Abbreviations & AcronymsObjectives: To determine the effect of surgical varicocele repair in improving testicular Leydig cell function as shown by increased testosterone production. Methods: Eligible studies were searched in Medline and the Pubmed database, and cross-referenced as of 31 May 2011 using the terms "varicocele," "testosterone" and "surgery." The database search, quality assessment and data extraction were independently carried out by two reviewers. Only studies including patients with testosterone evaluation before and after surgery were considered for the analysis. A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out for continues variables using random effect models. Results: Out of 125 studies, a total of nine were selected , including 814 patients. The combined analysis showed that mean serum testosterone levels after surgical treatment increased by 97.48 ng/dL (95% confidence interval 43.73-151.22, P = 0.0004) compared with preoperative levels. Conclusions: Surgical treatment of varicocele significantly increases testosterone production and improves testicular Leydig cell function.
Varicocele is currently the most common irregularity identified in males that is associated with impaired spermatogenesis. It primarily presents in the form of decreased sperm count and motility, abnormal morphology, and significantly increased sperm DNA fragmentation. Several studies have shown that surgical repair improves semen parameters and increases the odds of spontaneous pregnancy. However the exact effect of surgical repair treatment remains controversial. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of microsurgical repair by comparing common semen parameters and sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). We evaluated infertile men (n = 19) who underwent microsurgical subinguinal varicocelectomy for treatment of clinical varicocele before and 3 months after surgery. Normozoospermic men (n = 19) were considered as the normal control group. Semen parameters improved significantly after surgery when compared with that before surgery, but still significant differences with the normal control group were observed. In comparison, sperm DNA integrity improved significantly after surgery (percentage DFI decreased from 28.4 ± 15.6% before surgery to 22.4 ± 12.9%, at 3 months post surgery) to similar levels as the normal control group. These results suggest that microsurgical repair may be considered as a treatment option in infertile men with palpable varicocele.
The effects of two quantitative trait loci (QTLs) controlling the resistance to rice stripe virus (RSV) identified in a Japanese upland rice line, Kanto 72, (URK 72) were evaluated using near-isogenic lines (NILs). Two NILs carrying a single QTL (QTL-NILs) on chromosomes 2 and 11, respectively, were developed by markerassisted selection (MAS). The target QTL regions were introduced from the donor parent, Chugoku 40, which was bred from URK 72, into the genetic background of Koshihikari. Another line, which was a combined QTL-NIL, was developed from the cross between the two QTL-NILs to analyze the interaction of the two QTLs. Investigation of RSV resistance using the three NILs revealed that the effects of the two QTLs clearly differed in the reaction to RSV. The QTL on chromosome 11 exerted a major effect on reducing the infection rate of RSV. Although the QTL on chromosome 2 did not affect the infection rate, the symptoms of the diseased plants were milder. The combined QTL-NIL displayed a high level of resistance to RSV, while the infection rate and the symptom types of the diseased plants were similar to those of URK 72 or Chugoku 40. Since the major agronomic characters of the three QTL-NILs were the same as those of Koshihikari, these QTL-NILs were considered to be useful gene sources for RSV resistance rice breeding.
ObjectiveAn experiment was conducted to assess the antioxidant contents and activities of colored rice grains and to evaluate their nutritive characteristics in terms of chemical composition and in situ ruminal degradation.MethodsTen cultivars of colored rice grains (Oryza sativa L.) collected from several areas of Japan were studied, and control rice without pigment, maize, barley, and wheat grains were used as control grains. Their chemical compositions, pigment, polyphenol contents, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and degradation characteristics were determined.ResultsThe starch contents of the colored rice grains were in the range of 73.5% to 79.6%, similar to that of the control rice grain. The black and red rice grains contained anthocyanin (maximum: 5,045.6 μg/g) and proanthocyanidin (maximum: 3,060.6 μg/g) at high concentrations as their principal pigments, respectively. There were significantly (p<0.05) positive relationships among the pigment contents, polyphenol content, and TAC values in the colored and control rice grains, indicating that the increase in pigment contents also contributed to the increased polyphenol content and TAC values in the colored rice grains. The dry matter and starch degradation characteristics, as represented by c (fractional degradation rate of slowly degradable fraction) and by the effective degradability, of the colored rice grains and the control rice grain were ranked as follows among commonly used grains: wheat>barley ≥rice>maize. The colored rice grains also included the most-digestible starch, since their potential degradable fraction and actual degradability at 48 h incubation were almost 100%.ConclusionColored rice grains have high potential to be used as antioxidant sources in addition to starch sources in ruminants.
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