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Lead (Pb) is a known toxic heavy metal which accumulates in different tissues and causes oxidative stress (OS) and inflammation. The brain tissue is considered as one of the most vulnerable organs to the Pb-induced toxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effects of vitamin D3 (VD) supplementation against the damages caused by chronic Pb toxicity in the cerebral cortex. Forty Wistar rats were divided into four equal groups and were treated as follows: control group received no treatment, VD group received 1000 IU/kg of VD by intramuscular injection every other day, Pb group received 1000 mg/L of Pb in drinking water, and Pb + VD group received VD and Pb simultaneously. The experiment lasted for 4 weeks and the analyses were conducted 24 h after the last administrations. The obtained results demonstrated that Pb significantly increased cortical lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. At the same time, there was a significant reduction in glutathione (GSH) content, catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, as well as a significant increase in the tissue level of inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, Pb increased the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression level of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB). Anyhow, VD administration during the period of Pb exposure suppressed the OS and inflammation by increasing the antioxidant molecules and decreasing the inflammatory cytokines and consequently repaired Pb-induced cortical tissue damages. Remarkably, these responses were concomitant with the alterations in Nrf2 and NF-κB gene expressions. In conclusion, the present study discloses the potential protective effects for VD against Pb-induced neurotoxicity via anti-inflammatory and antioxidative mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory disease, is identified by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus. The prevalence of this disease among reproductive-age women is almost 10–15%. High levels of IL-6 and IL-8 have been found in the peritoneal fluid (PF) of women with endometriosis and are involved in its pathogenesis. Isolated stromal cells from 12 ectopic and eutopic endometrial biopsies of women with ovarian endometrioma and also 12 endometrial biopsies of nonendometriotic controls were treated with 1.1 µM pyrvinium pamoate, a Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway inhibitor, for 72 hrs. Before treatment, mRNA gene expression and secretion of IL-6 and IL-8 were significantly higher in ectopic (EESCs) than eutopic (EuESCs) and control (CESCs) endometrial stromal cells. After treatment, mRNA gene expression and also secretion of IL-6 and IL-8 were significantly reduced. Our Findings showed that pyrvinium pamoate suppresses the mRNA gene expression and secretion of IL-6 and IL-8 in human endometriotic stromal cells. Additional investigations on this compound are required before clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of adjuvant growth hormone (GH) therapy in antagonist protocol aiming to improve ovarian response and clinical outcomes of women with poor ovarian response. Materials and methods: This clinical trial was a single-center study, controlled with equal randomization, which was carried out in Avicenna Infertility Clinic, Tehran, Iran. Totally, 118 patients were randomly allocated to either the intervention or the control group. The intervention group received GH and gonadotropin in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist protocol (GH/GnRHant), while the control group received gonadotropin in GnRH antagonist protocol (GnRHant). Results: The results revealed that the number of days of gonadotropin administration significantly decreased (p-value = 0.040) in the GH/GnRHant group compared to the GnRHant group. Also, our study findings showed that a number of top-quality day 3 embryos and clinical pregnancy rate were higher in the GH/GnRHant group (p-value = 0.007) compared to the GnRHant group (p-value = 0.036). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of number of received gonadotropin ampoules, number of retrieved MI and MII oocytes, chemical pregnancy rate, ongoing pregnancy rate and live birth rate. Conclusions: These results suggest that adjuvant GH therapy in antagonist protocol in women with a history of poor ovarian response is effective to decrease the number of days of received gonadotropin ampoules and improve pregnancy rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 232 infants aged <1 month with proven UTI admitted to three major teaching hospitals for the period 2010-2018 to assess clinical, demographic, and laboratory findings of urinary tract infection in this age group., Methods: All information was extracted from the medical records. Urinary tract infection was defined as ≥ 50,000 colony-forming units per milliliter of a single uropathogen isolated from a catheterized or suprapubic aspiration or greater than 100,000 colony-forming units per milliliter from a midstream, clean-catch sample., Results: The most common pathogen isolated was E. coli (78.4%), followed by Enterobacter and Klebsiella, accounting for 12.1 and 4.7% respectively. The main presenting clinical manifestation was jaundice, which was found in 54.7% of cases; it was followed by restlessness (45.6%) and fever (40%)., Conclusion: During infancy, the signs and symptoms of UTI are often nonspecific and although urine culture is a gold standard diagnostic tool specimen collection is challenging and urine contamination is common in children, therefore it makes the diagnosis difficult. UTI in infants may indicate underlying genitourinary abnormalities; therefore, appropriate diagnosis and immediate initiation of antibiotic therapy are crucial to decrease long-term complications like renal scarring. According to our study, the most common clinical features were jaundice, restlessness, and fever, therefore it is suggested that urine culture should be performed for all infants presenting with these signs and symptoms., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Objective: Advances in embryo culture conditions and the development of vitrification as a revolutionary cryopreservation method have allowed for routine use of blastocyst transfer in assisted reproduction technology (ART) cycles. Several vitrification/warming media and devices have been introduced for commercial use so far. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare post-warming survival rates and clinical outcomes of human blastocysts vitrified/warmed by two different commercial methods (CryoTouch and Cryotop) during ART cycles., Methods: This retrospective study assessed a total of 50 frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles conducted on 56 warmed blastocysts between January 2018 and December 2020. Post-warming blastocyst survival rates and clinical outcomes including clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were calculated after single blastocyst transfer cycles., Results: The results revealed no significant differences between two groups in post-warming survival rate (p-value=0.8381), clinical pregnancy rate (p-value=0.8157) and live birth rate (p-value=0.7041)., Conclusions: Post-warming survival rates and clinical outcomes were comparable with no significant difference in blastocysts vitrified/warmed by CryoTouch and Cryotop commercial methods.