Centre for Chronic Disease, College ofHealth and Biomedicine

Endometrial tumors induce various tumor escape mechanisms that result in immunosuppression in patients and, ultimately, tumor progression. Blood monocytes are able to exhibit potent cytotoxic action against tumor cells where novel immunotherapeutics targeting antigen-presenting cells including dendritic cells, and blood monocytes are being used as a means of delivering immunogens to stimulate an antitumor and, ultimately, therapeutic response. This study shows that peripheral blood monocytes from patients with endometrial cancer show functional deficiencies, and these deficiencies can be characterized by phenotypic changes as well as altered cytokine secretion. This study assessed the phenotypic changes of peripheral blood monocytes by flow cytometry as well as the functional status via cytokine production measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in patients with endometrial cancer versus controls. Altered blood monocyte phenotype incorporating a decrease in costimulatory and adhesion factor expression and increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 in patients with endometrial cancer versus controls. Increased interleukin 12 and decreased interleukin 10 secretion by blood monocytes in patients with endometrial cancer were also observed. These findings showed that peripheral blood monocytes from patients with endometrial cancer show an altered phenotype and cytokine secretion when compared with controls. Limitations to this study include the small sample size, the need to investigate the effect of phenotype and cytokine changes in functional assays, as well as future studies investigating the effect on tumor-associated macrophages from endometrial tissue from cancer versus control patients. Nevertheless, these findings suggest that peripheral blood monocyte induced immunosuppression in endometrial cancer and implications in the design of future immunotargeting therapies remain to be elucidated.

Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles are believed to be independent risk factors for the occurrence of numerous diseases, including, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental health, all leading to substantial morbidity and/or premature death. It has been found that regular exercise, is associated with better quality of life and health outcomes, and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Here, we review the effects regular exercise has on mental health and well-being, on the immune system and in cancer, cardiovascular disease, autoimmunity and metabolic syndrome. Is exercise the new immunotherapy to treat diseases?

We developed and tested a cost-effective model for health promotion capacity building among community health volunteers (CHVs) within culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Twenty multilingual CHVs, from CALD communities in Melbourne, underwent 3 days of education and training to deliver face-to-face education programs in their own language. Participants were instructed how to collect anthropometric data, make qualitative observations, and conduct diabetes knowledge questionnaires, before conducting mini education sessions with three members of their own community. Knowledge about diabetes among CHVs increased. CHVs were able to collect anthropomorphic data and knowledge surveys from community participants with greater participation than from outreach programs. Evidence-based data collected by CHVs could be incorporated into health education and promotion programs run by CHVs. Here we confirm that CHVs represent an effective tool for health promotion within CALD communities and have the capacity to incorporate evidence-based collection as part of their health education.

Menopausal symptoms in women can be severe and disruptive to overall quality of life. Hormone replacement therapy, is known to be effective in ameliorating symptoms, however, reporting of side effects has resulted in alternative treatment options. Exercise has been assessed as an alternative treatment option for alleviating menopausal symptoms, including, psychological, vasomotor, somatic and sexual symptoms. Here we report the effects of physical activity and exercise on menopause symptoms in menopausal women.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by demyelination and loss of neurological function, local macrophage infiltrate and neuroantigen-specific CD4(+)T cells. MS arises from complex interactions between genetic, immunological, infective and biochemical mechanisms. Although the circumstances of MS etiology remain hypothetical, one persistent theme involves immune system recognition of myelin-specific antigens derived from myelin basic protein, the most abundant extrinsic myelin membrane protein, and/or another equally suitable myelin protein or lipid. Knowledge of the biochemical and physico-chemical properties of myelin proteins and lipids, particularly their composition, organization, structure and accessibility with respect to the compacted myelin multilayers, becomes central to understanding how and why myelin-specific antigens become selected during the development of MS. This review focuses on the current understanding of the molecular basis of MS with emphasis: (i) on the physical-chemical properties, organization, morphology, and accessibility of the proteins and lipids within the myelin multilayers; (ii) on the structure-function relationships and characterization of the myelin proteins relevant to the manifestation and evolution of MS; (iii) on conformational relationships between myelin epitopes which might become selected during the development of MS; (iv) on the structure of MHC/HLA in complex with MBP peptides as well as with TCR, which is crucial to the understanding of the pathogenesis of MS with the ultimate goal of designed antigen-specific treatments.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a new vaginal cream containing visnadine (0.30%), prenylflavonoids (0.10%) and bovine colostrum (1%) on Vaginal Health Index Score (VHIS) and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) in post-menopausal sexually active women affected by vaginal dryness.

Patients and methods: We performed a prospective pilot study, enrolling 15 post-menopausal sexually active women affected by vaginal dryness. The mean age of participants was 56.8 ± 4.6 years with parity mean 1.6 ± 1. All women gave consent and underwent VHIS evaluation and FSFI test. Following baseline evaluation, women underwent 15 days of vaginal treatment with one application per day of the new vaginal cream. Following treatment, women were evaluated again using the same methods of the pre-treatment phase.

Results: Following treatment there was significant improvement in elasticity (p = 0.03), fluid secretion type and consistency (p = 0.01), pH (p = 0.03), epithelization of vaginal mucosa (p = 0.04), moisture (p = 0.04) and total VHIS (p = 0.0001). Similarly, after the treatment there was also a significant improvement of lubrication (p = 0.01), orgasm (p = 0.01), satisfaction (p = 0.02), pain (p = 0.03) and total FSFI score (p = 0.004). No significant differences regarding desire (p = 0.57) and arousal (p = 0.61) were found. None of the women reported any local or systemic side effect during the treatment.

Conclusion: We demonstrated a significant improvement of both VHIS and FSFI score in post-menopausal sexually active women after a treatment with vaginal cream containing visnadine, prenylflavonoids and bovine colostrum. Given that our results are based on a pilot study, we postulate that the treatment with this new vaginal cream may significantly reduce vaginal dryness in post-menopausal women and improve their sexual wellbeing.