Treg specialization and functions beyond immune suppression.

The actions of the immune system are finely tuned, involving complex communication and coordination between diverse immune and non-immune cells across the tissues of the body. A healthy immune system requires a precise balance between immunity and tolerance. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have long been appreciated as one of the master regulators of this balance; their importance is underscored by the autoimmunity that develops in mice and humans when Tregs are missing or dysfunctional.

Conservative management of epithelial ovarian cancer.

We are currently faced with a progressive delay in the age at which women conceive for the first time. This raises the possibility of the appearance of gynecologic disorders that may affect fertility, including neoplasms of the ovary. Fertility-sparing surgery is defined as the preservation of ovarian tissue in one or both adnexa and/or the uterus.

Essure: a new device for hysteroscopic tubal sterilization in an outpatient setting.

Objective: To evaluate the results of hysteroscopic placement of an intratubal device for permanent birth control in 85 women in an outpatient setting.

Design: Prospective, observational study.

Setting: Private university hospital.

Endometrial cancer: factors affecting survival.

Purpose: To evaluate the influence in survival of clinical and pathological findings in patients with endometrial cancer.

Methods: In 152 women treated for endometrial cancer from 1982 to 1996, personal, obstetrical and oncological data, histology, grade, myometrial invasion, peritoneal cytology, FIGO stage and treatment were correlated with survival.

Results: Mean age was of 60.

Endometrial hyperplasia with secretory changes.

Objective: Secretory changes in endometrial hyperplasia are uncommon. The aim of this study is to review the morphologic and clinical findings of 24 cases of endometrial hyperplasia with secretory changes.

Methods: In 24 patients diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia with secretory changes during 6 years, clinical characteristics such as menopausal status and hormone treatment were correlated with morphological features.

Fatty acid and triglyceride profiles of intramuscular and subcutaneous fat from fresh and dry-cured hams from Hairless Mexican Pigs.

The study was designed to compare the fatty acid profiles and triglyceride composition of subcutaneous and intramuscular fat of raw and cured hams from Hairless Mexican Pigs. Curing (180 days) was developed throughout several ordered steps: salting, stabilization, drying and ripening. For the salting step, hams were rubbed with nitrate salt, and kept on salt 1 day per kilogram at 0-4 °C and at relative humidity of 80-85%.

Borderline cystic tumors of the ovary: gray-scale and color Doppler sonographic findings.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the value of gray-scale and color Doppler sonography in distinguishing borderline cystic tumors (BCTs) from benign cysts and malignant tumors of the ovary.

Methods: The gray-scale and color Doppler sonographic features of 383 ovarian lesions in 374 nonpregnant women were retrospectively studied. Sonography was performed transvaginally for all but 7 lesions, which were imaged suprapubically.

Morphological changes in hysterectomies after endometrial ablation.

Electrosurgical ablation of the endometrium is a therapeutic choice for those patients having abnormal uterine bleeding. When ablation is followed by a hysterectomy, tissue damage due to thermal effect can be seen. From a total of 350 women with endometrial ablation, 12 required subsequent hysterectomy.

Histological features of the contralateral ovary in patients with unilateral ovarian cancer: a case control study.

Objective: Most of the surface epithelial-stromal tumors of the ovary are thought to arise from epithelial inclusion cysts, thus these cysts, and the original surface epithelium, are precursor lesions of ovarian carcinoma.

Material And Methods: The histological features in contralateral ovary from 20 patients with unilateral ovarian carcinoma were compared with 20 ovaries of patients without ovarian pathology and with 12 normal ovaries of women with contralateral benign ovarian pathology.

Results: Cortical invaginations were more frequent and numerous in ovaries of patients with contralateral ovarian carcinoma.

Microcolpohysteroscopy: myth or reality?

Objectives: Our aim was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of microcolpohysteroscopy (MCH) and colposcopy-directed biopsies in the detection of precancer and cancer of the uterine cervix.

Patients And Methods: Between January and December 1994, a total of 174 patients underwent colposcopic and MCH examinations. Direct biopsies were obtained under colposcopic and MCH guidance.

Hysteroscopic incision of the septate uterus: scissors versus resectoscope.

Out of a total of 81 women who underwent hysteroscopic incision of symptomatic septate uteri during a 5-year period, 70 were analysed with respect to reproductive outcome. Division of the septum was performed with hysteroscopic scissors in 17 patients and by means of the resectoscope in 53. Pre-operative indications included infertility, repetitive pregnancy losses, abnormal uterine bleeding and intractable dysmenorrhoea.

Papilloma virus infection. Precancer and epidermoid cancer.

We present a review of the relationship between Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Precancer and Epidermoid Cancer of the uterine cervix, Co-factors that contribute in cervical carcinogenesis and the mechanism through which Papillomaviruses transform normal cells into neoplastic cells by inducing an overproduction of the encoded proteins. We also offer final remarks and conclusions on this pathology that increases its incidence every year.

Oncological indications of hysteroscopy.

On the basis of our experience, we regard hysteroscopy as an important step in oncological propedeutics whenever performed by doctors of an endoscopic unit having experience of the subject. We believe it has a very important role in differential diagnosis of uterine bleedings, in the correct classification of endometrium carcinomas and in the control of non surgical treatments of endometrium carcinomas. It will be increasingly used in specialized hospitals.