The purpose of this study was to determine influence of extended incubation time on sperm chromatin condensation and DNA strand breaks and their effect on fertilisation rate. Forty couples undergoing ICSI therapy were included. Semen was prepared by PureSperm gradient centrifugation and divided into two parts. The first part (G1) was used immediately for ICSI, whereas the second part (G2) was kept in the incubator at 37°C, 5% and 90% Humidity for 5 hr, and thereafter, the capacitated spermatozoa were used for ICSI. The TUNEL test and chromomycin CMA3 were used to evaluate the DNA strand breaks and chromatin condensation respectively. The percentage of condensed chromatin was 73.92 ± 12.70 in the group 1 and 81.13 ± 10.31% in group 2 (p = .001). However, the double-strand breaks were 11.15 ± 8.67% in G.1 and 16.30 ± 11.12% in G.2. (p = .001). Fertilisation rate in the (Group 1) was 62.45% and 69.17% in (Group 2). There was a positive correlation between condensed chromatin and fertilisation rate (r = 0.846, p = .001) and a negative correlation with DNA double-strand breaks (r = −0.802; p = .001). In conclusion, the prolonged sperm incubation (5 hr) leads to a higher chromatin condensation and to a significantly increased number of DNA strands double breaks with no influence on fertilisation rates.
In the population of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), most studies compared the use of atypical antipsychotics, such as quetiapine, with the use of traditional haloperidol in patients with delirium of various forms and etiologies. The role of such agents in patients with hyperactive delirium is not fully understood. This study compares the effectiveness of quetiapine with haloperidol in treating the hyperactive form of delirium in terms of their effects on the Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98 (DRS-R-98), length of stay in the ICU, and mortality in critically ill patients.
Four wheat cultivars, Gemmeiza10, Misr1, Sakha93, and Giza168 were used in this study as well as the hybrids resulted between all the studied four cultivars.Misr1 Sakha93 resulted hybrids were identified using salinity primers Na+/H+ antiporter gene amplification followed by sequencing while Giza168 Gemmeiza10 resulted hybrids were identified by drought primers DREB2 gene amplification followed by sequencing.The resulted sequences were compared with those available on NCBI website database through the BLAST bioinformatics tool.The obtained data showed that, the base size of Na+/H+ antiporter gene was 400 bp while the base size of DREB2 gene was 200 bp. the phylogenetic analysis showed that Na+/H+ antiporter gene obtained sequence was related to four accession numbers from gene bank.In addition, phylogenetic analysis exhibited an amount of genetic change on the root of clades 0.0020, where the Na+/H+ antiporter gene -based phylogeny tree included four clades.The clades grouping had low support (bootstrap value between 6-8%).Also, the obtained DREB2 gene sequences were aligned with six accession numbers in the NCBI website database as shown from the phylogeny tree.The phylogenetic tree deducted from the sequence comparison of DREB2 gene region showed that the length of branch that represents an amount of genetic change of 0.0020, where it's based phylogeny tree included four clades.The clades grouping had low support (bootstrap value between 8-12%).
An infertility problem is a complex issue that affects 15% approximately of couples worldwide. The current study was designed to evaluate if there is a variation in the status of global DNA methylation among the study groups and to assess their impact on the protamine expression level and human semen parameters. Totalling 200 semen samples were collected from men (50 proved fertile, 60 normospermia and 90 oligospermia) with an average age of 34.9 ± 4.3 years. The DNA and RNA were isolated from purified spermatozoa; then, ELISA and qPCR were applied to estimate the status of global sperm DNA methylation and protamine expression level respectively. Besides that, the sperm chromatin decondensation and sperm DNA fragmentation were assessed. A significant variation was found in the global sperm DNA methylation and the protamine 1 and protamine 2 expression level among the study groups (p ≤ .001). Down-regulation has been found in the protamine 1 and protamine 2 expression levels in the oligospermia group compared to the proved fertile group with fold change (0.001 and 0.0002 respectively). In conclusion, this study proposes that the alteration in global DNA methylation may influence the protamine expression level and may be lead to abnormalities in human semen parameters.