Office vaginoscopic hysteroscopy in infertile women: effects of gynecologist experience, instrument size, and distention medium on patient discomfort.

Study Objective: To assess the roles of instrument diameter (5.0- or 3.5-mm external sheath), uterine distention medium (carbon dioxide [CO(2)] or saline solution), and hysteroscopist experience in diagnostic hysteroscopy.

Sex differences in brain and plasma beta-endorphin content following testosterone, dihydrotestosterone and estradiol administration to gonadectomized rats.

Aims: The present study aims at evaluating the effect of a 2-week treatment with testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and estradiol valerate (E(2)V) on brain and plasma beta-endorphin (beta-END) concentrations in gonadectomized rats of both sexes.

Methods: Eight groups of female and 8 groups of male Wistar rats were included. For each sex, 1 group of gonad-intact and 1 group of gonadectomized rats were employed as controls (placebo).

Spontaneous cornual pregnancy after homolateral salpingectomy for an earlier tubal pregnancy: a case report and literature review.

Cornual pregnancy is an infrequent pathological condition with severe prognosis if not adequately recognized. Ipsilateral salpingectomy represents a unique risk factor for this clinical entity. This article reports a laparoscopically treated spontaneous cornual pregnancy after homolateral salpingectomy for an earlier tubal pregnancy in a condition of hemodynamic instability as a result of cornual rupture.

Sexually dimorphic effects of testosterone administration on brain allopregnanolone in gonadectomized rats.

Introduction: Clinical and biological evidences have shown a wide range of neuroactive effects of testosterone administration.

Aim: Evaluation of the effects of 2-weeks treatment with testosterone (T), Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and estradiol valerate (E2V) on brain and serum allopregnanolone (AP) in gonadectomized rats of both sexes.

Main Outcome Measures: AP levels were measured in frontal and parietal lobe, hippocampus, hypothalamus, anterior pituitary, and in serum.

Plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor daily variations in men: correlation with cortisol circadian rhythm.

Expression and secretion of neurotrophins, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), are regulated also by neuronal activity. Data available in the literature suggest that BDNF central levels are influenced by light and dark. Diurnal changes of BDNF mRNA and protein contents have been demonstrated in the rat central nervous system.

Effects of nomegestrol acetate administration on central and peripheral beta-endorphin and allopregnanolone in ovx rats.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of nomegestrol acetate (NOMAc) on the central nervous system by analyzing the neurosteroid allopregnanolone and the opioid beta-endorphin (beta-endorphin). 104 Wistar female rats were used in this study; one group of fertile and one group of ovariectomized rats were used as control. The others were ovariectomized and they underwent a 2-week oral treatment of NOMAc (0.

One-year therapy with 10mg/day DHEA alone or in combination with HRT in postmenopausal women: effects on hormonal milieu.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects on hormonal milieu of 1-year therapy with 10 mg/day oral dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) or 50 microg transdermal estradiol plus 100 mg/day oral micronized progesterone in a group of 20 healthy postmenopausal women (age=50-58 and years since menopause (ysm)=1-6) and also the effects observed by combining these two therapies in a group of 12 postmenopausal women (age=54-61 and ysm=6-10) characterized by lower baseline DHEA and DHEAS levels (<2.40 and <0.55 microg/ml, respectively).

Dydrogesterone increases allopregnanolone in selected brain areas and in serum of female rats.

Objective: To investigate the effects of dydrogesterone (DYD), a synthetic progestin largely used in hormone therapy, on the central nervous system by studying two markers of the neuroendocrine function: the neurosteroid allopregnanolone and the opioid beta-endorphin.

Design: Experimental study on animal model.

Setting: Academic research environment.

Androgens and the brain.

Steroids arriving from the gonads via the circulation modulate brain function, affecting gender differentiation and sexually differentiated behavioral responses, but also the ability of the brain to process, store and retrieve sensory information. Androgens play a pivotal neuroactive role during the "organizational/developmental" phase, mainly in the fetal-neonatal period, when participated to the formation of neuronal circuits, as well as during the aging process when it has been demonstrated to directly affect hippocampal spine synapse density, suggesting a physiopathological role for androgen in the modulation cognitive function and development of neurodegenerative disease. The present short review will focus on the neuroactive effect of androgen with particular regard to the Delta4 and Delta5 androgen replacement therapy.