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The culture medium plays an important role in embryonic development and subsequent pregnancy outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. The sequential culture media of Vitrolife and Cook are the two most commonly used reagents in China. This study aimed to assess their effects on IVF success rates, obstetric outcomes and neonatal outcomes.This was a retrospective cohort study on 6352 patients undergoing first IVF attempts between January 2018 and December 2019, resulting in 3153 clinical pregnancies, 2646 live births, and 2668 babies. Patients were grouped according to the culture media they used. There were 4680 patients in the Vitrolife group and 1672 patients in the Cook group. The primary outcome measures were maternal and neonatal outcomes. ANOVA and Chi-square tests were used for statistical comparison, and multivariate logistic regression and multivariate general linear model were used to adjust for potential confounders.The rates of live birth, clinical pregnancy, monozygotic twins, miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy were all comparable between the groups of Vitrolife and Cook. The incidence of placenta previa was higher in the Vitrolife group [4.86 vs. 3.09%, adjusted odds ratio = 2.048 (1.146-3.657)]. The incidence of macrosomia was higher in the Cook group [7.51 vs. 5.39%, adjusted odds ratio = 1.445 (1.010-2.069)].The culture media of Vitrolife and Cook are comparably effective in IVF success. Vitrolife is associated with a higher risk of placenta previa, while Cook is associated with a higher risk of macrosomia.

This study is prompted by the reality that the forging velocity greatly impacts the phase transformation of titanium forged parts, further affecting the ultimate microstructures and mechanical properties of their final parts. In this paper, to predict the transformation characteristics of temperature and phases in Ti-6Al-4V drum hot forging procedure, a simplified FE model embedded with phase transformation equations is developed and verified by experiments. Then, based on two evaluation indexes, the effect of forging velocity on the transformation characteristics of temperature and phases within the forged drum is analyzed quantitatively. The results suggest that unlike little effect on lamellar α+β phase, appropriately enhancing the forging velocity can increase the general levels of temperature and β phase and improve the uniformities of temperature, α phase, and β phase distributions within the forged drum.

Objective To investigate whether endometrial extracellular vesicles (EVs) from patients with recurrent implantation failure (RIF) attenuate the growth and invasion of embryos. Design In vitro experimental study. Setting University-affiliated hospital. Patient(s) Ten RIF patients and seven fertile women. Interventions(s) Endometrial cells isolated from endometrial tissues obtained from patients with RIF and fertile women were cultured and modulated in vitro via hormones. Conditioned medium was collected for EV isolation. Main Outcome Measure(s) EVs secreted by endometrial cells of patients with RIF (RIF-EVs) or fertile women (FER-EVs) were characterized with the use of Western blotting, nanoparticle tracking analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. EVs from the two groups were co-cultured with 2-cell murine embryos. Fluorescence-labeled EVs were used to visualize internalization by embryos. Following co-culture, blastocyst and hatching rates were calculated. Blastocysts were stained with diamidino-2-phenylindole to count the total cell number, and the hatched embryos were used to test invasion capacity. Result(s) RIF-EVs and FER-EVs are bilayered vesicles ∼100 nm in size and enriched with TSG101, Alix, and CD9. EVs were internalized within 12 hours. The blastocyst rates in the RIF-EV groups were significantly decreased compared with the FER-EV groups at 5, 10, and 20 μg/mL. The hatching rates and total cell numbers of blastocysts also were decreased significantly in the RIF-EV groups compared with the FER-EV groups at 10 and 20 μg/mL. Moreover, the invasion capacity of hatched embryos decreased significantly in the RIF-EV group. Conclusion(s) Endometrial EVs from patients with RIF attenuate the development and invasion of embryos.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of elevated body mass index (BMI) on short- and long-term outcomes of in-vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatments. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Teaching hospital. Population: Overall, 7229 patients undergoing IVF/ICSI fresh cycles and subsequent frozen embryo transfer cycles during 2014-2020. Methods: The patients were divided into normal (18.5–24.9 kg/m2) and high BMI (≥ 25 kg/m2) groups. Subgroup analyses were performed based on the boundary of 38 years old. Multivariate analysis was used to determine whether BMI was associated with live birth rate (LBR) or cumulative live birth rate (CLBR). Main Outcome Measure: Ovarian response, pregnancy outcomes, and safety for both mother and fetus. Results: For younger women (< 38y), CLBR was significantly reduced in the high BMI subgroup compared to the normal BMI control (73.7% vs 76.8%, p = 0.008) and was accompanied by fewer retrieved oocytes and available embryos. Meanwhile, the incidences of cesarean section (92.9% vs 87.1%, p < 0.001), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (6.7% vs 3.1%, p < 0.001), fetal macrosomia (4.7% vs 2.8%, p = 0.002) and birth defects involving cleft lip and palate (0.4% vs 0.1%, p = 0.030) were significantly higher than the normal BMI group. However, no such differences were observed among older women (≥ 38y). Multivariate analysis revealed that high BMI was a risk factor for CLBR (OR = 0.837, 95% CI: 0.729–0.96). Conclusions: Elevated BMI has a greater adverse impact on younger women.

