2,694 research outputs found
Sexual function and reproduction can be impaired in men with rheumatic diseases: A systematic review
Information about the possible effect of rheumatic diseases on male sexual function and reproduction
(sexual health) is scarce and difficult to summarize. Factors known to impair sexual health, such as
inflammation, medication use and hypogonadism can be present in a significant proportion of male patients
with rheumatic diseases.
Objectives: The objective of our study was to systematically review the literature for the influence of paternal
rheumatic disease on sexual health, such as sexual function, reproductive hormones, male fertility, pregnancy
and offspring outcomes.
Data sources: English language articles identified through Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of
Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science, Google Scholar and the Clinical trial registries of Europe and
the USA published until February 2019.
Study appraisal and synthesis methods: Literature was synthesized in narrative form and in summary tables.
Outcomes were categorized as: sexual function, reproductive hormones, fertility and pregnancy and offspring
outcomes. Results are presented per category and per disease.
Results: 9735 articleswere identified with our search strategy. After removal of duplicates, excluding articles by
screening titles and abstracts and assessing eligibility by reading 289 fulltext articles, 87 articles fulfilled the eligibility
criteria. All included studies enrolled patients diagnosed with a rheumatic disease and had results at
least on one of the outcome categories. Sexual function was the most common category, followed by reproductive
hormones, fertility and pregnancy and offspring outcomes. Sexual function is impaired in a high proportion
of patients with rheumatic diseases. This was statistically significant in most of the studies where a control
group was available. Clinically relevant abnormalities in reproductive hormones were mainly identified in
patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and a positive correlation
with disease activity were reported. Semen quality inmen with rheumatic diseases can be impaired in patients
with SLE, SpA, sarcoidosis, BD and MWS. Sperm count and motility were the most common semen quality
parameters affected. No negative effect of paternal RA and vasculitis on pregnancy outcomes were reported in
3 studies. No studies reporting the effect of paternal disease on offspring outcomes were identified.
Limitations: Most of the studies included in this review suffer from an inconsistent methodological quality,
definitions of outcomes varied in several studies, a wide variety of screening questionnaires and/or diagnostic
tools were used and results might only apply to the specific populations that were studied.
Conclusions: This systematic review suggests that sexual health is impaired in men with rheumatic diseases.
The degree and extent of sexual health impairment vary per disease. More research is needed to fully understand the link between rheumatic diseases and impaired male sexual health. Meanwhile, rheumatologists
should be aware of this association and discuss it with their patients.
Implications of key findings: Sexual health of men with rheumatic diseases can be impaired by the disease
itself. Especially in men trying to conceive, information on sexual function, reproductive hormones and
sperm quality are needed to identify these problems. Treatment resulting in lower disease activity can
improve overall sexual health in man with rheumatic diseases and facilitate their journey to fatherhoo
Male Sexual Health and Reproduction in Cutaneous Immune-Mediated Diseases: A Systematic Review
Introduction: Information about the possible effects of cutaneous immune-mediated diseases (cIMDs) on male sexual function and reproduction is scarce. Factors known to impair sexual health and reproduction, such as inflammation, medication use, and hypogonadism, can be present in a significant proportion of male patients with cIMD. Objectives: To systematically review the literature for the influence of paternal cIMD on many aspects of male sexual and reproductive health, such as sexual function, reproductive hormones, fertility, and pregnancy and offspring outcomes. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed. The searches combined keywords regarding male sexual function and fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and offspring's health with a list of cIMDs. Results: The majority of the identified studies included patients with psoriasis (22 of 27), and sexual function was the most common outcome of interest (20 of 27). For patients diagnosed with psoriasis, the prevalence of male sexual dysfunction reported in these studies ranged from 34 to 81%. Hypogonadism in patients with psoriasis was reported in 2 of 3 studies. Sperm analysis abnormalities in patients with psoriasis were reported in 3 of 4 studies. No information about the effect of paternal disease on pregnancy and offspring outcomes was identified. Conclusions: Disease activity in psoriasis might play an important role in the development of sexua
Current status of the 12 MeV UPC race-track microtron
A compact race-track microtron (RTM) with the maximal output energy 12 MeV is under construction at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in collaboration with the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Moscow State University, CIEMAT and a few Spanish industrial companies and medical centers. The RTM end magnets are four-pole systems with the magnetic field created by a rare-earth permanent magnet material. As a source of electrons a 3D off-axis electron gun is used. These elements together with a C-band accelerating structure, dipole magnets, which allow to extract the electron beam with energy from 6 MeV to 12 MeV in 2 MeV step, and a focusing quadrupole are placed inside a vacuum chamber. We report on the current status of the technical design and results of tests of some of the components.Postprint (published version
Paternal inflammatory arthritis is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage:results of a large multicentre study (iFAME-Fertility)
OBJECTIVES: Paternal preconception health is recognized as an important contributor to pregnancy outcomes. Nonetheless, pregnancy outcomes of partners of men with inflammatory arthritis (IA) have never been studied. Our objective was to describe the pregnancy outcomes of partners of men diagnosed with IA.METHODS: We performed a multicentre cross-sectional retrospective study conducted in the Netherlands. Men with IA who were over 40 years old that reported at least one positive pregnancy test were included. To analyse the impact of IA on pregnancy outcomes, pregnancies were classified into two groups: pregnancies conceived after the diagnosis of IA and before the diagnosis of IA.RESULTS: In total, 408 male participants diagnosed with IA reported 897 singleton pregnancies that resulted in 794 live births. Pregnancies conceived after the diagnosis of IA had higher rate of miscarriage (12.27 vs 7.53%, P = <0.05). This increased risk was still present after adjusting for confounders [OR 2.03 (95% CI 1.12, 3.69) P = 0.015].CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest study to describe the pregnancy outcomes of partners of men diagnosed with IA and the first to demonstrate that paternal IA is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage. Notwithstanding, the overall rate of miscarriage reported in our study could be comparable to previously reported population estimates.</p
