Association between some inflammatory markers and primary ovarian insufficiency.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the discriminative values of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), serum amyloid A protein (SAA), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in cases of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). METHODS: A total of 84 women were included in this comparative cross-sectional study. The study group consisted of 43 women diagnosed as having POI, and the control group consisted of 41 women with normal fertility. After obtaining a written informed consent form from all participants, we retrieved clinical and demographic data and laboratory findings from the participants and the hospital database. The following variables were analyzed: age, body mass index, smoking, family history, comorbidities, sonographic findings, complete blood count, baseline hormone levels, CRP, and SAA. RESULTS: NLR was significantly lower in the study group than in the control group (mean [SD], 1.3 [0.7] vs 2.0 [0.7]; P < 0.001). The mean SAA level was 151.6 ng/mL (range, 48.5-12,554.7 ng/mL) in the study group and 147.8 ng/mL (range, 29.8-3,760.4 ng/mL) in the control group (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in serum CRP levels between two groups (P > 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that NLR, but not SAA and CRP, was a significantly discriminative parameter for POI (area under the curve, 0.829; P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a family history of POI, smoking, and NLR of 1.5 or less were independent risk factors for POI. CONCLUSIONS: SAA and CRP do not seem to be valuable discriminative markers for POI, whereas NLR may be a significant promising marker before presentation or in the early stages of POI and may be useful for developing appropriate fertility treatment options.

A different approach to breast self-examination education: daughters educating mothers creates positive results in Turkey.

Breast cancer is a common cancer among women, and early detection is important for breast cancer mortality and morbidity. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of daughters teaching their mothers about breast self-examination (BSE) and its health beliefs. In the study's first stage, 168 university students were trained by the School of Health students about BSE through group training methods. Then, these trained university students were asked to train their mothers about BSE. Data were collected before the training and then again after the training (1 month later). The study instruments included questionnaire forms and the Champion Health Belief Model Scale. The results were analyzed using paired- and unpaired-sample t test, analysis of variance, bivariate correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The results show that women's knowledge level increased 2-fold after training, and the knowledge level difference between pretraining and post-training was significant (P = .000). The mothers' background information (hear-read) and BSE practice (P = .006 and .006, respectively) before the training process were found to be significant predictors of sociodemographic and other variables influencing the mothers' knowledge levels. The training increased the perceived benefit (P = .032) and confidence (P = .000) significantly. It was found that there was a negative but significant correlation between perceived barriers and BSE knowledge after the education (P = .019). It was found that mothers' knowledge level about BSE was higher after the education. Furthermore, perceived barriers decreased while other subscales increased. Education from daughter to mother can be used as a BSE training approach to increase women's knowledge about BSE.