LEVELS OF SEXUAL HORMONES IN RELATION WITH SYNDROME-DIFFERENTIATION OF TCM IN PATIENTS OF CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE

Determinations of plasma levels of sexu-al hormones in 43 male patients of chronicrenal failure showed that the content oftestosterone（T）decreased markedly,whileestradiol（E2）and E2/T ratio were obviouslyhigher than in normal subjects,with no signif-icant correlation between the levels of thesesexual hormones and renal function.Accord-ing to syndrome-differentiation of TCM。

Evaluations of cytotoxicity of Smilax myosotiflora and its effects on sexual hormone levels and testicular histology in male rats

Objective: To investigate the cytotoxicity of Smilax myosotiflora(S. myosotiflora)methanolic extract and its effects on sexual hormone levels and testicular histology in male rats.Methods: The cytotoxicity of S. myosotiflora methanolic extract was investigated by employing brine shrimp lethality assay. Forty eight male rats were randomly divided into four groups(Groups I–IV) of 12 each. Rats in Group I were administered with 0.5 m L of distilled water(vehicle), whilst Groups II, III and IV received 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg of the methanolic extract of S. myosotiflora in 0.5 m L of the vehicle, respectively. Male rats treated with continuous daily dosing were killed and necropsied after a total dose period of 60 days. Sexual hormones were assayed and histological examination of testes was performed according to standard methods.Results: S. myosotiflora extracts did not produce any cytotoxicity to brine shrimp in all concentrations tested. Serum testosterone level was significantly higher in rats treated with high dose of S. myosotiflora. Testicular histology showed normal architecture with all stages of spermatogenesis in all experimental groups.Conclusions: The present work confirmed that S. myosotiflora extract improves reproductive functions, without any cytotoxic activity and produces no histological changes to the testes.

Association of Body Mass Index with Semen Quality and Sexual Hormone Levels among Men in Intrauterine Insemination

Background: The available evidence on the role of obesity and BMI on male infertility has been controversial or inconclusive to some extent. Objectives: To investigate the role of BMI on semen quality and hormone levels in men received intrauterine insemination. Material and Methods: A total of 390 males seeking artificial insemination in our department were recruited. BMI, blood pressure and semen parameters were assessed. Morning blood sample was taken for serum levels of testosterone (T), prolactin (PRL), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol (E2). Results: Subjects were divided into four groups according to BMI. There was no significant difference among groups in any of semen parameters and serum levels of FSH, LH, PRL and E2. Obese and overweight men were found having lower serum levels of T and higher levels of E2/T ratio than those of normal and underweight men. BMI was not found to be associated with semen parameters. Conclusion: This study has not found evidence of an association between BMI and semen parameters, but obesity has a negative effect on serum testosterone levels.

Prevalence of Dyspareunia and Its Effect on Sexual Life among Gynaecological Clinic Attendees in Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Nigeria

Introduction: Dyspareunia is one of the most common complaints in gynae-cologic practice with tremendous effect on both quality of life and sexual rela-tionship of women. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of dyspareunia and its effect on sexual life among gynaecology clinic attendees in Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on consenting participants between 12th May 2016 and 25th July 2016. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were used collection information on dyspareunia and its effect on sexual life at the Gynaecology clinic. The data was analyzed using Epiinfo version 7.1.5. Results: One hundred and four (104) women participated in this study. Most of the women studied were Igbos (95.19%), and were mainly between the age ranges of 21 - 30 years (66.35%). Most of them were married (89.42%), and were also mainly of the Pentecostal denomination (40.78%). The mean age at coitarche was 20.6 ± 3.95 years. Prevalence of dyspareunia was 36% and only 16% sought medical help. The various responses to dyspareunia were avoidance of sex 11%, reduced frequency of intercourse 8%, less desire for sex 19%, while majority of women with dyspareunia tolerated it (62%). Conclusion: The prevalence of dyspareunia is high in our society afflicting young women in their reproductive years with associated enormous stress on their sexual life.

