A comparison of hyaluronic acid and estradiol treatment in vulvovaginal atrophy.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to compare the effects of vaginal estrogen and hyaluronic acid on vulvovaginal atrophy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This randomized controlled study included a total of 300 patients, with 150 patients in each group (Group E and Group H). The VHI score was determined based on a pre-treatment evaluation conducted by a gynecologist. After one month of receiving vaginal estrogen in Group E and vaginal hyaluronic acid in Group H, the patients were re-evaluated by their physicians. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found between the pre- and post-treatment VHI scores in Group E and Group H (p = 0.000; p = 0.000). No statistical difference was found between Group E and Group H in terms of treatment efficacy (p = 0.712). The pre- and post-treatment complaints of dryness, itching, dyspareunia, burning, and dysuria were found to be statistically significant in Group E and Group H (p = 0.000; p = 0.000; p = 0.000; p = 0.000; p = 0.000 in Group E, respectively) (p = 0.000; p = 0.000; p = 0.000; p = 0.000; p = 0.000 in Group H, respectively). No statistical difference was observed regarding dyspareunia, dysuria, and burning complaints (p = 0.632; p = 0.106; p = 0.128, respectively). However, hyaluronic acid was found to be significantly more effective for itching complaints (p = 0.002), while estrogen was found to be significantly more effective for dryness complaints (p = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Hyaluronic acid and estrogen were equally effective in vaginal treatment. Hyaluronic acid may be preferred for patients in whom hormonal therapy is contraindicated or for those who prefer non-hormonal therapy.

Human papillomavirus effect on the development of endometrial polyps.

AIM: Although the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) with warts arising in different parts of the human body has been well-demonstrated, the association of HPV with endometrial polyps has never been studied in the literature up to now. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Detection of the HPV DNA was carried out by using 13 high-risk HPV real-time PCR Kit and five low-risk HPV real-time PCR Kit. RESULTS: Among 50 endometrial polyp samples, one endometrial polyp sample revealed a positive result for the presence of HPV type 18. CONCLUSIONS: This first study in the medical literature investigating the possible effect of HPV on the development of endometrial polyps has demonstrated that HPV might have a role in the development of some of the endometrial polyps. If the present authors' hypothesis that endometrial polyps caused by carcinogenic HPV types are prone to proceed to endometrial cancer if left untreated is correct, HPV vaccine has a potential to prevent development of at least some of the endometrial polyps and endometrial cancers.

SRY gene amplifications and genotypings revealed the occurrence of the hidden maternal decidual cells in 46,XX karyotyped spontaneous abortions.

Reports of abnormal karyotypes or normal 46,XY karyotypes of the abortion materials derivated from tissue cultures are mostly addressing the pregnancy loss tissues. The accuracy of the cytogenetic reports of normal 46,XX karyotypes is obscure, as the results may reflect the normal karyotyped female pregnancy losses or the hidden maternal decidual cells covering the cytogenetically normal or abnormal male or female products of conception. In the present study, thirty-eight 46,XX normal karyotyped abortion materials cultivated from villi were re-analysed for excluding maternal cell contamination by using molecular approaches in an accurate algorithm. Abortion materials DNAs were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique in order to search the products of the sex determinating region gene of chromosome Y (SRY). Sixteen out of 38 abortion materials revealed Y-chromosome component (42.1%). Amplification negative DNAs and their parental DNAs were genotyped by using high-polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers to identify the origin of the components of the chromosome X. Maternal chromosome X components were detected in 18 (81.8%). As a result, SRY amplifications and genotypings ascertained the high rate of maternal decidual cells in 46,XX products of conception.

Evaluation of the sexual function and quality of life in raloxifene treated postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the net effect of raloxifene on overall quality of life and sexual function in postmenopausal women. METHODS: The study was performed in the Gynecology and Obstetrics outpatient clinic of Gazi University Faculty of Medicine between January 2002 and February 2005. Fifty postmenopausal women, in whom raloxifene was indicated for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, were considered the study group. Fifty postmenopausal women who were not osteoporotic were enrolled as the control group. Participants completed a questionnaire composed of several parts (GRISS, BDI and ISI), at the beginning and end of the 12-month treatment period. RESULTS: Two groups were similar to each other with respect to total GRISS scores at the beginning and at the end of the study (P=0.929 and P=0.508; respectively). Raloxifene was associated with a significant improvement from baseline in the total scores of BDI (P=0.0001), whereas this improvement was not significantly different from the control group (P=0.216). With regard to ISI scores, there were no differences between groups in total scores. Raloxifene use did not seem to affect subscores of ISI either. CONCLUSIONS: This study failed to prove any deleterious effect of raloxifene on quality of life and sexual functions.

