Risk prediction of CISS classification in endovascular treatment of basilar artery stenosis.

Objective: To investigate the incidence of ischemic stroke complications after endovascular treatment for basilar artery stenosis used preoperative high-resolution magnetic resonance vascular wall imaging (HRMR/VWI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Methods: The clinical data of 47 patients with severe symptomatic basilar artery stenosis (stenosis rate ≥70 %) treated with endovascular therapy at the Neuro-interventional Center from December 2017 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. High-resolution magnetic resonance angiography (HRMR VWI) and DWI were used to evaluate the location of atherosclerotic plaque at basilar artery stenosis and the distribution of cerebral infarction lesions in all patients before surgery.According to the CISS classification system for ischemic stroke, patients were divided into a perforation group and a hypoperfusion group, and the general situation, plaque distribution, and incidence of ischemic stroke complications 7 days after endovascular treatment in the two groups were analyzed. Results: There was no significant difference in baseline data between the two groups. After 7 days of intravascular treatment, the incidence of ischemic stroke was higher in the perforation group (20.0 %) than in the hypoperfusion group (0.0 %), and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.027). A significant association was found between the perforation group and the hypoperfusion group for the incidence of ischemic stroke at 7 days (P = 0.003, OR = 2.347; 95 % CI = 2.056-4.268). There were a higher proportion of ventral plaques (74.1 %) and a lower proportion of dorsal plaques (33.3 %) in the hypoperfusion group, which were 15.0 % and 90.0 % in the perforation group, respectively (χ2 = 16.045, P < 0.001; χ2 = 15.092, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the proportion of left and right plaques between the two groups. Conclusions: The risk of ischemic stroke is greater in patients with perforator artery obstruction undergoing endovascular therapy, and lower in patients with hypoperfusion/embolus removal.

Circulating Inflammatory Cytokines and Female Reproductive Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis.

CONTEXT: Extensive studies have provided considerable evidence suggesting the role of inflammation in the development of female reproductive diseases. However, causality has not been established. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether genetically determined circulating levels of cytokines are causally associated with female reproductive diseases and discover potential novel drug targets for these diseases. METHODS: Instrumental variables (IVs) for 47 circulating cytokines were obtained from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of 31 112 European individuals. Protein quantitative trait loci and expression quantitative trait loci close to genes served as our IVs. Summary data of 9 female reproductive diseases were mainly derived from GWAS meta-analysis of the UK biobank and FinnGen. We elevated the association using the Wald ratio or inverse variance-weighted Mendelian randomization (MR) with subsequent assessments for MR assumptions in several sensitivity and colocalization analyses. We consider a false discovery rate <0.05 as statistical significance in MR analyses. Replication studies were conducted for further validation, and phenome-wide association studies were designed to explore potential side effects. RESULTS: Our results indicated that high levels of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (MCSF), growth-regulated oncogene-alpha (GROα), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 were associated with increased risks of endometriosis, female infertility, and pre-eclampsia, respectively. High platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) levels that reduced the risk of ovarian aging were also supported. Replication analysis supported the relationship between GROα and female infertility, and between MCSF and endometriosis. CONCLUSION: We identified 4 correlated pairs that implied potential protein drug targets. Notably, we preferred highlighting the value of PDGF-BB as a drug target for ovarian aging, and MCSF as a drug target for endometriosis.

Serum steroid metabolome on the day of oocyte retrieval in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome and its association with pregnancy outcome of in vitro fertilization.

