Objective: To illustrate the association between prolactin serum level and severity of preeclampsia. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 31 pregnant women with preeclampsia were enrolled as Group I and 20 healthy pregnant women as Group II. Routine investigations and prolactin serum levels were assessed together with blood pressure changes. The unpaired t-test was used to determine the differences and correlation coefficient for the evaluation of correlation. Results: Prolactin serum levels were higher in preeclampsia patients compared with those of the healthy pregnant women (P<0.001). The severity of preeclampsia was linked with prolactin serum levels since 20 patients with preeclampsia showed mild preeclampsia that illustrated relatively lower prolactin serum levels compared with 11 patients with severe preeclampsia (P<0.001). The severity of mean arterial blood pressure was significantly correlated with prolactin serum levels (r=0.78, P<0.001). Conclusions: Prolactin serum levels are elevated in patients with preeclampsia and correlated with the severity of preeclampsia. High but not normal prolactin might be implicated in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

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Objective: To examine differences in the metabolite, steroid and lipopolysaccharide of follicular fluid collected from the ovulatory follicle of Holstein repeat breeding cows, lactating cows, and virgin fertile heifers. Methods: Estrus was induced in animals possessing functional corpus luteum by intramuscular administration of prostaglandin F2 α. Six to twelve hours after detection of the standing estrus, cervical samples were collected to detect subclinical endometritis via counting neutrophils on stained smears of cervical swabs. Then, follicular fluid of ovulatory follicles and serum samples were collected from repeat breeding cows (n=11), lactating cows (n=8) and virgin fertile heifers (n=10). Sodium and potassium were measured with a flame photometer method. Urea, total protein, glucose, cholesterol and β -hydroxybutyric acid were assayed with commercial spectrophotometry kits. Chloride concentration was also measured with titration of samples against silver nitrate. Progesterone, estradiol-17 β and lipopolysaccharide concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay kits. Results: All analysis of follicular fluid samples showed that repeat breeding and lactating cows had a mean higher lipopolysaccharide concentration than that of the virgin fertile heifers (P<0.05). But concentration of serum estradiol-17 β in repeat breeding and lactating cows was lower than that of virgin fertile heifers (P<0.05). In addition, the mean percentage of neutrophils in the cervical secretion of repeat breeding cows was higher than that of lactating cows (P<0.05). Conclusions: High follicular fluid concentration of lipopolysaccharide in ovulatory follicles results in the occurrence of repeat breeding syndrome in dairy cows. Further, a lower serum estradiol-17 β concentration and a higher percentage of neutrophil in the cervical secretion on the day of artificial insemination may have resulted in the occurrence of repeat breeding syndrome in dairy cows.

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Among resources of mesenchymal stem cells, human umbilical cord appears to be a rising source capable of differentiating into all germ layers, reaching and repairing lesion areas, and promoting wound repair, and it has also the capacity to influence the immune response. Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells are considered to be an optimal resource compared with other mesenchymal stem cells sources because they require a noninvasive recovery. All these characteristics allow their use in heterogeneous applications. Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells can regenerate tissues, stimulate angiogenesis, modulate inflammatory pathway signals and recruit endogenous stem cell. Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells suppress mitogen-induced signals and modulate the activation and proliferation of several immune cells, modifying lymphocyte phenotypes activity. In culture, human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cellss show the capacity to create several tissues such as bone, cartilage, and fat. Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells can be isolated from the different compartments of umbilical cord and processed by using different techniques. Clinical applications of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells include graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's syndrome and diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2, gynecological disorders like endometriosis. Recent studies have shown possible application on rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and neuronal degenerative diseases. This review is focused on the resources, molecular profiles, propriety, in vitro characterizations, clinical applications and possible future usage of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

