Predictive effect of thiol/disulfide homeostasis dynamics on early pregnancy viability: A case-control study.

Objective: The main aim of this study was to investigate the differences in maternal serum thiol/disulfide homeostasis among women with abortion imminens (AI), missed abortion (MA), and healthy pregnancies during the first trimester. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective case-control study. This study was conducted on pregnant women who visited the Obstetrics Clinic at University of Health Sciences Turkey, Etlik Zübeyde Hanim Gynecology Training and Research Hospital and were diagnosed with either AI or MA during the 6th to 14th weeks of pregnancy. The participants had a normal pregnancy follow-up, no chronic illnesses, and did not take any multivitamin or antioxidant supplements except for folic acid. The study incorporated 33 pregnant women with AI, 36 with MA, and 40 with normal pregnancies. Age, and body mass index were matched across the three groups. This study used a recently developed automated spectrophotometric technique to quantify thiol/disulfide concentrations. Results: The AI group had considerably elevated levels of total thiol and native thiol (SH) compared with the MA group. Nevertheless, there was no notable disparity observed between the group of healthy pregnancies and the other two groups. Serum disulfide (SS) levels did not exhibit any significant variations among the three groups. Similarly, the ratios of SS/SH, SS/total thiol, and SH/total thiol did not show any significant differences between the groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Patients with MA had decreased levels of total thiol and SH, which possess antioxidant capabilities, compared to the AI group. A decrease in antioxidant levels in the body may contribute to the etiology of MA. When considering our findings alongside existing literature, it remains inconclusive whether the serum thiol-disulfide ratio can predict a healthy pregnancy or MA following AI. Therefore, it is not yet seen as a promising diagnostic tool for assessing pregnancy viability. Additional investigation is required to establish the influence of dynamic thiol/disulfide homeostasis on early pregnancy loss.

The evaluation of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in pregnant women with hyperemesis gravidarum.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is considered a cause of conditions such as depression and eating disorders, and hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was conducted as a prospective study at Ankara Ataturk Training and Research Hospital in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The study included 73 pregnant women with singleton pregnancies (32 pregnant women with HG and 41 pregnant women without hyperemesis). Serum BDNF levels were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The mean age of the study group was 27.3 ± 3.5 years and the body mass index (BMI) was 22.4 ± 2.7 kg/m². There is no statistically significant difference between the study group and the control group in terms of demographic data (p > 0.05). The pregnant women with HG were found to have significantly higher serum BDNF levels compared to the control group (349.1 ± 94.6 pg/mL vs 292. 3± 86.01, p = 0.009) CONCLUSIONS: Serum BDNF levels that are low in psychiatric disorders such as depression or anxiety were found as high in pregnant women with HG.

Soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) and interleukin-6 levels in hyperemesis gravidarum.

BACKGROUND: The aim was to compare serum soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) levels as well as interleukin-6 levels (IL-6) in pregnant women with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) and asymptomatic pregnant women. METHODS: Our study population consists of voluntary first trimester-pregnant women who applied to the outpatient clinic of the department of obstetrics and gynecology of Ankara Ataturk Training and Research Hospital. Between February and May 2016, 60 pregnant women were included in our prospective study. Serum suPAR and IL-6 levels were evaluated with the ELISA method. Twenty-nine pregnant women with HG and 31 asymptomatic pregnant women were included in the study. RESULTS: Serum suPAR level in the HG group was measured as 0.36 ± 0.56 ng/ml, whereas this level in the healthy pregnant control group was measured as 0.15 ± 0.15 ng/ml (p < 0.05). The interleukin-6 level in the HG group was 5.69 ± 2.16 pg/ml, whereas in the control group it was measured as 3.88 ± 0.28 pg/ml (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Serum suPAR and IL-6 levels proved to be high in the HG group. It is likely that suPAR could play a role in the etiopathogenesis of hyperemesis gravidarum.

Differentiation between benign and malignant ovarian masses in the preoperative period using neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and the pathological diagnosis of adnexal masses. The predictive effect of inflammatory markers on epithelial ovarian cancer was also investigated. The present study included a total of 306 patients with adnexal masses who underwent surgical resection and the diagnosis was based on pathological investigation. The patients were divided into six groups based on their pathological findings and compared with respect to their NLR and PLR values. We used receiver-operating characteristic curves to calculate optimal cut-off values for NLR and PLR to predict ovarian cancer preoperatively. Patients with ovarian cancer exhibited significantly higher NLR and PLR values (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively). The multivariate analysis demonstrated that higher NLR and PLR values predicted ovarian cancer at the cut-off value of 3.35, sensitivity of 55% and specificity of 81% for NLR [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.544-0.752, P<0.05] and at the cut-off value of 572.9, sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 0.38% for PLR (95% CI: 0.192-0. 381, P=0.001). Therefore, preoperative NLR and PLR values may help identify ovarian cancer in patients with adnexal masses.