This study aims to investigate serum makorin ring finger protein 3 (MKRN3) levels in girls with idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP) and premature thelarche (PT), in order to determine whether circulating MKRN3 level is associated with ICPP and PT. A total of 90 girls were enrolled in the study. 30 age-matched girls were allocated for each group (ICPP, PT and healthy controls [HC], respectively). The base LH (B-LH) and E2 levels were higher in ICPP girls than those in HC and PT girls. The peak LH (P-LH) levels and P-LH/P-FSH values were obviously higher in ICPP girls than those in PT girls, while higher peak FSH (P-FSH) levels were detected in PT girls when compared to those in ICPP girls. Kisspeptin levels were lower in HC girls than those in ICPP and PT girls. MKRN3 levels were the highest in HC girls among the three groups. There were relatively strong negative correlations among MKRN3, kisspeptin and P-LH/P-FSH. Circulating MKRN3 can have an important role in the onset of ICPP and PT. However, this should not be used as an independent diagnostic criterion for diagnosing ICPP or differentiating ICPP from PT, but should be used only as an adjunctive diagnostic biomarker.
Purpose
Examining whether modulation of right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activity by continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) affects obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms.
Patients and Methods
A total of 28 treatment-resistant OCD participants were treated with either active or sham cTBS of the OFC twice per day, for five days a week, for 2 weeks, in a double-blinded manner. Clinical response to treatment was determined using the Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS).
Results
There were no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups after two weeks of treatment in the Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale score (group*time interaction, F2,20=0.996, p=0.387) and other secondary outcome measures, including anxiety symptoms and responder rates. Depressive symptoms improved significantly in the active group (p=0.027), but the significant difference disappeared at 6 weeks (p=0.089).
Conclusion
This is the first randomized controlled study using cTBS in the right OFC to observe the improvement of treatment-resistant OCD symptoms. It is safe to use cTBS, but 2 weeks of treatment is not enough to achieve a curative effect. Future studies are needed to explore more advanced stimulation parameters suitable for the treatment of OCD.
Clinical Trial Registration
www.chictr.org.cn
, identifier ChiCTR2000034814.
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It is known that oocytes can be activated without male contribution in vitro and develop to blastocysts which are used to isolate parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells. Unfortunately, differentiation capacity of the parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells was rather lower than fertilized embryos derived ES cells, which might be the result of the absence of male genome. It had been found that some maternally expressed genes were repressed and some paternally expressed genes were expressed in the non-growing oocytes. Therefore, maternal genome from non-growing oocytes can partially act as "sperm genome". In the present study, parthenogenetic blastocysts containing genome from non-growing and fully grown oocytes (named as NF-pBlastocysts) were produced by germinal vesicle transfer, and three newly established parthenogenetic embryonic stem (named as NF-pES) cell lines were derived from the resulting parthenogenetic blastocysts. All three NF-pES cell lines were positive for ES cell markers, such as alkaline phosphatase (AKP), stage-specific embryonic antigen 1 (SSEA-1) and octamer-binding transcription factor (Oct-4). They have a normal chromosome karyotype (40) and can be maintained in an undifferentiated state for extended periods of time. When NF-pES cells were injected into severe combined immunodeficient mice, teratomas with all three embryonic germ layers were obtained. The in vitro differentiation potential of NF-pES cells was analyzed by embryonic bodies (EB) formation. The expression of germ layer markers, such as nestin (ectoderm), desmin (mesoderm), and alpha-fetoprotein (endoderm) demonstrated that the NF-pES cells can differentiate into all three germ layers.
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