Control of protein synthesis and memory by GluN3A-NMDA receptors through inhibition of GIT1/mTORC1 assembly
De novo protein synthesis is required for synapse modifications underlying stable memory encoding. Yet neurons are highly compartmentalized cells and how protein synthesis can be regulated at the synapse level is unknown. Here, we characterize neuronal signaling complexes formed by the postsynaptic scaffold GIT1, the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase, and Raptor that couple synaptic stimuli to mTOR-dependent protein synthesis; and identify NMDA receptors containing GluN3A subunits as key negative regulators of GIT1 binding to mTOR. Disruption of GIT1/mTOR complexes by enhancing GluN3A expression or silencing GIT1 inhibits synaptic mTOR activation and restricts the mTOR-dependent translation of specific activity-regulated mRNAs. Conversely, GluN3A removal enables complex formation, potentiates mTOR-dependent protein synthesis, and facilitates the consolidation of associative and spatial memories in mice. The memory enhancement becomes evident with light or spaced training, can be achieved by selectively deleting GluN3A from excitatory neurons during adulthood, and does not compromise other aspects of cognition such as memory flexibility or extinction. Our findings provide mechanistic insight into synaptic translational control and reveal a potentially selective target for cognitive enhancement
MHC class I-related chain A and B ligands are differentially expressed in human cervical cancer cell lines
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Natural killer (NK) cells are an important resource of the innate immune system directly involved in the spontaneous recognition and lysis of virus-infected and tumor cells. An exquisite balance of inhibitory and activating receptors tightly controls the NK cell activity. At present, one of the best-characterized activating receptors is NKG2D, which promotes the NK-mediated lysis of target cells by binding to a family of cell surface ligands encoded by the MHC class I chain-related (MIC) genes, among others. The goal of this study was to describe the expression pattern of MICA and MICB at the molecular and cellular levels in human cervical cancer cell lines infected or not with human papillomavirus, as well as in a non-tumorigenic keratinocyte cell line.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we show that MICA and MICB exhibit differential expression patterns among HPV-infected (SiHa and HeLa) and non-infected cell lines (C33-A, a tumor cell line, and HaCaT, an immortalized keratinocyte cell line). Cell surface expression of MICA was higher than cell surface expression of MICB in the HPV-positive cell lines; in contrast, HPV-negative cells expressed lower levels of MICA. Interestingly, the MICA levels observed in C33-A cells were overcome by significantly higher MICB expression. Also, all cell lines released higher amounts of soluble MICB than of soluble MICA into the cell culture supernatant, although this was most pronounced in C33-A cells. Additionally, Real-Time PCR analysis demonstrated that MICA was strongly upregulated after genotoxic stress.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides evidence that even when MICA and MICB share a high degree of homology at both genomic and protein levels, differential regulation of their expression and cell surface appearance might be occurring in cervical cancer-derived cells.</p
Male Sexual Health and Reproduction in Cutaneous Immune-Mediated Diseases: A Systematic Review
Introduction: Information about the possible effects of cutaneous immune-mediated diseases (cIMDs) on male
sexual function and reproduction is scarce. Factors known to impair sexual health and reproduction, such as
inflammation, medication use, and hypogonadism, can be present in a significant proportion of male patients
with cIMD.
Objectives: To systematically review the literature for the influence of paternal cIMD on many aspects of male
sexual and reproductive health, such as sexual function, reproductive hormones, fertility, and pregnancy and
offspring outcomes.
Methods: A systematic literature search was performed. The searches combined keywords regarding male sexual
function and fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and offspring's health with a list of cIMDs.
Results: The majority of the identified studies included patients with psoriasis (22 of 27), and sexual function was
the most common outcome of interest (20 of 27). For patients diagnosed with psoriasis, the prevalence of male sexual
dysfunction reported in these studies ranged from 34 to 81%. Hypogonadism in patients with psoriasis was reported
in 2 of 3 studies. Sperm analysis abnormalities in patients with psoriasis were reported in 3 of 4 studies. No information
about the effect of paternal disease on pregnancy and offspring outcomes was identified.
Conclusions: Disease activity in psoriasis might play an important role in the development of sexual
dysfunction, hypogonadism, and abnormal sperm quality. For the other cIMD included in this review, there is
insufficient information regarding male sexual and reproductive health to draw firm conclusions. More research is
needed to understand the association between cIMD and impaired male sexual and reproductive health
Global ecological predictors of the soil priming effect
Identifying the global drivers of soil priming is essential to understanding C cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. We conducted a survey of soils across 86 globally-distributed locations, spanning a wide range of climates, biotic communities, and soil conditions, and evaluated the apparent soil priming effect using 13C-glucose labeling. Here we show that the magnitude of the positive apparent priming effect (increase in CO2 release through accelerated microbial biomass turnover) was negatively associated with SOC content and microbial respiration rates. Our statistical modeling suggests that apparent priming effects tend to be negative in more mesic sites associated with higher SOC contents. In contrast, a single-input of labile C causes positive apparent priming effects in more arid locations with low SOC contents. Our results provide solid evidence that SOC content plays a critical role in regulating apparent priming effects, with important implications for the improvement of C cycling models under global change scenarios
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