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Objective: To evaluate the anti-hyperprolactinemic effect of methanolic extract of Tinospora cordifolia against antipsychotic/neuroleptic drug induced hyperprolactinemia. Methods: A total of 48 Wistar albino rats were chosen in the study. To induce hyperprolactinemia, haloperidol at 5 mg/kg/day was intraperitoneally administered for 16 continuous days and sulpiride at 20 mg/kg/day was administered intraperitoneally for 28 continuous days. Methanolic extract of Tinospora cordifolia at 200 mg/kg/day and 400 mg/kg/day were administered orally 30 min before administration of haloperidol and sulpiride for 16 and 28 days, respectively. Then, we had evaluated prolactin, dopamine and antioxidant status in the treatment group as compared to haloperidol and sulpiride. Results: There was a significant (P<0.05) increase in serum prolactin level and decrease in dopamine level in the haloperidol and sulpiride treated animals. However, methanolic extract of Tinospora cordifolia significantly (P<0.05) decreased serum prolactin level and increased brain dopamine level. Further, superoxide dismutase and catalase level were also decreased significantly in the haloperidol and sulpiride treated groups as compared to those of the control group and the antioxidant status was restored significantly on treatment with methanolic extract of Tinospora cordifolia. Furthermore, methanolic extract of Tinospora cordifolia also reduced total leukocyte count, and increased red blood cell count and hemoglobin concentration. In addition, the spleen did not show signs of infection or inflammation in the experiments. Conclusions: Methanolic extract of Tinospora cordifolia has a significant anti-hyperprolactinemic effect which may be attributed to neuroprotective and antioxidant effects of its signature constituents like stepharanine.

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Objective: To determine effects of variations of heart girth, volume trait on embryo quality grade, and to explore the relationship between heart girth and circulating progesterone and correlations of circulating progesterone with embryo quality grade in superstimulated donor Holstein cows. Methods: Nineteen cows were subjected to a standard superstimulation protocol using follicle stimulating hormone. Blood samples were collected before superovulation, at insemination and at collection of embryos for progesterone analysis. Embryo quality grades were compared between high and low heart girth donors. Moreover, Pearson's correlations were determined between heart girth, progesterone and embryo quality. Results: Variation of heart girth was not associated with significant differences in embryo quality grade between high and low heart girth donor cows (P>0.05). However, we observed a significantly higher percentage of the third-grade embryo (24.09%) in low heart girth donors compared to 9.64% in high heart girth donors. Moreover, the percentage of the transferable embryo was numerically higher and that of the degenerated embryo was numerically lower in low heart girth cows. Donor cows with low response to superovulation (total structures ≤ 3) expressed numerically higher mean heart girth, compared to donors with high (total structures >15) and medium (total structures = 4-15) superovulation. Heart girth and body weight of donor cows were moderately correlated (r=0.45, P<0.05), but none was correlated with circulating progesterone at different sampling times except for a moderate correlation between body weight and progesterone at embryo collection (r=0.54, P=0.02). Circulating progesterone before superovulation was moderately correlated to the second-grade embryo (r=0.46, P<0.05) and to the third grade (r=0.52, P<0.05) embryo. Conclusions: Volume traits heart girth may influence the response of Holstein cows to superovulation; however, future studies with a higher number of cows are warranted to clarify significant influences.

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Objective: To determine the effect of preparation to play a maternal role in mothers fertilized through in vitro fertilization on maternal anxiety. Methods: A total of 60 mothers undergoing in vitro fertilization were assigned into intervention group and control group. Pregnancy concerns and stress questionnaires were research tools. Questionnaires were completed in both groups before organizing preparation program. Then, the preparation program was held for four sessions for the mothers in the intervention group, and the subjects in both groups were immediately investigated again after completion of preparation program and one month later. Data analyses about pregnancy stress and concerns of mothers and its dimensions were performed by repeated measure (analysis of variance), Mann-Whitney, Friedman and Wilcoxon tests. Analysis of demographic variables was performed by using independent t-test and Chi-square test in SPSS 21. Results: The score of pregnancy stress and concerns before the intervention was not significantly different between the two groups. There was a significant difference in the intervention group in the score of pregnancy stress and concerns before and after the intervention (P<0.001), before and one month after the intervention (P<0.001), immediately after and one month after the intervention (P<0.001) which was not significant in the control group. Conclusions: Maternal preparation program can be effective in reducing maternal stress and concerns.

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