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A delicate balance of steroid and gonadotrophic hormones is essential for intrafollicular oocyte maturation and successful fertilization and embryonic development. Previous studies have demonstrated that a superovulatory dose of pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) has excessive gonadotrophic a…
Homeobox genes, which code for families of transcription factors, act at the top of genetic hierarchies. HOX genes specify positional identity during development, and in adult tissues, regulate differentiation and proliferation. Most ovarian carcinomas are derived from the ovarian surface epitheliu…
The studies undertaken herewithin sought to characterize the pattern of regulation of the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRH-R) mRNA levels in the rat ovary. The demonstration of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) transcripts in steroidproducing and steroid-dependent tissues suggest…
n approximately 40% of ovarian cancers, PIK3CA, which encodes the p110α catalytic subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is amplified. This amplification correlates with increased PIK3CA transcription, p110α protein expression, and PI3K activity. Moreover, PIK3CA is implicated as…
Ritodrine is a beta-adrenergic agonist commonly used to inhibit premature labor contractions in women. The primary goal of ritodrine tocolysis is to prolong gestation, however, other indications may include fetal distress. The purpose of the current study was to examine the metabolic and behavioral…
These studies examined the effects of prostaglandin-F[sub 2a] (PGF[sub 2a]) on progesterone and 178-estradiol (estradiol) production, as well as DNA and PGF[sub 2a]-receptor (PGF[sub 2a]-R) mRNA levels, in the human granulosa-luteal cell (GLC). Additionally, the interactions of PGF[sub 2a] with hum…
Loss of BRCA1/BRCA2 function through genetic or epigenetic mechanisms is common in epithelial ovarian carcinomas (EOC), but because there are multiple potential mechanisms of loss, the overall frequency is unknown. We characterized loss of BRCA1/BRCA2 at the DNA, RNA and protein level from an unsel…
Epidemiological studies have shown that cholesterol is a major risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. Since the atherosclerotic plaque develops over a long period interventions early in life may be of some benefit. In addition, it has been shown that the enzymes involved in cholesterol…
Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer in the Western world, but comparatively little is known about its development. Epithelial ovarian carcinomas are thought to originate in the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE), i.e. the mesothelium covering the ovary, but experimental evidence fo…
The common epithelial ovarian tumors appear to arise from the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE), which is a simple squamous-to-cuboidal meso^helium covering the ovary. The exact mechanism of ovarian tumorigenesis is not well known even though this disease is the most frequent cause of cancer death i…
Superovulation causes detrimental effects, including embryonic loss and implantation failure. This study determined potential roles for insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) in uterine environment regulation and preimplantation development, in conjunction with the detrimental effects of superovulation…
Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) of atrial myocyte origin, has been shown to play a role in the diuresis, natriuresis, and antagonism of angiotensin and vasopressin. However, it is now apparent that in addition to the production of the peptide in the heart and in its role in fluid and electrolyte h…
Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women in developed countries. There is increasing evidence suggesting that the hormonal environment of the normal ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) and ovarian epithelial cancer (OEC) cells is as…
Due to the ?flare effect? associated with the flare protocol, variation in the degree of follicular maturation during stimulation may result in differences in follicle response as compared to the luteal protocol which is based on maximal pituitary suppression and synchronization of follicular matur…
Male carriers of chromosomal abnormalities (CA) are more frequent in the infertile population. These men have higher levels of sperm aneuploidy due to the aberrant segregation of the chromosomes involved in the abnormality. The presence of a CA may also influence the segregation of other chromosome…
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has been a successful assisted reproductive technique for men with severe male-factor infertility. However, ICSI requires the subjective selection of normal looking sperm, which does not preclude the transmission of genetically abnormal sperm. Correlation bet…
While the introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has revolutionized the treatment of male infertility, concerns have been raised regarding the risk of chromosomal abnormalities in pregnancies derived from ICSI. Studies on sperm from infertile men have suggested that this population…
In contrast to the success of ICSI in treating male infertility, concerns have been raised about the health outcomes of the children conceived through this procedure. Cohort studies have shown that the ICSI population has an increase in low birth weight (LBW), birth defects, chromosomal abnormaliti…
Pre-eclampsia remains one of the most common causes of maternal mortality in the developed world, and we still have no known effective prophylaxis and proven modifiers. The recent successful clinical trial of recombinant human activated protein C (rhAPC) in the management of SIRS (systemic inflamma…
Pre-eclampsia (PET) continues to contribute to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Management decisions include an evaluation of maternal risk, which is assisted by expert opinion-based guidelines, while not accounting for gestational age (GA) at diagnosis. We evaluated the feasibility …