate the shortcomings of prosthetic funding provided by public and private funding agencies, requiring action.
RESUMEN
Testes or ovaries from fetal and neonatal hamsters (day 14 or 15 of gestation, the day of birth, or on day 1 or 2 of neonatal life) were incubated for 4 h in vitro with or without the addition of 10 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to the medium. Release of androgen or estradiol into the medium at hourly intervals (testicular androgen) or after 4 h (all other groups) was estimated using radioimmunoassays. Fetal testes produced large amounts of androgen and were highly responsive to hCG. Androgen production and hCG sensitivity declined at birth and with increasing neonatal age. Testicular estradiol production and ovarian androgen and estradiol release followed the same pattern of a prenatal peak in basal release and hCH sensitivity. Release levels by the ovaries were exceedingly low when compared to testicular androgen release.