International Journal of Reproductive BioMedicine
Volume:20 Issue: 1, Jan 2022

Cancer is one of the most common diseases and it has many physical and psychological consequences. Women with cancer are more likely to suffer from sexual dysfunction (SD) than healthy women.

To estimate the overall prevalence of SD in women with cancer.

The international databases Google Scholar, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for related articles without any time limitation. The keywords “Neoplasia”, “Tumor”, “Cancer”, “Malignancy”, “Female Sexual Function Index”, “FSFI”, and “female sexual dysfunction” along with their combinations were used in the search. Inconsistencies in the data were examined using the I2 test. The data were analyzed using the meta-analysis method and the random-effects model in the Stata software.

The analysis of 24 articles with a sample size of 5483 women showed that the prevalence of SD in women with cancer was 66% (95% CI: 59-74%). The highest and lowest prevalence were in Africa and Europe, respectively (75%; 95% CI: 66-83% vs. 43%; 95% CI: 26-60%, respectively). There was no relationship between the prevalence of SD and the mean age of the women, sample size, year of publication, or quality of articles.

SD is highly prevalent in women with cancer. African and American women with cancer have a higher average FSD prevalence than Asian and European ones.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex heterogeneous disease with various symptoms, which can affect females of reproductive age. Endocrine and metabolic abnormalities such as infertility, being over-weight or obese, type 2 diabetes, hyperandrogenism and increased luteinizing hormone (LH) are common in women with PCOS.

This review aimed to assess the efficacy of non-chemical and herbal substances for PCOS recovery. 

The keywords “non-chemical treatment”, “herbal treatment”, “polycystic ovary syndrome” and “PCOS” were used to search for articles in the electronic databases PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, and Reaxys, published from January 2009 to December 2019.

34 relevant studies were found and were briefly described in this review. The most effective herbal treatments in animal models of PCOS were to restore abnormality in serum sex steroid profile, LH: follicle stimulating hormone ratio, steroidogenic enzymes, cardiovascular parameters, lipid profile, and glucose and estrous cycles. In PCOS patients, positive effects on PCOS due to reductions in testosterone, estrogen, LH, LH: follicle stimulating hormone ratio, and insulin levels were observed.

The results of this review revealed the variability and efficacy of phytotherapy and non-chemical treatments associated with PCOS disease. These findings may help future studies on the etiology and treatment of this syndrome.

Estimation of the fetal birth weight and diagnosis of small for gestational age in the fetuses of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are currently imprecise.

We aimed to evaluate the association between fetal renal artery Doppler indices and neonatal birth weight in women with GDM in late pregnancy.

This cohort study recruited 246 pregnant women from Shariati Hospital in Tehran, Iran, in two GDM and healthy control groups. Participants underwent weekly Doppler ultrasounds in late pregnancy period (37-40 wk) to determine the Doppler indices of the umbilical artery, middle cerebral, and renal arteries. Fetal growth indices including biparietal diameter, abdominal circumference, head circumference, and femur length were also recorded and compared between two groups.

Fetal growth indices and estimated fetal weight were not significantly different between the two groups. Neonatal birth weight was significantly higher in the GDM group (p < 0.001). The GDM group had significantly higher renal artery indices (RI: p = 0.007, pulsatility index (PI): p = 0.032, and systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D): p = 0.006) compared to the control group. Also, there was an inverse linear correlation between umbilical indices and birth weight ((PI: p = 0.014), S/D: (p = 0.004)), and between renal artery indices and birth weight ((RI: p = 0.018), PI: p = 0.010) and S/D: p = 0.025)). In the control group, only umbilical artery PI had an inverse linear correlation with birth weight (p = 0.027) and there was no correlation between renal artery indices and birth weight.

Using Doppler hemodynamic indices of the renal artery in late pregnancy in women with GDM can be helpful for early detection of hypoxic fetuses, who are at risk of being small for gestational age or having intrauterine growth restriction, even when of normal weight.

Betatrophin may be associated with metabolic diseases.

To investigate the betatrophin level and its association with metabolic and inflammatory parameters in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and other infertile women during the intrauterine insemination cycle.

This case-control study was conducted with 90 infertile women (45 with PCOS and 45 without) chosen by convenience sampling, in the infertility clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Participants were interviewed to obtain their age, body mass index, and reproductive history. Fasting brachial venous blood samples were obtained on the 3rd day of the menstrual cycle to measure the levels of betatrophin, fasting blood sugar, insulin, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, estradiol, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.

The results showed that the level of betatrophin in women with PCOS was significantly higher than in the control group (p = 0.05). Based on multiple linear regression analyses, the effects of metabolic and inflammatory parameters on betatrophin were not significant (p = 0.19). The results showed no significant difference between groups in folliculogenesis (p = 0.57).

According to the results, betatrophin levels were higher in infertile women with PCOS than in those without. The findings suggest that there may be an association between increased betatrophin and increased incidence of PCOS. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed to investigate the role of betatrophin in insulin resistance and lipid metabolism, and its effects on infertility treatment outcomes.

Infertility is a global health issue and is reported differently worldwide.

