Awareness of Infectious Disease Screening During Early Pregnancy and Knowledge About its Vertical Transmission in Japan: A Report from the Pregnant Women Health Initiative.

Objectives: We aimed to clarify the accuracy of pregnant women's knowledge and understanding regarding infectious disease screening in early pregnancy and clarify the roles that should be played by health care providers in promoting the health of pregnant women and their children.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in 25 hospitals across Japan from May 2018 to September 2019. We compared the agreement rates regarding screening results for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), syphilis, human T-cell leukemia virus-1 (HTLV-1), and cervical cytology in the medical records and understanding of their results by pregnant women.

Different mutation profiles between epithelium and stroma in endometriosis and normal endometrium.

Study Question: Are there common mutation profiles between epithelial and stromal cells in ovarian endometriotic tissue and the normal endometrium?

Summary Answer: Our study revealed no common mutations between epithelial and stromal cells in ovarian endometriotic tissue and the normal endometrium.

What Is Known Already: Epithelial cells in both ovarian endometriotic tissue and the normal endometrium harbor somatic mutations in cancer-associated genes such as phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA) and KRAS proto-oncogene, GTPase (KRAS).

Study Design, Size, Duration: We performed a retrospective study to identify the mutation profiles of stromal cells in endometriotic tissue and the normal endometrium.

Clonal Expansion and Diversification of Cancer-Associated Mutations in Endometriosis and Normal Endometrium.

Endometriosis is characterized by ectopic endometrial-like epithelium and stroma, of which molecular characteristics remain to be fully elucidated. We sequenced 107 ovarian endometriotic and 82 normal uterine endometrial epithelium samples isolated by laser microdissection. In both endometriotic and normal epithelium samples, numerous somatic mutations were identified within genes frequently mutated in endometriosis-associated ovarian cancers.

Germline copy number variations in BRCA1-associated ovarian cancer patients.

We investigated characteristics of germline copy number variations (CNV) in BRCA1-associated ovarian cancer patients by comparing them to CNVs present in sporadic ovarian cancer patients. Germline CNVs in 51 BRCA1-associated, 33 sporadic ovarian cancer patients, and 47 healthy women were analyzed by both signal intensity and genotyping data using the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0.

Heparanase expression and angiogenesis in endometrial cancer.

Human heparanase has been shown to function in tumor progression, metastatic spread, and tumor angiogenesis. The aim of the present study was to assess heparanase expression in endometrial cancer in correlation with neovascularization and clinicopathological factors. Forty endometrial cancers were obtained from previously untreated patients (median age 55.

Endometrial abnormalities in infertile women.

Objective: To analyze retrospectively the frequency, long-term prognosis and pregnancy rate in infertile women diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia or carcinoma by endometrial biopsy.

Study Design: From 1989 to 2000, endometrial biopsies were performed on 2,573 patients to investigate the cause of infertility. The main outcome measures were frequency, long-term prognosis and pregnancy rate for patients with each type of endometrial abnormality.

Fas ligand expression in cervical adenocarcinoma: relevance to lymph node metastasis and tumor progression.

Objective: Adenocarcinoma of the cervix carries a worse prognosis than its squamous counterpart. In particular, tumors with lymph node metastasis have a miserably poor prognosis. Fas ligand (FasL) could allow the tumor cells to evade host immune surveillance and would thus promote tumor survival and possibly metastasis formation.

Dysgerminoma with a slightly elevated alpha-fetoprotein level diagnosed as a mixed germ cell tumor after recurrence.

A pure dysgerminoma shows a normal serum alpha-fetoprotein level, and mixed germ cell tumors containing endodermal sinus tumor elements have elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein levels, ranging from >100 to far higher than 1,000 ng/ml. A 40-year-old woman was diagnosed as having a stage Ia pure dysgerminoma with a slight alpha-fetoprotein elevation (11 ng/ml), after a staging laparotomy, because we could not find any yolk sac element in the original tumor. After 44 months, she had a pelvic recurrent tumor with a significant elevation of the serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration (1,520 ng/ml); histological examination of a needle biopsy specimen revealed a typical yolk sac tumor.

Elevated serum CA125 and CA19-9 due to the spontaneous rupture of ovarian endometrioma.

A 23-year-old woman was suffered from ruptured ovarian endometrioma with an elevated CA125 and CA19-9 concentration; 9537 and 15,653IU/ml, respectively. Rapid decrease in serum CA125 and CA19-9 was recognized before surgery. Such high levels of both antigens have not been reported in a patient with endometriosis.

Survival of patients with advanced ovarian cancer treated with intermittent chemotherapy following cytoreductive surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy.

Background: The purpose of this study was to report the duration of the progression-free interval (PFI) in advanced ovarian cancer patients who were treated with intermittent maintenance chemotherapy.

Methods: Between 1991 and 1998, 25 patients with stage III or IV ovarian cancer were enrolled in a trial of intermittent maintenance chemotherapy. All patients underwent cytoreduction surgery, and received adjuvant chemotherapy, after which they were treated with intermittent maintenance chemotherapy every 3 to 4 months for 2 years.

Paclitaxel and carboplatin combination chemotherapy in a hemodialysis patient with advanced ovarian cancer.

Background: There are few reports on the pharmacokinetics of paclitaxel combined with carboplatin or on the dose schedule of carboplatin in combination use during hemodialysis in patients with ovarian cancer.

Case: A 40-year-old woman with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis who had FIGO stage III ovarian cancer was treated with debulking surgery and carboplatin/paclitaxel combination chemotherapy. Paclitaxal was administered at 150 mg/m(2) as a 3-h intravenous infusion followed by a 30-min infusion of carboplatin on a nondialysis day.