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Objective: We investigated the impact of vitamin D3 (VD3) supplementation during mouse preantral follicle culture in vitro and the mRNA expression of 25-hydroxylase (CYP2R1), 1-alpha-hydroxylase (CYP27B1), and vitamin D receptor (VDR) in mouse ovarian follicles at different stages.Methods: Preantral follicles were retrieved from 39 BDF1 mice (7–8 weeks old) and then cultured in vitro for 12 days under VD3 supplementation (0, 25, and 50 pg/mL). Follicular development and the final oocyte acquisition were assessed. Preantral follicles were retrieved from 15 other BDF1 mice (7–8 weeks old) and cultured without VD3 supplementation. Three stages of mouse ovarian follicles were obtained (preantral, antral, and ruptured follicles). Total RNA was extracted from the pooled cells (from 20 follicles at each stage), and then reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was performed to identify mRNA for CYP2R1, CYP27B1, and VDR.Results: The survival of preantral follicles, rates of antrum formation and ruptured follicles (per initiated follicle) and the number of total or mature oocytes were all comparable among the three groups. Both CYP2R1 and CYP27B1 were expressed in antral and ruptured follicles, but not in preantral follicles. VDR was expressed in all three follicular stages.Conclusion: VD3 supplementation in vitro (25 or 50 pg/mL) did not enhance mouse follicular development or final oocyte acquisition. Follicular stage-specific expression of CYP2R1, CYP27B1, and VDR was observed.

Objective: We attempted to identify the optimal cutoff numbers of mature oocytes that would produce at least one or multiple top-quality (grade A) day-3 embryos in normal responders undergoing stimulated in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles.Methods: We selected 210 fresh IVF cycles performed in 170 infertile women at a single center from January 2014 to November 2019. Four to 14 (total) oocytes were obtained in all cycles after conventional ovarian stimulation. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to find the moderate and extreme cutoff numbers of mature oocytes that would produce ≥ 1, ≥ 2, ≥ 3, ≥ 4, and ≥ 5 top-quality embryos.Results: The cutoff number of mature oocytes was significantly correlated with the number of top-quality embryos (r = 0.467, p= 0.000). The moderate cutoff number of mature oocytes was ≥ 3, ≥ 5, ≥ 5, ≥ 6, and ≥ 6 for obtaining ≥ 1, ≥ 2, ≥ 3, ≥ 4, and ≥ 5 top-quality embryos, respectively. The extreme cutoff number of mature oocytes was ≥ 9, ≥ 9, ≥ 10, ≥ 10, and ≥ 11 for obtaining ≥ 1, ≥ 2, ≥ 3, ≥ 4, and ≥ 5 top-quality embryos, respectively.Conclusion: We present the optimal cutoff numbers of mature oocytes that would yield ≥ 1, ≥ 2, ≥ 3, ≥ 4, and ≥ 5 top-quality embryos with 95% specificity. Our findings could help infertility clinicians to set target mature oocyte numbers in women undergoing stimulated IVF cycles.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between aerobic capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in men with cerebral palsy (CP) by measuring aerobic capacity and using the Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaire. The subjects were ambulant men with CP (N = 34), with a mean age, height, weight, and body mass index of 36.6 ± 9.2 years, 163.9 ± 8.9 cm, 58.6 ± 9.1 kg, and 21.6 ± 2.9 kg·m-2, respectively. Aerobic capacity was measured during a graded exercise test and shuttle run test. Quality of life was evaluated using the Health-Related Quality of Life (Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 [SF-36]). The analysis performed using the physical scale of HRQOL as the dependent variable revealed that the contribution rate of physical functioning was 46.3%, role physical was 21.8%, bodily pain was 7.5%, general health was 27.3%, and physical component summary was 36.1%; the aerobic capacity differed significantly in terms of physical functioning, role physical, general health, and physical component summary (p < .05). Peak oxygen uptake was a particularly significant explanatory variable for role physical, and role physical (p < .05). However, the analysis performed using the mental scale of HRQOL as the dependent variable revealed that the contribution rate of vitality was 13.0%, social functioning was 17.3%, role emotional was 14.9%, mental health was 8.1%, and mental component summary was 15.3%; the aerobic capacity showed no significant difference. The aerobic capacity representing the athletic performance level of men with CP positively affected physical health satisfaction but not mental health satisfaction.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of vaginal progesterone for luteal phase support (LPS) on the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) in natural frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles via a meta-analysis.Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and retrospective studies that met our selection criteria. Four online databases (PubMed, Embase, Medline, and the Cochrane Library) were searched between January 2017 and May 2017. Studies were selected according to predefined inclusion criteria and meta-analyzed using R software version 2.14.2. The main outcome measure was CPR.Results: A total of 18 studies were reviewed and assessed for eligibility. One RCT (n=435) and three retrospective studies (n=3,033) met the selection criteria. In a meta-analysis of the selected studies, we found no significant difference in the CPR (odds ratio [OR], 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60–1.55) between the vaginal progesterone and control groups. An analysis of the two retrospective cohort studies that reported the live birth rate (LBR) following FET showed a significantly higher LBR in the vaginal progesterone group (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.21–2.46). A subgroup meta-analysis of FET conducted 5 days after injection of human chorionic gonadotropin showed no significant differences between the two groups with regard to the CPR (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.90–1.55) or miscarriage rate (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.36–1.47).Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis of the currently available literature suggest that LPS with vaginal progesterone in natural FET cycles does not improve the CPR.