Turkish women's level of knowledge on and attitude toward sexual health.

OBJECTIVE: Sexuality is a basic human function that can affect general well-being and overall life quality. The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge on and attitude toward sexuality of a subgroup of Turkish women. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey including 1007 women was carried out concurrently in gynecology and urology outpatient clinics of Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey, between January 2003 and December 2003. A self-created questionnaire for data collection was administered to the participants, which addressed questions concerning their sexual life, sexual problems and attitudes towards sexuality. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was used for the data analysis of the study (SPSS ver. 11.0 Inc. Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: The data included 1007 patients aged 14-77 (mean: 35.6 +/- 11.1). Among the women assessed, 90.2% were married, 79.8% were premenopausal and 77.1% were currently sexually active. 68.7% entered sexual intercourse 1-2 times per week, while 28.5% had an average of 3-4. 77.8% were aware of experiencing an orgasm and 74.7% had at least one orgasm. Only 21.4% of all women had an orgasm during each sexual intercourse. 2.2% of those who had never experienced an orgasm concurrently applied to a medical center. The average age of first intercourse was 21.3 +/- 4.1 years. CONCLUSIONS: Because there is no national data on sexual health in Turkey, analysis and evaluation of the severity of the problem, and alternatives for international comparisons are not possible. In our opinion, this study presents a valuable perception into the current sexual behavior of Turkish women.

Quetiapine use for the treatment of manic episode during pregnancy.

The foregoing is a case report about a 30-year-old woman, who was referred to our psychiatry clinic with a clinical picture of manic episode, at the 21st week of her first pregnancy. She had a history of bipolar affective disorder for 12 years, had two previous manic episodes and had stopped taking lithium 6 months ago because of her plans to become pregnant. Quetiapine was begun and the dose was slowly increased to 1200 mg/day after 2 weeks. She continued to receive quetiapine throughout her pregnancy. Her obstetrical and perinatal examinations were done by a consultant obstetrician. At the follow-up, she had given birth to a boy, at 39th week of her pregnancy, with an Apgar score of 10. Follow-up of the infant up to 3 months reveals normal physical and psychomotor development. The pros and cons of quetiapine use during pregnancy are discussed.

Apoptosis in raloxifene-treated postmenopausal women.

As raloxifene is a mixed estrogen receptor agonist and antagonist, it exerts different effects on apoptosis in different tissues. In this study, we aimed to evaluate apoptosis in the peripheral lymphocytes of postmenopausal women treated with raloxifene and compare it with untreated control subjects. In this way, we expected to deduce some results about the effect of raloxifene on the immune system and to serve as a guide for future studies on this newly proposed effect of a well-known agent. Twenty osteoporotic postmenopausal women treated with raloxifene for 12 months were included in this study. Another 20 osteoporotic postmenopausal women matched for age and postmenopausal years, but without any medication, were chosen as the control group. Apoptosis was evaluated using a morphological and DNA fragmentation assay, in the peripheral lymphocytes of these women. Our results revealed a decrease in the apoptosis percentages of the patients treated with raloxifene (14.6%) with respect to the control subjects (15.8%), but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.467). This study indicated that raloxifene treatment had no apoptotic effect on peripheral human lymphocytes compared to controls.

A new syndrome with prenatally diagnosed thoracoschisis, hiatal hernia and extremities' agenesis: case report.

Thoracoschisis is a very rare congenital anomaly and is usually associated with limb and abdominal wall defects forming part of limb-body wall complex. We here present a case of a 29-week-4-day pregnancy ended with intrauterine demise. Postmortem examination revealed hiatal hernia, thoracoschisis and protrusion of some part of liver from this defect, left forearm agenesis and right arm and right hand agenesis. The findings accompanying thoracoschisis in this presented case exclude any previously reported related syndrome and we believe that this is a new syndrome.

A case with mosaic partial duplication of 1q: prenatal and postmortem clinical and cytogenetic evaluations.

