New Immunological Indexes for the Effect of Systemic Inflammation on Oocyte and Embryo Development in Women With Unexplained Infertility: Systemic Immune Response Index and Pan-Immune-Inflammation Value.

PROBLEM: Predicting the impact of systemic inflammation on oocyte and embryonic development in unexplained infertile women using the new immunological indexes. METHOD OF STUDY: This retrospective cohort study was conducted using the records of the In Vitro Fertilization Department of Ankara Gülhane Training and Research Hospital. After reviewing the records of patients who had undergone in vitro fertilization (IVF) for unexplained infertility (UI) and excluding all known factors that could cause systemic immune inflammation, the systemic immune response index (SIRI), and pan-immune score were calculated from the pre-treatment hemogram parameters between the embryo arrest (EA) group and the embryo transfer group. It was investigated whether there was a statistical difference between the two groups and whether an SIRI value affecting embryo quality was found. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to determine the optimal cut-off values for inflammatory markers to predict EA. RESULTS: The 108 EA group (embryos that were arrested during their development and could not be transferred) and the 140 embryo transfer group showed statistically significant differences in the parameters of systemic inflammatory index (SII), SIRI, pan-immune inflammation value (PIV), and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (p < 0.05). These inflammatory parameters, which were examined before ovulation induction, also correlated positively with the required total dose of gonadotropin and negatively with the ovarian sensitivity index (OSI). SII, SIRI, PIV, and NLR have specific cut-off values with ROC analysis and determine the effect of the inflammatory status of the environment in which the oocyte develops on EA (p < 0.005). CONCLUSION: In women with UI, high levels of systemic immune inflammation have a negative impact on oocyte and embryo development, and treatments to suppress inflammation may improve IVF success.

The effect of adenosine triphosphate on bevacizumab-induced ovarian damage and reproductive dysfunction in rats.

We investigated the effect of ATP's protection against possible bevacizumab-induced ovarian damage and reproductive dysfunction in female albino Wistar rats. A total of 42 rats, 36 females, and 6 males were used in the experiment. Normal saline (0.9% NaCl) was injected as a solvent to the Bevacizumab (BVZ; n = 12) and Control (n = 6) groups. 25 mg/kg ATP was injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) to the ATP + bevacizumab (ABZ; n = 12) group. One hour after ATP and solvent administration, 10 mg/kg bevacizumab was i.p. injected to the ABZ and BVZ groups. Bevacizumab was administered once a day every two weeks; ATP was administered one a day for 30 days. At the end of this period, six rats from each group were sacrificed with high dose of anesthesia (thiopental sodium 50 mg/kg) and biochemical and histopathological examinations were performed in ovarian tissues. Mature male rats were kept in the laboratory for two months to breed the remaining female animals. The values showed that the oxidant parameters increased in the ovarian tissue of the BVZ group compared to the healthy controls and the ABZ group, while antioxidant parameters decreased. The number of breeding animals was significantly decreased in the BVZ group compared to the Control and the ABZ groups. This result suggests that ATP may be effective in preventing oxidative damage to the ovaries and infertility induced by bevacizumab.

Relationship between zinc content and carbonic anhydrase activity in blood of anemic pregnant women in Turkey.

AIMS: Carbonic anhydrase (CA) in pregnancy plays an important part in gaseous exchange across the placenta. The aim of our study was to determine the relationship between zinc content and the CA activity in blood of anemic and normal pregnant women in their third trimester, in Turkey. METHODS: The patients with hemoglobin values below 11 g/dL were accepted as anemic. CA enzyme activity and zinc levels in erythrocyte of anemic and non-anemic pregnant women were carried out in 27 non-anemic pregnant women and 31 anemic pregnant women. Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) levels of the participants were also tested. RESULTS: Zinc levels were lower in the anemic group compared to the non-anemic group (P = 0.049). Total CA enzyme activity was also lower in the anemic group (P = 0.044). MCV levels were found to be lower in the anemic group (P = 0.007). The decrease in these values was statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This is the first study to evaluate the zinc content in red blood cells of anemic pregnant women in the third trimester and its relationship with carbonic anhydrase activity. CA isoenzymes to work healthily, providing iron and zinc supports is important for fetal development.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV in pregnant women from Eastern Turkey.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are essential public health problems. In this study, we aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of the aforementioned infections among pregnant women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was done retrospectively on pregnant women who presented for antenatal follow-up and delivery between 2013 and 2016. Data were collected from the hospital's electronic health records and patient files. Blood samples were analyzed at the microbiology laboratory of the hospital. HBsAg, anti-HBs, anti-HCV, and anti-HIV titers were tested using the chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay method (Architect, Abbott Laboratories, USA). RESULTS: HBsAg and anti-HBs levels were tested in 35,295 pregnant women aged 18-45 years. The HBsAg and anti-HBs levels were positive in 425 (1.2%) and 9583 (27.7%) patients, respectively. From 2013 to 2016, the HBV carrier rates have continuously decreased from 1.4% to 0.8%, whereas the anti-HBs positivity has increased from 25.4% to 30.2%. Anti-HCV was detected in 6 of the 9709 (0.06%) patients. All the 7113 pregnant women screened for HIV showed negative results. CONCLUSION: Hepatitis B carrier rates among pregnant women gradually decreased with a simultaneous increase in the immunity rates. HCV seroprevalence was low and HIV positivity was not encountered in the study population.

