Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in the ovary

La proteïna transportadora de les hormones sexuals (SHBG) va ser descrita a finals dels anys seixanta amb les funcions de transportar els esteroides sexuals i de regular-ne la biodisponibilitat. Des de fa ja bastant temps, es coneix també que les cèll. ules testiculars de Sertoli expressen la proteïna que lliga els andrògens (androgen-binding protein oABP), que està codificada pel mateix gen que la SHBG, però glicosilada diferentment. Les funcions de l'ABP han estat àmpliament estudiades, i actualment se sap ja que l'ABP és un dels reguladors locals de l'espermatogènesi. Nogensmenys, la presència de la SHBG en l'ovari ha estat molt poc estudiada. L'objectiu del present article és el de revisar el que actualment es coneix sobre l'expressió de la SHBG en la gònada femenina, incloent-hi les troballes recents del nostre grup que demostren la presència de la SHBG en els foll. icles ovàrics, particularment en el citoplasma de les cèll. ules de la granulosa, en algunes cèll. ules de la teca i en els oòcits de foll. icles primordials, primaris i secundaris, i també en el cos luti. A més, l'expressió del gen de la SHBG s'ha evidenciat també en les cèll. ules granulosoluteíniques en pacients sotmeses a fertilització in vitro. Això suggereix que aquestes cèll. ules constitueixen una font local de SHBG en l'ovari humà. Aquestes noves dades suggereixen la implicació de la SHBG en la fisiologia ovàrica.Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) was described in the late sixties as a hepatic carrier protein for sex steroids and was thought to regulate their bio-availability. It has also been known for many years that testicular Sertoli cells express androgen-binding protein (ABP), which is encoded by the same gene as SHBG, but which is differentially glycosylated. The possible roles of ABP have been extensively studied, and this protein may be one of the local regulators of spermatogenesis. In contrast, very few authors have investigated the presence of SHBG in the ovary. The aim of the present paper is to provide a survey of what is currently known about the expression of SHBG in the female gonad, including our own recent findings that SHBG was present in ovarian follicles. This was true, particularly in the cytoplasm of granulosa cells, some theca cells, and oocytes in primordial, primary, and early secondary follicles, as well as in the corpus luteum. Furthermore, the expression of the SHBG gene has been demonstrated in granulosa-lutein cells from in vitro fertilization patients, indicating that these cells are one of the local sources of SHBG in the human ovary. These new data suggest an involvement of SHBG in ovarian physiology

Previous pregnancy outcomes and subsequent pregnancy anxiety in a Quebec prospective cohort

Introduction— Pregnancy anxiety is an important psychosocial risk factor that may be more strongly associated with adverse birth outcomes than other measures of stress. Better understanding of the upstream predictors and causes of pregnancy anxiety could help to identify high-risk women for adverse maternal and infant outcomes. The objective of the present study was to measure the associations between five past pregnancy outcomes (live preterm birth (PTB), live term birth, miscarriage at <20 weeks, stillbirth at ≥20 weeks, and elective abortion) and pregnancy anxiety at three trimesters in a subsequent pregnancy. Methods— Analyses were conducted using data from the 3D Cohort Study, a Canadian birth cohort. Data on maternal demographic characteristics and pregnancy history for each known previous pregnancy were collected via interviewer-administered questionnaires at study entry. Pregnancy anxiety for the index study pregnancy was measured prospectively by self-administered questionnaire following three prenatal study visits. Results— Of 2366 participants in the 3D Study, 1505 had at least one previous pregnancy. In linear regression analyses with adjustment for confounding variables, prior live term birth was associated with lower pregnancy anxiety in all three trimesters, whereas prior miscarriage was significantly associated with higher pregnancy anxiety in the first trimester. Prior stillbirth was associated with greater pregnancy anxiety in the third trimester. Prior elective abortion was significantly associated with higher pregnancy anxiety scores in the first and second trimesters, with an association of similar magnitude observed in the third trimester. Discussion— Our findings suggest that the outcomes of previous pregnancies should be incorporated, along with demographic and psychosocial characteristics, into conceptual models framing pregnancy anxiety

Skin collagen advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and the long-term progression of sub-clinical cardiovascular disease in type 1 diabetes

