85 research outputs found
Boric Acid Suppresses Cell Survival by Triggering Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Autophagy in Cervical Cancers
Get PDFCervical cancer ranks as the fourth most common cancer amongst women globally. This study aimed to investigate boric acid's effects on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and autophagy signalling pathways in cervical cancer cells. We first assessed boric acid's effects on cell viability and proliferation in HUF and HeLa cell lines. Subsequently, we analysed cyclin D1 and CDK4 levels and boric acid-induced nuclear morphology changes. We then examined autophagosome formation and mRNA expression of autophagy/ER stress markers (Beclin1, p62, LC3-I/II, GRP78, p-IRE1 alpha, p-PERK, CHOP and cleaved-caspase-3) in HeLa cells. The findings revealed that boric acid's IC50 was 3.17 mM for HUF cells but significantly lower (641.2 mu M) for HeLa cells, indicating cancer cell sensitivity. In HeLa cells, boric acid-induced a dose-dependent decrease in cyclin D1 and CDK4 levels (associated with G1 phase arrest), which we did not observe in HUF cells. Additionally, boric acid treatment caused nuclear abnormalities in HeLa cells. Boric acid promoted autophagy by enhancing autophagosome formation and upregulating Beclin1, p62, and LC3-I/II expression. Concurrently, it induced ER stress by increasing GRP78, p-IRE1 alpha, p-PERK and CHOP expression. Furthermore, boric acid increased cleaved-caspase-3 expression and apoptotic cell counts. In conclusion, this study underscores boric acid's potential therapeutic effects in cervical cancer through ER stress and autophagy regulation
Analyzing the performance of ChatGPT in answering inquiries about cervical cancer
Get PDFObjective: To analyze the knowledge of ChatGPT about cervical cancer (CC). Methods: Official websites of professional health institutes, and websites created by patients and charities underwent strict screening. Using CC-related keywords, common inquiries by the public and comments about CC were searched in social media applications with these data, a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) was prepared. When preparing question about CC, the European Society of Gynecological Oncology (ESGO), European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and European Society of Pathology (ESP) guidelines were used. The answers given by ChatGPT were scored according to the Global Quality Score (GQS). Results: When all ChatGPT answers to FAQs about CC were evaluated with regard to GQS, 68 ChatGPT answers were classified as score 5, and none of ChatGPT answers for FAQs were scored as 2 or 1. Moreover, ChatGPT answered 33 of 53 (62.3%) CC-related questions based on ESGO, ESTRO, and ESP guidelines with completely accurate and satisfactory responses (GQS 5). In addition, eight answers (15.1%), seven answers (13.2%), four answers (7.5%), and one answer (1.9%) were categorized as GQS 4, GQS 3, GQS 2, and GQS 1, respectively. The reproducibility rate of ChatGPT answers about CC-related FAQs and responses about those guideline-based questions was 93.2% and 88.7%, respectively. Conclusion: ChatGPT had an accurate and satisfactory response rate for FAQs about CC with regards to GQS. However, the accuracy and quality of ChatGPT answers significantly decreased for questions based on guidelines
Diagnosing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Using Triglyceride-Related Indices: Is It Possible Without Rotterdam Criteria?
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Comparison of the Efficacies of Sacrospinous Ligament Fixation and Laparoscopic Lateral Suspension in the Treatment of Apical Prolapse: 24-Month Follow-Up Results
Get PDFBackground: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) significantly impacts the quality of life, particularly in older women with a history of vaginal deliveries. Although conservative treatments provide some symptom relief, surgical interventions are more effective for managing POP. This study compares the outcomes and effectiveness of sacrospinous ligament fixation (SSLF) and laparoscopic lateral suspension (LLS) surgeries in the treatment of POP. Methods: This retrospective comparative cohort study included patients with symptomatic stage 2 or higher apical POP, treated at a tertiary hospital in Turkey between April 2021 and June 2022. Patients were treated with either SSLF or LLS surgeries and underwent preoperative and postoperative evaluations using the Prolapse Quality of Life (P-QoL) questionnaire and the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire (PISQ-12). Patients were divided into two groups: SSLF (n = 47) and LLS (n = 44). The primary outcome was the rate of anatomical failure, while secondary outcomes included improvements in functional capability and quality of life. Results: The study found that the rate of postoperative anterior compartment failure was significantly lower in the LLS group compared to the SSLF group (p = 0.005). The success rate of LLS for apical prolapse was 100%, compared to 93.6% for SSLF. In the posterior compartment, SSLF demonstrated a higher success rate (86.2%) than LLS (68.5%). Both procedures improved P-QoL scores and the PISQ-12 subscales; however, a significant improvement in total PISQ-12 scores was observed only in the LLS group (p = 0.009). Conclusions: Both SSLF and LLS are effective in treating POP and enhancing quality of life. However, LLS demonstrated higher success rates for anterior and apical prolapse, while SSLF was more effective in addressing in posterior compartment defects
