Characterization of reproductive, metabolic, and endocrine features of polycystic ovary syndrome in female hyperandrogenic mouse models

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5-10% of women of reproductive age, causing a range of reproductive, metabolic and endocrine defects including anovulation, infertility, hyperandrogenism, obesity, hyperinsulinism, and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Hyperandrogenism is the most consistent feature of PCOS, but its etiology remains unknown, and ethical and logistic constraints limit definitive experimentation in humans to determine mechanisms involved. In this study, we provide the first comprehensive characterization of reproductive, endocrine, and metabolic PCOS traits in 4 distinct murine models of hyperandrogenism, comprising prenatal dihydrotestosterone (DHT, potent nonaromatizable androgen) treatment during days 16-18 of gestation, or long-term treatment (90 days from 21 days of age) with DHT, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), or letrozole (aromatase inhibitor). Prenatal DHT-treated mature mice exhibited irregular estrous cycles, oligo-ovulation, reduced preantral follicle health, hepatic steatosis, and adipocyte hypertrophy, but lacked overall changes in body-fat composition. Long-term DHT treatment induced polycystic ovaries displaying unhealthy antral follicles (degenerate oocyte and/or > 10% pyknotic granulosa cells), as well as anovulation and acyclicity in mature (16-week-old) females. Long-term DHT also increased body and fat pad weights and induced adipocyte hypertrophy and hypercholesterolemia. Long-term letrozole-treated mice exhibited absent or irregular cycles, oligo-ovulation, polycystic ovaries containing hemorrhagic cysts atypical of PCOS, and displayed no metabolic features of PCOS. Long-term dehydroepiandrosterone treatment produced no PCOS features in mature mice. Our findings reveal that long-term DHT treatment replicated a breadth of ovarian, endocrine, and metabolic features of human PCOS and provides the best mouse model for experimental studies of PCOS pathogenesis.

Estimated risk of cancer transmission from organ donor to graft recipient in a national transplantation registry

BACKGROUND

Transplanted organs carry the risk of inadvertent donor cancer transmission. Some cancers in organ donors have been classified as being associated with a high or unacceptable risk, but the evidence for such recommendations is scanty.

METHODS

The risk of cancer transmission from donors characterized as high or unacceptable risk was studied by analysing transplant and cancer registry data. Donors and recipients from England (1990-2008) were identified from the UK Transplant Registry. Cancer details were obtained from cancer registries and classified using guidelines from the Council of Europe and Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing.

RESULTS

Of 17,639 donors, 202 (1.1 per cent) had a history of cancer, including 61 donors with cancers classed as having an unacceptable/high risk of transmission. No cancer transmission was noted in 133 recipients of organs from these 61 donors. At 10 years after transplantation, the additional survival benefit gained by transplanting organs from donors with unacceptable/high-risk cancer was 944 (95 per cent confidence interval (c.i.) 851 to 1037) life-years, with a mean survival of 7.1 (95 per cent c.i. 6.4 to 7.8) years per recipient.

CONCLUSION

Strict implementation of present guidelines is likely to result in overestimation of cancer transmission risk in some donors. Organs from some donors with cancers defined as unacceptable/high risk can be used safely.

Study of Venturi Scrubber Efficiency for Pesticide Industry

A venturi scrubber is designed to effectively use the energy from the inlet gas stream to atomize the liquid being used to scrub the gas stream. This type of technology is a part of the group of air pollution controls. The air pollution generated from the industry is now become serious problem for the environment, which affect the living and non living thing on the Earth. Among all the air pollution monitoring equipment venturi scrubber found to suitable for prevention of air pollution by pesticide. It was found that scrubber shows 99.1 % efficiency.

Study of Venturi Scrubber Efficiency for Pesticide Industry

A venturi scrubber is designed to effectively use the energy from the inlet gas stream to atomize the liquid being used to scrub the gas stream. This type of technology is a part of the group of air pollution controls. The air pollution generated from the industry is now become serious problem for the environment, which affect the living and non living thing on the Earth. Among all the air pollution monitoring equipment venturi scrubber found to suitable for prevention of air pollution by pesticide. It was found that scrubber shows 99.1 % efficiency.

Patient-reporting improves estimates of postoperative complication rates: a prospective cohort study in gynaecological oncology

Background:

Most studies use hospital data to calculate postoperative complication rates (PCRs). We report on improving PCR estimates through use of patient-reporting.

Methods:

A prospective cohort study of major surgery performed at 10 UK gynaecological cancer centres was undertaken. Hospitals entered the data contemporaneously into an online database. Patients were sent follow-up letters to capture postoperative complications. Grade II–V (Clavien–Dindo classification) patient-reported postoperative complications were verified from hospital records. Postoperative complication rate was defined as the proportion of surgeries with a Grade II–V postoperative complication.

Results:

Patient replies were received for 1462 (68%) of 2152 surgeries undertaken between April 2010 and February 2012. Overall, 452 Grade II–V (402 II, 50 III–V) complications were reported in 379 of the 1462 surgeries. This included 172 surgeries with 200 hospital-reported complications and 231 with 280 patient-reported complications. All (100% concordance) 36 Grade III–V and 158 of 280 (56.4% concordance) Grade II patient-reported complications were verified on hospital case-note review. The PCR using hospital-reported data was 11.8% (172 out of 1462; 95% CI 11–14), patient-reported was 15.8% (231 out of 1462; 95% CI 14–17.8), hospital and verified patient-reported was 19.4% (283 out of 1462; 95% CI 17.4–21.4) and all data were 25.9% (379 out of 1462; 95% CI 24–28). After excluding Grade II complications, the hospital and patient verified Grade III–V PCR was 3.3% (48 out of 1462; 95% CI 2.5–4.3).

Conclusion:

This is the first prospective study of postoperative complications we are aware of in gynaecological oncology to include the patient-reported data. Patient-reporting is invaluable for obtaining complete information on postoperative complications. Primary care case-note review is likely to improve verification rates of patient-reported Grade II complications.

Health advantage for black women: patterns in pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder

BACKGROUND

Pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is commonly studied in white women; consequently, it is unclear whether the prevalence of PMDD varies by race. Although a substantial proportion of black women report symptoms of PMDD, the Biocultural Model of Women's Health and research on other psychiatric disorders suggest that black women may be less likely than white women to experience PMDD in their lifetimes.

METHOD

Multivariate multinomial logistic regression modeling was used with a sample of 2590 English-speaking, pre-menopausal American women (aged 18-40 years) who participated in the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys in 2001-2003. The sample consisted of 1672 black women and 918 white women. The measure of PMDD yields a provisional diagnosis of PMDD consistent with DSM-IV criteria.

RESULTS

Black women were significantly less likely than white women to experience PMDD [odds ratio (OR) 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.25-0.79] and pre-menstrual symptoms (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.47-0.88) in their lifetimes, independently of marital status, employment status, educational attainment, smoking status, body mass index, history of oral contraceptive use, current age, income, history of past-month mood disorder, and a measure of social desirability. The prevalence of PMDD was 2.9% among black women and 4.4% among white women.

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed for the first time that black women were less likely than white women to experience PMDD and pre-menstrual symptoms, independently of relevant biological, social-contextual and psychological risk factors. This suggests that PMDD may be an exception to the usual direction of racial disparities in health. Further research is needed to determine the mechanisms that explain this health advantage.

Possible suppression of fetal erythropoiesis by the Kell blood group antibody anti-Kp(a)

Antibodies to antigens in the Kell blood group system are usually immunoglobulin G, and, notoriously, anti-K, anti-k, and anti-Kp(a) can cause severe hemolytic transfusion reactions, as well as severe hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). It has been shown that the titer of anti-K does not correlate with the severity of HDFN because, in addition to immune destruction of red blood cells (RBCs), anti-K causes suppression of erythropoiesis in the fetus, which can result in severe anemia. We report a case involving anti-Kp(a) in which one twin was anemic and the other was not. Standard hemagglutination and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tests were used. At delivery, anti-Kp(a) was identified in serum from the mother and twin A, and in the eluate prepared from the baby’s RBCs. PCR-based assays showed twin A (boy) was KEL*841T/C (KEL*03/KEL*04), which is predicted to encode Kp(a+b+). Twin B (girl) was KEL*841C/C (KEL*04/KEL*04), which is predicted to encode Kp(a–b+). We describe the first reported case of probable suppression of erythropoiesis attributable to anti-Kp(a). One twin born to a woman whose serum contained anti-Kp(a) experienced HDFN while the other did not. Based on DNA analysis, the predicted blood type of the affected twin was Kp(a+b+) and that of the unaffected twin was Kp(a–b+). The laboratory findings and clinical course of the affected twin were consistent with suppression of erythropoiesis in addition to immune RBC destruction.

Role of forensic odontology in the world's major mass disasters: facts and figures

Forensic identification of the victims in mass disasters is essential, not only for humanitarian reasons, but also for civil or criminal investigative need. The number of victims identified with the help of forensic odontology in various mass disasters in the world has been analysed and discussed. The result depicts the necessity of keeping proper dental records at institutional and individual level. Thus the use of forensic odontology in a series of mass disasters has been explored. The most common aspect of forensic odontology that a general practitioner is likely to encounter is the supply of ante-mortem records to aid in human identification.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

The need for proper dental record-keeping by general dental practitioners is highlighted by discussing the role of forensic odontology in some of the world's major mass disasters.

RANBP2 is an allosteric activator of the conventional kinesin-1 motor protein, KIF5B, in a minimal cell-free system

The association of cargoes to kinesins is thought to promote kinesin activation, yet the validation of such a model with native cargoes is lacking because none is known to activate kinesins directly in an in vitro system of purified components. The RAN-binding protein 2 (RANBP2), through its kinesin-binding domain (KBD), associates in vivo with kinesin-1, KIF5B/KIF5C. Here, we show that KBD and its flanking domains, RAN GTPase-binding domains 2 and 3 (RBD2/RBD3), activate the ATPase activity of KIF5B approximately 30-fold in the presence of microtubules and ATP. The activation kinetics of KIF5B by RANBP2 is biphasic and highly cooperative. Deletion of one of its RBDs lowers the activation of KIF5B threefold and abolishes cooperativity. Remarkably, RBD2-KBD-RBD3 induces unfolding and modest activation of KIF5B in the absence of microtubules. Hence, RANBP2 is the first native and positive allosteric activator known to jump-start and boost directly the activity of a kinesin.

Three-photon microscopy shows that somatic release can be a quantitatively significant component of serotonergic neurotransmission in the mammalian brain

Recent experiments on monoaminergic neurons have shown that neurotransmission can originate from somatic release. However, little is known about the quantity of monoamine available to be released through this extrasynaptic pathway or about the intracellular dynamics that mediate such release. Using three-photon microscopy, we directly imaged serotonin autofluorescence and investigated the total serotonin content, release competence, and release kinetics of somatic serotonergic vesicles in the dorsal raphe neurons of the rat. We found that the somata of primary cultured neurons contain a large number of serotonin-filled vesicles arranged in a perinuclear fashion. A similar distribution is also observed in fresh tissue slice preparations obtained from the rat dorsal raphe. We estimate that the soma of a cultured neuron on an average contains about 9 fmoles of serotonin in about 450 vesicles (or vesicle clusters) of < or =370 nm average diameter. A substantial fraction (>30%) of this serotonin is released with a time scale of several minutes by K(+)-induced depolarization or by para-chloroamphetamine treatment. The amount of releasable serotonin stored in the somatic vesicles is comparable to the total serotonin content of all the synaptic vesicles in a raphe neuron, indicating that somatic release can potentially play a major role in serotonergic neurotransmission in the mammalian brain.