Quantification of cellular nanoparticles (NPs) is one of the most important steps in studying NP–cell interactions. Here, a simple method for the estimation of cell-associated silver (Ag) NPs in lung cancer cells (A549) is proposed based on their side scattering (SSC) intensities measured by flow cytometry (FCM). To estimate cellular Ag NPs associated with A549 cells over a broad range of experimental conditions, we measured the normalized SSC intensities (nSSC) of A549 cells treated with Ag NPs with five different core sizes (i.e., 40–200 nm, positively charged) under various exposure conditions that reflect different situations of agglomeration, diffusion, and sedimentation in cell culture media, such as upright and inverted configurations with different media heights. Then, we correlated these nSSC values with the numbers of cellular Ag NPs determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) as a well-established cross-validation method. The different core sizes of Ag NPs and the various exposure conditions tested in this study confirmed that the FCM-SSC intensities are highly correlated with their core sizes as well as the amount of cellular Ag NPs over a linear range up to ~80,000 Ag NPs/cell and ~23 nSSC, which is significantly broader than those of previous studies.

Yoo Jin Shim,1* Hong Jun Kim,2* Sang Cheul Oh,3 Sun Il Lee,4 Seung Wook Choi11Department of Sports and Leisure, Sungshin Women’s University, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02844, Republic of Korea; 2Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Dong-dae-mun-gu, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea; 3Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Guro-gu, Seoul 08308, Republic of Korea; 4Department of Surgery, Korea University Guro Hospital, Guro-gu, Seoul 08308, Republic of Korea*These authors contributed equally to this work Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial effect of exercise on completion rates of adjuvant treatment, which is one of the major prognostic factors among patients with locally advanced colorectal cancer after undergoing curative resection followed by adjuvant treatment.Design: Prospective pilot studyMethods: We assigned patients who were scheduled to undergo adjuvant treatment (N=39) to the exercise group or the control group in a 2:1 ratio in the order of enrollment. Patients completed questionnaires and underwent assessment of the outcome variables at the start of chemotherapy and upon completion of treatment.Results: A fivefold lower possibility of dose adjustment in the exercise group compared to the control group was demonstrated (OR, 0.188; p=0.023; 95% CI, 0.044–0.793). A significantly smaller proportion of the exercise group had grade 3 or 4 nausea (p=0.018) and neurotoxicity (P=0.024) symptoms. Muscle to fat ratios were significantly reduced in the control group (p=0.039), but not in the exercise group (p=0.742). Serum levels of leptin were significantly increased in the control group (p=0.038), but not in the exercise group (p=0.073). Serum levels of adiponectin were significantly increased in the exercise group (p=0.026) but tended to be decreased in the control group with no statistical significance (p=0.418).Conclusions: Exercise training among patients with colorectal cancer was found to have a beneficial impact on adjuvant treatment completion rates and treatment-associated toxicities. This program was also shown to be beneficial to patients’ body compositions and serum levels of adipokines.Keywords: exercise, chemotherapy, adjuvant, chemoradiotherapy, adjuvant, colorectal neoplasms, body composition, adipokines