[Relation of cervical cancer with the results of human papillomavirus (HPV) screening carried out via hybrid capture 2 method on 52.000 women in Erzurum]. / Erzurum ilinde 52.000 kadinda hybrid capture 2 yöntemi kullanilarak yapilan insan papilloma virüs (HPV) tarama sonuçlarinin serviks kanseri ile iliskisi.

Cervical cancer is a common female cancer that could be diagnosed early with screening methods. Almost all cases are caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. Therefore, detecting the presence of HPV DNA is important for early diagnosis and treatment. Regular determination of screening tests enables early detection of patients with the risk of cervical cancer. For this purpose, since August 2014 a new screening program has been carried out by Early Diagnosis, Screening and Training of Cancer Centers (KETEM). The aims of our study were to detect the HPV prevalence in Erzurum and determine the major HPV types under the scope of population based cervical cancer screening program. Female patients between the ages of 30-65 were included in the study. Pap-smear and HPV DNA samples were taken simultaneously. The samples were examined in a national central laboratory. The study was performed using conventional methods in pap-smear samples. Pap-smear samples from HPV (-) patients were not included in the pathological evaluation. Pathological results of the pap-smear samples, which were taken from the HPV (+) cases, were sent to KETEM by national central laboratory and then these results were used. Within the scope of this study, 52.000 women were screened. Among all these women 2.4% of the cases were HPV DNA positive. HPV DNA samples were screened by Hybrid capture 2 (Qiagen, Germany) method. The highest positivity was observed at age 40 with 65 cases (5.1%) and the lowest positivity was observed at age 65 with 2 cases (0.1%). 60.1% of the HPV positive cases were at 30-45 age group, 35.2% were at 45-60 age group and 4.6% were at 65 and above age group. The most common type was HPV 16 with the frequency of 12.2% and this was followed by HPV 31 with 7.4% and HPV 51 with 6.7%,HPV 52 with 4.4% and HPV 68 with 4.3% frequencies. The rate of the HPV 18, which is the type of HPV that carries high risk for causing cervical cancer, was 3.0%. 49.2% of the HPV positive cases had single and 50.8% of them contained more than one type of HPV. The most common pathological appearance was "low grade cervical intraepithelial lesion" (LGSIL) detected in 115 cases (9.2%) and "atypical squamous cells of unknown significance" (ASC-US) detected in 93 cases (7.4%). Cases that had abnormal cytology were referred to colposcopy. Consequently, it was concluded that regional screening is important in terms of the determination of the HPV type for the early diagnosis of cervical cancer and vaccination so prevalence studies should be increased and supported.

Retrospective Evaluation of Anti-Toxoplasma gondii Antibody Among First Trimester Pregnant Women Admitted to Nenehatun Maternity Hospital between 2013-2017 in Erzurum.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity in pregnant women who referred to Erzurum Nenehatun Hospital for antenatal care, and to compare our data with other regions of Turkey. METHODS: In this retrospective study we evaluated Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM and anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG screening results of pregnant women who admitted to our hospital between January 2013 and December 2016 for antenatal care. The data was obtained from hospital's digital data system and patient folders. Blood samples were investigated in microbiology laboratory with Macro-ELISA (Architect System, Abbott Diagnostics, Germany) method. Anti-Toxoplasma IgM positive cases were also evaluated with anti-Toxoplasma IgG avidity test. The results were evaluated as case numbers and percentages. RESULTS: In 151 (0.6%) of the 25525 pregnant women, who were aged between 18 and 45, Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM positivity was detected. In 5119 (31%) of the 16433 pregnant women, Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG positivity was detected. CONCLUSION: Our data was similar to the rest of the country. We suppose that every pregnant women should be educated about the disease and the transmission routes to raise an awareness and while the ones in the risk group should be screened instead of the whole group.