Unmasking metabolic clues: adipsin, irisin and osteopontin as biomarkers in polycystic ovary syndrome and their impact on metabolic dynamics: a case-control study
Get PDFObjectives: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age, often associated with metabolic alterations.This study assessed serum levels of adipsin, irisin, and osteopontin in patients with PCOS and examined their correlations with metabolic parameters. Material and methods: A case-control studywas conducted involving 96 women with PCOS and 80 healthy controls. Serum levels of adipsin, irisin, and osteopontin were measured; demographic, clinical, and metabolic characteristics were evaluated. Results: Patients with PCOS were significantlyyoungerthan controls (p < 0.001).The PCOS group included a significantly greater proportion of obese individuals (p = 0.013). Patients with PCOS exhibited elevated serum adipsin (p = 0.020) and reduced osteopontin (p < 0.001) levels relative to controls; obesity and age influenced these differences. Osteopontin demonstrated superior predictive power for PCOS diagnosis [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.802] compared with adipsin (AUC = 0.602). A combination of osteopontin and adipsin yielded the highest predictive value (AUC = 0.817) among double or triple biomarker combinations. Conclusions:This study identified potential associations among adipsin, osteopontin, irisin, and PCOS. Further research is warranted to elucidate their roles and clinical implications in PCOS and its metabolic alterations. The findings highlight the impact of age and obesity on these biomarkers and their relationships with PCOS, providing insight into the syndrome's complex pathophysiology
Can triglyceride related indices be reliable markers in the assessment of polycystic ovarian syndrome?
Get PDFObjectives: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of the Triglyceride Glucose (TyG), Triglyceride Glucose-Body Mass (TyG-BMI), and Lipid Accumulation Product (LAP) indices for both screening Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and diagnosing insulin resistance (IR) in women diagnosed with PCOS. Methods: Retrospective data from medical records of 124 women were analyzed, with 71 in the PCOS group and 53 in the non-PCOS group. The PCOS diagnosis followed the 2003 Rotterdam criteria. Basic clinical and biochemical parameters were compared. The TyG index was computed using the formula ln [Triglyceride (TG) (mmol/L) x fasting plasma glukose (FPG) (mg/dL)/2]. TyG-BMI value was derived as TyG x BMI. LAP was calculated as (waist circumference (WC-58) x TG (mmol/L). IR was identified if Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) was >2.7. Results: TyG-BMI (AUC=0.62) and LAP indices (AUC=0.61) did not demonstrate statistically significant diagnostic performance for PCOS. Regarding IR in PCOS patients, the highest AUC was for TyG-BMI (0.84, 95 % CI: 0.73-0.93, p<0.001) with a cutoff at 116.15, showing 80 % sensitivity and 86 % specificity. LAP had an AUC of 0.86 with a cutoff of 30.21 (sensitivity 80 %, specificity 81 %), while TyG showed an AUC of 0.78 (95 % CI: 0.67-0.89, p<0.001) with a cutoff of 4.47, demonstrating a sensitivity of 70 % and specificity of 72 %. Conclusions: Numerous biochemical markers have been explored for PCOS detection, however, many are expensive, not universally available, and necessitate specific test kits. TyG, TyG-BMI, and LAP indices might not serve as reliable markers for PCOS screening but could offer utility in identifying IR in Turkish women diagnosed with PCOS
Iterative training with human rated images to improve GAN generated image aesthetics: Effects of dataset size and training length
No full textGenerative Adversarial Networks (GANs) brought rapid developments in generating synthetic images by mimicking structures in the training data. With the list of application of GANs growing drastically, it has lately become an exciting technology to explore for designers to communicate their ideas and arts through technology and create engaging experiences for humans. Nevertheless, translating human experiences to artificial intelligence and creating visually pleasant imagery is a challenging task due to complex semantics of human perception. To address this issue, we introduce an iterative training approach in which the generated images are curated by humans and the most pleasing ones are fed back into the network to retrain. Additionally, we do a factorial analysis to investigate how the aesthetic quality and the diversity are affected by the size of training data and training length. In experiments, we validate that this method can significantly improve the aesthetic quality of generated images regardless of the dataset size and training length, however the use of smaller datasets comes with a cost of reduction in the image diversity and novelty in the output images. The aesthetic bias towards certain contexts can also deteriorate the diversity and affect the model evaluations. On the other hand, no significant relationship has been found regarding the training length, however this could possibly be due to instabilities that happen during the model convergence progress.CSE3000 Research ProjectComputer Science and Engineerin
Railroad accounting history and the modigliani and miller theorems: 1891-1922
