RESUMO
With the continuous development of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）， the requirement for the quality of Chinese medicines has become increasingly higher since they have been widely used in clinical practice. Chinese medicinal materials are the material basis for the inheritance and development of TCM， and their quality directly affects the clinical efficacy. Studying the quality of Chinese medicinal materials is the key to ensure the quality and realize the large-scale application. As one of rare Chinese medicinal materials， Cistanches Herba has the functions of tonifying kidney yang， invigorating blood and essence， moistening intestines to relieve constipation. High-quality Cistanches Herba is characterized by glossy appearance， high density， fleshy and soft texture， and sweet taste. With the reduction of wild resources， the products from cultivated Cistanche deserticola or C. tubulosa become dominant on the market of Cistanches Herba. The cultivation areas are widely distributed， mainly concentrated in Gansu， Inner Mongolia， and Xinjiang. However， the cultivated products have varied quality due to the differences in germplasm， producing region， cultivation method， harvesting， and processing. According to the theories of quality evaluation based on morphological characteristics and excellent appearance indicating high quality， this paper reviewed the literature on the quality evaluation， growth， development， and processing of Cistanches Herba in the last decade to explore the main factors （genetic characteristics， environmental conditions， and harvesting and processing factors） affecting the quality of Cistanches Herba. The review aims to explore the factors for the high quality and provide a reference for the producing region screening， directional cultivation， and production of Cistanches Herba.
RESUMO
PURPOSE: To investigate whether there is any detrimental effect of progesterone elevation (PE) on the day of oocyte maturation induction on embryological development potentials. METHODS: This retrospective single-center cohort study included a total of 1485 individual intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles between January 2014 and December 2018. Serum progesterone (P) levels were measured on the day of oocyte maturation induction following the GnRH antagonist suppression protocol. Embryological parameters such as maturation, fertilization rate (FR), top-quality embryo (TQE) formation rate per 2PN on day 3, and excellent-quality blastocyst (EQB) formation rate per 2PN on day 5/6 were recorded. The inclusion criteria for women were an age ≤ 37 years, a BMI ≤ 30 kg/m2, and access to a total sperm concentration ≥ 2 million. Groups were stratified according to the serum P levels using the cut-off levels of < 0.8 ng/ml; 0.8-1.49 ng/ml; and ≥ 1.5 ng/ml. RESULTS: Peak E2 level and total number of oocytes retrieved were significantly related to PE (p < 0.001). FR did not display a significance difference between groups (p = 0.108). The TQE and the blastulation rates were not affected by PE (p = 0.82 and p = 0.68, respectively). Chi square analysis revealed a significant relationship between PE and the EQB formation rate (p = 0.01). GEE analysis failed to present any statistical significance regarding the effect of PE on neither the TQE nor the EQB formation rates per 2PN [OR 1.07; 95% (0.98-1.16) p = 0.113 and OR 0.93; 95% (0.80-1.07) p = 0.32, respectively]. CONCLUSIONS: In accordance with previously published papers, our study could not find any detrimental effect of PE on embryological outcomes throughout the blastocyst culture period.
