Anticentromere antibodies are the most potent antinuclear antibodies in reducing live birth outcomes after ICSI.

RESEARCH QUESTION: How, and to what extent, do anticentromere antibodies (ACA) reduce live birth outcomes after ICSI? STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of infertile women aged 30-43 years who underwent ICSI between September 2016 and March 2021. Women with a history or current diagnosis of symptomatic connective tissue disease were excluded. Immunofluorescence staining detected antinuclear antibodies (ANA). Staining pattern and titre (cut-off, 1:160) were used to divide infertile women into three groups: positive for ACA (ACA+) (n = 28); positive for ANA other than ACA (ANA+) (n = 77); and negative for both ACA and ANA (control) (n = 3723). RESULTS: Cumulative live birth rate (CLB) was lowest in ACA+ (7%, 31% and 46% in ACA+, ANA+ and control, respectively) (ACA+ versus control, P < 0.0001; ACA+ versus ANA+, P = 0.011; ANA+ versus control, P = 0.012). A small impairment in meiosis I and a larger impairment in meiosis II, fertilization and embryo cleavage caused the decrease. Multiple pronuclei formation increased (RR versus control, 5.33; 95% CI 4.26 to 6.65) and good-quality blastocyst development decreased (RR 0.34; 95% CI 0.22 to 0.53). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that ACA was associated with CLB outcome (OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.36); the other four ANA staining patterns were not. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of ACA on live birth outcomes is strongest after ICSI among ANA, primarily through the impairment of meiosis II and subsequent stages. Repeated ICSI failure and eggs with multiple pronuclei may warrant specific testing for ACA.

Performing a sperm DNA fragmentation test in addition to semen examination based on the WHO criteria can be a more accurate diagnosis of IVF outcomes.

BACKGROUND: We analyzed the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and general semen test based on the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria and compared the two tests using semen factors. In addition, we examined whether DFI is a reliable parameter associated with in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes. METHODS: Sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) and general semen tests were conducted in accordance with the WHO 2010 guidelines, and correlations between the two tests were investigated. The WHO criteria were set as the cutoff values for each of the following factors: semen volume, concentration, total sperm count, motility, and normal morphology, and compared with the DFI results. RESULTS: The subjects had a mean sperm DFI of 15.3% ± 12.6%, and the DFI increased with age. In contrast, motility and normal morphology decreased as the DFI increased. Patients who satisfied the WHO criteria in terms of concentration, total sperm count, and motility had a significantly lower DFI than those who did not satisfy the criteria. Therefore, evaluation with a general semen test based on the WHO criteria should be regarded as a qualitative evaluation of all factors other than semen volume and normal morphology. CONCLUSIONS: High DFI (≥ 30%) caused a low blastocyst development rate following intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Male infertility due to DFI should be suspected when IVF results are poor despite normal semen findings based on the WHO criteria. The results of this study suggest that the SCD test may more accurately evaluate the correlation between IVF clinical outcomes and male infertility. Therefore, it is important to focus on DFI measurements.

Phase shift in skyrmion crystals.

The magnetic skyrmion crystal is a periodic array of a swirling topological spin texture. Since it is regarded as an interference pattern by multiple helical spin density waves, the texture changes with the relative phase shifts among the constituent waves. Although such a phase degree of freedom is relevant to not only magnetism but also transport properties, its effect has not been elucidated thus far. We here theoretically show that a phase shift in the skyrmion crystals leads to a tetra-axial vortex crystal and a meron-antimeron crystal, both of which show a staggered pattern of the scalar spin chirality and give rise to nonreciprocal transport phenomena without the spin-orbit coupling. We demonstrate that such a phase shift can be driven by exchange interactions between the localized spins, thermal fluctuations, and long-range chirality interactions in spin-charge coupled systems. Our results provide a further diversity of topological spin textures and open a new field of emergent electromagnetism by the phase shift engineering.

Magnetic field induced quantum phases in a tensor network study of Kitaev magnets.

Recent discovery of the half quantized thermal Hall conductivity in [Formula: see text]-RuCl[Formula: see text], a candidate material for the Kitaev spin liquid, suggests the presence of a highly entangled quantum state in external magnetic fields. This field induced phase appears between the low field zig-zag magnetic order and the high field polarized state. Motivated by this experiment, we study possible field induced quantum phases in theoretical models of the Kitaev magnets, using the two dimensional tensor network approach or infinite tensor product states. We find various quantum ground states in addition to the chiral Kitaev spin liquid occupying a small area in the phase diagram. They form a band of emergent quantum phases in an intermediate window of external magnetic fields, somewhat reminiscent of the experiment. We discuss the implications of these results in view of the experiment and previous theoretical studies.

Gapless Kitaev Spin Liquid to Classical String Gas through Tensor Networks.

