serovars are sexually transmissible. Infection by the D-K serovars affects children of all ages but is uncommon in the prepubertal period. It ranges from perinatal and neonatal infection acquired from the mother, to prepubertal infection as a consequence of long term carriage or voluntary or involuntary sexual intercourse, to sexually transmitted adolescent infection. Infection by the LGV serov...

Activin A is a gonadal protein originally isolated from follicular fluid and is recognized as a local regulator of granulosa cell differentiation. Whether activin A promotes folliculogenesis, however, still remains unclarified. The present study was designed to elucidate the effect of activin A on follicular growth in in vitro follicle culture systems. Preantral follicles, 100-120 microm in dia...

Background Methylphenidate (MPH) is commonly prescribed for children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, the action mechanisms of methylphenidate have not been fully elucidated. Studies have shown a relationship between apoptosis signaling pathways and psychiatric disorders, as well as therapeutic targets for such disorders. So, we examined the...

In order to correct height velocities for the confounders age and sex, SD scores can be calculated using the mean and the SD of the height velocity in the normal population. However, current methods are inappropriate for prepubertal children in the age range in which puberty occurs, because reference groups then consist of a mixed prepubertal/pubertal population. The mathematical infancy-childh...

Sexual dimorphism in stature, weight status and body composition were analyzed in a sample of 398 prepubertal children (213 girls, 185 boys) ageing between 7 and 10. Furthermore the prevalence of overweight was tested. Body composition parameters were determined using TBF 105 Body composition analyzer according to BIA-method. Highly significant sex differences in body composition were observed ...

Overnight urinary growth hormone secretion was measured by an immunoradiometric assay incorporating commercially available reagents, in 41 normal prepubertal school-children from three age groups: 3-5 years, 6-7 years, and 9-10 years. There was no significant difference between the groups expressing the results as total microU/specimen and so they have been combined to provide a prepubertal ref...

Gynecomastia is defined as the excessive development of breast tissue in males, which can occur as unilateral or bilateral. Although the overall prevalence of gynecomastia is 40%-65%, the prepubertal unilateral gynecomastia in the absence of endocrine abnormalities is unusual, with only a few case reports in literature. Idiopathic gynecomastia in prepuberty is benign but a diagnosis of exclusio...

BACKGROUND Responsiveness to GH treatment can be estimated by both growth and ∆IGF-I. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate if mimicking the physiological increase during puberty in GH secretion, by using a higher GH dose could lead to pubertal IGFs in short children with low GH secretion. The secondary aim was to explore the relationship between IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and the IGF-I/I...

OBJECTIVE Hemicastration is a unilateral orchiectomy to remove an injured testis, which can induce hormonal changes and compensatory hypertrophy of the remaining testis, and may influence spermatogenesis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of hemicastration on remaining testicular function. METHODS Prepubertal mice (age 24 days...

This experiment was designed to study the effects of caffeine on histomorphology testes prepubertal male Wistar rats. Prepubertal rats (25-28 days old), weighing between 50-60 g were randomly divided into three treatment groups (B, C and D) control (A) ten each. Group A received distilled water while Groups B, C, D respectively given daily dose 50 mg/kg, 100 200 mg/kg dissolved in for 14 by gav...