Frequency of Monthly Ejaculation at Sexual Intercourse, DNA Fragmentation Index and Fertilization Rate among Sperm Donors and Fertility-Challenged Men in Sub-Saharan Africa: Paper 2

Introduction: Heterogenous sexual intercourse often produces a powerful orgasm that stimulates the pituitary function. Studies have suggested ejaculation frequency based on age. Materials and Methods: Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect information from subjects. Semen samples were collected from sperm donors and sub-fertile men who presented for infertility challenges. Processing and analysis of semen samples were done according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Sperm deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation was evaluated using the Halosperm kit. Results: Among sperm donors, those aged χ2 = 0.09, P-value = 0.81, OR = 3.2, 95% CI: 0.23, 45.19) while among sub-fertile men those aged ≥40 years were approximately 2.3 times more likely to have very low frequency of MESI compared to aged χ2 = 2.11, P-value = 0.51, OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 0.74, 9.92). The frequency of all categories of MESI was highest among sub-fertile men aged χ2 = 0.03, P-value = 0.57, OR = 2.42, 95% CI: 0.41, 14.46). Sub-fertile men aged ≥40 with diastolic hypertension (≥90 mmHg) were approximately 6 times more likely to have a low (6 - 10) frequency of MESI compared to those aged χ2 = 1.97, P-value = 0.16, OR = 6.22, 95% CI: 0.69, 55.77). Overall mean fertilization rate was significantly higher (t-test = 2.44, P-value = 0.01) among sub-fertile men aged Conclusion: Cigarette smoking, more than alcohol consumption, appears to be a major factor that significantly affects the frequency of MESI among sub-fertile men in all age groups. Frequency of MESI negatively but insignificantly correlated with systolic blood pressure.

The sexually dimorphic expression of glutamate transporters and their implication in pain after spinal cord injury

In addition to the loss of motor function,~60% of patients develop pain after spinal cord injury.The cellular-molecular mechanisms are not well understood,but the data suggests that plasticity within the rostral,epicenter,and caudal penumbra of the injury site initiates a cellularmolecular interplay that acts as a rewiring mechanism leading to central neuropathic pain.Sprouting can lead to the formation of new connections triggering abnormal sensory transmission.The excitatory glutamate transporters are responsible for the reuptake of extracellular glutamate which makes them a critical target to prevent neuronal hyperexcitability and excitotoxicity.Our previous studies showed a sexually dimorphic therapeutic window for spinal cord injury after treatment with the selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen.In this study,we investigated the anti-allodynic effects of tamoxifen in male and female rats with spinal cord injury.We hypothesized that tamoxifen exerts anti-allodynic effects by increasing the expression of glutamate transporters,leading to reduced hyperexcitability of the secondary neuron or by decreasing aberrant sprouting.Male and female rats received a moderate contusion to the thoracic spinal cord followed by subcutaneous slow-release treatment of tamoxifen or matrix pellets as a control(placebo).We used von Frey monofilaments and the“up-down method”to evaluate mechanical allodynia.Tamoxifen treatment decreased allodynia only in female rats with spinal cord injury revealing a sexdependent effect.The expression profile of glutamatergic transporters(excitatory amino acid transporter 1/glutamate aspartate transporter and excitatory amino acid transporter 2/glutamate transporter-1)revealed a sexual dimorphism in the rostral,epicenter,and caudal areas of the spinal cord with a pattern of expression primarily on astrocytes.Female rodents showed a significantly higher level of excitatory amino acid transporter-1 expression while male rodents showed increased excitatory amino acid transporter-2 expression compared with female rodents.Analyses of peptidergic(calcitonin gene-related peptide-α)and non-peptidergic(isolectin B4)fibers outgrowth in the dorsal horn after spinal cord injury showed an increased calcitonin gene-related peptide-α/isolectin B4 ratio in comparison with sham,suggesting increased receptive fields in the dorsal horn.Although the behavioral assay shows decreased allodynia in tamoxifen-treated female rats,this was not associated with overexpression of glutamate transporters or alterations in the dorsal horn laminae fibers at 28 days post-injury.Our findings provide new evidence of the sexually dimorphic expression of glutamate transporters in the spinal cord.The dimorphic expression revealed in this study provides a therapeutic opportunity for treating chronic pain,an area with a critical need for treatment.

