Background/Purpose To investigate the M1/M2 polarity of macrophages in the endometrium among different menstrual cycles, normal and abnormal pregnancies, and unexplained recurrent spontaneous ...abortions (RSAs). Methods Endometrial tissue was obtained from 43 patients undergoing hysterectomy, either in the follicular phase (Group 1, n = 23) or in the luteal phase (Group 2, n = 20). In addition, decidual tissue was obtained from 53 pregnant women during the first trimester, either of normal pregnancies (Group 3, n = 12) or abnormal pregnancies (Group 4: spontaneous abortions, n = 20; Group 5: unexplained RSA, n = 21). Using immunofluorescence to examine the M1 and M2 macrophages in the endometrium and deciduae from cases with different menstrual phases and various pregnancy outcomes, respectively, we endeavored to learn the possible pathophysiology of abortions. Results M1 macrophages were abundant in the deciduae of spontaneous abortions and unexplained RSA, whereas the frequency of M2 macrophages was significantly higher in the endometrium of luteal phase and normal pregnancies. Conclusion M2 polarization is important for early successful pregnancies in humans.
The complex permittivity and return loss (RL) for the composites of silicone rubber filled with holey graphene nanosheets (HGNS, prepared by ultra-rapid heating during the step of thermal ...reduction/exfoliation of graphite oxide) were measured in the 3–18 GHz range. HGNS-based composites were found to have significantly higher microwave absorption than composites incorporating other types of graphene reduced at lower heating rates. Even with only 1 wt.% loading, its experimentally measured RL reached −32.1 dB at 13.2 GHz with a thickness of 2 mm, and simulation suggested that at a thickness of 3 mm its RL can be as low as −45.3 dB at 7.8 GHz. Material characterization indicated that the density of the holes increased with the temperature ramp rate, and the hole sizes ranged from 5 to 300 nm. Compared to other graphene samples, HGNS possessed significantly larger specific surface area and higher density of defects, suggesting that defect-induced losses, interfacial polarization, and multiple reflection/scattering at the interfaces are the major loss mechanisms. Our simple and low-cost process as well as the very low loading ratio of HGNS are advantageous for cost reduction in future applications.
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•The microwave absorption properties of holey graphene/silicone rubber composites are reported.•At 1 wt.% loading of holey graphene, a return loss of −45.3 dB at 7.8 GHz was achieved.•A contactless free-space microwave measurement system, which offers reliable and reproducible results, was employed.•Holey graphene's numerous defects and large surface area were the key factors for its excellent microwave absorption.•The low filler loading promises good potential for lightweight, low-cost microwave absorbers.
The microwave absorption properties of silicone rubber containing various graphene products acquired from different sources were studied. The complex permittivity, permeability, and return loss (RL) ...of the composites in the range of 3–18 GHz were characterized using contactless free-space measurement geometry. The large differences in the permittivity and RL for all samples indicated that the quality of graphene significantly affected the microwave absorption of the composite. Among the graphene samples, our homemade Staudenmaier reduced graphene oxide (RGO) offered a significantly improved RL at very low loading of 1 wt%, its minimum RL reached −37.8 dB at 12.3 GHz with a thickness of 2.5 mm. To identify the key factor that caused the difference in the microwave characteristics, the material properties of the graphene samples, including surface morphology, specific surface area, and C/O ratio, were analyzed and compared. The comparison revealed that the specific surface area, which is an indicator of the degree of exfoliation, is the most critical property that affects the microwave absorption performance of graphene-filled composites. Our results indicated that a well-dispersed, highly exfoliated RGO is capable of providing excellent microwave absorption at very low loading, which is favorable for cost reduction in future applications.
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The Role of Cytokines in Endometriosis Wu, Ming-Yih; Ho, Hong-Nerng
American journal of reproductive immunology (1989),
20/May , Letnik:
49, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
PROBLEM: To review the literature on the role of peritoneal cytokines in the pathogenesis and endometriosis‐related infertility.
METHODS OF STUDY: A MEDLINE search was conducted by the key words of ...cytokine and endometriosis in the English publications, and references identified within the identified papers were also reviewed.
