BACKGROUND Neisseria gonorrhea is the etiological agent of the sexually transmitted disease (STD) gonorrhea, and primarily infects the mucous membranes of the urethra, endocervix, pharynx or rectum of females which may result in substantial morbidity. N. gonorrhea also causes disseminated infection, with complications that may result in ectopic pregnancy, tubal infertility, chronic pelvic pain ...

The use of topical and oral adenosine derivatives in HIV prevention that need to be maintained in tissues and cells at effective levels to prevent transmission prompted us to ask whether estradiol could influence the regulation of catabolic nucleotidase enzymes in epithelial cells and fibroblasts from the upper and lower female reproductive tract (FRT) as these might affect cellular TFV-DP leve...

BACKGROUND llicit sexual behavior by commercial sex workers (CSW) may have a disproportionate impact on the reproductive health of a woman that often leads to cervicitis. This study aimed at examining the cytopathology, patterns, prevalence and burden of cervicitis in CSW in Enugu metropolis, Nigeria. METHODS Cervical smear was collected from the endocervix of about one hundred and eighteen (...

Mucins from human whole saliva, as well as from respiratory- and cervical-tract secretions, were subjected to density-gradient centrifugation in CsCl/0.5 M guanidinium chloride. A polydisperse population of MUC5B mucins was demonstrated in all samples using anti-peptide antisera (LUM5B-2, LUM5B-3 and LUM5B-4) raised against sequences within the MUC5B mucin. The sequences recognized by the LUM5B...

Over 80% of sexual HIV-1 transmissions originate from a single viral variant, but the underlying basis for this transmission bottleneck remains to be elucidated. Nonhuman primate models of mucosal virus transmission allow opportunities to gain insight into the basis of this mucosal bottleneck. We used simulated inocula consisting of either non-infectious vital dye or contrast dye with non-invas...

Female genital tract secretions are commonly sampled by lavage of the ectocervix and vaginal vault or via a sponge inserted into the endocervix for evaluating inflammation status and immune factors critical for HIV microbicide and vaccine studies. This study uses a proteomics approach to comprehensively compare the efficacy of these methods, which sample from different compartments of the femal...

BACKGROUND Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection of the genital mucosa is thought to require trauma to the cervicovaginal epithelium. Therefore, we determined whether a cytology specimen collection procedure (Pap smear), which disrupts the epithelium by design, renders the cervix more susceptible to HPV infection in a primate model. METHODS In a series of female rhesus macaques, a speculum exa...

OBJECTIVE Our purpose was to compare the safety and efficacy of intravaginal misoprostol versus intracervical prostaglandin E2 gel (dinoprostone) for preinduction cervical ripening and induction of labor. STUDY DESIGN Two hundred seventy-six patients with indications for induction of labor and unfavorable cervices were randomly assigned to receive either intravaginal misoprostol or intracervi...

We obtained seven monoclonal antibodies (MAb) against a gastric min-in of an ALeb patient. By immunoperoxidase on normal gastric mucosae, two MAbs (3-3A and 2-25LE) reacted exclusively with the A and Lewis-positive individuals, respectively; the five other MAbs (1-13 Ml, 2-11 Ml, 2-12 Ml, 9-13 Ml, and 58 Ml) stained the mucus cells of surface gastric epithelium independently of ABO or Lewis sta...

We obtained seven monoclonal antibodies (MAb) against a gastric mucin of an ALeb patient. By immunoperoxidase on normal gastric mucosae, two MAbs (3-3A and 2-25 LE) reacted exclusively with the A and Lewis-positive individuals, respectively; the five other MAbs (1-13 M1, 2-11 M1, 2-12 M1, 9-13 M1, and 58 M1) stained the mucus cells of surface gastric epithelium independently of ABO or Lewis sta...