The possible anti-inflammatory role of circulating human leukocyte antigen levels in women with endometriosis after treatment with danazol and leuprorelin acetate depot.

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is defined as an inflammatory condition of the female reproductive tract, a state often associated with infertility and miscarriage. Many exogenously administered factors (treatments) control the disease via as yet unknown pathways. Possible candidate molecules involved in these mechanisms could be the serum-soluble human leukocyte antigens (sHIA) that have been detected in a variety of human body fluids and that are associated with several diseases. AIMS: We here examine how danazol and leuprorelin acetate depot treatments exert their anti-inflammatory action. It is plausible that subtle alterations mediated by these treatments and in relation to sHLA may explain the pathophysiology of endometriosis and provide insights towards new therapeutic protocols. METHODS: Indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using specific monoclonal antibodies, determined serum-soluble class-I and class-II HLA levels. ELISA readings from treated women were compared with normal healthy subjects. RESULTS: Serum-soluble class-I and class-II HLA levels are statistically significantly lower (P < 0.001) in women with endometriosis than in the control groups. However, danazol but not leuprorelin acetate depot administration augments soluble HLA class I and class II (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively) to normal levels during the treatment period, an increase that may account for the anti-inflammatory effect and the remission observed. CONCLUSIONS: It is shown that one of the underlying causes of endometriosis may be the lack of both circulating class-I and class-II antigen levels. Danazol administration acts via an induced release of these antigens, whose presence correlates with the degree of the inflammatory alleviation obtained. We thus provide evidence that the inflammatory state of the disease appears to be associated with soluble HLA levels because, 3 months after ceasing therapy, the circulating antigens in the serum return to the same levels that correspond to the pathological condition

There is no significant correlation of adenomyosis with benign, premalignant and malignant gynecological pathologies. Retrospective study on 647 specimens

Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify the prevalence of benign, premalignant and malignant gynecological pathologies in women with adenomyosis who underwent gynecological surgery. Material and methods: The medical records collected between 1985 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The pathology reports were studied from 647 cases where adenomyosis was presented. The estimated prevalence of benign, premalignant and malignant gynecological disorders in the general population was further evaluated. Results: The mean age of women with adenomyosis was 54.1 ± 10.4 years old. Out of 647 patients, in 18.5% of the specimens we detected isolated adenomyosis and in 81.5% of cases a coexistence of one or more gynecological diseases, while in 84 out of 647 patients (13%) there was coexistence of adenomyosis with more than one gynecological condition (benign or malignancy). Among all cases, uterine leiomyomas were observed in 61.3% of patients, followed by endometrial polyps (11.9%), endometriosis (11.6%), endometrial hyperplasia (7.1%), endometrial cancer (3.6%), ovarian (1.4%) and cervical cancer (0.8%) (p &lt; 0.001).Additionally, we found that women with a simultaneous co-existence of adenomyosis, leiomyomas and endometrial polyps or hyperplasia were younger (p &lt; 0.01) in comparison to cases with malignancy. Conclusions: Adenomyosis presents a common benign but often progressing myometrial condition that it is underestimated in clinical practice. Even though some studies suggest a potential association with several gynecological pathologies, we did not confirm a significant difference of adenomyosis prevalence between benign, premalignant and malignant gynecological conditions compared with the general population. Further investigation is required to confirm our results

5d quivers and their AdS(6) duals

We consider an infinite class of 5d supersymmetric gauge theories involving products of symplectic and unitary groups that arise from D4-branes at orbifold singularities in Type I' string theory. The theories are argued to be dual to warped AdS(6)x S4/Zn backgrounds in massive Type IIA supergravity. In particular, this demonstrates the existence of supersymmetric 5d fixed points of quiver type. We analyze the spectrum of gauge fields and charged states in the supergravity dual, and find a precise agreement with the symmetries and charged operators in the quiver theories. We also comment on other brane objects in the supergravity dual and their interpretation in the field theories.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figure

A case of sigmoid endometriosis difficult to differentiate from colon cancer

BACKGROUND: Although endometriosis with sigmoid serosal involvement is not uncommon in women of childbearing age, the mucosal involvement is rare and differential diagnosis from colon cancer may be difficult due to the lack of pathognomonic symptoms and the poor diagnostic yield of colonoscopy and colonic biopsies. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of a young woman with sigmoid endometriosis, in which the initial diagnostic workup suggested colon cancer. Histologic evidence, obtained from a second colonoscopy, along with pelvic ultrasound findings led to the final diagnosis of intestinal endometriosis which was confirmed by laparoscopy. CONCLUSION: Colonic endometriosis is often a diagnostic challenge and should be considered in young women with symptoms from the lower gastrointestinal tract