To assess the longitudinal trends of primary and secondary infertility prevalence rate (PSIPR) per 100000 across all countries during past decades.

The PSIPR was extracted from the global burden of disease (GBD) database for 195 countries during 1993-2017. The longitudinal trends of PSIPR were explored across the seven epidemiological regions designated by GBD.

Globally, the PSIPR was lower among men than women. Over time, the prevalence of primary infertility in men and women had a decreasing trend of -9.3 and -11.6 in High-Income countries. Other regions have seen an increase, the highest being in South Asian women, and men of the Middle East and North Africa, with rates of 40.9 and 19.0, respectively. Over time, the secondary infertility prevalence in women of Central Asia, Central Europe and, Eastern Europe, as well as High-Income countries, has been declining, (rates of -16.9 and -11.7, respectively). Other regions have been on the rise, with the highest increase among women of Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (trend of 119.9 and 83.4, respectively), and in South Asian men (trend of 48.4).

The overall trend of infertility prevalence shows a downward trajectory in high-income and developed countries and an upward trend in others. These findings might be explained by missed cases of infertility due to a low tendency for reproduction and the presence of more infertility treatment facilities in these regions.

The role of glucocorticoids in implantation has been demonstrated.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of dexamethasone on endometrial receptivity.

In this experimental study, 40 BALB/c female mice aged eight wk old weighing approximately 25.0 ± 1.4 gr were used. The mice were divided into four groups (n = 10/each) of control, dexamethasone (100 μg/kg, intraperitoneal injection), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor (PP242) (30 mg/kg, intraperitoneal injection), and dexamethasone and PP242. The endometrial epithelium of the mouse was separated to measure messenger RNA expression of heart and neural crest derivatives-expressed protein 2 (HAND2), Msh homeobox 1 (Msx-1), heparin binding epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF), microRNA (miRNA) Let‐7a, miRNA-145 and miRNA-451, using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Also, protein expression of mammalian mTOR and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E‐binding protein1 (4E-BP1) was measured using western blot.

The results revealed that the expression of Msx-1, HAND2, HB-EGF, miRNA-451, and miRNA-Let-7a was significantly decreased in the endometrium in the dexamethasone group compared to the control, while the expression of miRNA-145 in the endometrium was up-regulated. Additionally, the administration of PP242, known as an inhibitor of mTOR, was associated with significantly reduced expression of Msx-1, HAND2, HB-EGF, miRNA-451, and miRNA-Let-7a, while PP242 induced messenger RNA expression of miRNA-145.

It appears that dexamethasone can diminish uterine receptivity during the implantation period, at least to some extent, through the alteration of particular genes that impact endometrial receptivity. Furthermore, the mTOR pathway seemingly showed an essential role in endometrial receptivity.

The first case of inguinal endometriosis was described by Cullen. Endometriosis in the round ligament could be in the pelvic or inguinal area and is a rare disease occurring in 0.6% of women. Women with inguinal endometriosis have a painful inguinal mass during menstrual cycles and they mostly have a history of surgery. The right side is more commonly involved in inguinal endometriosis than the left side (90-94%). A history of gynecologic or abdominal surgery is common in women with inguinal endometriosis.

In our case, a 39-yr-old virgin woman presented with localized pain in the right inguinal that had been present for 4 yr. She did not have any history of previous surgery, and abdominal ultrasonography showed a hypoechoic mass with minimal vascularity. Inguinal endometriosis was correctly diagnosed by two expert radiologists preoperatively, and she underwent laparoscopic surgery.

Considering inguinal endometriosis in the differential diagnosis of women with inguinal masses is important, even if there is no history of gynecologic or abdominal surgery.

The authors have been informed that some errors occurred on their published article entitled "Effect of vitamin D insufficiency treatment on fertility outcomes in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles: A randomized clinical trial" [Iran J Reprod Med 2014; 12: 595-600] in the time of study and the tables which do not affect the article's conclusion. The completion date of the investigation was changed from April 2014 to February 2014. Also, the study results were re-analyzed, and some minor modifications were made in the numbers mentioned in the tables without affecting the overall meaning and concept of the study. The author's wishe to apologize for these errors. The online version of the article has been updated on 12 June 2017 and can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/ijrm.v17i12.5801

The authors of article entitled " Effect of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) on IVF outcomes in infertile women: An RCT" requested some corrections in their article due to re-analyze their data. The authors reviewed the data and confirmed the critical but inadvertent statistical analysis errors which had occurred during research. As the authors explain in their letter to the editor, the errors are listed as:  The Mann-Whitney test has been added in statistical analysis section. Some numbers in tables has been changed and statistical tests has been revised. One of the readers of the article informed the corresponding author that there seems to be a number of errors in presenting data, so the authors re-analyzed the data and due to the selection of an inappropriate statistical test, some numbers were incorrect. The corrected article has been provided with corrections to the paper; and relevant tables. The authors have confirmed that there are no other errors. The corrected article has been reviewed by our editorial team, and we have confirmed that the overall conclusion has not been changed as stated in the updated article available at: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.18502/ijrm.v17i12.5795 (updated on August 29, 2021).