RESULTS: Several cytokines including interleukin (IL)‐1, 6, 8, 10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were reported to be increased in the peritoneal fluid (PF) of women with endometriosis. Those cytokines may be involved in macrophage activation, inflammatory change and enhanced angiogenesis. However, some cytokines were less expressed such as IL‐2, and interferon (IFN)‐γ. They reflect the impaired T‐ and natural killer (NK)‐cell function. Endometriotic implants produce some factors, e.g. matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), Bcl‐2, and affect their capacity to implant into the peritoneum.
CONCLUSION: Peritoneal cytokines, which are produced by mesothelial cells, leukocytes and ectopic endometrial cells, interwork locally and systemically in women with endometriosis. More studies about the specific role and interactions of these cytokines are needed to improve the understanding of endometriosis and to develop novel therapies.
We demonstrate a low-cost and simple method to prepare holey graphene nanosheets (HGNSs) by ultra-rapid heating during the process of thermal reduction/exfoliation of graphite oxide. The number ...density of the holes increased with the heating rate, and the size ranged between 10 and 250nm. In addition, supercapacitors (SCs) using HGNSs as the electrode material were fabricated and their performances were evaluated. Compared to common graphene, HGNSs offered much higher capacitance values and better capability at high rates due to the much shorter cross-plane ion transport paths in the graphene stack through the large amount of holes on graphene sheets. The SC with HGNS electrodes exhibited an excellent high-rate capacitance of 170F/g at 50A/g in a 6M KOH aqueous electrolyte. In the low-rate limit, the HGNS SC showed a very large specific capacitance of 350F/g at 0.1A/g.
For poor ovarian responders (PORs), gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist was commonly used for prevention of premature LH surge during controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) over the past ...two decades. The application of progestin-primed ovarian stimulation (PPOS) recently increased, but the role of PPOS for PORs was uncertain. We aimed to analyze the incidence of premature luteinizing hormone (LH) surge and the outcome of oocyte retrieval among PPOS and GnRH antagonist protocol for PORs.
This was a single-center retrospective study, which enrolled the PORs (defined by the Bologna criteria) undergoing COS with PPOS or flexible GnRH antagonist protocol during January 2018 to December 2021. We compared the incidence of premature LH surge (LH > 10 mIU/mL) and the outcome of oocyte retrieval between the PPOS group and the GnRH antagonist group.
A total of 314 women were recruited, with 54 in the PPOS group and 260 in the GnRH antagonist group. The PPOS group had lower incidence of premature LH surges compared with the GnRH antagonist protocol group (5.6% vs 16.9%, P value 0.035). There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the number of oocytes retrieved (3.4 vs 3.8, P value 0.066) and oocyte retrieval rates (88.9% vs 88.0%, P value 0.711).
Compared with PPOS, GnRH antagonist protocol had higher risk of premature LH surges for PORs but may not affect pregnancy rates. PPOS is suitable for oocyte or embryo cryopreservation, but should not totally replace GnRH antagonist protocol for patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Abstract
Background
The previous model-based cost-effectiveness analyses regarding elective oocyte cryopreservation remained debatable, while the usage rate may influence the cost per live birth. The ...aim of this study is to disclose the usage and cost-effectiveness of the planned cryopreserved oocytes after oocyte thawing in real-world situations.
Methods
This was a retrospective single-center observational study. Women who electively cryopreserved oocytes and returned to thaw the oocytes were categorized as thawed group. The oocytes were fertilized at our center and the sperm samples for each individual was retrieved from their respective husbands. Clinical outcomes were traced and the cumulative live birth rate per thawed case was calculated. The costs from oocyte freezing cycles to oocyte thawing, and embryo transfer cycles were accordingly estimated. The cumulative cost per live birth was defined by the cumulative cost divided by the live births per thawed case.
Results
We recruited 645 women with 840 oocyte retrieval cycles for elective oocyte freezing from November 2002 to December 2020. The overall usage rate was 8.4% (54/645). After the storage duration exceeded ten years, the probabilities of thawing oocytes were 10.6%, 26.6%, and 12.7% from women who cryopreserved their oocytes at the age ≤ 35 years, 36–39 years, and ≥ 40 years, respectively (
P
= 0.304). Among women who thawed their oocytes, 31.5% (17/54) of women achieved at least one live birth. For the age groups of ≤ 35 years, 36–39 years, and ≥ 40 years, the cumulative live birth rates per thawed case were 63.6%, 42.3%, and 17.6%, respectively (
P
= 0.045), and the cumulative costs for one live birth were $11,704, $17,189, and $35,642, respectively (
P
< 0.001).
