Sperm-carried IGF2: towards the discovery of a spark contributing to embryo growth and development.

Spermatozoa have been shown to carry key RNAs which, according to animal evidence, seem to play a role in early embryo development. In this context, a potential key growth regulator is insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), a highly conserved paternally expressed imprinted gene involved in cell growth and proliferation which, recent observations indicate, is expressed in human spermatozoa. We herein hypothesized that sperm IGF2 gene expression and transmission at fertilization is required to support early embryo development.

Phase angle at bioelectric impedance analysis is associated with detrimental sperm quality in idiopathic male infertility: a preliminary clinical study.

Background: In 2020, 38% of adults were affected by obesity, while infertility globally affected 1 in 6 people at some stage of their lives.Body mass index (BMI) provides an easy but occasionally inaccurate estimation of body composition. To achieve a more precise assessment, bioelectric impedance analysis serves as a validated tool that administers electrical energy through surface electrodes.

Diagnosis and management of infertility: NICE-adapted guidelines from the Italian Society of Human Reproduction.

In Italy the fertility rate is very low, and an increasing number of patients are infertile and require treatments. The Italian Law concerning the safety of patient care, and the professional liability of health professionals, indicates that health professionals must comply with the recommendations set out in the guidelines developed by public and private bodies and institutions, as well as scientific societies and technical-scientific associations of the health professions, except for specific cases. Unfortunately, no guideline for the diagnosis and the management of infertility is currently available in Italy.

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Considering that it's always a good idea to know where we've come from, in order to better envision where we're going, it's appropriate to look at the evolution of the relationship to care by following the thread of nurses' professional construction and the concomitant transformation of practices. Indeed, if we are to approach the discipline of nursing with serenity, we must first identify the key to its cultural heritage, which defines the way it comes into contact with illness at the patient's bedside.

What Does Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Change in Embryonic Development? The Spermatozoon Contribution.

The intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique was invented to solve severe male infertility due to altered sperm parameters. Nowadays, it is applied worldwide for the treatment of couple infertility. ICSI is performed with any available spermatozoon from surgery or ejaculated samples, whatever are the sperm motility, morphology or quantity.

Oocyte quality in assisted reproduction techniques.

The metaphase II (MII) oocyte is the mature female gamete, produced from a complex maturation process called oogenesis that starts in the first weeks of embryogenesis in the female embryo tract, continues during puberty, and is completed at fertilization with the spermatozoon. Oogenesis is closely related to folliculogenesis. In assisted reproduction techniques, oocytes are retrieved in cumulus-oocyte complexes after ovarian stimulation.

More blastocysts are produced from fewer oocytes in ICSI compared to IVF - results from a sibling oocytes study and definition of a new key performance indicator.

Background: Which fertilization method, between ICSI and IVF in split insemination treatments, has the highest clinical efficiency in producing clinically usable blastocyst?

Methods: 211 infertile couples underwent split insemination treatments for a non-severe male factor. 1300 metaphase II (MII) oocytes were inseminated by conventional IVF and 1302 MII oocytes were micro-injected with the same partner's semen. Embryo development until blastocyst stage on day V and clinical outcomes were valuated trough conventional key performance indicators (KPI), and new KPIs such as blastocyst rate per used MII oocytes and the number of MII oocytes to produce one clinically usable blastocyst from ICSI and IVF procedures.

The true panel of cystic fibrosis mutations in the Sicilian population.

Background: The aim was to establish the true risk of having an affected child with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in the Sicilian infertile population.

Methods: A longitudinal CFTR screening of 1279 Sicilian infertile patients for all CFTR mutations sequencing the entire gene by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was performed from patient's blood.

Results: One patient out of 16 was a carrier of a CFTR mutation.

Universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for cystic fibrosis based on next-generation sequencing.

Purpose: We developed and applied a universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for all cystic fibrosis gene mutations (PGT-CF) based on next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Methods: A molecular protocol was designed to diagnose all CF mutations at preimplantation stage. The detection of CF mutations was performed by direct gene sequencing and linkage strategy testing 38 specific SNPs located upstream and inside the gene for PGT-CF.

Universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for cystic fibrosis based on next generation sequencing.

Purpose: We developed and applied a universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for all cystic fibrosis gene mutations (PGT-CF) based on next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Methods: A molecular protocol was designed to diagnose all CF mutations at preimplantation stage. The detection of CF mutations was performed by direct gene sequencing and linkage strategy testing 38 specific SNPs located upstream and inside the gene for PGT-CF.

The decision on the embryo to transfer after Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis for X-autosome reciprocal translocation in male carrier.

Background: The aim of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) on embryos produced is to identify the embryos without genetic or chromosomal defect from those embryos that will develop the genetic disease or are chromosomally abnormal. In case of PGD for structural chromosome indication (PGR-SR), the normal/balanced embryos are transferred in the maternal uterus. This protocol is valid and widely applied for autosomal chromosome translocation.

Comprehensive protocol of traceability during IVF: the result of a multicentre failure mode and effect analysis.

Study Question: Can traceability of gametes and embryos be ensured during IVF?

Summary Answer: The use of a simple and comprehensive traceability system that includes the most susceptible phases during the IVF process minimizes the risk of mismatches.

