No abstract available.

Non-invasive methods are normally preferred to conventional invasive methods when selecting suitable embryos to improve pregnancy rates after assisted reproduction techniques. One of the most recognized non-invasive methods is to examine the supernatants of embryo culture media. Soluble human leukocyte antigen, class I, G (sHLA-G) antigen is a non-classical class I molecule that has been widely considered as a marker of pregnancy failure or implantation success. In the current study of some Iranian patients, we examined the concentration of sHLA-G at different time points after intracytoplasmic sperm injection and compared the rates to the morphology and quality of the selected embryos. We showed that the concentration of sHLA-G increases over time in high-quality embryos. We conclude that there is a positive relationship between morphology, quality, and sHLA-G concentration. We suggest that this relationship can be used to increase the chance of a successful pregnancy.
Culture Media ; Embryonic Structures ; HLA-G Antigens ; Humans ; Leukocytes ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Reproductive Techniques ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer type in men and is the second cause of death, due to cancer, in patients over 50, after lung cancer. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a widely used tumor marker for prostate cancer. Recently, PSA is discovered in non-prostatic cancer tissues in men and women raising doubts about its specificity for prostatic tissues. PSA exists in low serum level in healthy men and in higher levels in many prostate disorders, including prostatitis and prostate cancer. Thus, a supplementary tumor marker is needed to accurately diagnose the cancer and to observe the patient after treatment. Recently, soluble human leukocyte antigen-G (sHLA-G) has been introduced as a new tumor marker for different cancer types, including colorectal, breast, lung, and ovary. The present descriptive-experimental study was carried out including patients with malignant prostate tumor, patients with benign prostate tumor, and a group of health men as the control group, as judged by an oncologist as well as a pathologist. After sterile blood sampling, sHLA-G was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in each group. The data was then analyzed using one-way ANOVA. P≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The results showed that the mean of sHLA-G level was high in patients. Also, it was found that there was a significant difference in sHLA serum level between the three groups. The data revealed that sHLA-G can be a novel supplementary tumor marker in addition to PSA to diagnose prostate cancer.
Breast ; Cause of Death ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Leukocytes ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Male ; Ovary ; Prostate* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Prostatitis ; Sensitivity and Specificity

There are many of methods of treating cancer. However, the concept of curing the cancer is beyond our current knowledge. Some patients who have the cancer may seek an alternative manner of curing their disease. Alternative medicines, such as spiritual and complementary therapy, are able to cure the cancer and, at the least, are safe. Research on the importance of spirituality in cancer care has mainly been performed in geographically heterogeneous populations. The results are limited to these specific religious-cultural contexts and enlightened by contributions from ethnicity and religion. This article focused on the religiousness and spiritual support of cancer patients from diverse and heterogeneous groups around the globe. An electronic search of peer-reviewed articles was systematically performed to obtain the relevant literature with the CINAHL, PsycINFO, and PubMed databases. The keywords included religion, cancer, illness, psychotherapy, and spiritual and alternative treatment/therapies. The inclusion criteria for the reviews were that the documents were original quantitative research and published in English. Articles that were not directly relevant to the present objective were excluded. The present outcome of these review resources suggest that it may be helpful for clinicians to address spirituality, particularly with regard to prevention, healing, and survival of cancer patients. This article indicates that it may be useful for clinical oncologists to be informed of the prevalence of the use of spiritual medicine in their specialized field. In addition, patients should routinely be asked about the use of spiritual medicine as part of every cancer patient' evaluation.
Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Psychotherapy ; Spirituality