Glycine Max (L.) Merr isoflavone gel improves vaginal vascularization in postmenopausal women.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the effects of isoflavones from Glycine max (L.) Merr (soy) used topically as a vaginal gel on the induction of vascularization of the vaginal tissue in postmenopausal women.Study design: A placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind trial was conducted with 22 postmenopausal women, randomly allocated for treatment with Glycine max (L.) Merr isoflavone 4% vaginal gel daily for 12 weeks or with placebo gel for the same period.Main outcome measure: Vaginal microbiopsies were collected before and after the 12-week treatment. Immunohistochemistry analyses were performed to provide a blood vessel count per field in the vaginal tissue, pre and post intervention.Results: The isoflavone group exhibited a significant increase in blood vessels per field relative to baseline, whereas the placebo group showed no difference compared to baseline. There was a significant difference in the increase of the number of blood vessels between the isoflavone and placebo groups.Conclusion: The results showed that local administration of Glycine max (L.) Merr isoflavone gel promoted a significant improvement in the number of blood vessels in the vaginal tissue of postmenopausal women.

Análisis, por Simulación, de los Esfuerzos Cortantes en la Superficie del Iris, en Presencia de Lentes Fáquicos Intraoculares / Analysis, by Simulation, of shear stresses on the Surface of Iris, in Presence of Intraocular Factor Lenses

Resumen: En este estudio, se presenta una metodología para evaluar lentes fáquicos intraoculares, cuando el flujo del humor acuoso es asimétrico, debido a modificaciones en el área de salida del fluido. El objetivo es determinar el efecto que tienen las asimetrías del flujo del humor acuoso en el esfuerzo cortante sobre el iris y la córnea en presencia de un lente fáquico intraocular. Se considera la geometría del ojo propuesta por Repetto et al.,7 y se resuelve el flujo del humor acuso con y sin lente empleando simulaciones mediante el método de elemento finito. Para validar el método, se compara la solución numérica obtenida con los resultados de Tychsen et al.8 obteniendo valores del mismo orden. Los resultados obtenidos son perfiles de velocidad, líneas de corriente y esfuerzos cortantes en las superficies del iris y la córnea. El modelo no toma en cuenta las variaciones de la temperatura, por lo que no se consideran los efectos de flotación. Los resultados muestran que las asimetrías tienen un gran impacto en la dinámica del humor acuoso e incrementan los esfuerzos cortantes; sin embargo no son suficientes como para causar desprendimiento de las céluas del iris o de la córnea.

Abstract: The study presents a methodology to evaluate intraocular phakic lenses, considering asymmetric aqueous humor flow due to modified conditions of the fluid outlet area. The main objective is to determine the effect of asymmetries on shear stresses with and without phakik lenses. A finite element numerical simulation was developed using the eye geometry proposed by Repetto et al.6 The numerical method was tested with the results obtained by Tychsen et al.8, giving results of the same order of magnitude. Velocity profiles, pressure distribution and shear stress at the solid boundaries are shown. The model does not take into account temperature variations. Therefore no buoyancy effects were considered. The results show that the induced asymmetries have a significant impact on aqueous humor velocity and on shear forces; however the shear stresses are not sufficient to cause cell detachment so the lens can be considered as harmless.

Gender differences in prognostic factors for oral cancer.

The aim of this study was to assess gender differences in prognostic factors among patients treated surgically for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The medical records of 477 eligible patients (345 males, 132 females) obtained from the Brazilian Cancer Institute were reviewed. Survival was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression models were used to obtain adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) for males and females. Multivariate analysis showed that past tobacco use (aHR 0.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.1-0.7) and regional metastasis (aHR 2.3, 95% CI 1.5-3.5) in males, and regional metastasis (aHR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-4.3), distant metastasis (aHR 6.7, 95% CI 1.3-32.7), and hard palate tumours (aHR 11.8, 95% CI 3.3-47.7) in females, were associated with a higher risk of death. There were no differences in survival between males and females. Regional metastasis was found to be a negative prognostic factor in OSCC for both genders. Past tobacco use was an independent prognostic factor for worse survival among males, while distant metastasis and hard palate tumours were independent prognostic factors for worse survival among females. Further studies are necessary to corroborate the relationships found in this study.