Azoospermia: Is it worth waiting for the confirmation of the semen abnormality to start an infertility assessment?

Azoospermia is found in about 1% of men in the general population and in about 10%-15% of infertile men. Upon discovery of semen analysis abnormality, another test must be performed after an interval of 3 months before any other infertility work-up. This research aimed at evaluating the benefit of waiting for the control test. This retrospective monocentric descriptive study was carried out in the fertility center of the University Hospital of Saint Etienne. All consecutive azoospermic patients diagnosed between January, 2012 and December, 2019 were included. For each patient, two consecutive semen analyses performed 3 months apart were studied. The main focas was on patients whose second semen analysis would have modified the infertility work-up. Amongst the 172 cases under study, the second semen analysis revealed the presence of sperm for three men. Only one of these 3 modified semen analyses was normal. In the observed azoospermic population, sperm was found on the second test in 1.7%. An infertility assessment is necessary after the discovery of azoospermia in the first semen analysis in 99.5%. These results suggest that it is useless to wait three stressful months before starting an infertility assessment for azoospermic population.

Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Moroccan Arabic Version of the Muslim Belief into Action (BIAC) Scale.

Various approaches have been developed to comprehensively assess multiple dimensions of religiosity. The Belief into Action (BIAC) Scale was developed for this purpose and to evaluate the degree of translation of personal beliefs into real-life actions. The goal of the present study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Moroccan Arabic version of the Muslim BIAC, designed to assess the religiosity of Muslims. This study was conducted in two stages. First, the original version of Muslim BIAC was translated from English to Arabic using a standard forward-backward translation procedure. Second, the Moroccan Arabic version of the Muslim BIAC was administered to a sample of 132 students at Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco (mean age 22.2 years). The average score on the BIAC was 46.1 (SD = 17.2). The Cronbach's alpha for internal reliability was 0.81, with alphas for removed items ranging from 0.77 to 0.82. Test-retest reliability by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.87 (95% CI = 0.83-0.91). Discriminant validity indicated relatively weak correlations with depressive symptoms (r = - 0.06) and perceived stress (r = 0.08). The Moroccan Arabic version of the Muslim BIAC is a reliable and valid measure of religious involvement that can be used to assess the relationship between religiosity and health in Moroccan Arabic populations.

Medicinal flowers. XXXX . Structures of dihydroisocoumarin glycosides and inhibitory effects on aldose reducatase from the flowers of Hydrangea macrophylla var.thunbergii.

Six dihydroisocoumarin glycosides, florahydrosides I and II, thunberginol G 8-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside, thunberginol C 8-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside, 4-hydroxythunberginol G 3'-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside, and thunberginol D 3'-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside, have been isolated from the flowers of Hydrangea macrophylla Seringe var. thunbergii Makino (Saxifragaceae) together with 20 known compounds. The chemical structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basis of chemical and physicochemical evidence. Among the constituents, acylated quinic acid analog, neochlorogenic acid, was shown to substantially inhibit aldose reductase [IC50=5.6 µm]. In addition, the inhibitory effects on aldose reductase of several caffeoylquinic acid analogs were examined for structure-activity relationship study. As the results, 4,5-O-trans-p-dicaffeoyl-d-quinic acid was found to exhibit a potent inhibitory effect [IC50=0.29 µm].

Mate tea (Ilex paraguariensis) promotes satiety and body weight lowering in mice: involvement of glucagon-like peptide-1.

We previously investigated the effects of an aqueous extract of maté (mate) tea, made from the leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, on the diabesity and metabolic syndrome features in a mouse model. Mate induced significant decreases in body weight (BW), body mass index, and food intake (FI). In this study, to verify the mode of action of mate on FI and consequently on BW, we examined the anorexic effects of mate on the appetite and satiety markers glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and leptin in high-fat diet-fed ddY mice. GLP-1 is a peptide signal generated by the gastrointestinal tract, which regulates appetite and influences BW, whereas leptin is an afferent signal from the periphery to the brain in a homeostatic feedback loop that regulates adipose tissue mass, thus leading to decreased appetite and FI and increased energy expenditure. Chronic administration of mate (50, 100 mg/kg) for 3 weeks significantly reduced FI, BW, and ameliorated blood fats, liver fats, and adipose tissue. Mate induced significant increases in GLP-1 levels and leptin levels compared with the control. Acute administration of major constituents of mate showed significant increases in GLP-1 levels by dicaffeoyl quinic acids and matesaponins, and significant induction of satiety by caffeoyl quinic acids and caffeine in ddY mice. These findings suggest that mate may induce anorexic effects by direct induction of satiety and by stimulation of GLP-1 secretion and modulation of serum leptin levels.