Steroid hormone level is a crucial factor affecting the outcomes of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI). The purpose of this study was to evaluate serum steroid metabolome on the day of oocyte retrieval in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and explore whether specific steroids can be potential indicators to improve the prediction of pregnancy outcomes in PCOS patients undergoing IVF/ICSI. In this study, the serum levels of 21 steroids in 89 women with PCOS and 73 control women without PCOS on the day of oocyte retrieval of the first IVF/ICSI treatment cycle were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). All patients subsequently received good-quality embryo transfer, and the correlation between their steroid profiles and pregnancy outcomes of the first embryo transfer (ET) was retrospectively analyzed. We found PCOS patients had aberrant levels of 11 out of 21 steroid hormones compared to control individuals, with androgen steroid hormones being considerably enhanced. Enzyme activity evaluation indicated that PCOS women might have abnormal activity of CYP17A1, CYP21A2, CYP11B2, CYP19A1, HSD3B, HSD11B, and HSD17B. Additionally, the level of 18-hydroxycorticosterone (p = 0.014), corticosterone (p = 0.035), and 17-hydroxypregnenolone (p = 0.005) were markedly higher in live birth group than in non- live birth group for PCOS women following frozen embryo transfer (FET). Multiple logistic regressions indicated that 18-hydrocorticosterone and 17-hydroxypregnenolone were independently associated with live birth outcomes of PCOS women following FET. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that 0.595 ng/mL for 18-hydrocorticosterone level (AUC: 0.6936, p = 0.014).and 2.829 ng/mL for 17-hydroxypregnenolone level (AUC: 0.7215, p = 0.005) were the best cutoff values to predict live birth outcomes of PCOS. In conclusion, the blood steroid metabolome was closely related to the IVF/ICSI outcomes of PCOS patients. 18-hydroxycorticosterone and 17-hydroxypregnenolone might be potential indicators to predict pregnancy outcomes of PCOS undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment.

Elevated serum uric acid level is associated with adverse reproductive outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection embryo transfer cycles: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Serum uric acid levels are elevated in polycystic ovary syndrome, however, the relationship between serum uric acid level and reproductive outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the association between serum uric acid level and the reproductive outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection embryo transfer cycles. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study performed at a university-affiliated reproductive medicine center. A total of 1903 women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing their first in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection embryo transfer cycles between January 2010 and January 2021 were initially included. The trends for reproductive outcomes in polycystic ovary syndrome across quartiles of serum uric acid levels were assessed. A logistic regression analysis was performed to obtain the odds ratios for in vitro fertilization outcomes based on the quartiles of serum uric acid with or without adjusting for potential confounding variables. Using generalized additive models, serum uric acid was further treated as its original continuous property to visualize its nonlinear relationship with in vitro fertilization outcomes. The live birth rate was the main outcome. RESULTS: After exclusions, a total of 883 women with polycystic ovary syndrome with their first fresh-embryo transfer cycles were included. In quartiles of serum uric acid levels, there was a significant decreasing trend in the live birth rate from the lowest quartile (Q1: 61.8%) to the highest (Q4: 45.9%) (Ptrend=.002). The percentage of low birthweight increased from Q1 (22.3%) to Q4 (31.7%) (Ptrend=.049). Compared with those in Q1, women in Q4 showed a significant lower probability of live birth and clinical pregnancy and a higher risk for low birthweight (all P<.05). Both the unadjusted and adjusted generalized additive models indicated that as the serum uric acid level increased, the probability of clinical pregnancy and the live birth rate exhibited an overall decreasing profile, and the risk for low birthweight showed an increasing profile. CONCLUSION: An elevated serum uric acid level is associated with decreased probabilities of live birth and clinical pregnancy and an increased risk for low birthweight in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. However, these associations may be confounded by other factors and more well-designed studies are needed to confirm these findings in the future.

Effects of Inoculation on the Pearlitic Gray Cast Iron with High Thermal Conductivity and Tensile Strength.

With the aim of improving the thermal conductivity and tensile strength of pearlitic gray cast iron, the influence of inoculation on structure and properties was experimentally investigated. Three group of irons with similar compositions were inoculated by Zr-FeSi, Sr-FeSi, and SiC inoculants, respectively. The metallographic analysis was used to measure the maximum graphite length, primary dendrites amount and eutectic colonies counts. For a certain carbon equivalent, it was confirmed that the thermal conductivity of pearlitic gray cast iron has a direct correlation with the maximum graphite length while the tensile strength was influenced mainly by the primary dendrites amount. The optimal structure and highest thermal conductivity and tensile strength were obtained by Sr-FeSi inoculant. MnS particles act a pivotal part in modifying the structure of gray cast iron. It was found that providing nucleation sites both for graphite and primary austenite is important to promote the thermal conductivity and strength. However, excessive nuclei (MnS particles) results in shorter graphite flakes and thus the depressive growth of primary dendrites.