No abstract

Carriage of the MBL2 codon 54 polymorphism, but not the IL1RN length polymorphism, predisposes to RVVC in Brazilian women.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of identifying the sentinel lymph node and involvement of neoplastic cells in patients with endometrial carcinoma limited to the uterus, and also its correlation with the conditions of other pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes. Forty patients with endometrial carcinoma, clinical staging I and II, were submitted to complete surgical staging through laparotomy, as recommended by FIGO in 1988. The sentinel node was investigated using patent blue dye in the myometrial subserosa. The sentinel node was excised and submitted to frozen section examination of specimen, stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). Afterward, selective bilateral para-aortic and pelvic lymphadenectomy, total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy were performed. The lymph nodes excised were examined by means of paraffin-embedded slices stained with H&E and of imunohistochemistry with antikeratin antibody AE1/AE3. The sentinel lymph node was identified in 77.5% of patients (31/40), and 16.1% (5/31) presented neoplastic involvement in the node. In 25 cases of negative sentinel node, 96% (24/25) had no neoplastic involvement, and 4% (1/25) had other lymph node affected (false negative). In nine cases with no sentinel node identified, 55.5% (5/9) had lymph node involvement. The results of this study allow us to conclude that it is possible to identify the sentinel node using the methods described, and the pathologic examination significantly represents the same conditions of other pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes.

In the section "Materials and methods" (second paragraph, fifth sentence), the displacement rate was mistakenly given in millimeters per second instead of millimeters per minute. The correct sentence is: "All the samples were tested with a constant displacement rate of 5 mm/min in a mechanical testing machine specially designed for low-load soft-tissue testing [12]."

ObjectiveTo evaluate the reliability and validity of the Portuguese version of the Women's Health Questionnaire. Methods In order to evaluate the Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ), an analytical crosssectional study was carried out at the women's menopause outpatient clinic of a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. There were studied 87 women in perimenopause or menopause, defined as experiencing at least one year's absence of menstrual flow. The following variables were collected: demographic data, clinical variables (Kupperman index and correlate numeric scale) and quality of life indexes (SF-36 and utility). ResultsThe WHQ proved to be a questionnaire easily translated into Portuguese and welladjusted to Brazilian women. The internal consistency of the overall WHQ was excellent (Cronbach alpha =0.83; 95% CI: 0.71-0.91). Test-retest reliability was also excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]=0.92; 95% IC: 0.86-0.96) and had good absolute agreement (0.84; 95% CI: 0.71-0.92). A satisfactory clinical validity was observed. The construct validity was corroborated by clear associations with others scales. A good index of responsiveness after the intervention was reached. ConclusionsThe Portuguese version of the WHQ is of easy and fast administration and understanding. Its measuring properties were related, allowing its use in the evaluation of Brazilian climacteric women's quality of life for various purposes.

No abstract

Recent data implicate that cytokine gene polymorphisms are important in pathogenesis of various neoplastic and nonneoplastic human diseases, and it was recently suggested that polymorphisms in interleukin (IL)-6 might increase the risk of gynecological malignancies, including cervical carcinomas. The aim of this case-control study is to compare the IL-6 polymorphisms in cervical cancer patients and healthy controls and to assess whether any of these polymorphisms would increase the risk of developing cervical cancer. The material in this case-control study consists of 56 patients with cervical carcinoma and 253 population-based control subjects, all ethnic Brazilian women. Control subjects were cancer-free women, following a negative cervical cytology and colposcopy. IL-6 genotyping was performed using a polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism. Distribution of the GG, GC, and CC genotypes in cases and controls was significantly different (P= 0.033). Compared with the GG genotype as reference, the adjusted odds ratio for the combined GC and CC genotypes in cancer patients was 1.90 (95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.4). These data suggest that women carrying at least one C genotype in their IL-6 promoter region (-174G-->C) are at higher risk of developing cervical cancer.

The aim of this study was the comparison of the stiffness of different meshes under two types of mechanical tests. Five different mesh types were mechanically tested. The methods used consisted on uniaxial tension test (tensile stiffness) and tape ring tests, experimental continuous compression of the mesh loops (flexural stiffness). The most significant difference of tensile stiffness behaviour appears between Aris and TVTO. From the analysis of the experimental data, we divided the flexural stiffness, in two main groups. The first group includes Auto Suture and Aris meshes. The two meshes seem to have a similar flexural behaviour. The second group includes TVTO, Uretex and Avaulta. The difference between these two groups is clearly evident comparing TVTO and Aris. This study shows that there are significant differences on the mechanical properties between urogynecology meshes.