The impact of SARS-COV-2 infection on menstruation.

BACKGROUND: Recent study has demonstrated that the GnRH system in patients with post-COVID syndrome may be influenced by SARS-CoV-2. However, the impact of COVID-19 infection on women's menstruation is still unknown. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the the relationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and menstruation in premenopausal women. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study. Pre-menopausal women were invited to participate in the online questionnaire on wechat. Participants were divided into four groups according to whether they were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2) and whether they had menstrual changes during the pandemic. Sociodemographic characteristics, history of COVID-19, menstruation and menstrual changes of the participants were collected. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: A total of 1946 women were included in the study. 1800 participants had been or were currently infected with SARS-COV-2, and 146 people had not been infected. Among 1800 patients with COVID-19, 666 (37.0%) had changes in menstruation, and 1134 (63.0%) did not, which was significantly higher than the uninfected participants (c2 = 12.161, P = 0.000). The proportion of participants with menstrual cycle changes (450/67.6%) is larger than that of uninfected participants (c2 = 6.904, P = 0.009). COVID-19 vaccination was associated with lower odds of menstrual cycle change (OR, 0.855; 95% CI, 0.750-0.976). Participants who reported chest pain (OR, 1.750, 95% CI, 1.209-2.533) and dyspnea (OR, 1.446; 95% CI, 1.052-1.988) during infection had greater odds of changes to their menstrual cycle compared with the participants who did not. CONCLUSIONS: The association between the COVID-19 and increased prevalence of menstrual cycle irregularity. COVID-19 vaccination is a protective factor in the long term, and participants with chest pain and dyspnea are more likely to develop AUB.

Clinical and metabolic characteristics of endometrial lesions in polycystic ovary syndrome at reproductive age.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to explore the clinical and metabolic characteristics in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients with different endometrial lesions. METHODS: 234 PCOS patients who underwent hysteroscopy and endometrial biopsy were categorized into four groups: (1) normal endometrium (control group, n = 98), (2) endometrial polyp (EP group, n = 92), (3) endometrial hyperplasia (EH group, n = 33), (4) endometrial cancer (EC group, n = 11). Serum sex hormone levels, 75 g oral glucose tolerance test, insulin release test, fasting plasma lipid, complete blood count and coagulation parameters were measured and analyzed. RESULTS: Body mass index and triglyceride level of the EH group were higher while average menstrual cycle length was longer in comparison with the control and EP group. Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and high density lipoprotein were lower in the EH group than that in the control group. 36% of the patients in the EH group suggested obesity, higher than the other three groups. Using multivariant regression analysis, patients with free androgen index > 5 had higher risk of EH (OR 5.70; 95% CI 1.05-31.01), while metformin appeared to be a protective factor for EH (OR 0.12; 95% CI 0.02-0.80). Metformin and hormones (oral contraceptives or progestogen) were shown to be protective factors for EP (OR 0.09; 95% CI 0.02-0.42; OR 0.10; 95% CI 0.02-0.56). Hormones therapy appeared to be a protective factor for EC (OR 0.05; 95% CI 0.01-0.39). CONCLUSION: Obesity, prolonged menstrual cycle, decreased SHBG, and dyslipidemia are risk factors for EH in patients with PCOS. Oral contraceptives, progestogen and metformin are recommended for prevention and treatment of endometrial lesions in PCOS patients.

In vitro and in vivo effect of 5-FC combined gene therapy with TNF-α and CD suicide gene on human laryngeal carcinoma cell line Hep-2.

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of combined cancer gene therapy with exogenous tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and cytosine deaminase (CD) suicide gene on laryngeal carcinoma cell line Hep-2 in vitro and in vivo. Transfection of the recombinant eukaryotic vectors of pcDNA3.1 (+) containing TNF-α and/or CD into Hep-2 cells resulted in expression of TNF-α and/or CD gene in vitro. The significant increase in apoptotic Hep-2 cells and decrease of Hep-2 cell proliferation were observed using 5-FC treatment combined with TNF-a expression by CD/5-FC suicide system. Moreover, bystander effect was also observed in the TNF-α and CD gene co-expression group. Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) mice model was established by using BALB/c mice which different transfected Hep-2 cells with pcDNA3.1 (+) containing TNF-α and/or CD were applied subcutaneously. So these mice are divided into four groups, namely, (1)Hep-2/TIC group; (2)Hep-2/CD group; (3)Hep-2/TNF-α group; (4)Hep-2/0 group. At day 29 after cell inoculation, volume of grafted tumor had significant difference between each two of them (P<0.05). These results showed that the products of combined CD and TNF-α genes inhibited the growth of transplanted LSCC in mice model. So by our observed parameters and many others results, we hypothesized that 5-FC combined gene therapy with TNF-αand CD suicide gene should be an effective treatment on Laryngeal carcinoma.

[Meta analysis of relationship between laryngeal tumor of chinese and human papillomavirus infection].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Researches showed that the infection of human papillomavirus (HPV) was closely related to laryngeal tumor, but those results existed great differences because of different research methods. In this study Fisher's and Meta analysis were used to synthetically evaluate relationship between laryngeal benign and malignant tumors of Chinese and infection of different types of HPV. METHODS: A total of 123 references about relationship between laryngeal benign and malignant tumors of Chinese and infection of different types of HPV were collected from CBMdisc (Chinese Biomedical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System for Compact Disc). There were 11 references accorded with research criteria which were case-control study, and had detected HPV16 or HPV6/11 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fisher and Meta analysis were used to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze these references synthetically. RESULTS: Mean detection rates of HPV16 in normal laryngeal tissue, laryngeal carcinoma (LC), laryngeal papilloma(LPa), laryngeal polyp (LPo) from all references were 10.8%,35.2%,27.5%,5.0%, respectively; and those of HPV6/11 were 8.7%, 18.6%, 61.6%, 21.9%, respectively. The infection of HPV16 in LC were significantly higher than those in LPa, and LPo (P< 0.005); the combined odds ratio (ORc) for HPV16 infection in LC was 2.8 (1.7-4.7) times that in LPa, and 12.7 (4.2-38.8) times that in LPo; mean positive rate of HPV16 in LC was 22.0% (12.2%-31.8%) higher than that in LPa, and 39.0% (19.4%-58.6%) higher than that in Lpo. The infection of HPV6/11 in LPa was significantly higher than that in LC (P< 0.005); OR(c) for HPV16 infection in LPa was 16.4 (5.6-48.1) times that LC; mean positive rate of HPV16 in LPa was 56.0% (34.4%-75.6%) higher than that in LC. There was no significant difference of HPV6/11 infection between LC and LPo (P >0.05). CONCLUSION: The infection of HPV16 may enhance risk of development of laryngeal carcinoma; and the infection of HPV6/11 may enhance risk of development of laryngeal papilloma.