Alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD) is one of the most common pathological changes associated with alcoholic liver disease. This study is aimed at investigating the specific metabolic changes occurring in AFLD and to develop a diagnostic method based on the blood metabolomics of AFLD. Twenty‐four rats were randomly divided into an AFLD group and a control group. The AFLD model was established by administering 40% alcohol and verified by pathologic examination. Metabolic changes in the blood were investigated by GC‐MS, and both hepatic function and metabolic ability were assessed. Using the metabolic data, a diagnostic model was developed with a support vector machine (SVM). The model was validated using cross‐validation techniques and achieved a classification accuracy of 100%. Additionally, there were statistically significant differences in metabolic, hepatic function, and pharmacokinetic changes between the two groups. The level of urea, hydroxysuccinic acid, 2‐propenoic acid, total cholesterol, and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol increased, area under the concentration‐time curve (AUC) (0 − t ), AUC (0 − ∞), and C max of phenacetin shorten in the AFLD group ( p < 0.05). The classification accuracy of the SVM model based on metabolic data was 100%. In conclusion, the metabolic ability was heightened in the early stage of AFLD, leading to accelerated metabolism of urea and hydroxysuccinic acid. The SVM model can be used to detect early changes in AFLD based on metabolic data.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of surgical intervention on the expression of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and L-selectin ligand in the endometrium of patients with hydrosalpinx during the implantation window. A total of 60 patients with hydrosalpinx and 30 patients with tubal obstruction were recruited, and immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of LIF and L-selectin ligand in the endometrium of hydrosalpinx patients before and after surgery and in the endometrium of patients with tubal obstruction. The expression of LIF and L-selectin ligand in the endometrium of hydrosalpinx patients before surgery was markedly lower than that of patients with tubal obstruction (P<0.05). Following surgery, the expression of LIF and L-selectin ligand in the endometrium of hydrosalpinx patients was comparable to that of patients with tubal obstruction (P>0.05). In addition, there was a pronounced difference in the expression of LIF and L-selectin ligand in the endometrium before and after surgery in patients with hydrosalpinx (P<0.05). Hydrosalpinx reduces the expression of LIF and L-selectin ligand in the endometrium during the implantation window. LIF and L-selectin ligand may be important factors influencing the endometrial receptivity of hydrosalpinx patients, and surgery is capable of improving the expression of LIF and L-selectin ligand in the endometrium during the implantation window.
Background: This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of cryopreservation on the clinical outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles using sperm retrieved from testicular sperm extraction (TESE) in patients with azoospermia. Methods: This retrospective analysis included the clinical data of 56 pairs of fresh and frozen sperm injection cycles from 56 couples after TESE from January 2019 to December 2021 at the Reproductive Medicine Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, of which 42 pairs were ICSI cycles using fresh and frozen sperm from the same TESE procedure. We compared the embryological and laboratory characteristics and pregnancy outcomes of the subsequent first embryo transfer (ET) cycles between the fresh and frozen groups. Results: There were no significant differences in the fertilization, cleavage, good-quality day 3 embryo, blastocyst formation, and good-quality blastocyst rates between the groups. However, when only paired ICSI cycles of fresh and frozen sperm from the same TESE procedure were analyzed, we observed that the good-quality day 3 embryo rate (44.8% vs 33.2%, p = 0.029) and blastocyst formation rate (57.5% vs 41.3%, p = 0.028) in the fresh group were significantly higher than those in the frozen group. Implantation, clinical pregnancy, early miscarriage, and live birth rates of the first ET cycle were not significantly different in either group. Conclusions: ICSI using fresh testicular sperm after TESE in patients with azoospermia appears to yield better embryological and laboratory outcomes than ICSI using cryopreserved testicular sperm, but the success rate of the subsequent first ET cycles does not seem to be affected.
Summary Biological clock genes expressed in reproductive tissues play important roles in maintaining the normal functions of reproductive system. However, disruption of female circadian rhythm on oocyte fertilization, preimplantation embryo development and blastocyst implantation potential is still unclear. In this study, ovulation, in vivo and in vitro oocyte fertilization, embryo development, implantation and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in ovary and oviduct were studied in female Bmal1 +/+ and Bmal1 −/− mice. The number of naturally ovulated oocyte in Bmal1 −/− mice decreased (5.2 ± 0.8 vs 7.8 ± 0.8, P < 0.001), with an increasing abnormal oocyte ratio (20.4 ± 3.5 vs 11.7 ± 2.0%, P = 0.001) after superovulation. Significantly lower fertilization rate and obtained blastocyst number were observed in Bmal1 −/− female mice either mated with wild-type in vivo or fertilized by sperm from wild-type male mice in vitro (all P < 0.05). Interestingly, in vitro fertilization rate of oocytes derived from Bmal1 −/− increased significantly compared with in vivo study ( P < 0.01). After transferring blastocysts derived from Bmal1 +/+ and Bmal1 −/− female mice to pseudopregnant mice, the implantation sites of the latter decreased 5 days later (8.0 ± 0.8 vs 5.3 ± 1.0, P = 0.005). The intracellular ROS levels in the ovary on proestrus day and in the oviduct on metestrus day increased significantly in Bmal1 −/− mice compared with that of Bmal1 +/+ mice. Deletion of the core biological clock gene Bmal1 significantly decreases oocyte fertilization rate, early embryo development and implantation potential in female mice, and these may be possibly caused by excess ROS levels generated in ovary and oviduct.
This study was to investigate the relationship of diffusion features with molecule information, and then predict grade and survival in lower-grade gliomas.65 patients with primary lower-grade gliomas (WHO Grade II & III) who underwent conventional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging were retrospectively studied. The tumor region was automatically segmented into contrast-enhancing tumor, non-enhancing tumor, edematous and necrotic volumes. Diffusion features, including fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity, radial diffusivity and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), were extracted from each volume using histogram analysis. To estimate molecule biomarkers and predict clinical characteristics of grade and survival, support vector machine, generalized linear model, logistic regression and Cox regression were performed on the related features.The diffusion features in non-enhancing tumor volume showed differences between isocitrate dehydrogenase mutant and wild-type gliomas. And the mean accuracy of support vector machine classifiers was 0.79. Ki-67 labeling index was correlated with these features, which were combined to significantly estimate Ki-67 expression level (r = 0.657, p < 0.001). These features also showed differences between Grade II and III gliomas. A combination of them for grade classification resulted in an area under the curve of 0.914 (0.857-0.971). Mean FA and fifth percentile of ADC were independently associated with overall survival, with lower FA and higher ADC showing better survival outcome.In lower-grade gliomas, multiparametric and multiregional diffusion features could help predict molecule information, histological grade and survival.The multi parametric diffusion features in non-enhancing tumor were associated with molecule information, grade and survival in lower-grade gliomas.
<p>Despite significant advancements in assisted reproductive technology, there is still high demand for improvements in the clinical pregnancy rate and reductions in the time needed to achieve a live birth. One bottleneck issue is the effective selection of oocytes and/or embryos of better quality in the laboratory. The quality of oocytes and embryos cannot be accurately assessed with routine clinical methods. Thus, assessment methods that are more objective, accurate, quantifiable, non-invasive, rapid, and repeatable are needed in the clinic. This perspective highlights the latest developments in non-invasive assessments of oocyte and embryo quality and presents new trends and insights into the biomedical engineering technologies used to evaluate oocyte and embryo quality.</p>
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