Apoptosis plays a critical role in maintaining tissue homeostasis and represents a normal function to eliminate excess or dysfunctional cells. Accumulated evidence suggests that apoptosis helps to maintain cellular homeostasis during the menstrual cycle by eliminating senescent cells from the functional layer of the uterine endometrium during the late secretory and menstrual phase of the cycle. The BCL-2 family and Fas/FasL system have been extensively studied in human endometrium and endometriotic tissues. Eutopic endometrium from women with endometriosis reportedly has some fundamental differences compared with normal endometrium of women without endometriosis. The differences could contribute to the survival of regurgitating endometrial cells into the peritoneal cavity and the development of endometriosis. One mechanism that recently gained a lot of interest is the finding that apoptosis appeared in eutopic and ectopic endometrium of patients with endometriosis. This study is a current review of the literature focused on the physiological role of apoptosis in normal endometrium and the alterations in regulation of apoptosis in eutopic and ectopic endometrium from women with endometriosis. Similarities in characteristics of endometriosis at a molecular level with gynaecological tumours are also discussed. Finally, the role of apoptosis in the treatment of endometriosis is reviewed to link the basic research findings into clinical applications.

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Objectives To integrate data on the performance of cervical length measurement for the prediction of preterm birth in symptomatic women. CI, 90.5% (95% CI, 5.71 (95% CI,, respectively. The same estimates for studies with presentation at or before 34 + 0 weeks were 71.0% (95% CI, 89.8% (95% CI, 5.19 (95% CI,, respectively. For prediction of birth before 34 weeks, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, LR+ and LR− of cervical length < 15 mm were 46.2% (95% CI, 93.7% (95% CI, 4.31 (95% CI, Methods

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One additional success can be achieved among 3 women treated surgically rather than medically. Expectant management has had remarkably variable success rates across these studies, depending probably on the type of miscarriage. Greater standardization of outcomes should be a goal of future research.

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