The reaggregation of normal granulosa-cumulus cells and mouse oocytes with polycystic ovarian syndrome in vitro: An experimental study

Background: The dialogue between oocytes and their surrounding cells plays a major role in the progress of oocyte meiosis and their developmental potential. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of co-culture of normal granulosacumulus cells (GCCs) with oocytes from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) mice. Materials and Methods: Normal GCCs were collected from 10 virgin adult Naval Medical Research Institute female mice (30-35 gr, 7-8 wk old), and were cultured in an alpha-minimum essential medium supplemented with 5% fetal calf serum for 24-48 hr (1×106 cells/well). Then, germinal-vesicle oocytes from PCOS mice were cultured in the presence of cultured normal GCCs (experimental group) and without GCCs (control group). The maturation rate and quality of the PCOS oocytes were examined by evaluating TFAM and Cx43 gene expression (real-time PCR) and the connection among PCOS oocytes and normal GCCs after 24 hr of culture. Results: The co-culture of normal GCCs and PCOS oocytes in the experimental group led to the formation of a complex called a PCOS oocyte-normal GCCs complex. The maturation rate of these complexes was significantly increased compared to that of the control group (p ≤ 0.001). A significant difference was also found in the expression of Cx43 (p ≤ 0.001) and TFAM (p < 0.05) genes in the experimental group compared with the control group. The connection between PCOS oocytes and normal GCCs was observed in the scanning electron microscope images. Conclusion: Co-culture with normal GCCs improves the capacity of PCOS oocytes to enter meiosis, which may result in the promotion of assisted reproduction techniques. Key words: PCOS, Co-culture, Granulosa-cumulus cells, IVM, Cx43

A study on relationship between income, health and family relationship and happiness

This paper presents a social work study on relationship between exogenous components including monthly income, family relationship and physical health and endogenous variables including subjective happiness scale (SHS), satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) and happiness. The proposed study designs a questionnaire and distributes it among 254 employees of private banks in city of Tehran, Iran during the year of 2012. Cronbach's Alpha and Dillon-Goldstein's Rho both are well above 0.70, for SHS and SWLS and Eigenvalue for both components were greater than one. T-student values for all components were greater than 1.96, which means they are meaningful. Mean Communalities (Ave) calculated for both Latent Variables were greater than 0.50. The results of investigating various questions of the survey indicate that while healthcare is the most important factor on happiness, there is a positive and meaningful relationship between income and family relationships and happiness

The Reaggregation of Normal Granulosa-cumulus Cells and Mouse Oocytes with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in Vitro: an Experimental Study

Background: The dialogue between oocytes and their surrounding cells plays a major role in the progress of oocyte meiosis and their developmental potential. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of co-culture of normal granulosacumulus cells (GCCs) with oocytes from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) mice. Materials and Methods: Normal GCCs were collected from 10 virgin adult Naval Medical Research Institute female mice (30-35 gr, 7-8 wk old), and were cultured in an alpha-minimum essential medium supplemented with 5% fetal calf serum for 24-48 hr (1×106 cells/well). Then, germinal-vesicle oocytes from PCOS mice were cultured in the presence of cultured normal GCCs (experimental group) and without GCCs (control group). The maturation rate and quality of the PCOS oocytes were examined by evaluating TFAM and Cx43 gene expression (real-time PCR) and the connection among PCOS oocytes and normal GCCs after 24 hr of culture. Results: The co-culture of normal GCCs and PCOS oocytes in the experimental group led to the formation of a complex called a PCOS oocyte-normal GCCs complex. The maturation rate of these complexes was significantly increased compared to that of the control group (p ≤ 0.001). A significant difference was also found in the expression of Cx43 (p ≤ 0.001) and TFAM (p lt; 0.05) genes in the experimental group compared with the control group. The connection between PCOS oocytes and normal GCCs was observed in the scanning electron microscope images. Conclusion: Co-culture with normal GCCs improves the capacity of PCOS oocytes to enter meiosis, which may result in the promotion of assisted reproduction techniques. Key words: PCOS, Co-culture, Granulosa-cumulus cells, IVM, Cx43

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire in Patients with Epilepsy

Background: Adult eating behavior questionnaire (AEBQ) is an age upward extension tool that measures appetite traits in individuals. This instrument was developed by Hunot in 2016. The present study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of AEBQ in adults with epilepsy. Methods: The current research is a cross-sectional study conducted in 2019 in Iran. 700 adults with epilepsy completed the 35-item AEBQ. Qualitative face validity, qualitative content and structure validity (exploratory factor analysis EFA, N=400, and confirmatory factor analysis CFA, N=300) appetitive traits were evaluated. Reliability was also measured using Cronbach’s alpha, Construct reliability (CR), and Intra-Class Correlation (ICC). The SPSS 26-AMOS24 software was employed to analyze the data with a significance level of 0.05. Results: The EFA and CFA results comprised eight factors, namely enjoyment of food, emotional over-eating, food responsiveness, hunger, satiety responsiveness, emotional under-eating, food fussiness, and eating slowly. Indices of root mean square error of approximation=0.068, parsimonious normed fit index=0.644, parsimonious comparative fit index=0.671, adjusted goodness of fit index=0.618, goodness of fit index=0.911, and Chi square degree-of-freedom ratio (normalized Chi square CMIN/ DF=2.842) confirmed the fitness of the final model. Convergent and divergent validity was acceptable for all the factors. The results revealed that the internal stability>0.8 and CR>0.7 of the eight extracted AEBQ structures are confirmed. The ICC was 0.899 (95% CI: 0.878-0.917; P<0.001). The results also showed that AEBQ has acceptable convergent and divergent validity. Conclusion: The eight-factor structure of AEBQ can measure eating behavior traits and is of good validity and reliability for assessing the eating behavior of Iranian adults with epilepsy