Design and methodology of the 'endometriosis and pelvic floor dysfunction' (EndoPFD) multicenter cross-sectional study.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and the characteristics of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) in women with endometriosis.

Methods: This is a methodological paper that describes the 'Endometriosis and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction' (EndoPFD) multicenter study protocol. It involves three sites: the University Hospital of Pisa, the San Raffaele Hospital of Milan and the Vanvitelli University Hospital of Naples.

Acquired resistance to monepantel in C. elegans: What about parasitic nematodes?

In 2008, Novartis Animal Health developed a new class of anthelmintics, the amino-acetonitrile derivatives (AAD) of which monepantel is the most prominent compound. Monepantel was designed for the treatment of sheep against the parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus. Because monepantel acts through a different mechanism, it is effective against nematodes that have acquired resistance to long-standing anthelmintics.

acr-23 Encodes a monepantel-sensitive channel in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Monepantel is a member of the recently identified class of anthelmintics known as the amino-acetonitrile derivatives (AADs). Monepantel controls all major gastro-intestinal nematodes in sheep including those that are resistant to the classical anthelmintics. Previous studies have shown that the Caenorhabditis elegans acr-23 and the Haemonchus contortus Hco-mptl-1 genes may be prominent targets of monepantel.

Sex determination in the Caenorhabditis elegans germline.

How is sex determined? In the animal kingdom, there are diverse sets of mechanisms for determining organismal sex, with the predominant ones being chromosomally based, either a dominant-acting sex chromosome or the ratio of the number of X chromosome to autosomes, which lead to oocyte-producing females and sperm-producing males. The resulting germline sexual phenotype is often the logical consequence of somatic sex determination. In this respect however, the Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite is different from mammals and Drosophila.

The sperm-oocyte switch in the C. elegans hermaphrodite is controlled through steady-state levels of the fem-3 mRNA.

Post-transcriptional control regulates many aspects of germline development in the Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite. This nematode switches from spermatogenesis to oogenesis and is, therefore, capable of self-fertilization. This sperm-oocyte switch requires 3' UTR-mediated repression of the fem-3 mRNA.