The effect of Chlamydia trachomatis, Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis over the sperm quality is still unclear. The aim of this study was to determine their prevalence in infertile Bulgarian men. A total of 281 men were examined by applying mRT-PCR. The registered prevalence was as follows: C. trachomatis - 13.9%, U. urealyticum - 19.2%, M. hominis - 9.9%. Co-infection was established in eight swabs. This first in Bulgaria to study for detection of chlamydia and mycoplasmas in infertile men by mRT-PCR demonstrates higher prevalence of the tested microorganisms in the infertile group toward the control one.

The aim of the present study was to detect copy number variations (CNVs) related to tumour progression and metastasis of urothelial carcinoma through whole-genome scanning. A total of 30 bladder cancer samples staged from pTa to pT4 were included in the study. DNA was extracted from freshly frozen tissue via standard phenol-chloroform extraction and CNV analysis was performed on two alternative platforms (CytoChip Oligo aCGH, 4x44K and Infinium OncoArray-500K BeadChip; Illumina, Inc.). Data were analysed with BlueFuse Multi software and Karyostudio, respectively. The results highlight the role of genomic imbalances in regions containing genes with metastatic and proliferative potential for tumour invasion. A high level of genomic instability in uroepithelial tumours was observed and a total of 524 aberrations, including 175 losses and 349 gains, were identified. The most prevalent genetic imbalances affected the following regions: 1p, 1q, 2q, 4p, 4q, 5p, 5q, 6p, 6q, 7q, 8q, 9p, 9q, 10p, 10q, 11q, 13q and 17q. High-grade tumours more frequently harboured genomic imbalances (n=227) than low-grade tumours (n=103). A total of 36 CNVs in high-grade bladder tumours were detected in chromosomes 1-5, 8-11, 14, 17, 19 and 20. Furthermore, five loss of heterozygosity variants containing 176 genes were observed in high-grade bladder cancer and may be used as potential targets for precision therapy. Revealing specific chromosomal regions related to the metastatic potential of uroepithelial tumours may lay a foundation for implementing molecular CNV profiling of bladder tumours as part of a routine progression risk estimation strategy, thus expanding the personalized therapeutic approach.

Toncheva (2020) Expression profiling of muscle invasive and non-invasive bladder tumors for biomarkers identification related to drug resistance, sensitivity and tumor progression,

No abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the percentage of spermatozoa with abnormal morphology in ejaculates of men with Varicocele by morphometric measurements. Cytological and morphometric studies were performed on sperm samples according to the WHO criteria on 329 patients with vascular disease Varicocele and a control group of 20 healthy men. The results showed the highest percentage of spermatozoa with head anomalies (64%), while tail anomalies and cytoplasmic droplets were rarely observed. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest a narrow dependence between the degree of degenerative changes in the morpho-functional characteristics of spermatozoa.