Ovarian reserve and adipokine levels in reproductive-aged obese women

Aim. To investigate the relationship of the ovarian reserve to the levels of adipokines and sex hormones in reproductive-aged women with abdominal obesity. Subjects and methods. A total of 157 women aged 18 to 45 years with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 30 kg/m2 were examined (a study group). A control group consisted of 93 women aged 18—45 years with a BMI of less than 25 kg/m2. Anthropometric and carbohydrate and lipid metabolic parameters and the levels of sex hormones, anti-Müllerian hormone, resistin, and adiponectin were investigated. Results. The mean age of the participants with a BMI of more than 30 kg/m2 was 33.1±6.1 years and that of those with a BMI of less than 25—30 kg/m2 was 32.8±6.2 years. No statistically significant differences were found in age, ethnicity, and marital status between the participants of both groups; however, there was a statistically significant difference in education levels — 76.3% of the women with a BMI of less than 25 kg/m2 (p</jats:p

Determination of Ancylostoma caninum ova viability using metabolic profiling

Differentiation between viable and non-viable hookworm ova in environmental samples is necessary in order to implement strategies to mitigate re-infections in endemic regions. In this study, an untargeted metabolic profiling method was developed that utilised gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in order to investigate hookworm ova viability. Ancylostoma caninum was used to investigate the metabolites within viable and non-viable ova. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses of the data resulted in the identification of 53 significant metabolites across all hookworm ova samples. The major compounds observed in viable and non-viable hookworm ova were tetradecanoic acid, commonly known as myristic acid [fold change (FC) = 0.4], and dodecanoic acid, commonly known as lauric acid (FC = 0.388). Additionally, the viable ova had self-protecting metabolites such as prostaglandins, a typical feature absent in non-viable ova. The results of this study demonstrate that metabolic profiling using GC-MS methods can be used to determine the viability of canine hookworm ova. Further studies are needed to assess the applicability of metabolic profiling using GC-MS to detect viable hookworm ova in the mixed (viable and non-viable) populations from environmental samples and identify the metabolites specific to human hookworm species