We provide a framework for understanding the gapless Kitaev spin liquid (KSL) in the language of the tensor network (TN). Without introducing a Majorana fermion, most of the features of the KSL, including the symmetries, gauge structure, criticality, and vortex freeness, are explained in a compact TN representation. Our construction reveals a hidden string gas structure of the KSL. With only two variational parameters to adjust, we obtain an accurate KSL Ansatz with the bond dimension D=8 in a compact form, where the energy is about 0.007% higher than the exact one.

Cytogenetic analysis of the retained products of conception after missed abortion following blastocyst transfer: a retrospective, large-scale, single-centre study.

Cytogenetic analysis of the retained products of conception (POC) is the most effective test for identifying miscarriage causes. However, there has been no large-scale study limited to blastocyst transfer. This study retrospectively reports the findings of 1030 cases in which POC analysis was performed after missed abortion following single blastocyst transfer performed at the Shinbashi Yume Clinic. We identified 19.4% as normal karyotypes and 80.6% as aneuploid. These cases broke down into: 62.3% trisomy; 7.8% double trisomy; 0.5% triple or quadruple trisomy; 1.3% monosomy 21; 3.2% monosomy X; 0.1% 47,XXY; 1.0% polyploidy; 1.0% mixed; 1.1% embryonic mosaicism; and 2.4% structural anomalies. In samples with normal karyotypes, 49.5% were female while 50.5% were male. The occurrence of trisomy and double trisomy were both significantly more frequent in the ≥38 years group than in the ≤37 years group (P < 0.01). Trisomy was significantly more frequently associated with fetal heartbeat (P < 0.01); double trisomy, polyploidy and normal karyotype were significantly more frequent with no fetal heartbeat (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the frequency of chromosomal abnormalities between the number of miscarriages or blastocyst quality. Thus, POC cytogenetic testing is highly valuable for ascertaining the cause of miscarriage.

Experimental Realization of a Quantum Pentagonal Lattice.

Geometric frustration, in which competing interactions give rise to degenerate ground states, potentially induces various exotic quantum phenomena in magnetic materials. Minimal models comprising triangular units, such as triangular and Kagome lattices, have been investigated for decades to realize novel quantum phases, such as quantum spin liquid. A pentagon is the second-minimal elementary unit for geometric frustration. The realization of such systems is expected to provide a distinct platform for studying frustrated magnetism. Here, we present a spin-1/2 quantum pentagonal lattice in the new organic radical crystal α-2,6-Cl2-V [=α-3-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-1,5-diphenylverdazyl]. Its unique molecular arrangement allows the formation of a partially corner-shared pentagonal lattice (PCPL). We find a clear 1/3 magnetization plateau and an anomalous change in magnetization in the vicinity of the saturation field, which originate from frustrated interactions in the PCPL.

Finite-temperature transition of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a distorted kagome lattice.

Motivated by the recent experiment on kagome-lattice antiferromagnets, we study the zero-field ordering behavior of the antiferromagnetic classical Heisenberg model on a uniaxially distorted kagome lattice by Monte Carlo simulations. A first-order transition, which has no counterpart in the corresponding undistorted model, takes place at a very low temperature. The origin of the transition is ascribed to a cooperative proliferation of topological excitations inherent to the model.

Multiple-q states and the Skyrmion lattice of the triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet under magnetic fields.

Ordering of the frustrated classical Heisenberg model on the triangular lattice with an incommensurate spiral structure is studied under magnetic fields by means of a mean-field analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation. Several types of multiple-q states including the Skyrmion-lattice state is observed in addition to the standard single-q state. In contrast to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction driven system, the present model allows both Skyrmions and anti-Skyrmions, together with a new thermodynamic phase where Skyrmion and anti-Skyrmion lattices form a domain state.

Mean-field analysis of phase transitions in the emergence of hierarchical society.

Emergence of hierarchical society is analyzed by use of a simple agent-based model. We extend the mean-field model of Bonabeau et al. [Physica A 217, 373 (1995)] to societies obeying complex diffusion rules where each individual selects a moving direction following their power rankings. We apply this mean-field analysis to the pacifist society model recently investigated by use of Monte Carlo simulation [Physica A 367, 435 (2006)]. We show analytically that the self-organization of hierarchies occurs in two steps as the individual density is increased and there are three phases: one egalitarian and two hierarchical states. We also highlight that the transition from the egalitarian phase to the first hierarchical phase is a continuous change in the order parameter and the second transition causes a discontinuous jump in the order parameter.

Dissipative process under a boundary perturbation.

A dissipative process in systems subjected to a boundary perturbation is analyzed on the basis of quantum mechanics. We show that the response of the system to the perturbation can be expressed in terms of the first-passage time defined appropriately by quantum mechanics. In other words, the first-passage-time distribution plays the role of the response function in the linear response theory. We apply this formalism to the one-dimensional Anderson model in which a current is introduced at one end of the system and the other is connected to an absorbing wall. We find that the frequency-dependent oscillations of the susceptibility reflect the narrowness of the first-passage-time distribution in disordered systems.