No abstract

Therapy of GM consists of complete surgical excision combined with oral steroid therapy, eventually in combination with anti-inflammatory drugs or colchicine. Use of methotrexate has also been successful. In case of formation of abscesses antibiotic therapy should be applied before steroid therapy. Immune-suppressive therapy should be performed until complete remission as rates of recurrence can be up to 50%.

This study investigates the ability of sucrose to protect spermatozoa against mitochondrial damage, artificial cryoinduction of capacitation, and acrosome reaction. Spermatozoa were isolated using the swim-up procedure performed using three different media: (a) human tubal fluid (HTF, control) medium; (b) HTF with 1% human serum albumin (HSA); and (c) HTF with 1% HSA and 0.25 M sucrose. From each group, 30 ml suspensions of cells were dropped directly into liquid nitrogen and stored for at least 24 h. Cells were thawed by quickly submerging the spheres in HTF with 1% HSA at 37 8C with gentle agitation. Sperm motility, viability, mitochondrial membrane potential integrity, spontaneous capacitation, and acrosome reaction were investigated. Sperm viability, acrosome reaction, and capacitation were detected using the double fluorescence chlortetracycline-Hoechst 33258 staining technique. Mitochondrial function was evaluated using a unique fluorescent cationic dye, 5,5 0 ,6,6 0 -tetrachloro-1-1 0 ,3,3 0 -tetraethyl-benzamidazolocarbocyanin iodide, commonly known as JC-1. The number of progressively motile spermatozoa was significantly higher in the sucrose-supplemented medium group (57.1G3.2%, P!0.05) when compared with controls (19.4G1.9%). The combination of HSA and sucrose (65.2G2.6%) has a stronger cryoprotective effect on the integrity of mitochondrial membrane potential (P!0.05) compared with HSA alone (32.6G4.7%). In conclusion, vitrification of human spermatozoa with non-permeable cryoprotectants such as HSA and sucrose can effectively cryopreserve the cells without significant loss of important physiological parameters.

No abstract

Several adipocytokines, such as leptin or adiponectin, are associated with obesity and the risk for breast cancer. Adiopcyte fatty acid binding-protein (A-FABP) is another protein found in adipose tissue; therefore, we investigated the association of A-FABP with the occurrence and prognosis of breast cancer. In our study, 200 women attending the University of Ulm for breast surgery between the years 2005 and 2007 were included; 159 had histologically confirmed breast cancer; 41 had histologically confirmed benign lesions. Serum levels of A-FABP, leptin, and adiponectin were measured, and their relationship to body-mass-index (BMI), breast cancer, and tumor characteristics were analyzed; logistic regression model was adjusted to age, BMI, menopausal status, use of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), and family history of breast cancer. Serum A-FABP levels were found to be significantly higher in obese (BMI C 25) than in non-obese women (BMI B 24.9), 41.16 ng/ml and 24.95 ng/ml, respectively (P \ 0.0001). Independent of obesity, the serum A-FABP levels were significantly higher in breast cancer patients (34.65 ng/ml) than in healthy controls (24.47 ng/ml), P \ 0.0001; the odds ratio (1.038, P \ 0.05, 95% confidence interval 1.001-1.72) showed a significant association of A-FABP with breast cancer risk. Serum leptin levels showed a strong correlation with BMI (r s = 0.78) and were significantly higher in breast cancer patients (20.87 ng/ml) than in controls (14.90 ng/ml), P \ 0.05. In contrast, adiponectin showed no significant association with breast cancer. Concerning tumor characteristics, A-FABP was positively connected with tumor size (T C 2 cm, P \ 0.05) and nodal-status (P \ 0.05). Our study reveals that high A-FABP serum levels are associated with obesity, breast cancer risk, and adverse tumor characteristics.