Treatment of sperm with platelet-activating factor does not improve intrauterine insemination outcome in unselected cases of mild male factor infertility: a prospective double-blind randomized crossover study.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of sperm treatment with exogenous platelet-activating factor (PAF) on intrauterine insemination (IUI) clinical pregnancy rate in cases of mild male factor infertility. PAF is a phospholipid mediator, which is present in human sperm.

Methods: The study was performed in the Assisted Reproduction Unit of the 2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens, Aretaieion Hospital, Athens, Greece, and included 92 couples who presented with mild male factor infertility-all candidates for IUI.

Full-term pregnancies after multiple hepatobiliary operations for choledochal cyst: a case report.

Choledochal cysts are rare congenital cystic dilatations of the biliary tree. Choledochal cysts in pregnancy are a rare entity and represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The authors present a case of two full-term pregnancies in a woman who underwent multiple hepatobiliary operations for a choledochal cyst.

Serum adiponectin during pregnancy and postpartum in women with gestational diabetes and normal controls.

Aims: To investigate changes in serum adiponectin during pregnancy and postpartum and assess its relationship with insulin resistance as measured by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR).

Methods: Twenty-two normal pregnant women were compared with 22 women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Serum adiponectin levels were measured at the time of the glucose challenge test as well as in the immediate postpartum period and the correlation of adiponectin to HOMA-IR was performed.

Parity is associated with lower cervical E-cadherin expression in postmenopausal women.

Aim: Epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin), a transmembrane glycoprotein involved in calcium-dependent homophilic cell-cell adhesion, is expressed aberrantly during cervical carcinogenesis. E-cadherin expression and putatively implicated predictors in healthy women remain a rather under-investigated area. The objective of this study is to evaluate the possible associations between E-cadherin expression and reproductive/lifestyle factors in cervical epithelial cells from postmenopausal women.

Genetic variants in TCF7L2 and KCNJ11 genes in a Greek population with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common reproductive endocrine disorder of premenopausal women, is strongly associated with hyperinsulinemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Given the phenotypic overlap between PCOS and T2DM, our objective was to investigate whether the TCF7L2 rs7903146(C/T) and the KCNJ11 E23K variants are involved in susceptibility to PCOS and related traits in a Greek population. A total of 183 PCOS patients and 148 healthy controls participated.

CSF and plasma cytokines at delivery and postpartum mood disturbances.

Background: Immune activation has been shown to be involved in the pathophysiology of anxiety states and major depression and pregnancy is associated with a characteristic immune activation to sustain the fetus. Despite the possibility of a relation between immune parameters and postpartum mood disturbance, few studies have explored this association. Further, no study to-date has examined CSF.

Human papilloma virus: diagnostic, treatment and preventive issues.

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus, is usually found in the genital tract and causes various lesions at the mucosae of both men and women. It is considered as a causative factor of cervical cancer even if all women infected by HPV will not develop the disease. This article reviews diagnostic aspects and therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of HPV infected females, as well as aspects concerning the prophylactic HPV vaccines.

Randomized controlled trial comparing superovulation with letrozole versus recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone combined with intrauterine insemination for couples with unexplained infertility who had failed clomiphene citrate stimulation and intrauterine insemination.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of letrozole to recombinant FSH for ovarian stimulation combined with IUI in a group of patients that had failed to conceive after clomiphene citrate (CC) and IUI.

Design: Prospective randomized trial with human subjects.

Setting: University-based fertility center.

Association between serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha and corticotropin-releasing hormone levels in women with preterm labor.

Aim: To evaluate the association of serum corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in preterm labor.

Methods: Forty-nine primigravidas with a singleton viable pregnancy between 28 and 34 weeks of gestation were studied. They were divided into two groups.

Effect of sperm treatment with exogenous platelet-activating factor on the outcome of intrauterine insemination.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of sperm treatment with exogenous platelet-activating factor (PAF) on IUI clinical pregnancy rate.

Design: Prospective randomized study.

Setting: Assisted Reproduction Unit, 2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens, Aretaieion Hospital, Athens, Greece.