Currently, there is an increasing prevalence of adolescent exposure to methamphetamine (MA). However, there is a paucity of information concerning the long-term impact of early exposure to MA upon female fertility and ovarian reserve. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term MA exposure in adolescents on their ovarian reserve in adulthood. Adolescent mice received intraperitoneal injections of MA (5mg/kg, three times per week) or saline from the 21st postnatal day for an 8 week period. Morphological, histological, biochemical, hormonal and ethological parameters were evaluated. An impaired ovarian reserve and vitality was found in the group treated with MA, manifesting in morphological-apparent mitochondrial damage, an activated apoptosis pathway in the ovarian tissue, a downward expression of ovarian anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), a decreased number of primordial and growing follicles, an increased number of atretic follicles, and a depressed secretion of AMH, estradiol and progesterone from granulosa cells. However, no significant difference was noticed regarding the estrous cycle, the mating ability and the fertility outcome in the reproductive age of the mice after a period of non-medication. The present results confirmed that a long term exposure to methamphetamine in adolescent mice does have an adverse impact on their ovarian reserve, which indicates that such an early abuse of MA might influence the fertility lifespan of the female mouse.

Chemerin is a cytokine that attracts much attention in the reproductive process. This study aimed to explore the effects of chemerin and its receptor chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1) on the maintenance of early pregnancy. The expression levels of chemerin and CMKLR1 in the decidua tissues of 20 early normal pregnant women and 20 early spontaneous abortion women were examined by Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses. CMKLR1 receptor antagonist (α-NETA) was then intrauterinely injected into normal pregnant mice model to assess its effect on the outcome of pregnancy and the phosphorylation rate of ERK1/2 in decidua tissues.We found that the expression level of chemerin in women who had experienced early spontaneous abortion was lower than in those who had experienced normal early pregnancy (P < 0.01); conversely, CMKLR1 expression was higher in the former than in the latter (P < 0.01). In a pregnant-mouse model, the embryo resorption rate of α-NETA group was higher than that in the negative control group (61.5% vs. 10.8%) (P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, ERK1/2 phosphorylation in decidua tissues decreased in the α-NETA-treated group (P < 0.01). These results suggested that the inhibition of the chemerin/CMKLR1 signaling pathway can lead to the abortion of mouse embryos, and that chemerin/CMKLR1 may play an important role in the maintenance of early pregnancy possibly by regulating ERK1/2 phosphorylation.

This retrospective study aims to demonstrate the effect of antitubercular treatment (ATT) on the pregnancy outcomes and prognoses of patients with genital tuberculosis (GTB) who had received laparoscopy and/or hysteroscopy. This study included 78 patients with infertility and who were diagnosed with GTB through laparoscopy and/or hysteroscopy over the period of November 2005 to October 2015. The recruited patients were divided into ATT and nonATT groups on the basis of ATT duration. The GTB recurrence rates, menstrual patterns, and pregnancy outcomes of the patients were determined at follow-up. Among the 78 patients, 46 received ATT and 32 did not receive ATT. The menstrual volumes of patients in the ATT group significantly decreased relative to those of patients in the nonATT group. GTB did not recur among all patients regardless of treatment. A total of 11 pregnancies (36.7%) in the ATT group and 19 pregnancies (63.3%) in the nonATT group were observed. Pregnancy rates significantly differed (P = 0.002) between the two groups. ATT may decrease the menstrual volume and pregnancy rates of patients who were diagnosed with GTB through laparoscopy and/or hysteroscopy. In addition, ATT did not improve the prognosis of patients with chronic GTB.