DESIGN: Preliminary assessment of serum levels of female hormones in women with or without T1DM. Then histological and immunological examinations were carried out on the pancreas, ovaries and uteri at different stages in non-obese diabetic (NOD) and Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice, as well as assessment of their fertility. A protein array was carried out to detect the changes in serum inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, RNA-sequencing was used to identify the key abnormal genes/pathways in ovarian and uterine tissues of female NOD mice, which were further verified at the protein level.
RESULTS: Testosterone levels were significantly increased (P = 0.0036) in female mice with T1DM. Increasing age in female NOD mice was accompanied by obvious lymphocyte infiltration in the pancreatic islets. Moreover, the levels of serum inflammatory factors in NOD mice were sharply increased with increasing age. The fertility of female NOD mice declined markedly, and most were capable of conceiving only once. Furthermore, ovarian and uterine morphology and function were severely impaired in NOD female mice. Additionally, ovarian and uterine tissues revealed that the differentially expressed genes were primarily enriched in metabolism, cytokine-receptor interactions and chemokine signalling pathways.
CONCLUSION: T1DM exerts a substantial impairment on female reproductive health, leading to diminished fertility, potentially associated with immune disorders and alterations in energy metabolism.
Materials and Methods: The study used a qualitative exploratory design, comprising 12 in-depth interviews. A semi-structured topic guide was used to explore all relevant aspects of the topic, which were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim. All the interviews were conducted in a few beauty salons in purposively selected city areas in the state of Kedah, Malaysia.
Results: Of the 12 patients, seven (58%) reported a positive experience of facial candling treatment, with improvement in the condition of their allergic rhinitis. Specific themes about the experience of facial candling treatment that were identified within the transcript data included knowledge about facial candling, options for disease treatment, effectiveness of facial candling, sources of information, comparison, application of treatment, treatment budget, and safety. The major strength lies in the fact that reasons for using facial candling were uncovered from the perspectives of people with allergic rhinitis through the in-depth interviews.
Conclusions: The motives of these participants for using facial candling are mainly due to cultural influence and its low cost of treatment. There were mixed responses from the participants about the usefulness of facial candling. Most of the respondents had not assessed the safety of prolonged use of facial candling and regarded it as a safe procedure as this has been practiced for generations.