生长激素信号肽可诱导重组蛋白外分泌表达

Signal peptide capable of efficiently directing many protein secretion in mammalian cells is one of the key elements in recombinant protein production,gene therapy and the development of DNA vaccines.In order to explore the possibility of rat growth hormone signal peptide as such an element,a new vector based on the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3 was constructed by employing rat growth hormone(rGH) signal peptide as leading sequence,followed by multiple cloning sites,the myc epitope-tag and 6×his purification tag in the expression cassette.The vector was validated by successfully expressing and secretion of chick MMP-2 C-terminal PEX domain,a potential angiogenesis inhibitor,and tandem peptide repeats of myc epitope-tag in COS-7 cells.These results suggest that rat growth hormone signal peptide is effective in the mediation of recombinant protein expression and secretion,and this vector provides a new tool for universal cloning and secretion of exogenous proteins in mammalian cells.

Association of severity and sex with vasoactive substance and sexual hormone level in patients with vascular dementia in the type of kidney asthenia and blood stasis syndrome

BACKGROUND: Kidney asthenia is the basic cause of the development of vascular dementia (VD). Kidney asthenia lasting for a long time will result in blood stasis. Also, the cause of VD may have relationships with endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO), homocysteine (HCY), estrogen (E2), and testosterone (T). OBJECTIVE: To observed clinical curative effect of the kidney tonic, pancreas tonic, and blood tonic with promoting blood circulation components in treating kidney asthenia with blood stasis syndrome of VD. DESIGN: Case controlled study. SETTING: Geriatric Institute of Integrated Medicine, Fujian College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 70 patients, including 39 males and 31 females aged 60-80 years, were selected from Department of Neurology, Pingshan Hospital from May 2000 to September 2002. Diagnostic criteria were used for probable VD of the American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical of Manual of Mental Disorder, 4th ed (DSM-Ⅳ), 1994 revised, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), and criteria of kidney asthenia with blood stasis with mixed weak and sthenia syndrome of Guidelines of Clinical Research of New Chinese Medicine in Treating Dementia. According to score of kidney asthenia with blood stasis syndrome, they were classified to three groups: mild (n =22), moderate (n =33) and severe (n =15). All of them with complete chest X-Ray, ECG, blood chemistry and other related examinations, exclusive of cardiovascular, liver, kidney diseases, homeopathy and psychiatry diseases. And hereby we also select 30 normal people as the comparing group, having no substantial diseases in heart, brain, kidney, liver, lung and other main organic systems after medical examination. Of this group, 11 were males and 19 were females, ranging from 62 years old to 78 years old. There were no obvious differences between the above two groups in sex, age, and education level after statistical analysis. All patients observed in Pingxi Hospital, Fuzhou, from May 2000 to September 2002. METHODS: ① According to the diagnoses standard of blood stasis syndrome: 0-89: The increase in score indicated that blood stasis syndrome was getting serious. ② According to MMSE: All the test samples were evaluated, those with scores of 0-30, in which the non-educated ≤ 17, primary school ≤ 20, above middle school ≤ 24 were categorized. ③ Testing all sample's ET, E2 and T by using radioimmunoassay, the RIA kits were provided by Scientific and Technological Development Center of General Hospital of PLA. ④ Testing the level of NO by using colorimetic method. ⑤ Testing the level of HCY by using Enzyme-linked Immunoassay. ⑥ Meanwhile, analyzing the blood stasis score by comparing with every standard. The differences of data were compared by using t test and F test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Blood plasma ET, blood serum NO, HCY, E2 and T. ② The analyzing results obtained from comparing score of blood stasis with every indicators. RESULTS: The result analysis was including of both the 70 patients of VD with kidney asthenia and blood stasis and compared group consist of 30 healthy people. ① ET, NO, HCY and ET/NO: The levels of ET, HCY and ET/NO were increasing with pathography, while the levels of ET, NO, HCY and ET/NO were decreasing with the pathography, and the difference in statistics was significant (P < 0.01). ② The level of E2 and T: The levels of both E2, T and E2/T for male VD patients were (67.72±12.18) pg/L and (351.58±155.02) ng/L, 0.24±0.12 respectively, which were higher than the compared group [(53.96±16.13) pg/L, (471.83±143.99) ng/L, 0.12±0.00, P < 0.05]. The level of E2 in the female VD patients was lower than the compared group [(34.23±10.99), (44.81±14.65) pg/L, P < 0.05]. ③ The relationship between the score of blood stasis and each indicators: The levels of ET, ET/NO and HCY had significant positive relationship with blood stasis mark (r = 0.352, 0.754, 0.347, P < 0.05-0.01), obvious negative relationship with NO (r =-0.528, P < 0.01) and no clear relationship with female E2/T and male E2/T (r = -0.210, 0.04, P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: ① The levels of ET, HCY and ET/NO are increasing with pathography, while the level of NO is decreasing, which may be the evidence that the possibility of VD pathography may have relationship with the indicators above. ② The level of E2 increase in male's VD patients, and decrease in male's. And the decrease of the female may have relationship with the VD.

