The relationship of urocortin-2 with insulin resistance patients having PCOS.

In this study, we aimed to compare the serum urocortin-2 (UCN2) levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and healthy women. Thirty-eight patients with PCOS and 41 healthy women were included in the study whose age and BMI matched. The fasting serum glucose, insulin, free testosterone, hs-CRP and UCN2 levels of the all participants were examined. HOMA-IR formula was used in order to calculate the insulin resistance. Circulating UCN2 levels were significantly elevated in women with PCOS compared with controls (142.93 ± 59.48 versus 98.56 ± 65.01 pg/ml, p = 0.002). FBG, serum insulin, hs-CRP and HOMA-IR levels were found to be increased in women with PCOS. There was a positive correlation between UCN2 and free-testosterone in only PCOS group (r = 0.235, p = 0.027). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that the odds ratio for PCOS was 2.31 for patients in the highest quartile of UCN2 compared with those in the lowest quartile (OR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.88-2.83, p=0.021). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that HOMA-IR, hs-CRP and free-testosterone independently predicted UCN2 levels (p < 0.05). UCN2 levels were significantly higher in PCOS cases when compared to control group. UCN2 is thought to be effective on pathophysiology of PCOS by paracrine and autocrine pathways.

Chromosome aberrations [dup(1q)] in endometrial cancer: Gene analysis of 54 surgical specimens in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the frequency of chromosomal aberrations and mutations in the k-ras or Her-2/neu genes in surgical specimens of endometrial carcinoma and their association with clinicopathological findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-four patients who were treated for endometrial cancer between April 2010 and May 2011 at the Kocaeli University Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Kocaeli, Turkey were enrolled in a prospective study. Clinical and histopathological findings were recorded. Genetic analysis, which included the detection of chromosomal deletions and duplications, as well as k-ras and Her-2/neu mutations, was performed on endometrial samples from surgical specimens. RESULTS: In 70% of cases, tumor size was >2 cm or covered the entire uterine cavity, affecting mostly corpus (76%) and invading less than half of the myometrium (80%). Forty-six cases (86%) had endometrioid-type carcinoma, and early stage (Stage I, 65%) and higher grade (Grade II-III, 66%) tumors were predominant. Lymph node and lymphovascular involvement was positive in 11% and 28% of the patients, respectively. Chromosomal aberrations (deletion or duplication) and Her-2/neu and k-ras mutations were encountered in 44%, 15%, and 13% of surgical specimens, respectively. The most common chromosomal aberration was dup(1q) (n = 16). Oncogenic mutations in Her-2/neu or k-ras had no association with the severity of endometrial cancer, but the presence of chromosomal aberrations, as a whole or dup(1q) alone, were associated with higher tumor size, deeper myometrial invasion, advanced stage or grade, lymphovascular invasion, and lymph node involvement (p < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Chromosomal aberrations, particularly dup(1q), are related to advanced disease in endometrial cancer. Genetic analysis of cancer tissues may provide important insights in determining disease prognosis.

Retrospective analysis of factors that affect the success of single-dose methotrexate treatment in ectopic pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: Detection of factors that affect the success of single-dose methotrexate treatment in ectopic pregnancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated 99 patients who had been treated with single-dose methotrexate for ectopic pregnancy in our clinic between January 2009 and June 2014. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory results of possible factors that affect treatment success were retrospectively analyzed. Successfully and unsuccessfully treated patients were compared based on their pre-treatment results. RESULTS: The success rate of single-dose methotrexate treatment was found to be 70.7%. No significant difference was found between succesfully and unsuccessfully treated patients before treatment in terms of factors such as gestational weeks, mass size, presence of yolk sac, and presence of free fluid (p=0.224, p=0.201, p=0.200, p=0.200). Serum ß-hCG values in patients whose treatment was unsuccessful was found to be higher compared with the successfully treated group (mean ß-hCG value of unsuccessful group: 4412±3501 mIU/mL; mean ß-hCG value of successful group: 1079±942 mIU/mL; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Single-dose methotrexate treatment is an effective and reliable method in the treatment of ectopic pregnancy. Elevation of serum ß-hCG value stands as the main prognostic factor that affects the success of single-dose methotrexate treatment.

The effect of first chromosome long arm duplication on survival of endometrial carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of first chromosome long arm duplication (dup(1q)) in cases with endometrial carcinoma detected with array based comperative genomic hybridization (aCGH) on survival from the cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 53 patients with the diagnosis of endometrial carcinom due to endometrial biopsy and who have been operated for this reason have been allocated in the study. Frozen section biopsy and staging surgery have been performed for all the cases. Samples obtained from the tumoral mass have been investigated for chromosomal aberrations with aCGH method. Kaplan-Meier and Cox-regression analysis have been performed for survival analysis. RESULTS: Among 53 cases with endometrial carcinomas, dup(1q) was diagnosed in 14 (26.4%) of the cases. For the patient group that has been followed-up for 24 months (3-33 months), dup(1q) (p=.01), optimal cytoreduction (p<.001), lymph node positivity (p=.006), tumor stage >1 (p=.006) and presence of high risk tumor were the factors that were associated with survival. Cox-regression analysis has revealed that optimal cytoreduction was the most important prognostic factor (p=.02). CONCLUSION: Presence of 1q duplication can be used as a prognostic factor in the preoperative period.