Forty percent of American women are obese and at risk for type II diabetes, impaired immune function, and altered microbiome diversity, thus impacting overall health. We investigated whether obesity induced by an excess calorie, high fat diet containing hydrogenated fats, fructose, and coconut oil (HFD) altered glucose homeostasis, peripheral immunity, and urogenital microbial dynamics. We hypo...

We evaluated the clinical performance of the Bio-Rad Dx CT/NG/MG assay for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in urogenital samples in comparison with the Roche COBAS® TaqMan® CT assay for C. trachomatis and an in-house TaqMan PCR assay for M. genitalium. Swab specimens were cultured for N. gonorrhoeae. In this prospective study, urogenital s...

OBJECTIVE To determine the association between sexual function and depression in sexually active, mid-aged women while controlling for sociodemographical and clinical factors. METHODS Data were analyzed from 335 healthy, sexually active, Peruvian women (40-59 years) who simultaneously filled out the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), the Beck Depression Inv...

Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases worldwide. Urogenital strains are classified into serotypes and genotypes based on the major outer membrane protein and its gene, ompA, respectively. Studies of the association of serotypes with clinical signs and symptoms have produced conflicting results while no studies have evaluated associations with ompA...

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common etiologic agent of lower respiratory tract infections in humans. However, it has been reported previously that the organism has occasionally been isolated from sites other than the oropharynx and respiratory tract. We report the isolation of 24 strains of M. pneumoniae from urogenital specimens obtained from 22 female patients. Most isolates were of cervical or...

Normal male reproductive function, particularly ejaculation, requires the integrity of urogenital sensory input and its ascending spinal projections. After midthoracic chronic spinal cord injury, sexual dysfunction occurs in both rats and humans. Neurons in the medullary reticular formation (MRF) are involved in the processing of bilaterally convergent sensory inputs from multiple cutaneous, mu...

The aim of this work was to investigate the FUT2 gene, the secretor status and the expression of CD44 protein in epithelial cells obtain from saliva and urine samples from patients with urogenital tumours. We studied 104 subjects. Half of them had urogenital tumours, while the other half was the healthy control group. We determined the secretor status in saliva with the haemagglutination inhibi...

Number 20 Last year I wrote a two-part essay on herpes simplex virus infections. 1z In it, I noted that although herpes has been known for over 2,000 years, it has only recently attracted the attention of medical researchers. But herpes, specifically HSV2, is just one of several sexually transmitted diseases (STDS) whose incidence has recently reached dramatic levels. This " new generation " of...

BACKGROUND Urine microscopy is the standard diagnostic method for urogenital S. haematobium infection. However, this may lead to under-diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis, as the disease may present itself with genital symptoms in the absence of ova in the urine. Currently there is no single reliable and affordable diagnostic method to diagnose the full spectrum of urogenital S. haematobium...