PCOS - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Support Blog

Mirror.co.uk News
Nov. 11, 2008

 
A vitamin found in sunlight as well as oily fish and eggs could improve women’s fertility, a study has found.

Researchers say vitamin D can help restore regular periods for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects around one in five in the UK.

The study, by Yale University School of Medicine, involved 67 women, of whom 18 had problems ovulating. Of these, 13 had PCOS.

Only seven per cent were found to have normal vitamin D levels. The researchers said those with ovulation problems or PCOS were far more likely to be lacking in the vitamin than the others.

They suggested that women with these conditions should be given vitamin D, which can be taken as a supplement.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/11/12/vitamin-d-can-boost-fertility-115875-20888176/

Clinical and biochemical presentations of polycystic ovary syndrome among obese and nonobese women.

Fertil Steril. 2008 Nov 1.

Liou TH, Yang JH, Hsieh CH, Lee CY, Hsu CS, Hsu MI.
Obesity Research Center, Taipei Medical University-Wan Fang Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. 

OBJECTIVE: To study the differences in clinical and biochemical characteristics between obese and nonobese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: University teaching hospital.

PATIENT(S): Four hundred sixty-four Taiwan Chinese women, among whom 295 were diagnosed with PCOS and 169 were non-PCOS controls.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Body mass index, average menstrual interval, modified Ferriman-Gallwey score, acne, total T, and waist-to-hip ratio.

RESULT(S): Obese women with polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM) had a greater risk of developing of PCOS (odds ratio [OR], 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-10.4) than nonobese women with PCOM. Obese women with PCOM had a higher incidence oligomenorrhea (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.6-4.1) and biochemical hyperandrogenemia (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.6-4.0) than nonobese women with PCOM. Obese subjects with PCOS had a higher risk of developing oligomenorrhea (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.7) and biochemical hyperandrogenemia (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.6-4.2) than nonobese women with PCOS. Moreover, obese women with PCOS had significantly higher serum total T levels and more prolonged menstrual intervals than nonobese women with PCOS. Notably, the obese women with PCOS presented less acne than the nonobese subjects (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.9).

CONCLUSION(S): Obese women with PCOS had more severe ovulatory dysfunction and higher serum total T levels than nonobese subjects. Moreover, obese women with PCOS had a significantly lower frequency of acne than nonobese subjects.

www.soulcysters.net

By Mark Henderson, Science Editor
Times Online UK
Nov. 10. 2008

A new approach to fertility treatment that provides a safer alternative to IVF can deliver comparable pregnancy rates for suitable women, the only British centre to offer it has reported.

Of the first 38 British patients to be treated with the in-vitro maturation (IVM) technique, which does not require powerful hormonal drugs, nine have either given birth or have an ongoing pregnancy, according to figures released by the Oxford Fertility Clinic. It conducted 40 treatment cycles.

All the successful cases were among the 27 cycles performed on women under 35. This success rate, of 33 per cent, is almost identical to the 31 per cent that standard IVF achieves for this patient group. Another four women under 35 had a positive pregnancy test, but no foetal heartbeat was found by ultrasound.

The IVM technique, however, did not work at all well for older patients. Only one of the 13 cycles conducted on patients aged over 35 led to a pregnancy, and this was an ectopic pregnancy, in which the embryo starts to develop in the fallopian tube.

The findings, which were presented at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine conference in San Francisco, suggest that the treatment can be successful, but only for carefully-selected patients.

IVM involves removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries while they are still undeveloped, then maturing them artificially in the laboratory before fertilising them with sperm. It allows infertile couples to conceive without the need for the woman to be given fertility drugs to stimulate her ovaries before eggs are collected.

It has particular promise for the 30 to 40 per cent of infertility patients whose problems stem from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition that affects 10 to 20 per cent of women.

They are often advised against taking fertility drugs because they have a raised risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), which can, on rare occasions, cause kidney damage or death. The syndrome occurs in one in 100 IVF cycles, but affects one in 10 cycles among women with PCOS.

Another potential application is in helping cancer patients to preserve their fertility before having chemotherapy that could otherwise leave them sterile. These women sometimes cannot take hormonal drugs because they might worsen their tumours, but could have immature eggs removed and frozen for use when they are in remission.

While more than 400 babies have been born from IVM worldwide, the Oxford Fertility Clinic is the only British centre licensed to perform it. The first British couple to conceive using the technique gave birth to twins last October.

Tim Child, of the Oxford Fertility Clinic, said: “Unstimulated IVM treatment is a viable alternative to standard IVF for women under 35 years of age who have ovaries of polycystic morphology. IVM avoids the potentially fatal complication of OHSS in this at-risk patient group.”

Geeta Nargund, of St George’s Hospital in South London, said that the evidence currently supports the use of IVM only for women with PCOS, a condition in which cysts cover the ovaries. A team in Denmark is trying the technique in women without PCOS but have not reported any results yet, she said.

The technique will not work in older women who have few eggs left in their ovaries because many eggs fail to mature in the laboratory and so a relatively high number is needed to start with, Dr Nargund said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article5126220.ece

Science Daily
Nov. 6, 2008

 
A two-year study conducted by researchers at George Mason University, INOVA Fairfax Hospital and the National Cancer Institute may open the door to new therapies for combating chronic diseases associated with obesity, a condition that affected more than 33 percent of American adults in 2005-06 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While analyzing samples taken from morbidly obese patients undergoing weight loss surgery, the researchers discovered that substantial quantities of melanin—a pigment that gives the skin, the hair and the iris of the eye their natural color—were being produced in the study participants’ fat tissue.

Ancha Baranova, assistant professor in George Mason University’s Department of Molecular and Microbiology and the paper’s lead author, explains that melanin production has never before been identified in fat tissue. She believes that the antioxidant, which has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties, could be the body’s natural defense against obesity-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, fatty liver disease, polycystic ovary syndrome and some cancers.

“Stockpiling extra calories is difficult even for specialized fat cells; having too much lipid molecules takes its toll on the fat cells, producing oxidative stress,” says Baranova. “It’s not unthinkable that these cells would adapt and produce melanin as a form of self-protection. As a side benefit, melanin may suppress inflammatory properties of the extra pounds of the fat.”

Baranova notes that a larger study is needed in order to confirm the role that the body’s production of this compound plays in fat tissue. However, the discovery suggests that melanin-based therapies may one day be used to reduce the incidence of chronic diseases among the morbidly obese.

“This opens an entirely new avenue for medical interventions because the process of biosynthesis of melanin is relatively easy to meddle with,” says Baranova. “We hope that this study will spur the development of preventive medications aimed at curtailing devastating metabolic complications in obese and overweight populations.”

The paper was co-authored by Manpreet Randhawa, Tom Huff and Vikas Chandhoke of George Mason University; Julio C. Valencia and Vincent J. Hearing of the National Cancer Institute; and Zobair Younossi of INOVA Fairfax Hospital. The study was funded by the Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust and by the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The findings appear in the current Web edition of the FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) Journal and will be published in the March 2009 print edition.

Journal reference:

   1. Randhawa et al. Evidence for the ectopic synthesis of melanin in human adipose tissue. The FASEB Journal, 2008; DOI: 10.1096/fj.08-116327

Adapted from materials provided by George Mason University.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081106164818.htm