Non-Universal Soft SUSY Breaking and Dark Matter

An analysis is given of the effects of non-universal soft SUSY breaking masses in the Higgs sector and in the third generation squark sector, and it is shown that they are highly coupled. Analytic expressions are obtained for their effects on the parameters $\mu,m_A$ and on the third generation squark masses. Non-universality effects on dark matter event rates in neutralino-nucleus scattering are analysed. It is found that the effects are maximal in the range $m_{\tilde\chi_1}\leq 65$~GeV where the relic density is governed by the Z and Higgs poles. In this range the minimum event rates can be increased or decreased by factors of O(10) depending on the sign of non-universality. Above this range Landau pole effects arising from the heavy top mass tend to suppress the non-universality effects. The effect of more precise measurements of cosmological parameters on event rates, which is expected to occur in the next round of COBE like sattelite experiments, is also investigated. Implications for the analysis for dark matter searches are discussed.Comment: 28 pages, latex, and 7 fig

Yukawa Unification as a Window into the Soft Supersymmetry Breaking Lagrangian

We study Yukawa unification, including the effects of a physical neutrino mass consistent with the Superkamiokande observations, in a string/$D$-brane inspired Pati-Salam model which allows the most general non-universal scalar and gaugino masses, including the usual $D$-term contributions which arise in SO(10). We investigate how the tight constraints from rare decays such as $b \to s \gamma$ and $\tau \to \mu \gamma$ can provide information about the family dependent supersymmetry breaking soft Lagrangian, for example the trilinears associated with the second and third family. Many of our results also apply to SO(10) to which the model approximately reduces in a limiting case. In both models we find that Yukawa unification is perfectly viable providing the non-universal soft masses have particular patterns. In this sense Yukawa unification acts as a window into the soft supersymmetry breaking Lagrangian.Comment: References added. 82 pages, 57 figures, Late

Twenty Years of SUGRA

A brief review is given of the developments of mSUGRA and its extensions since the formulation of these models in 1982. Future directions and prospects are also discussed.Comment: Invited talk at the International Conference BEYOND-2003, Schloss Ringberg, Germany, June 10-14, 2003; 21 pages, Late

What if Supersymmetry Breaking Unifies beyond the GUT Scale?

We study models in which soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters of the MSSM become universal at some unification scale, $M_{in}$, above the GUT scale, \mgut. We assume that the scalar masses and gaugino masses have common values, $m_0$ and $m_{1/2}$ respectively, at $M_{in}$. We use the renormalization-group equations of the minimal supersymmetric SU(5) GUT to evaluate their evolutions down to \mgut, studying their dependences on the unknown parameters of the SU(5) superpotential. After displaying some generic examples of the evolutions of the soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters, we discuss the effects on physical sparticle masses in some specific examples. We note, for example, that near-degeneracy between the lightest neutralino and the lighter stau is progressively disfavoured as $M_{in}$ increases. This has the consequence, as we show in $(m_{1/2}, m_0)$ planes for several different values of $\tan \beta$, that the stau coannihilation region shrinks as $M_{in}$ increases, and we delineate the regions of the $(M_{in}, \tan \beta)$ plane where it is absent altogether. Moreover, as $M_{in}$ increases, the focus-point region recedes to larger values of $m_0$ for any fixed $\tan \beta$ and $m_{1/2}$. We conclude that the regions of the $(m_{1/2}, m_0)$ plane that are commonly favoured in phenomenological analyses tend to disappear at large $M_{in}$.Comment: 24 pages with 11 eps figures; references added, some figures corrected, discussion extended and figure added; version to appear in EPJ

Enhanced progression of human prostate cancer PC3 cells induced by the microenvironment of the seminal vesicle

The objective of this study was to characterise the mechanism mediating the prostate cancer progression induced by the microenvironment of seminal vesicle (SV). The invasive potential of PC3 cells significantly increased after treatment with extract from SV of NOD/SCID mouse. Among several growth factors and cytokines that were present in the SV extract, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) significantly enhanced the invasive potential of PC3 cells; however, the additional treatment with neutralising antibody against TGF-β1 suppressed the enhanced invasive potential induced by the SV extract. Changes in the invasive potential in PC3 cells after treatment with the SV extract and/or TGF-β1 were in proportion to those in the production of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) by PC3 cells. Tumour growth as well as the incidence of lymph node metastasis in NOD/SCID mice after the injection of PC3 cells into the SV were significantly greater than those after the injection into the prostate. These findings suggest that the microenvironment of SV enhances the progression of prostate cancer through a stimulated invasive potential, and that enhanced uPA production in prostate cancer cells induced by TGF-β1 could therefore be one of the most important mechanisms involved in the progression of prostate cancer after SV invasion

125 GeV Higgs Boson from t-b-tau Yukawa Unification

We identify a class of supersymmetric SU(4)_c x SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R models in which imposing essentially perfect t-b-tau Yukawa coupling unification at M_GUT yields a mass close to 122-126 GeV for the lightest CP-even (SM-like) Higgs boson. The squark and gluino masses in these models exceed 3 TeV, but the stau and charginos in some cases can be considerably lighter. We display some benchmark points corresponding to neutralino-stau and bino-wino coannihilations as well as A-resonance. The well-known MSSM parameter tan beta is around 46-52.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure