An artificial intelligence algorithm for automated blastocyst morphometric parameters demonstrates a positive association with implantation potential.

Blastocyst selection is primarily based on morphological scoring systems and morphokinetic data. These methods involve subjective grading and time-consuming techniques. Artificial intelligence allows for objective and quick blastocyst selection.

Prediction of embryo implantation rate using a sole parameter of timing of starting blastulation.

A time-lapse monitoring system provides a complete picture of the dynamic embryonic development process and simultaneously supplies extensive morphokinetic data. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the use of the morphokinetic parameter of time of starting blastulation (tSB) can improve the implantation rate of day-5 transferred blastocyst selected based on morphological parameters. In this retrospective study we analyzed the morphokinetics of 196 day-5 transferred blastocysts, selected solely based on morphological parameters.

High ovarian response to ovarian stimulation: effect on morphokinetic milestones and cycle outcomes.

Purpose: To assess the effect of high ovarian response on oocyte quality and ovarian stimulation cycle outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study conducted at three IVF units. The high ovarian response (HOR) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with HOR (PCOS HOR) groups included 151 and 13 women who underwent controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) resulting in more than 15 retrieved oocytes, for a total of 1863 and 116 cultured embryos, respectively.

Pathogenic variations in Germ Cell Nuclear Acidic Peptidase (GCNA) are associated with human male infertility.

Infertility affects one in six couples, half of which are caused by a male factor. Male infertility can be caused by both, qualitative and quantitative defects, leading to Oligo- astheno-terato-zoospermia (OAT; impairment in ejaculate sperm cell concentration, motility and morphology). Azoospermia defined as complete absence of sperm cells in the ejaculation.

Clinical pregnancy rates among anovulatory and oligoovulatory women after letrozole versus hormone replacement therapy in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles.

This cohort study investigated whether letrozole versus hormone replacement therapy (HRT) results in higher live birth rate among anovulatory and oligoovulatory women in frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles. It was conducted from 1st February 2018 to 31st January 2019 and included 261 anovulatory and oligoovulatory women. Since letrozole has become an effective alternative to HRT cycles, 121 patients received letrozole in 121 cycles from 1st February 2018 to 31st January 2019 and were compared to 140 HRT FET cycles among 140 women from 1st February 2017 to 31st January 2018.

Post-thaw culture has no beneficial effect on frozen embryos transfer outcomes comparing to same embryonal age non-cultured frozen-thawed embryos.

Purpose: To assess the impact of post-thawing embryo culture on frozen embryo transfer (FET) outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study including 678 consecutive FET cycles performed between the years 2004 and 2017 was conducted. Patients older than 45 years old were excluded.

Possible association between in vitro fertilization technologies and offspring neoplasm.

Objective: To study the association among fertility treatments, treatment protocol, and offspring neoplasm risk up to the age of 18 years.

Design: A population-based retrospective cohort.

Setting: Soroka University Medical Center (SUMC), the single tertiary medical center and in vitro fertilization (IVF) unit in southern Israel.

Does methylphenidate use affect sperm parameters in patients undergoing infertility investigation? A retrospective analysis of 9769 semen samples.

Objectives: Methylphenidate (MPH) is the most widely prescribed therapy for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Animal studies have shown a potential adverse effect of MPH exposure on male fertility. We examined the impact of MPH on human male sperm parameters.

Does sperm origin-Ejaculated or testicular-Affect embryo morphokinetic parameters?

Background: It is unclear whether sperm origin, either ejaculated or testicular, in couples diagnosed with male factor infertility, affects the timing of the embryo's developmental events evaluated by time-lapse monitoring and implantation rates.

Objective: To examine the effect of sperm origin on embryo morphokinetics in couples diagnosed with male factor infertility.

Materials And Methods: This study included a retrospective analysis of morphokinetic parameters performed by time-lapse monitoring between 2013 and 2017.

Are morphokinetic parameters of embryo development associated with adverse perinatal outcomes following fresh blastocyst transfer?

Research Question: Are obstetric and perinatal complications associated with morphokinetic parameters of embryo development?

Design: This proof-of-concept pilot study included a retrospective analysis of embryo morphokinetic parameters of 85 live births following day 5 single blastocyst transfer. Kinetic variables included time interval (hours) from time of pronuclei fading (tPNf) to: time of 2 cells (tPNf-t2), 9 cells (tPNf-t9), morula (tPNf-tM), start of blastulation (tPNf-tSB), full blastocyst (tPNf-tB) and expanded blastocyst (tPNf-tEB). Multivariable logistic models were used to calculate the risk of perinatal complications after adjustment for confounders.

Zona pellucida shear modulus, a possible novel non-invasive method to assist in embryo selection during in-vitro fertilization treatment.

The present study investigated the association between oocyte zona pellucida shear modulus (ZPSM) and implantation rate (IR). Ninety-three oocytes collected from 38 in-vitro fertilization patients who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection were included in this case-control study. The ZP was modeled as an isotropic compressible hyperelastic material with parameter [Formula: see text], which represents the ZPSM.

Absence of SCAPER causes male infertility in humans and by modulating microtubule dynamics during meiosis.

Background: Mutation () have been found across ethnicities and have been shown to cause variable penetrance of an array of pathological traits, including intellectual disability, retinitis pigmentosa and ciliopathies.

Methods: Human clinical phenotyping, surgical testicular sperm extraction and testicular tissue staining. Generation and analysis of () ( orthologue) CAS9-knockout lines.

Mutation in (C2orf62) causes oligoteratoasthenozoospermia by affecting actin dynamics.

