The presented results demonstrate the importance of clinical evaluations for PLGA-PEG nanocarriers that consider the administration schedule in multiple drug delivery, particularly in cancer chemotherapy.

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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is considered as one of the leading endocrine disorders during reproductive age in women. This study designed to determine the therapeutic effects of red clover (Trifolium pratense) on letrozole-induced PCOS in vivo. Forty female Sprague–Dawley rats were equally divided into five groups. Control group with a regular sexual cycle received normal saline (letrozole vehicle). Letrozole (1 mg/kg) was used to induce the PCOS to the rats in the treatment groups. After induction of PCOS, four treatment groups received the normal saline, or clomiphene citrate (1 mg/kg), or red clover extracts (500 or 750 mg/kg) for 30-days. After treatment, ovary and uterus were removed, weighed, and the ovaries were subjected to histopathological studies. Serum testosterone and estradiol levels, antioxidant activities, and lipid profiles were evaluated. Red clover extracts and clomiphene citrate decreased testosterone levels and showed a significant increase in estradiol levels in comparison to PCOS induced group (p<0.05). Red clover administration restored the GSH, SOD and CAT levels (p<0.05) and decreased the NO and MDA levels (p<0.05). Treatments caused no significant change in levels of TG, TC, and FBG factors when compared to PCOS induced group (P>0.05). However, red clover (750 mg/kg) significantly increased HDL and decreased LDL levels when compared to PCOS induced group (P<0.05). Treatment with red clover reduced ovarian weight, volumes of ovarian, medulla, cortex and number of cysts and increased number of oocytes compared to PCOS group. Both red clover and clomiphene citrate could treat the letrozole induced PCOS in rats; however, red clover indicated antioxidant activities more than clomiphene citrate. Red clover may be used for discovering anti-PCOS drugs with lower side effects.

Background: Clinical measurement of quality of life (QoL) for assessing reproductive problems should be considered as a standard investigation at the initial and continuing medical consultations with infertile people. Objective: The purpose of this study was comprehensive testing the psychometric properties of the Iranian version of fertility quality of life (FertiQoL). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on300 women referred to infertility clinic. After linguistic validation, a semi-structured interview was conducted to assess face validity. Consequently exploratory factor analysis was performed to indicate the scale constructs. Discriminate validity was assessed using the known groups comparison. Convergent validity was evaluated by assessing the correlation between similar content on the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF12), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and FertiQol. In addition, reliability analysis was carried out with internal consistency. Results: The reliability of the Iranian version of the FertiQoL was satisfactory in all dimensions (0.77-0.83). Six factors (emotional, mind/body, relational, social, environmental, and tolerability) were extracted from the results of exploratory factor analysis. Discrimination validity showed that FertiQoL can differentiate between female patients with differing duration of infertility and number of children. Moreover, the results of convergent validity showed a favorable correlation between the related dimensions of SF12 (0.43-0.68), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (0.47-0.52) and FertiQoL. Conclusion: The Iranian version of FertiQoL is valid and reliable for assessing infertility problems and the effects of treatment on QoL of infertile patients referred for diagnosis and treatment at infertility clinic.

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