No full textAccounting history has been approached in two ways from the standpoint of methodology. The mainstream in this field has focused on the relationship between accounting measurement and institution building. This literature includes studies of such questions as how accounting measurement helped business and government to make significant decisions. Other scholars in this tradition have focused on the social origins of the practitioner community and how this contributed to the development of professional organizations. Still other researchers have focused on the connections between accounting and the emergence capitalistic institutions. The second approach, which I pursue in this dissertation, involves the application of empirical methodologies that provide new insights about the significance of historical events germane to the evolution of accountancy. While empirical methodologies figured prominently in economics history they have not been utilized extensively in the study of accounting’s past. I have selected as my research focus, the US railroad history which was America’s first big business and which also had an excellent body of statistical research and accounting reports prepared by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) beginning in 1887. My research is informed by the methodologies used by Modigliani and Miller (MM) in their 1958 and 1963 studies. They provide a useful analog that I employ evaluating railroad cost of capital and capital structure at three important historical turning points. Like Modigliani and Miller I evaluate how a change in an important parameter affects railroad financing. Unlike MM my comparison is between conditions in imperfect markets. Specifically I measure the impact on rail finance of stock market crash in 1893, the introduction of mandatory depreciation after Hepburn Act (1906), and federal income taxation after 1913.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Betul Acikgo
Exploring the Inflammatory Basis of Endometrial Polyps: Clinical Implications of Hematological Biomarkers in a Retrospective Study
Get PDFBackground/Objectives: Endometrial polyps (EPs) are common benign endometrial lesions often linked to abnormal uterine bleeding and infertility. While hormonal factors play a key role in their development, recent studies suggest a potential inflammatory component. This retrospective study aimed to assess systemic inflammatory markers, including mean platelet volume (MPV), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), in EP patients. Methods: A total of 180 patients were classified into three groups: EP (n = 60), chronic endometritis (n = 60), and control (n = 60). Preoperative hematological parameters were retrieved from medical records. Group comparisons were performed using one-way ANOVA, with Tukey’s post hoc test applied when significant. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of EPs. Results: MPV and PLR were significantly higher in the EP group compared to other groups (p = 0.014 and p = 0.015, respectively), while NLR differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.086). Logistic regression identified MPV (p = 0.004) and PLR (p = 0.045) as independent predictors of EPs. Conclusions: These findings suggest that systemic inflammation may contribute to EP development, with MPV and PLR serving as potential inflammatory biomarkers. Further prospective studies with histopathological validation are needed to clarify the role of inflammation in EP pathogenesis
Beyond pelvic pathology: retinal microvascular rarefaction as a systemic marker in endometriosis
Get PDFObjective This study aimed to quantitatively assess retinal microvascular alterations in women with pelvic endometriosis using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), and to explore whether these subclinical findings may reflect early signs of systemic microvascular alterations in this population. Methods In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 100 eyes were analyzed-50 from women with laparoscopically or ultrasonographically confirmed pelvic endometriosis and 50 from age-matched healthy female controls. All participants underwent comprehensive ophthalmic examinations and macular OCTA imaging using the Heidelberg Spectralis system. Quantitative parameters, including vessel area density (VAD), foveal avascular zone (FAZ) metrics (area, perimeter, circularity), and FD-300 values, were extracted from the superficial and deep capillary plexuses using the OCTAVA software. Segmental parafoveal VAD values (nasal, temporal, superior, and inferior) were also assessed. Axial length measurements and endometriosis staging were not available in this retrospective dataset. Hormonal therapy use was not systematically documented. Results Compared to healthy controls, women with endometriosis demonstrated significantly lower total and parafoveal VAD and FD-300 values in both retinal plexuses (p < 0.05 for all). FAZ perimeter showed a modest but statistically significant difference, whereas FAZ area and circularity index remained comparable between groups. No participant in either group exhibited clinically visible retinal pathology. These alterations occurred despite preserved visual acuity and in the absence of systemic comorbidities known to affect microcirculation. Conclusion Although causality cannot be inferred from this cross-sectional design, our findings indicate that pelvic endometriosis is associated with region-specific subclinical reductions in retinal capillary perfusion, particularly within the foveal and parafoveal regions. OCTA-derived metrics, especially FD-300 and parafoveal VAD, may offer insight into microvascular integrity in this patient group. These results support further investigation into the systemic vascular aspects of endometriosis and highlight the potential utility of retinal imaging in exploring such associations
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