A comprehensive insight into effects of green tea extract in polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), as the most common endocrine disorder in reproductive-aged women, is characterized by oxidative stress and ovarian tissue inflammation. Green tea extract (GTE) potentially possesses therapeutic effects for PCOS because of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. This systematic review evaluates the potential roles of GTE on metabolic variables, hormone levels, and ovarian function in PCOS. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted of published studies reporting the effects of GTE on PCOS. Several major databases, including PubMed, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar, were searched up from inception to April 2021. Clinical trials and animal studies that assessed the effects of GTE on PCOS were eligible for inclusion. RESULTS: Of 314 articles found in the search, four human studies and four animal studies were included. All studies in humans showed the effects of GTE on weight loss. GTE's effect on decreasing testosterone levels in humans and LH levels in animals were also reported. In addition, increases in FSH and progesterone levels in animal models were observed. Although GTE improved fasting blood sugar and insulin levels, the effect of GTE on inflammatory parameters, such as TNF-alpha and IL-6 and antioxidant status, was limited to animal studies. CONCLUSION: Therefore, this review suggests that GTE could be considered a potential agent to attenuate PCOS complications mainly due to its effect on weight loss and glycemic levels. However, more studies are needed to formulate conclusions about the effects and mechanisms of GTE in PCOS.

An update of the incidence of fulminant hepatitis due to viral agents during pregnancy.

Fulminant hepatitis in pregnant women is one of the major public health issues and remains a challenging clinical problem with extremely high maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality, which, in parallel, viral factors are the most common cause of hepatic disorders and dysfunction during pregnancy that may lead to fulminant hepatic with a fast progression. Therefore, this review helps to inform clinicians about the current status of the incidence of fulminant hepatitis due to viral agents during pregnancy.

Report on the management of thrombocytopenia in obstetric patients: A retrospective study.

Thrombocytopenia occurs to approximately 8%-10% of pregnant women and this condition is a notable source of morbidity and mortality during pregnancy. In the recent years, our comprehension of thrombocytopenia has progressed on pregnancy. Nevertheless, there has not been adequate information about thrombocytopenia outcomes in obstetric patients. With regard to this topic, we reviewed published reports as an update from the managements on these cases. Nevertheless, recommendations for management of delivery in obstetric women with thrombocytopenia are based on several hypotheses requiring critical analysis. For this cause, we reviewed the management of pregnant patients with thrombocytopenia treated over a period of 37 years.

High-Level Expression of RIPK4 and EZH2 Contributes to Lymph Node Metastasis and Predicts Favorable Prognosis in Patients With Cervical Cancer.

The investigation of specific genes will establish more useful biomarkers for accurate detection and management of gynecological cancers, especially patients with cervical cancer (CCP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression level of RIPK4 and EZH2 messenger RNA (RIPK4 and EZH2 mRNA) in CCP. Expression of RIPK4 and EZH2 in the tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR methods. Correlations of RIPK4 and EZH2 mRNA with clinical and pathological parameters were analyzed using the Fisher's exact test. The mRNA level of RIPK4 was significantly upregulated in tumor tissues compared with matched adjacent normal tissues (4.10 ± 0.89 vs. 1.5 ± 0.82; p = 0.021). EZH2 mRNA was increased in cancer tissues compared to normal tissues (3.54 ± 0.71 vs. 1.2 ± 0.65; p = 0.003). High expression of RIPK4 was observed in 25 patients (64.1%), whereas weak expression was seen in 14 cases (35.9%). Furthermore, the expression of RIPK4 was overexpressed in matched adjacent normal tissues (p = 0.004). FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis were significantly linked to a higher expression of RIPK4 (p < 0.05). Overexpression of EZH2 was found in 30 patients (76.9%) and was associated with FIGO stage, histological type, and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). In conclusion, our data suggest that RIPK4/EZH2 markers might be used as potential predictors of prognosis in cervical cancer.

The role and expression of miR-100 and miR-203 profile as prognostic markers in epithelial ovarian cancer.

PURPOSE: The present study was aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of miR-100 and miR-203 in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients. METHODS: The expression levels of miR-100/203 in EOC tissue and adjacent non-cancerous samples were determined by real-time RT-PCR. Associations between miRNAs expressions and various clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. Survival rate was determined with Kaplan-Meier and statistically analyzed with the log-rank method between groups. Survival data were evaluated through multivariate. Cox regression analysis. FINDINGS: Our findings showed that miR-100 was significantly down-regulated in EOC tissue specimens than in adjacent non-cancerous tissues. The expression level of miR-203 was significantly higher in EOC tissues compared to adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Decreased expression of miR-100 was strongly associated with high FIGO stage (P=0.012). The high expression of miR-203 was significantly correlated with advanced FIGO stage (p=0.006), advanced histological grade (p=0.03). Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test have suggested that EOC patients with down-regulated miR-100 expression and up-regulated miR-203 expression have shorter overall survival when compared with patients with other expression groups (log-rank test P<0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model indicated that the status of miR-100 and miR-203 expression levels were independent predictor of overall survival in patients with EOC. CONCLUSION: Decreased expression and increased expression of miR-100 and miR-203 may be correlated with progression and poor prognosis of EOC.

