Geographical Diversity in the Age Specific Anti Müllerian Hormone Levels in Infertile Women: A Hospital based Cohort Study.

Background: Serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is a significant determinant of ovarian reserve. It is still not clear about the rate at which AMH declines with age and varies across populations. Aim: The present study examined the AMH levels specific to the North and South Indian populations and attempted to establish an age-dependent reference parametrically. Settings and Design: This was a prospective study in a tertiary centre. Materials and Methods: Serum samples were collected apparently from 650 infertile women (327 from North and 323 from South Indians). AMH was measured using an electrochemiluminescent technique. Statistical Analysis Used: Comparison of the AMH data between North and South regions was done by independent t-test. For each age, seven empirical percentiles (3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 95th) were applied. AMH nomograms for the 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th, 90th and 95th percentiles were produced using the lambda-mu-sigma method. Results: AMH levels remarkably decreased with increasing age in the North Indian population, but in the South Indian population, they did not decline beyond 1.5 ng/mL. Further, in the North Indian population, AMH levels were significantly higher in the age group of 22-30 years (4.4 ng/mL) than in the South Indian population (2.04 ng/mL). Conclusion: The present study suggests a major geographical difference in mean AMH levels according to their age and ethnic background, regardless of their subjacent pathologies.

Effects of prematuration culture with a phosphodiesterase-3 inhibitor on oocyte morphology and embryo quality in in vitro maturation.

OBJECTIVE: The study assessed the developmental potential of germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes subjected to in vitro maturation (IVM) after prematuration culture with cilostamide (a phosphodiesterase-3 inhibitor) and the impact of cilostamide exposure on the morphology of meiosis II (MII) oocytes and subsequent embryo quality. METHODS: In total, 994 oocytes were collected from 63 patients. Among 307 GV oocytes, 140 oocytes were selected for the experimental group and 130 oocytes for the control group. The denuded GV-stage oocytes were cultured for 6 hours with cilostamide in the experimental group and without cilostamide in the control group. After 6 hours, the oocytes in the experimental group were washed and transferred to fresh IVM medium. The maturational status of the oocytes in both groups was examined at 26, 36, and 48 hours. Fertilization was assessed at 18 hours post-intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Embryo quality was assessed on days 3 and 5. RESULTS: In total, 92.1% of the oocytes remained in the GV stage, while 6.4% converted to the MI stage (p<0.01) after cilostamide exposure. In both groups, more MII oocytes were observed at 36 hours (25.8% vs. 21.5%) than at 26 hours (10.8% vs. 14.6%) and 48 hours (13% vs. 7.9%) (p>0.05). With the advent of cilostamide, blastocyst quality was better in the experimental group than in the control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Cilostamide effectively blocked nuclear maturation and promoted cytoplasmic growth. Prematuration culture with cilostamide enabled synchronization between cytoplasmic and nuclear maturity, resulting in better blastocyst outcomes.

TG haplotype in the LRP8 is associated with myocardial infarction in south Indian population.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a complex multifactorial cardiovascular disease. India experiences a much greater burden of MI, also suggesting an experimental increase of this burden in the future. The absolute reasons for MI are context dependent and differ with different geographical settings. Several reports indicate that SNPs that are associated with certain diseases in other populations may not be associated with Indian population. It is, therefore, important to validate the association of SNPs. Low density lipoprotein receptor related protein 8 (LRP8) gene plays central role in human lipoprotein metabolism as it facilitates the clearance of bad cholesterol LDL, VLDL from plasma and is reported to be associated with MI in the western population. However, this gene has not been studied in the South Indian population. We aim to test the role of the LRP8 gene variants correlating with the lipid profile in MI patients in South Indian population. We sequenced regions of SNPs rs10788952, rs7546246, rs2297660 and rs5174 of LRP8 in 100 MI patients and 100 age-matched controls. Our result revealed a total of 4 variations. None of the SNPs were significantly associated with MI (p>0.973). Interestingly, haplotype based association analysis showed TG and CG of rs10788952 and rs7546246 significantly associated with MI (p<0.01 and p<0.00005) and in particular, haplotype TG was positively correlated with the risk of MI, as this increased the LDL and total cholesterol level in MI patients in south Indians. Our results suggest that haplotype TG is a risk factor for MI in South Indian population.