Involvement of chromatin and histone acetylation in the regulation of HIV-LTR by thyroid hormone receptor

The HIV-1 LTR controls the expression of HIV-1 viral genes and thus is critical for viral propagation and pathology. Numerous host factors have been shown to participate in the regulation of the LTR promoter. Among them is the thyroid hormone (T3) receptor (TR). TR has been shown to bind to the critical region of the promoter that contain the NFbB and Sp1 binding sites. Interestingly, earlier transient transfection studies in tissue culture cells have yielded contradicting conclusions on the role of TR in LTR regulation, likely due to the use of different cell types and/or lack of proper chromatin organization. Here, using the frog oocyte as a model system that allows replication-coupled chromatin assembly, mimicking that in somatic cells, we demonstrate that unliganded heterodimers of TR and RXR (9-cis retinoic acid receptor) repress LTR while the addition of T3 relieves the repression and further activates the promoter. More importantly, we show that chromatin and unliganded TR/RXR synergize to repress the promoter in a histone deacetylase-dependent manner.

骨代谢生化指标临床应用专家共识(2020)

骨代谢生化指标包括钙磷代谢调节指标、骨形成标志物、骨吸收标志物、激素与细胞因子。骨代谢生化指标分别来源于骨、软骨、软组织、皮肤、肝、肾、小肠、血液及内分泌腺体等,是由成骨细胞或破骨细胞分泌的酶和激素,以及骨基质的胶原蛋白或非胶原蛋白代谢产物。骨代谢生化指标可及时反映骨转换状态,灵敏度高、特异性强,用于骨质疏松诊断分型、预测骨折风险、抗骨质疏松治疗疗效评价,以及代谢性骨病的诊断与鉴别诊断。并且在骨质疏松流行病学、发病机制、骨质疏松药物的研究方面具有重要的临床意义。本文对《骨代谢生化指标临床应用专家共识(2019)》进行了修订,共有41处修改,保留了经典文献,删减了部分内容,增加了近三年的文献,收集整理了骨代谢指标实验检测参考范围。

Functional interactions between steroid hormones and neurotrophin BDNF

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF),a critical neurotrophin,regulates many neuronal aspects including cell differentiation,cell survival,neurotransmission,and synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system(CNS) .Though BDNF has two types of receptors,high affinity tropomyosin-related kinase(Trk) B and low affinity p75 receptors,BDNF positively exerts its biological effects on neurons via activation of TrkB and of resultant intracellular signaling cascades including mitogenactivated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase,phospholipase Cγ,and phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathways.Notably,it is possible that alteration in the expression and/or function of BDNF in the CNS is involved in the pathophysiology of various brain diseases such as stroke,Parkinson's disease,Alzheimer's disease,and mental disorders.On the other hand,glucocorticoids,stress-induced steroid hormones,also putatively contribute to the pathophysiology of depression.Interestingly,in addition to the reduction in BDNF levels due to increased glucocorticoid exposure,current reports demonstrate possible interactions between glucocorticoids and BDNF-mediated neuronal functions. Other steroid hormones,such as estrogen,are involved in not only sexual differentiation in the brain,but also numerous neuronal events including cell survival and synaptic plasticity.Furthermore,it is well known that estrogen plays a role in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease,Alzheimer's disease,and mental illness,while serving to regulate BDNF expression and/or function.Here,we present a broad overview of the current knowledge concerning the association between BDNF expression/function and steroid hormones(glucocorticoids and estrogen).

