[Non-invasive chromosome screening for male infertility patients with severe oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia].

Objective: To explore the value of non-invasive embryo chromosome screening (NICS) in improving the outcomes of clinical pregnancy after assisted reproduction in men with severe oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (OAT). METHODS: We randomly selected 170 cases of assisted reproduction due to severe OAT from January 2017 to December 2020, 85 undergoing NICS treatmentand the other 85 receiving intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). We made comparisons between the two groups in the female age, body mass index (BMI), anti-Müllerian hormone level (AMH), basal antral follicle count (AFC), infertility duration, male age, sperm concentration, percentages of progressively motile sperm (PMS) and morphologically normal sperm (MNS), sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), numbers of oocytes retrieved and high-quality blastocysts, and rates of normal fertilization, clinical pregnancy and abortion. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups in the female age, female BMI, AMH, AFC, infertility duration, male age, sperm concentration, percentages of PMS and MNS, sperm DFI, numbers of oocytes retrieved and high-quality blastocysts, or normal fertilization rate (P > 0.05). The rate of definite diagnosis was 88.24%, and that of embryo chromosome euploidy was 48.56% in the NICS group. The rate of clinical pregnancy after selected euploid embryo transfer was significantly higher in the NICS than in the ICSI group (66.28% vs 51.09%, P < 0.05), while that of abortion remarkably lower in the former than in the latter (12.28% vs 29.79%, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: For male infertility patients with severe OAT, NICS technology can improve the rate of clinical pregnancy and reduce the risk of abortion.

Nrf2 inhibition affects cell cycle progression during early mouse embryo development.

Brusatol, a quassinoid isolated from the fruit of Bruceajavanica, has recently been shown to inhibit nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) via Keap1-dependent ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation or protein synthesis. Nrf2 is a transcription factor that regulates the cellular defense response. Most studies have focused on the effects of Nrf2 in tumor development. Here, the critical roles of Nrf2 in mouse early embryonic development were investigated. We found that brusatol treatment at the zygotic stage prevented the early embryo development. Most embryos stayed at the two-cell stage after 5 days of culture (P < 0.05). This effect was associated with the cell cycle arrest, as the mRNA level of CDK1 and cyclin B decreased at the two-cell stage after brusatol treatment. The embryo development potency was partially rescued by the injection of Nrf2 CRISPR activation plasmid. Thus, brusatol inhibited early embryo development by affecting Nrf2-related cell cycle transition from G2 to M phase that is dependent on cyclin B-CDK1 complex.

Wearable Polyethylene/Polyamide Composite Fabric for Passive Human Body Cooling.

Personal cooling technologies (PCTs) locally control the temperature of an individual instead of a whole building and are thus energy saving. However, most PCTs still consume energy and are heavy in weight, restricting their application among human beings. To achieve personal thermal comfort and no energy consumption on hot summer days, we designed a bilayer structure fabric with high thermal comfort by increasing the dissipation of human thermal radiation and reducing solar energy absorption simultaneously. The fabric consisted of two layers, including a polyethylene film with nanopores (100-1000 nm in pore size) and a film made of nylon 6 nanofibers (ca. 100 nm in diameter) with beads (ca. 230 nm in diameter), which could increase the visible light reflectance but not affect the infrared wave radiation. Therefore, the designed fabric showed a high heat dissipation power, which was 14.13, 17.93, and 17.93 W/m2 higher than that of the selected traditional textiles of cotton, linen, and odile, respectively, suggesting good cooling capability. Its cooling performance was better than those reported by the previous research works even at a higher ambient temperature. Meanwhile, the moisture penetrability and hygroscopic property results indicated that the wearing comfort of the designed fabric reached the levels of the selected traditional textiles.

Maternal diabetes impairs the initiation of meiosis in murine female germ cells.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is characterized by an initial diagnosis of glucose intolerance during pregnancy. There is increasing evidence supporting the association between GDM and the inhibited development of several organs in offspring. In the present study, a murine GDM model was established in mice by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin to evaluate the effect of maternal diabetes on the initiation of meiosis in female germ cells of offspring. The effect of GDM on the initiation of meiosis in the offspring was evaluated by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, flow cytometry and hematoxylin and eosin staining. The results showed that, compared with the control group, fetal ovary growth was inhibited, the expression levels of meiosis­specific genes, stimulated by retinoic acid gene 8, synaptonemal complex protein, and DNA meiotic recombinase were inhibited, and the number of primordial/primary follicles was reduced in the GDM group. These may have been induced by an increase of apoptosis and inhibition of growth, as the mRNA levels of p21, a vital G1 cell cycle inhibitor, and apoptotic genes were upregulated, whereas the expression levels of genes important in folliculogenesis were decreased in the GDM group. In conclusion, the data obtained in the present study suggested that maternal diabetes may impair the initiation of meiosis and ovarian growth via growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest and the induction of apoptosis.