Binary logistic regression analysis of hard palate dimensions for sexing human crania.

Sex determination is the preliminary step in every forensic investigation and the hard palate assumes significance in cranial sexing in cases involving burns and explosions due to its resistant nature and secluded location. This study analyzes the sexing potential of incisive foramen to posterior nasal spine length, palatine process of maxilla length, horizontal plate of palatine bone length and transverse length between the greater palatine foramina. The study deviates from the conventional method of measuring the maxillo-alveolar length and breadth as the dimensions considered in this study are more heat resistant and useful in situations with damaged alveolar margins. The study involves 50 male and 50 female adult dry skulls of Indian ethnic group. The dimensions measured were statistically analyzed using Student's t test, binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve. It was observed that the incisive foramen to posterior nasal spine length is a definite sex marker with sex predictability of 87.2%. The palatine process of maxilla length with 66.8% sex predictability and the horizontal plate of palatine bone length with 71.9% sex predictability cannot be relied upon as definite sex markers. The transverse length between the greater palatine foramina is statistically insignificant in sexing crania (P=0.318). Considering a significant overlap of values in both the sexes the palatal dimensions singularly cannot be relied upon for sexing. Nevertheless, considering the high sex predictability of incisive foramen to posterior nasal spine length this dimension can definitely be used to supplement other sexing evidence available to precisely conclude the cranial sex.

Binary Logistic Regression Analysis of Foramen Magnum Dimensions for Sex Determination.

Purpose. The structural integrity of foramen magnum is usually preserved in fire accidents and explosions due to its resistant nature and secluded anatomical position and this study attempts to determine its sexing potential. Methods. The sagittal and transverse diameters and area of foramen magnum of seventy-two skulls (41 male and 31 female) from south Indian population were measured. The analysis was done using Student's t-test, linear correlation, histogram, Q-Q plot, and Binary Logistic Regression (BLR) to obtain a model for sex determination. The predicted probabilities of BLR were analysed using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Result. BLR analysis and ROC curve revealed that the predictability of the dimensions in sexing the crania was 69.6% for sagittal diameter, 66.4% for transverse diameter, and 70.3% for area of foramen. Conclusion. The sexual dimorphism of foramen magnum dimensions is established. However, due to considerable overlapping of male and female values, it is unwise to singularly rely on the foramen measurements. However, considering the high sex predictability percentage of its dimensions in the present study and the studies preceding it, the foramen measurements can be used to supplement other sexing evidence available so as to precisely ascertain the sex of the skeleton.

Identification of multiple salicylic acid-binding proteins using two high throughput screens.

Salicylic acid (SA) is an important hormone involved in many diverse plant processes, including floral induction, stomatal closure, seed germination, adventitious root initiation, and thermogenesis. It also plays critical functions during responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. The role(s) of SA in signaling disease resistance is by far the best studied process, although it is still only partially understood. To obtain insights into how SA carries out its varied functions, particularly in activating disease resistance, two new high throughput screens were developed to identify novel SA-binding proteins (SABPs). The first utilized crosslinking of the photo-reactive SA analog 4-AzidoSA (4AzSA) to proteins in an Arabidopsis leaf extract, followed by immuno-selection with anti-SA antibodies and then mass spectroscopy-based identification. The second utilized photo-affinity crosslinking of 4AzSA to proteins on a protein microarray (PMA) followed by detection with anti-SA antibodies. To determine whether the candidate SABPs (cSABPs) obtained from these screens were true SABPs, recombinantly-produced proteins were generated and tested for SA-inhibitable crosslinking to 4AzSA, which was monitored by immuno-blot analysis, SA-inhibitable binding of the SA derivative 3-aminoethylSA (3AESA), which was detected by a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay, or SA-inhibitable binding of [(3)H]SA, which was detected by size exclusion chromatography. Based on our criteria that true SABPs must exhibit SA-binding activity in at least two of these assays, nine new SABPs are identified here; nine others were previously reported. Approximately 80 cSABPs await further assessment. In addition, the conflicting reports on whether NPR1 is an SABP were addressed by showing that it bound SA in all three of the above assays.