BDNF promoter/exon IV is frequently hypermethylated in the Wernicke area of the postmortem brain of suicide subjects irrespective of genome-wide methylation levels, indicating that a gene-specific increase in DNA methylation could cause or contribute to the downregulation of BDNF expression in suicide subjects. The reported data reveal a novel link between epigenetic alteration in the brain and suicidal behavior.

Reproductive dysfunction is a consequence of diabetes, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. This study investigated the histological and molecular alterations in the testes of rats injected with streptozotocin at prepuperal (SPI rats) and adult age (SAI rats) to understand whether diabetes affects testicular tissue with different severity depending on the age in which this pathological condition starts. The testes of diabetic animals showed frequent abnormal histology, and seminiferous epithelium cytoarchitecture appeared altered as well as the occludin distribution pattern. The early occurrence of diabetes increased the percentage of animals with high number of damaged tubules. The interstitial compartment of the testes was clearly hypertrophic in several portions of the organs both in SPI and SAI rats. Interestingly, fully developed Leydig cells were present in all the treated animals although abnormally distributed. Besides the above-described damages, we found a similar decrease in plasma testosterone levels both in SPI and SAI rats. Oxidative stress (OS) is involved in the pathogenesis of various diabetic complications, and in our experimental models we found that manganese superoxide dismutase was reduced in diabetic animals. We conclude that in STZ-induced diabetes, the altered spermatogenesis, more severe in SPI animals, is possibly due to the effect of OS on Leydig cell function which could cause the testosterone decrease responsible for the alterations found in the seminiferous epithelium of diabetic animals.

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Objective: Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the current optimal therapy for the relief of bladder outflow obstruction, with subjective and objective success rate of 85 to 90%. Aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of Plasmakinetic energy (Gyrus electro surgical system), which produces vaporization of tissue immersed in isotonic saline against standard monopolar transurethral resection of the prostate. Results: Comparative data on IPSS symptom score, IIEF-5, Qol, PSA, peak urinary flow rate and post-void residual urine volume were similar in the two groups but showed a significant improvement respect to baseline values. The postoperative haemoglobin levels, postoperative catheterization time, hospital stay and 3-year overall surgical re-treatment-free rate were significantly better in the bipolar group. Conclusions: Bipolar TURP has a comparable outcome to standard monopolar TURP at short and medium term regard to subjective and objective outcome measurements. Its impact on bladder outlet function is also similar to that of monopolar TURP. Improvement in IPSS, Qol index, IIEF-5, Q max and post-void residual urine volume were comparable in both group denoting similar efficacy of the techniques.

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