Effects of dysregulated glucose metabolism on the occurrence and ART outcome of endometriosis.

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is associated with systemic metabolic indicators, including body mass index (BMI), glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism, while the association between metabolic indexes and the occurrence and assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcome of endometriosis is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the characteristics of systemic metabolic indexes of endometriosis patients with infertility and their effects on pregnancy outcome after ART treatment. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study involve 412 endometriosis patients and 1551 controls was conducted. Primary outcome was metabolic indexes, and secondary measures consisted of the influence of metabolic indexes on the number of retrieved oocytes and ART outcomes. RESULTS: Endometriosis patients had higher insulin (INS) [6.90(5.10-9.50) vs 6.50(4.80-8.90) µU/mL, P = 0.005]. A prediction model for endometriosis combining the number of previous pregnancies, CA125, fasting blood glucose (Glu) and INS, had a sensitivity of 73.9%, specificity of 67.8% and area under curve (AUC) of 0.77. There were no significant differences in ART outcomes and complications during pregnancy. The serum levels of Glu before pregnancy were associated with GDM both in endometriosis group (aOR 12.95, 95% CI 1.69-99.42, P = 0.014) and in control group (aOR 4.15, 95% CI 1.50-11.53, P = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: We found serum Glu is related to the number of retrieved oocytes in control group, serum INS is related to the number of retrieved oocytes in endometriosis group, while serum Glu and INS before pregnancy are related to the occurrence of GDM in two groups. A prediction model based on metabolic indexes was established, representing a promising non-invasive method to predict endometriosis patients with known pregnancy history.

Mechanical Training Enabled Reinforcement of Polyrotaxane-Containing Hydrogel.

Many strategies have been developed for constructing anisotropic hydrogels, however, it remains a challenge to fabricate hydrogels with anisotropic nanocrystalline domains from intrinsically soft networks. Here, we report a naphthotube-based polyrotaxane-containing hydrogel that can be reinforced via mechanical training. During the training process, the hydrogel can adopt reorientation of polymer chains to form anisotropic structures driven by external uniaxial force. Due to the multiple hydrogen bonding sites and movable feature of naphthotube, the sliding of naphthotube on PEG chains simultaneously inducing the zipping of adjacent polymer chains to form densely anisotropic nanocrystalline domains through hydrogen bonded networks. Thus, the trained hydrogel exhibits an enhanced tension stress of ≈110 kPa, which realize a remarkable enhancement of ≈10 times compare to initial state. This study provides a new tactic for improving the mechanical performance of soft materials.

Synthesis of Difluoroalkyl Unsaturated ß-Amino Acid Derivatives Exclusively through Alkyne Difunctionalization.

Alkynes difunctionalization is a powerful strategy in organic synthesis that provides a convenient synthetic entry for internal alkenes. The main challenge in this field was considered to be the geometry control of the newly formed double bond (thermodynamically controlled or kinetically controlled). Herein, we report a novel procedure (through the cyclic compounds broken) to completely control the regioselectivity of olefins. The products, difluoroalkyl unsaturated ß-amino acid derivatives, have potential applications in some important pharmaceuticals on account of the special nature of fluorine atoms.