Conclusions
The overall usage rate was 8.4% in our cohort. The cumulative live birth rate was greatest in the youngest group and the cumulative cost per live birth was highest in the oldest group, which was threefold greater than that in the group aged ≤ 35 years. The findings added to the limited evidence of the usage rate in real-world situations, which could hopefully aid future analysis and decision-making in public health policy and for women willing to preserve fertility.
Trial registration
None.
Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technologies enable the simultaneous analysis of short tandem repeats (STRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). MPS also enables the detection of alleles ...of the minor contributors in imbalanced DNA mixtures. In this study, 59 STRs (amelogenin, 27 autosomal STRs, 7 X-STRs, and 24 Y-STRs) and 94 identity-informative SNPs of 119 unrelated Taiwanese (50 men, 69 women) were sequenced using a commercial MPS kit. Forty-eight nondegraded and 44 highly degraded two-person artificial DNA mixtures with various minor to major ratios (1:9, 1:19, 1:29, 1:39, 1:79, and 1:99) were analyzed to examine the performance of this system for detecting the alleles of the minor contributors in DNA mixtures. Likelihood ratios based on continuous model were calculated using the EuroForMix for DNA mixture interpretation. The STR and SNP genotypes of these 119 Taiwanese were obtained. Several sequence variants of STRs were observed. Using EuroForMix software based on the sequence data of autosomal STRs and autosomal SNPs, 97.9% (47/48) and 97.7% (42/43) of minor donors were accurately inferred among the successfully analyzed nondegraded and degraded DNA mixtures, respectively. In conclusion, combined with EuroForMix software, this commercial kit is effective for assignment of the minor contributors in nondegraded and degraded DNA mixtures.
Nowadays, cancer disease is continuously identified as the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Cancer chemotherapeutic agents have been continuously developing to achieve high curative ...effectiveness and low side effects. However, solid tumors present the properties of low drug penetration and resistance of quiescent cells. Radiation therapy is concurrently given in some cases; but it induces different levels of adverse effects. In the current work, uniform sized multicellular spheroids were raised by microwell arrays to mimic the architecture of solid tumors. Investigation of the response of the spheroids was conducted after the treatment of alternating electric field. The result showed that the electric field could induce early apoptosis by disturbing cell membrane. Moreover, combined treatment of electric field and anti-cancer drug was applied to the spheroids. The electric field synergistically enhanced the treatment efficacy because the anti-cancer drug could permeate through the disrupted cell membrane. Significant improvement of late apoptosis was shown by the combined treatment. Because the electric field treatment induces limited side effect to the patient, lower dosage of anti-cancer drug may be applied to the patients for achieving curative effectiveness.
To analyze the prevalence of intrauterine adhesion (IUA) formation in women undergoing transcervical resection (TCR) for submucous myomas.
Retrospective cohort study.
Tertiary university hospital.
...One hundred fifty-three women undergoing TCR for submucous myomas were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 132 women had a solitary myoma (group 1), 5 had two submucous myomas not in apposition to each other and who received postoperative intrauterine device (IUD) placement (group 2), 9 had two or more apposing submucous myomas and received IUD placement (group 3), and 7 had two or more apposing submucous myomas and who underwent subsequent office hysteroscopic early lysis of IUA (group 4).
Placement of an IUD for 1 month (groups 2 and 3) or office hysteroscopy for early lysis of IUA within 2 weeks after hysteroscopic myomectomy (group 4).
Diagnostic office hysteroscopy was done 1-3 months after hysteroscopic myomectomy to evaluate whether there was permanent formation of IUA.
Two (1.5%) of 132 women in group 1 had IUA. For women receiving IUD placement; none of the 5 women in group 2 and 7 (78%) of 9 women in group 3 had IUA. For women undergoing office hysteroscopic early lysis of adhesion bands (group 4), none of 7 women had IUA.
Intrauterine adhesion is a common complication after TCR for apposing submucous myomas, but not for a solitary myoma. Office hysteroscopy within 2 weeks after TCR is an easy and effective procedure in separating the newly formed IUA.
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