What Is Known Already: Mismatches in IVF are very rare but unfortunately possible with dramatic consequences for both patients and health care professionals. Traceability is thus a fundamental aspect of the treatment.

The accumulation of vitrified oocytes is a strategy to increase the number of euploid available blastocysts for transfer after preimplantation genetic testing.

Purpose: In a preimplantation genetic diagnosis for aneuploidy (PGD-A) program, the more embryos available for biopsy, consequently increases the chances of obtaining euploid embryos to transfer. The aim was to increase the number of viable euploid blastocysts in patients undergoing PGD-A using fresh oocytes together with previously accumulated vitrified oocytes.

Methods: Sixty-nine patients with normal ovarian reserve underwent PGD-A for repeated implantation failure or recurrent pregnancy loss indication.

Oocyte vitrification modifies nucleolar remodeling and zygote kinetics-a sibling study.

Purpose: Oocyte vitrification does not affect embryo quality after oocyte warming, making this method effective in the preservation of female fertility. Morphokinetic parameters can be used to predict the competence of an embryo produced from fresh oocytes. Our aim was to study the effect of oocyte vitrification on zygote-embryo kinetics (pl).

Proposed guidelines on the nomenclature and annotation of dynamic human embryo monitoring by a time-lapse user group.

Study Question: Can the approach to, and terminology for, time-lapse monitoring of preimplantation embryo development be uniformly defined in order to improve the utilization and impact of this novel technology?

Summary Answer: The adoption of the proposed guidelines for defining annotation practice and universal nomenclature would help unify time-lapse monitoring practice, allow validation of published embryo selection algorithms and facilitate progress in this field.

What Is Known Already: An increasing quantity of publications and communications relating to time-lapse imaging of in vitro embryo development have demonstrated the added clinical value of morphokinetic data for embryo selection. Several articles have identified similar embryo selection or de-selection variables but have termed them differently.

Consequences of metaphase II oocyte cryopreservation on mRNA content.

Introduction: We studied the consequences of freezing/thawing processes on mRNA contents in MII oocytes after slow-freezing/rapid thawing (SF/RT) and vitrification/warming (V/W) protocols, and compared the results to fresh MII oocytes. We quantified the nuclear transcript mRNA responsible for the translation of proteins belonging either to trans-regulatory protein family or to functional structural proteins such as proteins involved in DNA structural organization (NAP1L1, TOP1, H1F0H1), chromosomal structure maintenance (SMC, SCC3, RAD21, SMC1A, SMC1B, STAG3, REC8), mitochondrial energetic pathways (ATP5GJ, SDHC), cell cycle regulation and processes (CLTA, MAPK6, CKS2) and staminal cell potency-development competence stage (DPPA3, OCT4, FOXJ2).

Material And Methods: Surplus MII oocytes were donated from patients in IVF cycles and divided in three groups of 15 oocytes.

Molecular analysis of mutations and polymorphisms in the CFTR gene in male infertility.

Mutations of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene and polymorphisms, such as the (TG)m and Tn polymorphic loci in intron 8 at the splice acceptor site of exon 9, can cause male infertility. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of the most prevalent cystic-fibrosis-causing mutations, the IVS8-Tn alleles and IVS8-TG12 variant in the presence of IVS8-5T in patients with altered semen parameters (group I with obstructive azoospermia, group II with secretory azoospermia and group III with severe oligozoospermia) compared with a control group with normozoospermia. CFTR mutations were found in 26.

Meiotic spindle presence and oocyte morphology do not predict clinical ICSI outcomes: a study of 967 transferred embryos.

With a view to correlating oocyte morphology and meiotic spindle presence to clinical intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes, 967 oocytes that led to 967 transferred embryos in 404 embryo transfers were studied. No relationship was found between oocyte morphology (ooplasm texture, perivitelline space largeness, perivitelline space granulation absence/presence and the first polar body shape) or meiotic spindle presence or absence and clinical pregnancy per transfer and implantation rates after ICSI. It was concluded that oocyte morphology and meiotic spindle presence or absence can only predict fertilization, cleavage rates and embryo quality, as previously described in the literature, but do not help in daily ICSI practice in the choice of the metaphase II oocyte that will lead to the embryo that starts clinical pregnancy.

Comparison of in-vitro outcomes from cryopreserved oocytes and sibling fresh oocytes.

In Italy, the restrictive IVF law generalizes the indication for oocyte freezing for surplus oocytes in 78.5% of in-vitro assisted reproductive cycles. With a view to understanding better what the prospects for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) on frozen-thawed oocytes might be, the consequences of freeze-thaw procedures on fertilization, cleavage rates and embryo quality obtained from frozen-thawed oocytes were studied and compared with the results obtained from sibling fresh oocytes.

Down-regulation of caffeic acid o-methyltransferase in maize revisited using a transgenic approach.

Transgenic maize (Zea mays) plants were generated with a construct harboring a maize caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) cDNA in the antisense (AS) orientation under the control of the maize Adh1 (alcohol dehydrogenase) promoter. Adh1-driven beta-glucuronidase expression was localized in vascular tissues and lignifying sclerenchyma, indicating its suitability in transgenic experiments aimed at modifying lignin content and composition. One line of AS plants, COMT-AS, displayed a significant reduction in COMT activity (15%-30% residual activity) and barely detectable amounts of COMT protein as determined by western-blot analysis.