Partial trisomy 1q including different segments of the long arm is a rare cytogenetic anomaly. Especially the cases with mosaic proximal tandem duplication of 1q included a longer fragment are very rare. Cases who have partial 1q trisomy showed large phenotypic variation due to the differences in size of the duplicated segments of 1q. The clinical phenotype of most cases is characterized by multiple congenital anomalies especially including central nervous system and developmental delay. We describe a prenatally diagnosed case with mild cerebral ventriculomegaly and karyotype with mosaic pure trisomy of chromosome 1q [(46,XX/46,XX,dup(1)(q21qter)]. Phenotypic postmortem examination showed cranial asymmetry, flat and broad nasal bridge, anteverted nostrils, hypertelorism, retrognathia, abnormal pinnae, hypoplasic thumbs, long fingers and toes, mediodorsal curvature of the 4th and 5th toes and posterior prominence of the heel was observed. Autopsy confirmed the ventriculomegaly. Postmortem chromosome preparation from skin culture, cord blood and intracardiac blood confirmed the mosaic pure trisomy of chromosome 1q.

Cytogenetic results of amniocentesis materials: incidence of abnormal karyotypes in the Turkish collaborative study.

The experience on prenatal chromosome diagnosis of four Turkish centers participating in a collaborative study on 6041 genetic amniocentesis performed during a 4-8 years period were reviewed. 5887 (97.5%) patients had strong clinical indications for prenatal chromosome studies and 154 (2.5%) were referred because of maternal anxiety and a bad history of previous gestations. The main indication groups were: advanced maternal age (3197 cases), positive serum screening (2011 cases), ultrasound-identified anomaly (492 cases), previous fetus/child with chromosomal aberrations (103 cases), a history of a previous abnormal and/or mentally handicapped child (70 cases) and a parental chromosome rearrangement (14 cases). The average maternal age was 33.9 years and average gestational age was 18 weeks. A total of 179 affected fetuses were detected in this collaborative study (3%) of which 133 were unbalanced (74.3%). Among the 124 (69%) numerical aberrations, 102 (82.3%) were autosomal aneuploidies, 20 (16.1%) were gonosomal aneuploidies and 2 (1.6%) were poliploidies. Among the 55 (31%) structural aberrations, balanced translocation was the most common (63.6%) and 11 cases of inversion, four cases of unbalanced translocation, two cases of marker chromosome and three cases of other abnormalities were found. The overall culture success rate was 99.7%. Pregnancy termination that is permitted by legal authorities was accepted by 94.7% (126/133) with parents at unbalanced cytogenetic result announcement.

Assessment of protein oxidation in women using raloxifene.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the oxidative effects of raloxifene use in postmenopausal women by investigating protein carbonyl levels in the plasma. METHODS: Nineteen osteoporotic postmenopausal women treated with raloxifene for 12 months were included in the study. Another seventeen postmenopausal women matched for age and postmenopausal years, without any medication were chosen as a control group. Protein carbonyl levels were determined as oxidative stress markers by the use of Levine's method in the plasma of these women. RESULTS: Serum protein carbonyl levels of postmenopausal women treated with raloxifene (1.27 +/- 0.32 nmol/mg protein) were significantly lower than the control group (2.18 +/- 0.27 nmol/mg protein) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Oxidative stress has been found responsible for several diseases including cancer. Protein carbonyl levels, which are the products of protein oxidation, are one of the indicators of oxidative stress. Therefore, the decline in protein carbonyl levels in this study revealed the decreasing oxidative stress. According to our results, it might be interpreted that raloxifene does not cause oxidative stress, and it may even have protective effects in long-term use.

Oxidant status in maternal and cord plasma and placental tissue in gestational diabetes.

The aim of this study was to measure oxidant/antioxidant status in maternal and cord plasma and in placental tissue in gestational diabetes and to correlate the results with the quality of glycemic control of the mother. To achieve this, blood and placental tissue samples have been obtained from pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and from the umbilical cord of their fetuses. The same samples have been collected from pregnant women without GDM. In all the samples, oxidant and antioxidant parameters have been studied. It has been observed that the antioxidant defense system was impaired; xanthine oxidase, which is the main free radical-producing enzyme (XO) in the living cells, was activated; and oxidation reactions were accelerated in the samples obtained from patients with GDM. Results suggest presence of oxidant stress in the gestational diabetes, the reason probably being impaired antioxidant defense mechanism and increased free radical production through XO activation.

Prenatal diagnosis of diastematomyelia in a 15-week-old fetus.

OBJECTIVE: A case of prenatal diagnosis of diastematomyelia is presented. METHODS: A case of fetal diastematomyelia, diagnosed by prenatal sonography, demonstrated the typical sonographic features of this condition. In this case it was detected at 15 weeks of gestation, and presented with a midline echogenic focus in the posterior region of the thoracolumbar spine. RESULTS: The pregnancy was terminated by induction of labor. The fetus was female and there was a 1-cm long endurated hyperemic lesion at the back of the fetus. We confirmed the diagnosis of diastematomyelia after termination of pregnancy by plain chest and abdominal X-ray and also MRI scanning. CONCLUSION: Isolated diastematomyelia is a rare form of spinal dysraphism characterized by a sagittal cleft in the spinal cord, conus medullaris and/or filum terminale with splaying of the posterior vertebral elements. Prenatal diagnosis of this anomaly is possible in the early mid-trimester by sonography, thus allowing for early surgical intervention and a favorable prognosis.

The effects of rosiglitazone and metformin on insulin resistance and serum androgen levels in obese and lean patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of metformin and rosiglitazone on insulin resistance and serum androgen levels in both obese and lean patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty lean [body mass index (BMI) < 25 kg/m2] and 40 overweight and obese (BMI > 25 kg/m2) patients were included in the study. Waist and hip measurements, serum sex steroid levels, insulin response to 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, fasting insulin, fasting C-peptide levels and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were determined in all patients. The degree of hirsutism was determined by the Ferriman-Gallwey scoring system. Patients were divided into two groups, with 40 (20 overweight and obese; 20 non-obese) patients each. One group was treated with metformin (MET group) 850 mg bid while the other received rosiglitazone (ROSI group) 4 mg/day for 12 weeks. All measurements were repeated at the end of this period. RESULTS: After the 12-week treatment period, HOMA-IR, area under the curve of insulin, fasting insulin and C-peptide levels were observed to have be decreased significantly in all groups. The decrease in the parameters mentioned above was similar in the four groups. The serum levels of free testosterone, androstenedione and DHEA-S decreased in all groups, but the decrease was statistically significant only in the ROSI groups. Within the lean MET group one patient became pregnant and was hence excluded from the final data analysis. Menstruations became regular after metformin therapy in 41.6% of lean and 35.7% of obese patients who had menstrual disturbance prior to the study. Rosiglitazone therapy improved menstrual disturbance in 61.5 % of lean and 53.8% of obese patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that both metformin and rosiglitazone increased insulin sensitivity in obese patients with PCOS as expected, and in lean patients as well. Rosiglitazone seemed to be more effective in decreasing the androgen levels and in achieving slightly greater improvement in menstrual disturbance than metformin.

Distribution of secreted aspartyl proteinases using a polymerase chain reaction assay with SAP specific primers in Candida albicans isolates.

Secreted aspartyl proteinase (Sap) distribution among different C. albicans isolates was determined using SAP-specific primers in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. SAP1, SAP2, and SAP3 were detected in 13 of 40 (32.5%), SAP4 in 38/40 (95%), SAP5 were detected in 30/40 (75%), SAP6 in 23/40 (57.5%) of C. albicans strains isolated from blood cultures. SAP1-SAP3 were detected in 37 of 40 (92.5%), SAP4 were detected in 3/40 (7.5%), SAP5 in 3/40 (7.5%), SAP6 in 5/40 (12.5%) of C. albicans strains isolated from vaginal swab cultures. Sap1, Sap2 and Sap3 isoenzymes were found to be related to the vaginopathic potential of C. albicans; Sap4, Sap5 and Sap6 isoenzymes were found to be correlated with systemic infections.

Assessment of human papilloma viral load of archival cervical intraepithelial neoplasia by real-time polymerase chain reaction in a Turkish population.

The purpose of this study was to determine the existence, and viral load of human papilloma virus (HPV) subtypes 16 and 18 in paraffinized cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) samples by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Overall 94 women were included. Of these patients 47 (50%) had CIN I, 27 (28.8%) had CIN II, and 20 (21.2%) had CIN III. HPV positivity for these three groups were 4.2%, 14.8% and 45%, respectively. HPV positivity in CIN III patients was significantly higher than CIN I (OR = 18.41, 95% CI 3.00-145.73; p < 0.001), and CIN II patients (OR = 4.70, 95% CI 1.00-23.76; p = 0.05). The difference between CIN I and II was not significant (p = 0.18). Viral loads were 10(2), and 10(4) copy/ml for two CIN I patients; 10(2), 10(3), and 10(5) for three CIN II patients; and 10(2), 10(3), 10(4), 10(4), 10(5), 10(5), and 10(6) copy/ml for eight patients with CIN III. Viral load of the remaining one patient could not be assessed. No significant variance was noted among the groups with respect to viral load (p = 0.73). RT-PCR had important advantages of detecting, typing, and quantifying at the same time. Although HPV positivity was increased significantly by the degree of lesions, this relation was not observed for viral load.