The impact of dysmenorrhea on pulmonary functions.

BACKGROUND: Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is characterized by symptoms including sweating, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tremulousness, usually begins adolescence, those can be associated with autonomic dysfunction affecting pulmonary functions. AIM: The aim of the present study is to investigate the impacts of PD on pulmonary function tests. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional design was selected. All subjects were invited to admit to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology outpatient unit for venous blood test detecting the levels of estrogen and progesterone during the follicular and luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. After drawing blood, women were taken to the pulmonary function tests laboratory to perform the test. The comparisons between Group PD and Group Control were performed by the independent samples t-test or Mann-Whitney U test. Intragroup comparisons were completed by paired samples t-test. Results: The comparisons between Group PD and Group Control among estrogen and progesterone in follicular and luteal phase, pulmonary function test results did not show any significance (P > 0.05). The intragroup comparisons of estrogen and progesterone levels, and pulmonary functions test results revealed no significant difference (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that PD does not influence the spirometric measurements and also respiratory functions are not impaired by the different phases of menstrual cycle.

Evaluation of oxidative stress using exhaled breath 8-isoprostane levels on chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: There have been limited numbers of studies on patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) to determine oxidative stress in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). Those two studies have been carried out on hemodialysis patients, and hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide have been studied in order to show oxidative stress on EBC. AIMS: We investigated oxidative stress in EBC evaluating 8-isoprostane levels on different stages of CKD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 81 patients with 2-4 CKD stages have been evaluated prospectively. The patients have been categorized into three groups according to their CKD stages. For biochemical analysis, blood and breathing air samples were taken. 8-isoprostane has been measured using immunoassay method as the indicator of oxidative stress in EBC. RESULTS: 8-isoprostane values were 8.19 ± 4.56, 13.89 ± 8.70, and 14.20 ± 10.68 pg/min group 1, 2, and 3, respectively; and the EBC 8-isoprostane levels increased significantly as CKD stages advanced (P0 = 0.018). There was a statistically significant reverse correlation between 8-isoprostane and glomerular filtration rate (GFR; r = -0.275; P = 0.014), but not between 8-isoprostane and C-reactive protein (r = -0.183; P = 0.177). CONCLUSIONS: We determined the level of 8-isoprostane in EBC of patients with different stages of CKD and showed that the level of 8-isoprostane significantly increased through the progress of CKD. We consider that our study is important because there have been limited number of studies that evaluate oxidative stress in CKD using EBC which is a noninvasive method.