Neuroprotective potential for mitigating ischemia-reperfusion-induced damage

Reperfusion following cerebral ischemia causes both structural and functional damage to brain tissue and could aggravate a patient's condition;this phenomenon is known as cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.Current studies have elucidated the neuroprotective role of the sirtuin protein family(Sirtuins)in modulating cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.However,the potential of utilizing it as a novel intervention target to influence the prognosis of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury requires additional exploration.In this review,the origin and research progress of Sirtuins are summarized,suggesting the involvement of Sirtuins in diverse mechanisms that affect cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury,including inflammation,oxidative stress,blood-brain barrier damage,apoptosis,pyroptosis,and autophagy.The therapeutic avenues related to Sirtuins that may improve the prognosis of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury were also investigated by modulating Sirtuins expression and affecting representative pathways,such as nuclear factor-kappa B signaling,oxidative stress mediated by adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase,and the forkhead box O.This review also summarizes the potential of endogenous substances,such as RNA and hormones,drugs,dietary supplements,and emerging therapies that regulate Sirtuins expression.This review also reveals that regulating Sirtuins mitigates cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury when combined with other risk factors.While Sirtuins show promise as a potential target for the treatment of cerebral ischemiareperfusion injury,most recent studies are based on rodent models with circadian rhythms that are distinct from those of humans,potentially influencing the efficacy of Sirtuinstargeting drug therapies.Overall,this review provides new insights into the role of Sirtuins in the pathology and treatment of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Frequency of Monthly Ejaculation at Sexual Intercourse, DNA Fragmentation Index and Fertilization Rate among Sperm Donors and Fertility-Challenged Men in Sub-Saharan Africa: Paper 1

Introduction: In humans, the ideal ejaculation frequency depends on age, exercise and sexual potential. Natural ejaculation frequency balances the testosterone levels in the body. Materials and Methods: Semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from subjects. Semen samples were collected from sperm donors and sub-fertile men who presented for infertility challenges. Processing and analysis of semen samples were done according to World Health Organization guidelines. Sperm DNA fragmentation was evaluated using the Halosperm&#174;?kit. Results: A total of 114 subjects, including 19 sperm donors and 95 sub-fertile males were studied. There was a significant difference (t =?&#8722;5.96, P-value = 0.00001) in the mean [±sd] age of sperm donors (30.8 [8.1]) and that of sub-fertile men (42.3 [76]). There was a significant difference (t=?&#8722;4.10, P-value = 0.0005) in the mean monthly ejaculation during sexual intercourse (MESI) among sperm donors with DNA fragmentation index &#8722;2.20, P-value = 0.02) in MESI among sub-fertile men aged ≥40 years (8.9 [4.6]) than among those aged &#8722;0.67, SE = 0.28, t = &#8722;2.40, P-value = 0.02, 95% CI: &#8722;1.24,?&#8722;0.10). Conclusion: In men < 40 years, fewer MESI did not worsen the DFI. A higher number of professionals such as doctors, lawyers and engineers, reported lower monthly frequency of sexual ejaculations compared to entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs and non-smokers had the highest frequencies of MESI.

骨代谢生化指标临床应用专家共识(2023修订版)

骨代谢生化指标的临床应用,为骨质疏松的诊断、鉴别诊断、预测骨折风险及抗骨质疏松治疗疗效评价提供了分子生物学依据,并在骨质疏松流行病学研究、发病机制、骨质疏松药物开发研究方面具有重要意义。由于骨代谢生化指标检测特异性强、灵敏度高,其应用日趋广泛。该文检索了大量中外文献,编审了《骨代谢生化指标临床应用专家共识》(2023修订版),对骨代谢生化指标的分类、骨代谢生化指标的方法学以及生物学意义、骨代谢指标的检测变异等进行了论述。

The role of endotoxin,TNF-α,and IL-6 in inducing the state of growth hormone insensitivity

AIM: Critical illnesses such as sepsis, trauma, and burns cause a growth hormone insensitivity, which leads to an increased negative nitrogen balance. Endotoxin is generously released into blood under these conditions and stimulates the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1, which may play a very important role in inducing the growth hormone insensitivity. The objective of this current study was to investigate the role of endotoxin, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in inducing the growth hormone insensitivity at the receptor and post-receptor levels. METHODS: Spague-Dawley rats were injected with endotoxin, TNF-alpha, and IL-6, respectively and part of rats injected with endotoxin was treated with exogenous somatotropin simultaneously. All rats were killed at different time points. The expression of IGF-I, GHR, SOCS-3 and beta-actin mRNA in the liver was detected by RT-PCR and the GH levels were measured by radioimmunoassay, the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in serous GH levels between experimental group and control rats after endotoxin injection, however, liver IGF-I mRNA expression had been obviously down-regulated in endotoxemic rats. Liver GHR mRNA expression also had a predominant down-regulation after endotoxin injection. The lowest regulation of liver IGF-I mRNA expression occurred at 12h after LPS injection, being decreased by 53% compared with control rats. For GHR mRNA expression, the lowest expression occurred at 8h and had a 81% decrease. Although SOCS-3 mRNA was weakly expressed in control rats, it was strongly up-regulated after LPS injection and had a 7.84 times increase compared with control rats. Exogenous GH could enhance IGF-I mRNA expression in control rats, but it did fail to prevent the decline in IGF-I mRNA expression in endotoxemic rats. Endotoxin stimulated the production of TNF-alpha and IL-6, and the elevated IL-6 levels was shown a positive correlation with increased SOCS-3 mRNA expression. The liver GHR mRNA expression was obviously down-regulated after TNF-alpha iv injection and had a 40% decrease at 8h, but the liver SOCS-3 mRNA expression was the 4.94 times up-regulation occurred at 40 min after IL-6 injection. CONCLUSION: The growth hormone insensitivity could be induced by LPS injection, which was associated with down-regulated GHR mRNA expression at receptor level and with up-regulated SOCS-3 mRNA expression at post-receptor level. The in vivo biological activities of LPS were mediated by TNF-alpha and IL-6 indirectly, and TNF-alpha and IL-6 may exert their effects on the receptor and post-receptor levels respectively.

Effects of thyrotropin-releasing hormone on severe head injury:A preliminary clinical trial

Objective: To evaluate the effects of thyorotropin-releasing hormone (TRH ) on severe head injury.Methods: Eighty--seven severely head injured patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS ) score of & or less wererandomized into TRH--treated and saline control groups. In TRH treated group. the treatment was started with abolus injection of 0. 2 mg/kg followed by continuous infusion for 2 hours at 0. 2 mg/kg/h. Such treatment wasgiven once a day for 4 times. The patients in control group were given the equivalent normal saline with the samemethod. Results: TRH, administered intravenously after head injury. promoted the recovery of consciousness andGCS score, alleviated the traumatic brain edema, controlled and lowered the intracranial pressure. decreased thelevel of lipid superoxides, decreased the mortality rate. and improved the life quality of the survivals. Nocomplications or adverse and toxic effects were noted during the course of TRH treatment. Conclusion: TRH hasbeneficial effects on patients with severe head injury.

