The involvement of steroid hormones in breast carcinogenesis is well established. Recent evidence suggests that angiogenesis can be regulated by hormones. Both oestrogen and progesterone have been implicated in the angiogenic process of hormone-dependent cancers, such as breast cancer. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is a growth factor involved in angiogenesis in breast cancer that is up-regulated by estrogens. In our study we evaluated the role of progesterone in the expression of this angiogenic growth factor commonly up regulated in breast cancer. Our findings indicate that progesterone activates an angiogenic pathway involving VEGF stimulation. The elucidation of specific angiogenic pathways promoted by progesterone can raise new therapeutic targets at least in a subset of breast cancers responsive to progesterone.

The global phenomenon of deferment of conception has led to an increase in the age of sub fertile community and a growing demand for assisted reproductive techniques. Social fertility preservation can be considered a hedge against age-related decline in fertility and is considered as a form of elective self-donation; where healthy females collect then freeze their oocytes for autologous use at a later stage in life. From August 2005 to July 2014, 67 women presented for social fertility preservation at our institution. The mean age was 38.6±3.6 years. They were mostly single, nulliparous and professionals. They underwent a total of 128 cycles of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and 4 cycles of In Vitro Maturation (IVM). The number of oocytes frozen was 11.3±7.1. Only 5 women returned to achieve a pregnancy (7.5%). Embryo transfer of 4 patients did not reveal any live birth. It suggests that social fertility preservation after the age of 35 years is associated with a poor outcome. Social fertility preservation should be considered at an early reproductive age.

Drug delivery to prostate through conventional route is associated with pharmacokinetics based and side effects related problems. Alternate localized drug delivery route is a prerequisite which may offers many advantages over oral route of drug delivery to prostate. In male reproductive system, Vas deferens forms a continuous system with prostate, so we discuss possibility of developing novel drug delivery system which may help to overcome with problems associated with the route of drug administration, including poor absorption, metabolic degradation, sub-threshold value of drug reaching the target tissue and non-specific drug distribution related side effects. And particularly, throwing light on an alternative drug delivery route may offer advantages to circumvent some of the above mentioned hurdles of oral drug administration. The current editorial promotes vas deferens as a local drug delivery route to prostate in conjunction with a concept of in-vivo self-assembly of multi component nanodrug carrier generated by a drug delivery system injected in the lumen of vas deferens

Objective: To study whether changes in maternal plasma thrombin inhibitor complex level and Inhibin-A are associated with second trimester miscarriages or not.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Tanta University Hospital.

Methods: The study included 200 asymptomatic pregnant women with singleton pregnancy of 15-20 weeks divided into two groups: 154 pregnant women with no history of abortion and 46 expectant women with a prior history of abortion. Each case was subjected to detailed obstetric and gynecological history, clinical examination, determination of gestational age, fetal viability, routine antenatal laboratory investigations, ultrasound examination and measurement of human Antithrombin-III and Inhibin-A.

Results: The mean values of maternal plasma levels of Inhibin-A and Antithrombin-III were significantly lower in patients with a history of abortion than those without a history of abortion. The area under Receiving Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve denoting sensitivity and specificity of maternal plasma levels of Inhibin-A compared to Antithrombin-III as a prognostic factor to miscarriage among pregnant women during the second trimester.

Conclusions: We concluded that Inhibin-A could be useful in monitoring of miscarriage in patients during the second-trimester pregnancy.

Background: Menopause marks the cessation of reproduction. Menopause rating scales have been used to measure health-related quality of life among aging women. Menopause, menarche and number of live births play important roles in the life history of women.

Objectives: To study the prevalence and pattern of various menopausal characteristics and association of age of menopause with age of menarche and number of livebirths.

Methods: The study was based on cross-sectional data of 75 postmenopausal rural women and also secondary data from published sources to study trends.

Results: Mean age at menarche was 14.23 yrs. and mean age at menopause was 45.35 yrs. About 85% of women had reported some climacteric symptom. Joint/muscle pain was the most commonly reported symptom (66.7%).Women that had early menarche had lower number of live births than those who had later menarche. Women with the intermediate fertility category having 4-5 livebirths had later age of menopause than women having less than three livebirths.

Conclusion: Early and late ages at menarche were associated with early and late ages of menopause, respectively. Fertility performance of women also seemed to be associated with menarche and menopause ages. Indian women have lower mean age at menopause than European and South Asian women while so such difference was evident for age at menarche. Menopausal symptoms had little effect on sexual functioning than other concerns.