RESUMO
Background: Legal abortion has been permitted in the Islamic Republic of Iran since 2003 if there is serious and incurable disease that would cause the mother or the fetus suffering.
Aims: This study evaluated the characteristics of women applying for a legal abortion licence to the Tehran Province General Office of Legal Medicine, and compared the findings with earlier studies to evaluate changes over time.
Methods: All women visiting the office between August 2011 and 2012 to apply for a legal abortion licence were interviewed and sociodemographic data, reason for the application and outcome of the application were recorded.
Results: A total of 1378 women applied for a licence, and 48% were issued. Most applications [80.6%] were for fetal rather than maternal indications and 90.2% of the licences issued were for fetal indications. Most of the applications for fetal indications [53.7%] were granted a licence, while 75.7% for maternal indications were rejected. Neurological abnormalities in the fetus were the most common reason for the application [24.6%] and licences issued [30.7%]. Neurological and psychological disorders were the most common maternal reason in all applications [25.7%] and in unsuccessful applications [28.6%]. Cardiac disease [23.1%] was the most common maternal reason in successful applications.
Conclusions: Comparison of the results with those of earlier studies shows an increase in the number of women applying for a legal abortion licence and in the number of licences issued. Similar studies are recommended to provide information on the effect of national abortion laws and help improve the legal abortion process in the Islamic Republic of Iran
RESUMO
Spermatogonia are the male germ line stem cells whose life long expansion is needed for permanent production of spermatozoa. The present study was designed to examine the effect of hCG treatment on germ cell proliferation following stem cell transplantation in mice. Spermatogonial stem cells were isolated from neonatal mice testes and characterized by alkaline phosphatase, immunoreactivity and morphological analysis. hCG was injected into normal and cell transplanted mice. We then evaluated the testosterone levels and cell number in normal mice. After that, cyclin B1 gene expression was investigated in transplanted mice. Different doses of busulfan were injected to investigate the effects of chemotherapy on morphological criteria and preparation of recipient mice for transplantation. In this report we show proliferative potential of spermatogonial stem cells after cytotoxic treatment, transplantation efficiency by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, and hCG effect on stem cell regeneration in normal mice and following cell transplantation. The results indicate the spermatogonial stem cells can proliferate after transplantation, and the efficiency of their transplantation depends on hormonal treatment. Therefore, hormonal treatment after stem cell transplantation will be a powerful avenue for increasing the efficiency of transplantation and fertility restoration