Publications by authors named "Konstantina Plastira"

Coexistence of XX/XY sex mosaicism and autosomal trisomy in prenatal diagnosis is particularly rare. Herein, we report the first, to our knowledge, case of a fetus with cyclopia, ambiguous genitalia and a 47,XX,+13,inv9[47]/47,XY,+13[13] karyotype detected at 13 weeks of gestation after chorionic villus sampling. Molecular analysis after prenatal diagnosis suggests that this is a case of sex mosaicism coexisting with trisomy 13, rather than chimera.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The successful treatment of breast cancer is dependent upon a number of complex factors. Her-2/neu gene amplification is known to be one of the most common genetic alterations associated with breast cancer and its accurate determination has become necessary for the selection of patients for trastuzumab therapy. The aim of this study was to prove the consistency of chromogenic in situ hybridisation (CISH) technique after analyzing the overexpression of the Her-2/neu proto-oncogene in 100 invasive breast carcinomas and by comparing CISH results with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To investigate the effects of male ageing on DNA fragmentation and chromatin packaging in the spermatozoa of oligoasthenoteratozoospermic (OAT) patients.

Methods: Sixty-one OAT patients and 49 men with proven fertility (controls) were included in the present study. DNA fragmentation was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay, while chromatin packaging was assessed by chromomycin A3 (CMA3) staining.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human sperm DNA damage may have adverse effects on reproductive outcome. Infertile men possess substantially more spermatozoa with damaged DNA compared to fertile donors. Although the extent of this abnormality is closely related to sperm function, the underlying etiology of ensuing male infertility is still largely controversial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for treatment of infertility as a result of severe male factor has improved the chances of achieving pregnancy in many infertile couples. However, concerns have been raised regarding the safety of this technique, because natural sperm selection is bypassed. In the present study, 25 oligoasthenozoospermic patients who were divided into two groups according to age: group A, 20-34 (n = 10) and group B, 35-50 (n = 15), were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Carriers of balanced translocations usually carry alterations in gene sequences, which lead to dysfunction during early and late embryogenesis. Related spatial rearrangement causes either cumulative delay in cell cycles and/or anomalies in transcription and translation. This has also an important impact at the time of genomic activation, the longest cell cycle of preimplantation development.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF