Boosting Dose of Pfizer-BioNtech mRNA Vaccine Against SARS-CoV-2 Does Not Affect Reproductive Outcomes in In-Vitro Fertilization Patients: A Cohort Study.

Since the introduction of anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccination, few studies have shown that reproductive outcomes in artificial reproductive technology (ART) treatments are not impaired, after receiving the two-dose regimen. Our aim was to investigate whether a boosting dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech mRNA vaccine affects reproductive outcomes in ART patients. This is a prospective observational study, including 157 consecutive in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles between October 1, 2021, and November 24, 2021, in a single university affiliated IVF unit.

Elevated brain-derived cell-free DNA among patients with first psychotic episode - a proof-of-concept study.

Schizophrenia is a common, severe, and debilitating psychiatric disorder. Despite extensive research there is as yet no biological marker that can aid in its diagnosis and course prediction. This precludes early detection and intervention.

[Rare tumors of the prostate or seminal vesicles. Report of a case of leiomyosarcoma].

An unusual case of leiomyosarcoma of the prostate presented as a recurrent pelvic cystic mass. Prostatic sarcoma are rare in adults with a poor prognosis. It is often difficult to determine a definite origin.

[Micro-invasive cancer of the uterine cervix].

There is no current international consensus on the classification of microcarcinomas. There is still controversy over the depth of the stroma invasion and lymph node invasion as well as on confluence of invasive spread. The FIGO classification has been used since 1985 in which microinvasive carcinomas are considered as infraclinical cancers forming a group classed as stage 1a and divided into subgroups: 1a1 = early invasion of the stroma < 1 mm in depth; 1a2 = microinvasive carcinoma with invasion < 5 mm and width < 7 mm.

[Spinal melanocytic schwannoma with malignant course. Microscopic and ultrastructural study of a case].

The authors report a case of recurrent pigmented intraspinal schwannoma with malignant progression. Electron-microscopic study confirmed that melanin pigment was produced by tumor cells and that these cells were derived from the nerve sheath. The histogenesis of pigmented tumors is explained by their neural crest origin and the problem of differential diagnosis of the malignant form with melanoma is discussed.

[Classification of ovarian tumors based on embryogenesis].

This paper studies gonadal differentiation into the ovary from the earliest interaction between germ cells and somatic cells in the developing urogenital ridge up to the formation of primordial follicles. Granulosa cells appear to be derived from the breaking down of the cordlike arrangement of epithelial cells resulting from proliferation of surface coelomic mesothelium. Thecal cells arise from mesenchymal progenitors cells in the ovarian stroma.

[Female pseudohermaphroditism].

Contrary to what is observed in true hermaphroditism and in male pseudo-hermaphroditism, there is no erroneous transmission of the genetic gonadal differentiation programme in female pseudohermaphroditism. All that has happened is virilization of the urogenital sinus and external genitalia in a foetus exposed to exo- or endogenous androgens. In the absence of testis there is no production of anti-mullerian hormone, and for these reasons the uterus, the fallopian tubes and the vagina develop normally, whilst the wollfian ducts are regressed and there is no trace of male deep spermatic pathway.

[Respective roles of thecal and granulosa cells in the morphogenesis of the corpus luteum].

Studies on human ovary embryogenesis and adult post-ovulatory surgically resected ovaries allowed the authors to propose a new conception on the genesis of corpus luteum: large luteal cells would be derived from theca interna cells and small luteal cells would come from externa theca cells. So there would be a structural unity of luteal tissue which might explain steroidogenesis potential of these two types of cells, derived both from the same ovarian stroma. On the other hand if granulosa cells played an important function in bio-conversion of androgens to oestradiol by aromatase activity before ovulation, their role is over after the expulsion of the oocyte out of the follicle; derived from primitive sex cords of coelomic mesothelium origin, granulosa cells act to support and surround the oocyte; they disappeared at the disappearance of the oocyte from the follicle.

[From embryogenesis to pathogenesis of effects of diethylstilbestrol on the female genital tract].

From studies on embryogenesis, the authors describe the development, not conditioned by sex steroids, of the upper female genital tract and, in particular, the formation of its cervico-vaginal portion and the shaping of the uterine cervix in about the 16th week of pregnancy. Basing themselves on the physiology of the foeto-placental unit and on the hormonal profile of the foetal ovary, they show that the action of oestrogens on the foetal uterine cervix can be observed only from the 32nd week onward. The action of diethylstilboestrol--a potent oestrogen that is not steroidal and therefore not degraded by foetal metabolism--on the foetal genital tract is explained.

[Hormones and embryogenesis of the uterine cervix].

In the absence of the T.D.F.

[Histogenetic study of corpus luteum in the human ovary].

The authors present a histological study of the formation of the corpus luteum after follicular rupture. According to the classical conception, the corpus luteum is derived from luteinisation of the granulosa cells: the theca interna participates in its formation only to a lesser degree. The authors criticize this histogenesis and describe the corpus luteum as being entirely derived from thecal cells.

[Hermaphroditism and male pseudohermaphroditism].

In the human embryo, sex is all in the genes. Later on, the male and female sexual characters, which are products of the expression of all individual genomes, differentiate men from women. In this paper, the embryogenesis and morphology of true hermaphroditism and male pseudo-hermaphroditism are studied.

[Malignant dermoid cyst of the ovary with double tumor cell population, revealed by an umbilical metastasis].

