ABSTRACT
The snake shed skin though considered as biological waste products have been mentioned in folk and traditional medicine for treatment of ailments like skin disorders, parturition problems etc. Shedded skin extract (5 mg.kg-1, sc) did not produce any change in the estrous cycle of normal cycling female mice. However in 10 mg.kg-1, sc dose, the extract caused a temporary cessation of the estrous cycle at diestrous phase in normal cycling female mice for 10 days. SSAE (10 mg.kg-1, sc) caused a significant change in the level of LH, FSH, progesterone, estradiol, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α. Histopathology of uterus and ovary showed structural disorientation in both. The results substantiate the influence of snake shed skin in mice reproductive cycle.
Subject(s)
Animals , Cytokines/metabolism , Elapidae , Estradiol/metabolism , Estrous Cycle/drug effects , Estrous Cycle/metabolism , Female , Fertility/drug effects , Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects , Hormones/metabolism , Mice , Ovary/metabolism , Ovary/pathology , Progesterone/metabolism , Reproduction , Skin/chemistry , Uterus/metabolism , Uterus/pathologyABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Precocious puberty is defined as the onset of secondary sexual characteristics before 8 year of age in girls and 9 year in boys. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spectrum of diagnoses made in a consecutive group of children referred for signs of precocious puberty and evaluate the clinical and endocrinologic characteristics of patients with precocious puberty. METHODS: The charts of all 948 children referred for evaluation of signs of precocious puberty between January 2003 and June 2007 in several referral centers were reviewed. Clinical features including age of onset, presenting symptoms, yearly growth rate, bone age advancement, weight, height, and body mass index were analysed and endocrine investigations included basal and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH)-stimulated levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) as well as sex hormones. RESULTS: Of the 948 children referred for signs of precocious puberty, 915 (96.5%) were female and 33 (3.5%) were male. The final diagnoses made were early puberty (39%), premature thelarche (31%), true precocious puberty (27%) and precocious pseudopuberty (1%). The increases in yearly growth rate and bone age advancement were significant in true precious puberty group (P<0.05). The height and weight standard deviation score were significantly increased in true precious puberty and premature thelarche group compared to the average level according to gender and age (P<0.05). Endocrinologic studies showed that the level of basal LH, basal estradiol and GnRH-stimulated peak LH, peak FSH, peak LH/basal LH, peak FSH/basal FSH, peak LH/peak FSH ratio was all significantly higher in true precicous puberty group and early puberty group when compared to premature thelarche group (P<0.05). Neurogenic true precocious puberty among true precocious puberty was more common in boys (3 out of 7, 42.8%) than in girls (27 out of 253, 10.7%). Endocrinologic studies did not show any difference between idiopathic precocious puberty and neurogenic precocious puberty. CONCLUSION: The result of this study showed the proportion of true precocious puberty among the children referred for early pubertal signs was rather high. Collectively assessing all available data including detailed history, growth records, physical findings, laboratory studies and radiological imaging is important in the evaluation of a child with concerns of early pubertal maturation. Foregoing extensive studies regarding incidence and causes of true precocious puberty should be needed.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Age of Onset , Body Mass Index , Diagnosis , Estradiol , Follicle Stimulating Hormone , Gonadal Steroid Hormones , Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone , Incidence , Luteinizing Hormone , Puberty , Puberty, Precocious , Referral and ConsultationABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Testis sperm extraction and intracytoplasmic sperm injection(TESE-ICSI) has been widely used for the treatment of non-obstructive azoospermia and obstructive azoospermia which cannot be corrected by any other surgical method. We evaluate the results of TESE between groups of obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermia and determine whether there is a significant relationship between the testicular histology, biophysical and endocrine profiles, and the results of TESE in the non-obstructive azoospermia group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1997 and 1998, a total of 64 patients underwent TESE procedures, including 23 patients with non-obstructive azoospermia and 41 with obstructive azoospermia, who were beyond the reach of surgical correction and microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration(MESA). We compared TESE results between two groups. We investigated the factors predicting the results of TESE and tried to correlate the results with biophysical, endocrine profiles and testicular histology. RESULTS: Non-obstructive azoospermia group had significantly smaller testes, fewer motile sperm, and lower sperm retrieval rate than obstructive group. Statistically significant differences were detected in plasma FSH, LH, and testis volume according to different histology patterns in the non-obstructive azoospermia group. There were no significant differences in age, testis volume, semen volume, plasma FSH, LH, and testis histology between the patients with successful and failed sperm retrieval in the non-obstructive azoospermia group. CONCLUSIONS: Obstructive azoospermia group is expected to have better chance of pregnancy than non-obstructive azoospermia group due to a difference of sperm retrieval rate. In non-obstructive azoospermia group, sperm retrieval has poor correlations with biophysical and endocrine profiles, and with histological patterns. No single variable can provide a perfect discrimination between the groups with successful and failed TESE. TESE should be performed in carefully selected cases until a reliable criteria predicting the TESE result is established.