Background: Oligoteratoasthenozoospermia (OTA) combines deteriorated quantity, morphology and motility of the sperm, resulting in male factor infertility.

Methods: We used whole genome genotyping and exome sequencing to identify the mutation causing OTA in four men in a consanguineous Bedouin family. We expressed the normal and mutated proteins tagged with c-Myc at the carboxy termini by transfection with pCDNA3.

Novel mutation in USP26 associated with azoospermia in a Sertoli cell-only syndrome patient.

Background: Ubiquitin-Specific Peptidase 26 (USP26), located on the X chromosome, encodes a deubiquitinating enzyme expressed mainly in testis, where it regulates protein turnover during spermatogenesis and modulates the ubiquitination levels of the Androgen Receptor (AR), and as a consequence, affects AR signaling.

Methods: The patient was thoroughly characterized clinically. He was genetically tested by chromosome analysis and whole exome sequencing (WES).

Pregnancy outcomes of fresh IVF conceived pregnancies after embryo transfer at different stages of early embryonic development.

Objective: To compare pregnancy outcomes between pregnancies following day 2, day 3, and days 5/6 fresh embryo transfer (ET).

Methods: A retrospective cohort study including all pregnancies following fresh IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) ET cycles performed between January 2014 and December 2015 at Fertility and Fertilization (IVF) Unit of the tertiary Soroka University Medical Center. The study groups consisted of 48, 72, 120, and 144 hours embryos.

Recurrent implantation failure: which patients benefit from endometrial scratching prior to IVF?

Purpose: Endometrial scratching (ES) using a biopsy catheter prior to the IVF cycle in the repeated implantation failure (RIF) population has been suggested, but no convincing evidence of its benefit has been presented until now.

Methods: A retrospective mono-center study among 300 consecutive IVF-RIF cycles following evaluation of the ovarian reserve, hysterosalpingography or hysteroscopy, pelvic ultrasound, thrombophilia evaluation, karyotyping and assessment of male sperm parametrs. The findings within normal limits.

Increasing telomerase enhanced steroidogenic genes expression and steroid hormones production in rat and human granulosa cells and in mouse ovary.

Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein responsible for telomere re-elongation, is important for male and female fertility. Several factors, including the steroid hormone estrogen, regulate the expression of Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT), which one of its non-canonical functions is gene expression regulation. The steroidogenesis process is regulated principally by transcription of genes encoding steroidogenic enzymes, but it is not clear if TERT non-canonical functions affect the expression of steroidogenic genes.

Male Oxidative Stress Infertility (MOSI): Proposed Terminology and Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Idiopathic Male Infertility.

Despite advances in the field of male reproductive health, idiopathic male infertility, in which a man has altered semen characteristics without an identifiable cause and there is no female factor infertility, remains a challenging condition to diagnose and manage. Increasing evidence suggests that oxidative stress (OS) plays an independent role in the etiology of male infertility, with 30% to 80% of infertile men having elevated seminal reactive oxygen species levels. OS can negatively affect fertility a number of pathways, including interference with capacitation and possible damage to sperm membrane and DNA, which may impair the sperm's potential to fertilize an egg and develop into a healthy embryo.

Identification of Premeiotic, Meiotic, and Postmeiotic Cells in Testicular Biopsies Without Sperm from Sertoli Cell-Only Syndrome Patients.

Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS) affects about 26.3⁻57.8% of azoospermic men, with their seminiferous tubules containing only Sertoli cells.

Twin pregnancies and perinatal outcomes: a comparison between fresh and frozen embryo transfer: a two-centre study.

Research Question: To assess the perinatal and obstetric outcomes of twin pregnancies resulting from IVF frozen embryo transfer (FET) in comparison with fresh embryo transfer.

Design: A retrospective cohort study of 773 twin pregnancies conceived via IVF treatment. Data were collected from the records of two outpatient fertility IVF clinics of cycles conducted between 2006 and 2016.

Infertility Treatments and Long-Term Neurologic Morbidity of the Offspring.

Objective: To determine the risk of long-term neurologic morbidity among children (up to 18 years) born following in vitro fertilization (IVF) or ovulation induction (OI) treatments as compared with spontaneously conceived.

Study Design: A population-based cohort analysis was performed, including data from the perinatal computerized database on all singleton infants born at the Soroka University Medical Center (SUMC) between the years 1991 and 2014. This perinatal database was linked and cross-matched with the SUMC computerized dataset of all pediatric hospitalizations.

The effect of fertility treatment on adverse perinatal outcomes in women aged at least 40 years.

Objective: To compare perinatal outcomes between spontaneous conception and assisted reproductive technologies (ART) among patients of advanced maternal age.

Methods: The present retrospective study included data from singleton pregnancies of women aged at least 40 years who delivered between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 2013, at Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel. Demographic, obstetric, and perinatal data were compared between pregnancies conceived with ART (in vitro fertilization [IVF] or ovulation induction) and those conceived spontaneously.

Mutation in TDRD9 causes non-obstructive azoospermia in infertile men.

Background: Azoospermia is diagnosed when sperm cells are completely absent in the ejaculate even after centrifugation. It is identified in approximately 1% of all men and in 10%-20% of infertile males. Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is characterised by the absence of sperm due to either a Sertoli cell-only pattern, maturation arrest, hypospermatogenesis or mixed patterns.

Does cryopreservation of sperm affect fertilization in nonobstructive azoospermia or cryptozoospermia?

Objective: To compare intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes with the use of fresh or frozen-thawed ejaculated or testicular sperm in patients with cryptozoospermia or nonobstructive azoospermia.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary medical center IVF unit.