The authors report a case of multiple malignancies (squamous cell carcinoma and carcinoid) arising in a dermoid cyst of the ovary. The tumor being revealed by an umbilical metastasis. They insist on the rarity of this entity and discuss the elements of diagnosis and prognosis through a review of literature.

[Histogenesis of isthmic nodular salpingitis].

Nodular salpingitis of the isthmus is a clinicopathological entity related to what is classically referred to as interstitial adenomyosis. These two lesions are due to the same aetiopathogenic process and result from inflammatory proliferation of the tubal epithelium with formation of pseudoglandular ducts. The only difference between the two is that one is ensheathed by a fine network of mesonephric muscle fibres and the other is surrounded by a thick layer of myometrial muscle fibres.

[From embryogenesis to female phenotype in subjects with XY karyotype].

On the basis of the findings of their investigation of the embryogenesis of the female genital tract, the authors advance a hypothesis concerning the origin of ambiguities between the genetic sex and the gonophoric sex which determine primary sexual characteristics observed in Morris' syndrome and in gonadoblastoma. According to the authors, in gonadoblastoma there is dysgenesis or even agenesis of the gonads, with a total absence of Sertoli cells and, therefore, no secretion of anti-Müller substance and this explains the development of the Müller canals into uterus and Fallopian tubes and the presence of a vagina in an XY subject. In the syndrome of the feminizing testis, XY subjects have testes containing Sertoli cells which have produced anti-Müller substance.

[The reality and usefulness of Halban's fascia].

The authors, in this article, have reviewed the different proofs that confirm that Halban's fascia does exist. The authors have been able to find, separate out and use Halban's fascia in a series of 263 vaginal operations for genital prolapse taking the anatomo-surgical approach. From the histological approach, they have shown that Halban's fascia is constituted by fibro-connective tissue strips between which there are large numbers of blood vessels and muscles and nerve endings.

[A classification of uterine tumors based on embryogenesis].

On the basis of their results of studies of human embryos and foetuses, the authors believe that the myometrium is derived from the primitive mesenchyme, while the endometrium is derived from the coelomic mesothelium. The myometrium is the site of non-specific tumours common to all soft tissues (of other organs): leiomyoma, lipoleiomyoma, leiomyoblastoma, leiomyosarcoma; vascular tumours: angioma, haemangiopericytoma. The endometrium is the site of tumours derived either from the epithelial contingent (of glandular tubules): adenoma, adenocarcinoma; or from the epithelio-connective tissue contingents: mullerian dysplasia, carcinosarcoma (homologous mixed mesodermal tumour).

[10 fatal endocarditis: autopsy observations, causes of death].

Among 841 autopsies realized between january 1982 and september 1988, by the Pathological the department of Amiens University Hospital the ten patients dead of infectious endocarditis have been autopsied. Macroscopic and microscopic observations have two cases of acute endocarditis and eight of subacute endocarditis. For the two patients dead of acute endocarditis, autopsy affirms the cardiovascular etiology of death.

[A case of pflügeroma or mixed germ cell-sex cord stroma tumor].

We report a case of pflügerome, a tumor now designated by the term "mixed germ cell sex cord and stroma tumor". This infrequent tumor consists in a proliferation of germ cells surrounded by Sertoli-granulosa-type cells and arises in patients with a feminine phenotype and a 46XY karyotype; it should be differentiated from gonadoblastomas that are seen in patients with a female phenotype and a 46XY or 46XX/46XY mosaic karyotype. Prognosis is good and recovery occurs following exeresis.

[New findings on the embryogenesis of the uterus].

In this study including twelve embryos, aged 4 to 8 weeks, and twenty-one fetuses between 9 and 25 weeks, and a group of five still-born fetuses between 25 and 40 weeks, the authors used conventional techniques of histological preparations and immuno-chemistry according to the BSA technique (biotin-streptavidin with peroxidase labelling), in order to demonstrate that the uterus presents a "dual embryogenesis". The endometrium with its stroma and the transition zone endometrium-myometrium have a coelomic origin. The myometrium with the common connective tissue derive from primary mesenchyma.

[New findings on the embryogenesis of the vagina].

The authors have studied a series of twelve embryos between 4 and 8 weeks of age and 21 fetuses between 9 and 25 weeks of gestation. From this material they have made a study of the embryogenesis of the vagina, which shows that the whole of the vagina, and not only the lower third or fifth, is derived from the vaginal plate, this latter is the result of proliferation and fusion of the two sino-vaginal bulbs. This study supports the unitary theory ascribing formation of the vagina to ascension and extension of the vaginal plate which is derived from the cloacal sinus.

[Histologic study of the gonads in ovarian differentiation during organogenesis].

We report the results of a histologic study of the differentiating ovary carried out in human embryos and fetuses. Up to the sixth week, the anlage of the gonad is formed by the proliferation of cells originating from the coelomic mesothelium; this proliferation starts with the migration of the primordial germ cells. Between the sixth and the tenth weeks, the primary mesenchyma invades the epithelial mass and divides it into "cords"; by division, the germ cells contained within the mass become ovocytes.

[Comparative morphological study of the peritoneal mesothelium and the germinal epithelium of the ovary. Histogenetic evidence for endometriosis].

The purpose of this study was to evaluate comparatively the morphology of germinal epithelium and of peritoneal mesothelial cells in women with and without endometriotic foci. In women without enometriotic foci, transmission electron microscopy revealed that plasma membranes of both cell types can form villous process, and that tonofilaments can be found in the cytoplasm; the microfibrils are well defined and may be arranged in perinuclear location or closely packed on the surface. Desmosomes are occasionally found in both cell types.