Growth Hormone Treatment, Cardiovascular Risk and Autonomic Maturation in Children and Adolescents with Growth Hormone Deficiency or Born Small for Gestational Age

Introduction: The impact of growth hormone therapy in children with short stature on cardiovascular prognosis seems to be unpredictable from big databases. The enhanced cardiovascular risk in this group of patients may be related to adverse autonomic imprinting by early life stress. Autonomic dysfunction and possible effects of growth hormone therapy on the autonomic nervous system can be measured easily by calculating heart rate variability (HRV) from Holter electrocardiogram monitoring. Methods: We performed HRV analysis prior to growth hormone therapy (N = 33), within the first year of growth hormone therapy between 4 and 10 years of age (N = 19), at least a further HRV measurement between 10 and 15 years (N = 30). Additional measurements were performed before and after cessation of growth hormone therapy (N = 14). Data were compared to untreated pediatric patients with short stature and to age matched healthy controls. Results: Untreated patients with short stature due to growth hormone deficiency or intrauterine growth restriction in early childhood have significantly increased heart rates most of all at night and concomitantly reduced global HRV indicated as Standard Deviation of Normal to Normal Intervals (SDNN). Growth hormone treated adolescents and the untreated patients with short stature show significantly elevated mean heart rates and concomitantly reduced vagus activities measured as reduced Route Mean Square Standard Deviation (RMSSD). After cessation of growth hormone treatment SDNN significantly increases and heart rate decreases to normal values in formerly treated patients with catch-up growth. Conclusion: There is a comparable autonomic dysfunction in treated and untreated children with short stature as an indicator for enhanced cardiovascular risk. After cessation of growth hormone therapy, we found a significant improvement of reduced HRV to normal values.

A Qualitative Model of the Interaction of Sexual Behavior and Hormone Gene Transcription in Male Blue Gourami during Reproduction

In the present study, a model is suggested to describe hormone control in male blue gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus) along the gonadotropic brain-pituitary- gonad axis (BPG axis) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-somatotropic axis (HPS axis). This model is based on the cloning and transcription of genes encoding hormones of the two axes involved in spermatogenesis during blue gourami reproduction. Gene transcription is affected by environmental, biological, and behavioral factors. Mature males were examined in two different stages—nonreproductive in high-density habitats and reproductive in low-density habitats. Based on gene transcription, gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) was involved in controlling spermatogenesis (spermatogonia to spermatids) via the BPG axis in nonreproductive and reproductive stages by controlling follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), 11-ketotestosterone (11KT) and 17β-estradiol (E2). However, GnRH3 had a larger effect during the reproductive stage via the BPG axis (spermatids to sperm) on luteinizing hormone (LH), 11KT, and 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17P). At the same time, the HPS axis was involved in spermatogenesis via pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and its related peptide PRP (formerly known as GHRH-like peptide) in the brain, and growth hormone (GH) in the pituitary affected synthesis of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) in the liver.

Smart Approaches to Efficient Text Mining for Categorizing Sexual Reproductive Health Short Messages into Key Themes

To promote behavioral change among adolescents in Zambia, the National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council, in collaboration with UNICEF, developed the Zambia U-Report platform. This platform provides young people with improved access to information on various Sexual Reproductive Health topics through Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages. Over the years, the platform has accumulated millions of incoming and outgoing messages, which need to be categorized into key thematic areas for better tracking of sexual reproductive health knowledge gaps among young people. The current manual categorization process of these text messages is inefficient and time-consuming and this study aims to automate the process for improved analysis using text-mining techniques. Firstly, the study investigates the current text message categorization process and identifies a list of categories adopted by counselors over time which are then used to build and train a categorization model. Secondly, the study presents a proof of concept tool that automates the categorization of U-report messages into key thematic areas using the developed categorization model. Finally, it compares the performance and effectiveness of the developed proof of concept tool against the manual system. The study used a dataset comprising 206,625 text messages. The current process would take roughly 2.82 years to categorise this dataset whereas the trained SVM model would require only 6.4 minutes while achieving an accuracy of 70.4% demonstrating that the automated method is significantly faster, more scalable, and consistent when compared to the current manual categorization. These advantages make the SVM model a more efficient and effective tool for categorizing large unstructured text datasets. These results and the proof-of-concept tool developed demonstrate the potential for enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of message categorization on the Zambia U-report platform and other similar text messages-based platforms.