Impact of Homocysteine as a Preconceptional Screening Factor for In Vitro Fertilization and Prevention of Miscarriage with Folic Acid Supplementation Following Frozen-Thawed Embryo Transfer: A Hospital-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

Homocysteine is an amino acid naturally produced in the body and metabolized via the methionine cycle. High homocysteine levels can increase the risk of infertility and pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia, preterm delivery, miscarriage, and low birth weight. Preconceptional homocysteine levels may be reduced by taking folic acid supplements to reduce the risk of such complications. This cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted to examine the role of homocysteine in 1060 infertile women with a history of IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) failure. We analyzed whether folic acid intervention altered homocysteine levels and influenced reproductive outcome. We found that a higher homocysteine level was statistically associated with a lower fertilization rate in patients with a history of IVF/ICSI failure. There was an inverse relationship between homocysteine levels and serum 25(OH)VD, and a trend towards lower anti mullerian hormone in the group with higher homocysteine levels. This is the first interventional study to identify that folic acid supplementation improved pregnancy outcomes following freeze embryo transfer (FET) in women with a history of FET failure by monitoring the reduction in homocysteine levels. Therefore, folic acid supplementation and homocysteine level monitoring may constitute a novel intervention for improving IVF/ICSI pregnancy outcomes.

Analysis of MRI findings in minimum invasive treatment for habitual temporomandibular joint dislocation by autologous blood injection around the temporomandibular joint capsule.

The aim of this study was to investigate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings following autologous blood injection (ABI) for habitual temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dislocation. MRI was performed one hour and four and twelve weeks after ABI, revealing three types of significant findings. The first type was similar to hematoma and/or joint effusion in the articular capsule of the TMJ (type I). The second showed sporadic and diffuse T2 emphasis around the TMJ capsule (type II). The third involved a decreased range of condyle movement compared to before ABI (type III). Furthermore, we analyzed the three types of significant MRI findings. At one hour after ABI, type I was Grade 0 in 0 of 14 patients, Grade 1 in 8, Grade 2 in 2, and Grade 3 in 4. Type II was seen in 9 of the 14 cases and type III in 8. After twelve weeks, all cases of type I were Grade 0, no type II cases were evident, and type III was seen in 11 cases. Injecting autologous blood into surrounding TMJ tissues is an important factor in ABI. Minimally invasive treatment for habitual TMJ dislocation using ABI around the TMJ capsule appears to represent a very effective and safe treatment.

Immediate beneficial effects of self-monitoring body movements for upright postural stability in young healthy individuals.

OBJECTIVE: The present study is an investigation of whether an intervention involving awareness of joint movement without vision (i.e., self-monitoring) contributes to improved stability of upright posture as measured immediately after self-monitoring. METHODS: Eighteen young adults (ages: 22.6 ± 2.2 years) participated in two interventions: self-monitoring and control. In the self-monitoring intervention, the blindfolded participants tried to reproduce a target angle using both the ankle and the wrist while self-monitoring the movement. In the control intervention, they performed the same task while continuously performing an arithmetic subtraction task. RESULTS: Pre-post measurements of postural stability using a force plate for each intervention showed that self-monitoring significantly improved the stability of unipedal posture but not that of bipedal posture. Such beneficial effect for unipedal posture was obtained even when the participant monitored the wrist movement. CONCLUSIONS: Self-monitoring was effective to improve postural stability in cases in which maintaining the whole body balance was challenging.