BACKGROUND: We recently reported strong associations between eight skin collagen AGEs and two solubility markers from skin biopsies obtained at DCCT study closeout and the long-term progression of microvascular disease in EDIC, despite adjustment for mean glycemia. Herein we investigated the hypothesis that some of these AGEs (fluorescence to be reported elsewhere) correlate with long-term subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) measurements, i.e. coronary artery calcium score (CAC) at EDIC year 7-9 (n = 187), change of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) from EDIC year 1 to year 6 and 12 (n = 127), and cardiac MRI outcomes at EDIC year 15-16 (n = 142). METHODS: Skin collagen AGE measurements obtained from stored specimens were related to clinical data from the DCCT/EDIC using Spearman correlations and multivariable logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Spearman correlations showed furosine (early glycation) was associated with future mean CAC (p \u3c 0.05) and CAC \u3e0 (p = 0.39), but not with CAC score100. Glucosepane and pentosidine crosslinks, methylglyoxal hydroimidazolones (MG-H1) and pepsin solubility (inversely) correlated with IMT change from year 1 to 6(all P \u3c 0.05). Left ventricular (LV) mass (cMRI) correlated with MG-H1, and inversely with pepsin solubility (both p \u3c 0.05), while the ratio LV mass/end diastolic volume correlated with furosine and MG-H1 (both p \u3c 0.05), and highly with CML (p \u3c 0.01). In multivariate analysis only furosine (p = 0.01) was associated with CAC. In contrast IMT was inversely associated with lower collagen pepsin solubility and positively with glucosepane, CONCLUSIONS: In type 1 diabetes, multiple AGEs are associated with IMT progression in spite of adjustment for A1c implying a likely participatory role of glycation and AGE mediated crosslinking on matrix accumulation in coronary arteries. This may also apply to functional cardiac MRI outcomes, especially left ventricular mass. In contrast, early glycation measured by furosine, but not AGEs, was associated with CAC score, implying hyperglycemia as a risk factor in calcium deposition perhaps via processes independent of glycation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registered at Clinical trial reg. nos. NCT00360815 and NCT00360893, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov

An examination of sex differences in associations between cord blood adipokines and childhood adiposity

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154308/1/ijpo12587.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154308/2/ijpo12587_am.pd

Bi-cultural, bi-national benchmarking and assessment of clinical reasoning in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Abstract Background: The Script Concordance Test (SCT) is being increasingly used in professional development in clinical reasoning (CR) in postgraduate medicine. On-line delivery favours multi-institutional collaboration

Recurrent dust formation by WR 48a on a 30-year timescale

We present infrared photometry of the WC8 Wolf-Rayet system WR 48a observed with telescopes at ESO, the SAAO and the AAT between 1982 and 2011 which show a slow decline in dust emission from the previously reported outburst in 1978--79 until about 1997, when significant dust emission was still evident. This was followed by a slow rise, accelerating to reach and overtake the first (1978) photometry, demonstrating that the outburst observed in 1978--79 was not an isolated event, but that they recur at intervals of 32+ years. This suggests that WR 48a is a long-period dust maker and colliding-wind binary (CWB). The locus of WR 48a in the (H-L), K colour-magnitude diagram implies that the rate of dust formation fell between 1979 and about 1997 and then increased steadily until 2011. Superimposed on the long-term variation are secondary (`mini') eruptions in (at least) 1990, 1994, 1997, 1999 and 2004, characteristic of relatively brief episodes of additional dust formation. Spectra show evidence for an Oe or Be companion to the WC8 star, supporting the suggestion that WR 48a is a binary system and indicating a system luminosity consistent with the association of WR 48a and the young star clusters Danks 1 and Danks 2. The range of dust formation suggests that these stars are in an elliptical orbit having e ~ 0.6. The size of the orbit implied by the minimum period, together with the WC wind velocity and likely mass-loss rate, implies that the post-shock WC wind is adiabatic throughout the orbit -- at odds with the observed dust formation. A similar conflict is observed in the `pinwheel' dust-maker WR 112.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

3D Cohort Study : The Integrated Research Network in Perinatology of Quebec and Eastern Ontario

Background: The 3D Cohort Study (Design, Develop, Discover) was established to help bridge knowledge gaps about the links between various adverse exposures during pregnancy with birth outcomes and later health outcomes in children. Methods: Pregnant women and their partners were recruited during the first trimester from nine sites in Quebec and followed along with their children through to 2 years of age. Questionnaires were administered during pregnancy and post-delivery to collect information on demographics, mental health and life style, medical history, psychosocial measures, diet, infant growth, and neurodevelopment. Information on the delivery and newborn outcomes were abstracted from medical charts. Biological specimens were collected from mothers during each trimester, fathers (once during the pregnancy), and infants (at delivery and 2 years of age) for storage in a biological specimen bank. Results: Of the 9864 women screened, 6348 met the eligibility criteria and 2366 women participated in the study (37% of eligible women). Among women in the 3D cohort, 1721 of their partners (1704 biological fathers) agreed to participate (73%). Two thousand two hundred and nineteen participants had a live singleton birth (94%). Prenatal blood and urine samples as well as vaginal secretions were collected for ≥98% of participants, cord blood for 81% of livebirths, and placental tissue for 89% of livebirths. Conclusions: The 3D Cohort Study combines a rich bank of multiple biological specimens with extensive clinical, life style, and psychosocial data. This data set is a valuable resource for studying the developmental etiology of birth and early childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes

The Case for Asymmetric Dust Around a C-Rich AGB star

JHKL observations of the mass-losing carbon Mira variable IRAS 15194-5115 (II Lup) extending over about 18 years are presented and discussed. The pulsation period is 575 days and has remained essentially constant over this time span. The star has undergone an extensive obscuration minimum during this time. This is complex and, like such minima in similar objects, e.g. R For, does not fit the model predictions of a simple long term periodicity. Together with the high resolution observations of Lopez et al. the results suggest that the obscuration changes are due to the formation of dust clouds of limited extent in the line-of-sight. This is an RCB-type model. The effective reddening law at J and H is similar to that found for R For.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements