Rubella seroepidemiology among Korean women: Two decades after a combined vaccination strategy.

OBJECTIVES: The aim was to examine rubella seronegativity among women of childbearing age after the introduction of rubella-containing vaccine (RCV) among teenage girls and universal MMR programs in South Korea. METHODS: The serum IgG data of 72 114 women aged 20-49 years, who had undergone rubella antibody testing at the Gangnam CHA Medical Center between 2004 and 2018, were examined. A serum IgG level <10.0 IU/ml was considered negative. The study population was divided into three cohorts based on the vaccination policy: cohort 1, 1955-1976 (no national immunization program); cohort 2, 1977-1985 (national rubella only vaccination for high schoolers); cohort 3, 1986-1993 (combination strategy). We compared the rate of seronegativity and the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of seronegativity of each cohort. RESULTS: The overall proportion of seronegative women decreased significantly, from 6.1% in 2004 to 2.5% in 2018 (Kendall tau = -0.89, p < 0.001). The rate of seronegativity was highest among women who were not targeted for national immunization (born in 1955-1977, 5.2%), while it was lowest among candidates receiving routine and catch-up vaccinations (born in 1986-1993, 2.2%). When controlling for the effect of age and year of testing, the OR for seronegativity was lower for cohort 2 (adjusted OR 0.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60-0.76) and cohort 3 (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.40-0.75) when compared to cohort 1. CONCLUSIONS: Women who were covered by either vaccination program were less susceptible to rubella infection, supporting the value of both approaches. The study findings will serve as empirical evidence for an immunization program targeted towards young women and children.

Intrauterine Infusion of Human Platelet-Rich Plasma Improves Endometrial Regeneration and Pregnancy Outcomes in a Murine Model of Asherman's Syndrome.

Asherman's syndrome (AS) is characterized by intrauterine adhesion or fibrosis resulting from damage to the endometrium, often leading to amenorrhea, infertility, or recurrent pregnancy loss. Although various therapeutic strategies for AS have been proposed, the options remain limited. New strategies such as bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) therapy aim to potentiate the intrinsic capacity of endometrial regeneration. However, BM-MSC therapy has not been widely adopted mainly because it involves invasive and expensive procedures such as bone marrow biopsy and cell storing. On the other hand, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is considered safe and affordable because it involves the less invasive procedure of blood collection from peripheral veins to produce PRP. To assess the effectiveness of human PRP infusion for endometrial regeneration, we established a murine model of injury-induced AS and evaluated endometrial morphology, expression of fibrosis-related factors, implantation sites (IS), and pregnancy outcomes associated with human PRP treatment. We found that treatment with human PRP was associated with improved endometrial morphology, reduced degree of fibrosis, and down-regulated expression of fibrosis-related factors in murine model of AS. Furthermore, human PRP treatment was associated with a higher number of IS and live-births. Our results suggest that human PRP treatment may become a valuable strategy to promote the regeneration of damaged endometrium and thus improve fertility and pregnancy outcomes in clinical practice.

3D-cultured human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cell spheroids enhance ovary function by inducing folliculogenesis.

Placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PD-MSCs) have numerous advantages over other adult MSCs that make them an attractive cell source for regenerative medicine. Here, we demonstrate the therapeutic effect of PD-MSCs in ovariectomized (Ovx) rats and compare their efficacy when generated via a conventional monolayer culture system (2D, naïve) and a spheroid culture system (3D, spheroid). PD-MSC transplantation significantly increased the estradiol level in Ovx rats compared with the non-transplantation (NTx) group. In particular, the estradiol level in the Spheroid group was significantly higher than that in the Naïve group at 2 weeks. Spheroid PD-MSCs exhibited a significantly higher efficiency of engraftment onto ovarian tissues at 2 weeks. The mRNA and protein expression levels of Nanos3, Nobox, and Lhx8 were also significantly increased in the Spheroid group compared with those in the NTx group at 1 and 2 weeks. These results suggest that PD-MSC transplantation can restore ovarian function in Ovx rats by increasing estrogen production and enhancing folliculogenesis-related gene expression levels and further indicate that spheroid-cultured PD-MSCs have enhanced therapeutic potential via increased engraftment efficiency. These findings improve our understanding of stem-cell-based therapies for reproductive systems and may suggest new avenues for developing efficient therapies using 3D cultivation systems.

Impact on ovarian reserve after laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy with reduced port number: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: Single-port access (SPA) laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy has been reported as a comparable procedure to conventional laparoscopy in terms of operative outcomes. However, whether ovarian function after SPA laparoscopic surgery is similar to conventional laparoscopy is questioned due to the limitations in moving instruments. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the reduced port number affects the ovarian reserve after laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy. STUDY DESIGN: This was a randomized controlled trial of 87 women with benign ovarian cyst, who attended a university hospital and were scheduled for laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy. Women were randomized to SPA, two-port access (TPA), or four-port access (FPA) laparoscopic groups. The primary outcome was the serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels: preoperative, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after the operation. Secondary outcomes were operative outcomes. RESULTS: The mean serum AMH levels of preoperative, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after laparoscopy were 4.4±2.9, 2.7±2.2, 2.3±1.9, and 2.5±1.5ng/mL (in the SPA group), 3.6±2.5, 2.3±2.2, 2.6±3.2, and 2.7±2.6ng/mL (in the TPA group), and 3.9±3.2, 2.4±2.1, 2.5±2.0, and 2.8±2.2ng/mL (in the FPA group), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the serial change of AMH levels among the SPA, TPA and FPA groups. CONCLUSIONS: The laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy with reduced port number does not affect the serial change of ovarian reserve. The SPA or TPA laparoscopy may be the alternative method to conventional laparoscopy in terms of ovarian reserve.

[The measurement of gastric emptying time with 3-D ultrasonography].

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Three dimensional (3-D) ultrasonography is definitely more accurate than conventional 2-D ultrasonography in volume measurement of intra-abdominal organs. However, its application in measuring gastric emptying time has been limited. Thus, we tried to measure gastric antral emptying time by using 3-D ultrasonography and compare with that by radio-scintigraphy. METHODS: We performed both 3-D ultrasonography and radio-scintigraphy on the same day in 23 healthy subjects. After overnight fast, the subjects ingested 500 mL of soup meal (84 Kcal) that had been pre-mixed with 1 mCi of technetium(99m). The half emptying time (T(1/2)) measured by 3-D ultrasonography was defined by the time when the gastric antral volume decreased to half. RESULTS: The mean T(1/2) of 23 healthy subjects measured by 3-D ultrasonography was 23.4 +/- 10.5 min, while that measured by scintigraphy was 28.4 +/- 14.4 min. The difference (p=0.11 by paired t-test) between the two methods was not significant. Moreover, no significant correlation of T1/2 between the two methods (r=0.361, p=0.09) was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring gastric antral emptying time with 3-D ultrasonography may be useful but require further validation studies and advance in technology.