Evaluation of mRNA expression levels of IL-17A and IL-10 cytokines in cervical cancer.

In this study, we evaluated mRNA expression levels of interleukin (IL)-10/IL-17A by quantitative real-time PCR and their clinical importance in cervical cancer. The IL-10 mRNA levels were higher in cervical cancer tissues as compared with corresponding normal tissues (p < 0.05). Moreover, IL-17A mRNA was significantly increased in cervical cancer tissues than in normal tissues (p < 0.05). Moreover, the high expression level of IL-10 mRNA was markedly related to International League of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage (p = 0.001), but no significant association was found with other clinical factors including age, tumor size, histological grades, and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, high expression levels of IL-17A were not associated with patients' age, tumor size, FIGO stage, and histological grades while IL-17A expression was strongly linked to lymphatic metastasis (p = 0.001). These findings showed that IL-17A might have a crucial role in cervical cancer metastasis. Taken together, IL-17A expression was strongly linked to lymphatic metastasis, indicating that IL-17A might have a crucial role in cervical cancer metastasis. Moreover, our study suggested the association of IL-10 mRNA expression with clinical stage.

Clinical significance and expression of the PRSS3 and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein family verprolin-homologous protein 1 for the early detection of epithelial ovarian cancer.

In this study, we evaluate the clinical significance of the PRSS3 and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein family verprolin-homologous protein 1 (WAVE1) in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) by immunohistochemistry.In current study, all adjacent non-cancerous tissues showed absent or low expression of PRSS3. The expression of PRSS3 was significantly increased in the EOCs than adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Moreover, the expression of WAVE1 was significantly observed in all EOC tissues when compared with normal tissues. Furthermore, WAVE1 expression was absent in 35 (89.74 %) adjacent non-cancerous tissues.Our findings showed that high expression of PRSS3 was markedly linked to FIGO stage (P = 0.02), advanced grade (P = 0.017), and lymph node metastases (P = 0.001), but no relationship was determined with other clinicopathological parameters. Furthermore, high expression of WAVE1 was significantly correlated with FIGO stage (P = 0.001), grade of tumor (P = 0.011), and residual tumor size (P = 0.041), but no significant associations were found between WAVE1 expression and age, lymph node metastasis, and histological subtypes (all P > 0.05). In conclusion, our study showed that increased expression of PRSS3 and WAVE1 may be involved in development of EOC.

Down-regulated microRNA-124 expression as predictive biomarker and its prognostic significance with clinicopathological features in breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been documented as playing important roles in cancer development. In this study, we investigated to clarify the clinicopathological significance and prognostic value of miR-124 in breast cancer. METHODS: Quantitative Real-time PCR method was used to assess the expression levels of miR-124 in breast cancer patients and the association of miR-124 expression levels with the clinicopathological characteristics in breast cancer patients. Survival and Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis was used to evaluate whether the miR-124 expression level and various clinicopathological characteristics were independent prognostic marker for breast cancer patients. RESULTS: We found that the lower expression of miR-124 in breast cancer specimens compared with corresponding adjacent normal breast tissues P < 0.05. Results showed that decreased expression of miR-124 was significantly related to advanced clinical stage (stage III and IV) (P = 0.021) and positive lymph node-metastasis (P = 0.011). Patients with low expression of miR-124 had significantly shorter overall survival (70.2 %) than patients who had cancers with high miR-124 expression (29.8), (logrank test P = 0.021). Moreover, Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis indicated that lowr miR-124 expression was found to be independently linked to poor survival of patients with breast cancer and other factors were not significantly associated with survival of patients. CONCLUSION: Our data suggested that decreased expression of miR-124 has prognostic value in breast cancer and may serve as a prognostic marker for breast cancer, and also downregulation of miR-124 was inversely associated with the lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.

Prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis in High Vaginal Swab Samples of Infertile Females.

BACKGROUND: Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are important causative agents of vaginitis, cervicitis, postpartum sepsis, reproductive infections and infertility in both males and females. OBJECTIVES: According to the uncertain prevalence of U. urealyticum and M. hominis in Iranian infertile females, the present study was carried out to determine the prevalence of U. urealyticum and M. hominis in high vaginal swab samples of fertile and infertile females. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 350 high vaginal swab specimens were taken from fertile and infertile females. Samples were cultured and those that were positive for bacteria were subjected to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for further confirmation. RESULTS: Of the 350 collected samples, eleven were positive for M. hominis (3.14%), fifteen were positive for U. urealyticum (4.28%) and five were positive for both of them (1.42%). Prevalence of U. urealyticum and M. hominis in the high vaginal parts of infertile females was higher than fertile females (P < 0.05). The results of traditional method were also confirmed, using the PCR amplification of urease gene of U. urealyticum and 16SrRNA gene of the M. hominis. Ureaplasma urealyticum and M. hominis had a higher prevalence in the high vaginal samples collected during the summer season. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable prevalence of M. hominis and U. urealyticum in the high vaginal swab samples of infertile females compared to the low prevalence in fertile females may suggest that these two pathogens can be cause infertility. Application of the PCR method is recommended for rapid and sensitive detection of M. hominis and U. urealyticum in high vaginal swab samples.