An Overview of Harmful Effects of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

PCOS, a hormone imbalance that causes infertility, obesity etc. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the most frequent endocrinopathy among women of reproductive age. It is the most common female endocrine disorder with prevalence rates ranging from 4% to 18%. There are many associated condition with PCOS like obesity, many types of cancer, infertility, cardiac diseases etc. It is confirm that women who have this syndrome are at risk more than other women. The treatment of PCOS is determined by whether a woman wishes to become pregnant or not. If pregnancy is not a goal, then weight loss, oral contraceptives, and the diabetes medication. It should also include all metabolic effects and potential problems. More study and knowledge of the biology of PCOS will lead to better treatment outcomes and patient management.

Altered Circulating GDF-15 Level Predicts Sex Hormone Imbalance in Major Depressive Disorder

Background: It has been hypothesized that higher growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) level and lower testosterone/ estradiol (T/E) ratio are associated with major depressive disorder (MDD), yet the underlying effect of serum GDF15 on hinting the T/E ratio imbalance are not fully understood. We observed the correlations between serum T/E ratio and circulating GDF15 in depressed cohort. Methods: The sample consisted of participants (aged 18~65 years) from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University with MDD (n=412) defined according to a Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), and healthy controls (n=137). Serum levels of testosterone, estradiol, and depression risk indicators (thyroid hormone, lipids, hs-CRP, Tenascin-C [TNC], GDF15, KLF4, Gas6, and sgp130) were measured. The associations among loge-transformed T/E ratio and these indicators were analyzed using univariate correlation analysis, category analyses, and linear regression adjusting for standard risk factors. Results: Of the sample, 36.89% had lower T/E ratio (<10:1) and 10.20% had higher T/E ratio (>20:1). After multivariable adjustment, T/E ratios were negatively associated with GDF15 (-0.095 [95% CI -0.170~-0.023] standard deviation [SD] change per SD increase in lg[T/E], P=0.015) and inversely related to TNC (-0.085 [95% CI -0.167~0.003] standard deviation [SD] change per SD increase in lg[T/E], P=0.048). Serum T/E ratio was negatively associated with GDF15 level in both FT3, TSH and HDL strata, whereas this association was not observed in TNC. In T/E ratio strata analyses, there is a significant and negative correlation among T/E ratio and GDF15 in depressive patients with sex hormone imbalance, yet this relationship was not investigated in patients with sex hormone balance. Conclusion: In our community-based observation, circulating GDF-15 level was greatly and inversely associated with serum T/E ratio, indicating that higher GDF-15 alerts sex hormone imbalance in patients with MDD.Trial registration: All subjects did not provide written informed consent due to the using the remaining specimens.

Thyroid Disorders-A common Cause of Infertility: A Review

Undiagnosed and untreated thyroid disease can be a cause for infertility as well as sub-fertility. Both these conditions have important medical, economical, and psychological implications in our society. Thyroid dysfunction can affect fertility in various ways resulting in anovulatory cycles, luteal phase defect, high prolactin (PRL) levels, and sex hormone imbalance. Thyroid hormones are instrumental in reproductive physiology. In hypothyroidism, there is decreased synthesis of factors VII, VIII, IX and XI and estrogen break through bleeding secondary to anovulation, which may explain the frequent, prolonged and heavy menstruation. Hyperthyroidism may be characterized by infrequent scanty menstuation or amenorrhea. Thyrotoxicosis increases the risk of spontaneous abortions and especially if on methimazole, there is an amplified risk of congenital anomalies and aplasia cutis. In males, thyrotoxicosis cause abnormal sperm motility, while hypothyroidism may result in abnormal sperm morphology and both may cause erectile abnormalities. Faridpur Med. Coll. J. 2020;15(2): 95-97

An Oatp transporter-mediated steroid sink promotes tumor-induced cachexia in Drosophila

SummaryCancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome associated with many types of tumors and characterized by a combination of anorexia, loss of body weight, catabolic alterations and systemic inflammation. We developed a tumor model in Drosophila larvae causing a cachexia-like syndrome, and used it to evaluate the role of steroid hormone imbalance in cachectic alterations. Cachectic larvae show reduced levels of the circulating steroid ecdysone. Artificially importing ecdysone in the tumor using the Oatp74D importer aggravates cachexia, while feeding animals with ecdysone rescues cachectic defects. This suggests that a steroid sink induced by the tumor promotes catabolic alterations in healthy tissues. We find that Oatp33Eb, another member of this family of transporters, is specifically induced in tumors promoting cachexia. Blocking Oatp33Eb in cachectic tumors restores circulating ecdysone and reverses cachectic alterations. Oatp transporters are induced in several types of hormone-dependent tumors, suggesting that a similar sink effect could modify hormonal balance in cachectic cancer patients.Highlights-We used the Drosophila larva as a model to study hormonal imbalance in tumor-induced cachexia.-Steroid (ecdysone) levels are reduced in cachectic tumor-bearing larvae.-Steroid import by the tumor reduces circulating hormone levels and induces cachexia.-The Oatp33Eb transporter is specifically upregulated in cachectic tumors and its inhibition rescues both circulating steroid levels and metabolic/tissue homeostasis.-Specific Oatp genes are found upregulated in human tumors with high prevalence of cachexia.

Daily exposure to phthalates and alkylphenols alters miR biogenesis and expression in mice ovaries

Reproductive hormone imbalance in infertile women is correlated to high levels of phthalates and alkylphenols, which are among endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Previous studies have shown that they interfere with gene expression by deregulating levels of microRNAs (miRs), small non-coding RNAs targeting mRNAs encoding enzymes in the hormone biosynthesis pathway. However, this effect depends on the target organ, dose and whether or not they are alone or in mixtures. Our goal was to study whether the biosynthesis, and a specific group of miRs targeting mRNAs encoding enzymes in steroid hormone biosynthesis, are deregulated in the ovaries of female mice chronically exposed to a mixture of three phthalates (DEHP+DBP+BBP) and two alkylphenols (NP+OP) at a human environmentally relevant dose. We performed qPCR and Western blot assays along with a bioinformatics approach and found that this mixture modified the biogenesis machinery of miRs, inducing an increase in the mRNA levels of Drosha and Dicer1 and DROSHA protein levels. In addition, we found changes in the precursor and mature forms of miR-96-5p, miR-200b-3p, miR-365-3p, miR-378a-3p and miR-503-5p which target steroidogenic pathway enzymes. Finally, using primary granulosa cell culture, we confirmed that miR-200b-3p targets Cyp19a1, transcript encoding CYP19A1, the enzyme that produces estradiol (E2). These results indicate that chronic exposure to phthalates and alkylphenols mixture alters the biogenesis of ovary miRs and increases the expression of miRs implicated in the control of steroidal hormone synthesis in female mice, thus contributing to reproductive pathologies.

Predicting the Presence of Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome using Classification Techniques

PCOS is an endocrine disorder which occurs due to hormone imbalance. PCOS may leads to infertility, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. It may be identified by physical appearance, ultrasound scanning and clinical trials. The PCOS ovary can be identified as the follicles which are arranged peripherally and measuring 2-9mm of size. The dataset used in this paper consists of 119 samples with 17 features which represents the physical appearance and psychological characteristics such as stress, exercising methods, eating habits, etc. The classification algorithms can be applied on these data to predict the present of PCOS. The aim of the paper is to compare the accuracy of the classification model and find the algorithm which best suites for the dataset in predicting the occurrence of PCOS