Search

Study question Is there any association between clinical outcomes of women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the polymorphic variants of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) or tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs)? Summary answer Our findings suggested that clinical outcomes of women undergoing IVF were associated with rs2277698 SNPs in TIMP2. What is known already The extracellular matrix proteolytic machinery is one of the most important mechanisms for regulating trophoblast invasion. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), which are involved in the extracellular matrix proteolysis process, have the ability to regulate the degradation of the extracellular matrix and play a critical role in trophoblast invasion. Study design, size, duration A prospective study was composed of 1014 women undergoing their first fresh IVF cycle with non-donor from January 2014 to December 2015. Participants/materials, setting, methods The present study was carried out in Lee Women’s Hospital, Taiwan. DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of all participants, and the SNPs were genotyped by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The effects of the following three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on IVF outcomes were explored: TIMP1 (rs4898 C/T), TIMP2 (rs2277698 C/T) and MMP2 (rs243865 C/T). The SNP genotype, correlation with clinical pregnancy, embryo implantation, abortion and live birth rates of IVF were analyzed. Main results and the role of chance In the analysis of 1014 patients attempting their first cycle of IVF, the genotypes frequencies of the study population showed a statistically significant association between TIMP2 (rs2277698 C/T) and clinical outcome. For TIMP2 polymorphisms, women with wild genotype (CC) hadhigher clinical pregnancy rate (34.8% v.s 28.0%; p = 0.032), embryo implantation rate (19.4% v.s 15.4%; p = 0.009), live birth rate (29.8% v.s 22.1%; p = 0.006), and lower abortion rate (7.0% v.s 17.1%; p = 0.005) compared women with CT/TT genotype. On the other hand, the clinical outcomes in different TIMP1 or MMP2 gene polymorphisms groups were no statistically significant difference. Limitations, reasons for caution The size number of the study samples. Wider implications of the findings This study showed that the TIMP2 SNP polymorphisms CT/TT was associated with low trend of clinical outcomes. The mechanism of TIMP2 gene T allele affected the outcomes of IVF remains to be determined. Further studies should focus on the mechanism of these associations in a larger, more heterogeneous cohort. Trial registration number CS13194

Transport processes coupling with shape development of a bubble captured by a solidification front advancing in a horizontal direction are numerically studied. Porosity in solid plays important roles on microstructure of materials and functional materials in biology, tissue, MEM, micro- or nano-engineering, foods, and geophysics, etc. In view of significant force torque, pore shape development during horizontal solidification is more significant than that during vertical solidification. In this work, transport equations of fluid flow, energy and concentration with sources governing interfacial balance of momentum, energy and concentration in the presence of a bubble entrapped by the solidification front were solved by the commercial COMSOL computer code. The results find the pore shape development affected by velocity, pressure and concentration fields for different gravity forces and flow boundary conditions. Prediction of contact angle agrees with that from Abel's equation during solidification, previously confirmed by experimental data. Controlling pore formation in solid via selecting different gravitational acceleration or ambient pressure and flow boundary conditions can therefore be achieved.

Supplemental material, DS_10.1177_0022034519870466 for Prevention of Postdental Procedure Bacteremia: A Network Meta-analysis by B.S. Zeng, S.Y. Lin, Y.K. Tu, Y.C. Wu, B. Stubbs, C.S. Liang, T.C. Yeh, T.Y. Chen, A.F. Carvalho, P.Y. Lin, W.T. Lei, C.W. Hsu, Y.W. Chen, P.T. Tseng and C.H. Chen in Journal of Dental Research

We study the fragmentation fractions $(f_{{\bf B}_b})$ of the $b$-quark to b-baryons (${\bf B}_b$). By the assumption of $f_{\Lambda_b}/(f_u+f_d)=0.25\pm 0.15$ in accordance with the measurements by LEP, CDF and LHCb Collaborations, we estimate that $f_{\Lambda_b}=0.175\pm 0.106$ and $f_{\Xi_b^{-,0}}=0.019\pm 0.013$. From these fragmentation fractions, we derive ${\cal B}(\Lambda_b\to J/\psi \Lambda)=(3.3\pm 2.1)\times 10^{-4}$, ${\cal B}(\Xi_b^-\to J/\psi \Xi^-)=(5.3\pm 3.9)\times 10^{-4}$ and ${\cal B}(\Omega_b^-\to J/\psi \Omega^-)>1.9\times 10^{-5}$. The predictions of ${\cal B}(\Lambda_b\to J/\psi \Lambda)$ and ${\cal B}(\Xi_b^-\to J/\psi \Xi^-)$ clearly enable us to test the theoretical models, such as the QCD factorization approach in the $b$-baryon decays., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, to be published in PLB