Agglomeration of nanoparticles (NPs) in cell culture media can alter their physicochemical properties and colloidal behaviour, which may affect their cellular association and cytotoxicity. Herein, we investigated the impact of agglomeration of silver NPs on their effective dose and cellular association under various in vitro assay conditions. Hydrodynamic sizes, zeta potentials, and effective densities of agglomerates were characterized for two different types of positively charged silver NPs with nominal core sizes of 60 nm and 100 nm. Then, three different dose metrics (administered, effective, and cellular doses) under upright and inverted exposure configurations were compared with the measured physicochemical properties and colloidal behaviours. Changes in the agglomeration characteristics, such as an increment in the hydrodynamic size and a decrement in the effective density, assisted the sedimentation and reduced the diffusion of NPs, leading to a higher effective dose and cellular association in the upright configuration than in the inverted configuration. From the comparison between the two sizes, we have observed that agglomerates of NPs with smaller core diameters could be less stably suspended in the biological media and thus, have higher effective doses and cellular association than agglomerates of NPs with larger core sizes, depending on their agglomeration process. Therefore, the agglomeration characteristics, rather than the intrinsic properties of the bare NPs, seem to have a more important role in determining the effective dose and cellular association of NPs and would be more relevant to understanding cell-nanoparticle interactions and their resultant cytotoxicity.

Objective To investigate the patterns of estradiol-oocyte ratio (EOR) and estradiol-mature oocyte ratio (EMOR) in patients with breast cancer undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) using letrozole and gonadotropins for fertility preservation. Methods This retrospective study included 32 breast cancer patients underwent COS for fertility preservation and no patients had previously undergone gonadotoxic treatments. Basal characteristics and in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes were compared according to the age of women (age

The incidence of colon cancer has increased remarkably in Korea during the last decade. Fatty acids in cell membranes have been implicated in colorectal carcinogenesis. Few studies have focused on the composition of the phospholipid (PL) fatty acids in the mucosa of colorectal adenomas and cancers. Thus, PL fatty acid patterns were studied in the colorectal mucosa of patients with colorectal adenomatous polyposis (n = 27) and colorectal cancer (n = 8), compared with healthy control subjects (n = 38). Significant increases in the ratios of ω6/ω3 and P/S and unsaturation index were observed in both the colorectal adenomatous polyps and cancerous tissues as compared with the normal tissues of the control subjects. Significantly higher ratios of C18:1/C18:0 and C20:4(n-6)/C20:3(n-6) were also observed in both groups of patients with cancer. In conclusion, although many questions still remain, the significant changes in mucosal PL fatty acid patterns observed in this study suggest that the PL fatty acids may have roles in human colorectal carcinogenesis.

Background and Objectives:Essential hypertension has been accepted as being associated with a loss of the balance between proand anti-oxidations. Essential trace elements, such as Se, Mn, Cu and Zn, participate in various enzyme reactions necessary for the antioxidant defense system of cells. The object of the present study was to evaluate the serum levels of anti-oxidant minerals, which may be related to the pathophysiology of essential hypertension. Subjects and Methods: The subjects were composed of 50 normotensive controls; 25 men and 25 women (14 premenopausal, 11 postmenopausal), and 50 hypertensive patients; 16 men and 32 women (19 premenopausal, 13 postmenopausal). ICP-MS was employed to measure the mineral concentrations. Results:Compared with controls, the serum Se and Zn concentrations in the essential hypertensive patients were elevated (Se 12.78±0.47 vs. 17.85±0.58 μL/dL, p=0.0008; Zn 110.87±5.36 vs. 134.36± 5.95 μL/dL, p=0.0040), whereas those of Mn and Cu were decreased (Mn 0.49±0.02 vs. 0.28±0.03 μL/dL, p=0.0121; Cu 127.84±5.07 vs. 93.88±2.90 μL/dL, p