In this study, isolated spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) and Sertoli cells using enzymatic digestion from patients with maturation arrest of spermatogenesis were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% foetal calf serum in three different groups: (1) SSCs cultured without Sertoli cells (2) SSCs co-cultured with Sertoli cells (as control group), (3) SSCs co-cultured with Sertoli cells and adding different concentrations of basic fibroblast growth factor (0.1, 1, 10 ng ml(-1)) and human leukaemia inhibitory factor (1000, 1200, 1500 unit ml(-1)) as experimental groups. The assessment of colonies every 10 days during 5-week cultures showed that in the first group, the average number and diameter of the colonies were significantly lower than in the other groups (P < 0.05). The largest number of colonies was observed in control condition (32.29 ± 9.15) in day 30. The largest diameter of colonies was formed in combination dosages of 1 ng ml(-1) basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) + 1500 unit ml(-1) leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) (302.93 ± 37.68) and 10 ng ml(-1) bFGF and 1200 unit ml(-1) LIF (262.87 ± 35.54) in day 30 respectively. Isolated SSCs were positive for spermatogonial cell markers such as Oct4, Stra8, Piwil2 and Vasa but negative for Nanog. Transplantation technique indicated that hSSCs have good efficiency for colonisation of mouse seminiferous tubules after proliferation in culture system.

ObjectiveFaecal incontinence (FI) is a devastating condition which is well recognised in the elderly and those with certain conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease. However, there is surprisingly little information on its prevalence in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), especially in relation to bowel habit subtype, and this study aimed to answer this question.Design500 consecutive new and follow-up secondary care IBS outpatients (399 female, 101 male, age range 15–87, mean age 46) fulfilling Rome III criteria without any significant concomitant disease were studied. They completed a series of questionnaires documenting FI, IBS severity, IBS subtype, non-colonic symptoms, quality of life, anxiety, depression and any other factors that might be associated with FI.Results285 patients (57%) reported FI, which was mild in 68 (23.9%), moderate in 99 (34.7%) and severe in 91 (31.9%) and in response to laxatives in 27 (9.5%) with an equal prevalence in males and females. The prevalence of FI in patients classified as having mild, moderate or severe IBS was 62%, 49.5% and 61%, respectively. The prevalence of incontinence was 65.2% in diarrhoea IBS, 63.7% in alternating IBS and, surprisingly, 37.9% in constipation IBS, where it was in response to laxatives in 35.8%. Compared to continent patients, those with FI had a significantly higher prevalence of urinary incontinence, previous abdominal surgery, pregnancy and vaginal as opposed to caesarean delivery. 23.3% had not disclosed their incontinence to anyone and only 50.6% had told their general practitioner. 66% always carried a change of clothes and 30% used incontinence pads on a regular basis.ConclusionsThe prevalence of FI in these relatively young patients approached that observed in elderly care homes. Hopefully, recognition of this problem will lead to improved management and reduce the trivialisation that unfortunately still continues to surround this condition.

Angiogenic therapy is one of the new treatments of ischaemic heart disease. Oestrogen has angiogenic properties under hypoxic condition, and if oestrogen also induces angiogenesis under normoxic condition, it could be used in combination with other angiogenic therapies in the treatment of ischaemic heart disease. In this study, we evaluated the angiogenic effect of high-dose oestrogen treatment in normoxic rat heart tissue. Fifty-two ovariectomized rats were randomized in oestrogen-treated and control groups. 17 β -Oestradiol (1 mg /week) and normal saline (1 mg/week) were administered intramuscularly in the treatment and control groups for 2 months. After that, coronary capillary density and coronary vessel permeability were measured. The serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level was also measured before and after the treatment. The results indicate that coronary capillary density (number of capillary per square millimetre) and coronary vessel permeability (fluorescence intensity) were significantly higher in the oestrogen-treated group than in the control group (628 ± 26 per mm 2 versus 540 ± 26 per mm 2

A human being is the simultaneous composite of several different levels of being, from atomic and subatomic to the level of complex social interaction, and these levels are nested within the individual hierarchically (lower levels giving rise to higher levels, etc.). One of the most important and influential approaches developed in the history of science has been that of systems theory and systemic thinking, in which the different levels of the hierarchy, and the interactions between those levels, are considered simultaneously. Although this model provides a comprehensive view of biological being, the transition from one level to the other is not well defined in it. Uexküll and Pauli (Advances: Journal of the Institute for 417 the Advancement of Health 3: [158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170][171][172][173][174] 1986) suggested that semiosis is the translator of the events from one level to the other. From a psychological point of view, a myriad of semiotic events happen inside an individual, and it has been suggested that among other semiotic events, inner speech plays an important role in mediating personal agency. Dialogical theories of the self, Jungian psychology and hypnosis research evidence show that there is a semiotic multiplicity in human agency and consciousness, and that these multiple streams are all converge to a central semiotic singularity. I argue in this paper that by taking a biosemiotic point of view, human 'agency' may be defined as the ability of an individual to direct the incoming and internal streams of semioses and the ability to create an integrative and superordinate new stream of semiosis in addition to the upwardly and downwardly component ones, and how such a view might open a new door for research into the concept of human 'personality' and 'agency'.

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