Puberty marks numerous physiological processes which are initiated by central activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, followed by development of secondary sexual characteristics. To a large extent, pubertal timing is heritable, but current knowledge of genetic polymorphisms only explains few months in the large inter-individual variation in the timing of puberty. We have analysed...

Most children explore various aspects of gender and sexuality as children. Youth with consistent, persistent, and insistent gender non-conformity or gender dysphoria are important to identify in the pre- and early-pubertal years as early intervention and support may be lifesaving. Those whose gender non-conformity persists into puberty and adolescence are most likely to identify as transgender....

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) continuously undergo self-renewal and differentiation to sustain spermatogenesis throughout adulthood in males. In stallions, SSCs may be used for the production of progeny from geldings after cryopreservation and therapy for infertile and subfertile stallions. Undifferentiated cell transcription factor 1 (UTF1) is a putative marker for undifferentiated spermato...

BACKGROUND Whether skeletal effects are obtained by functional appliances in class II subjects is still controversial. In this regard, most of the available studies did not clearly identify the growth phases (i.e. pubertal or not) of the treated patients. This retrospective controlled study aimed at evaluating the skeletal and dental changes in class II subjects produced by the functional regul...

The complex carbohydrates in the undescended and contralateral scrotal testes of patients with cryptorchidism, were examined by light microscopic histochemical methods, in comparison with those of normal testes. In the undescended testes, histochemical reactions for acidic and neutral complex carbohydrates were apparently weaker than in the normal testes, especially pronounced in the seminifero...