Publications by authors named "Henkel R"

Background: Semen analysis is the standard test for evaluating male fertility. However, it may not address all aspects of male infertility. This review explores the role of leukocyte elastase (LE) as a possible biomarker for male fertility by evaluating 28 corresponding studies.

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Graph databases are becoming increasingly popular across scientific disciplines, being highly suitable for storing and connecting complex heterogeneous data. In systems biology, they are used as a backend solution for biological data repositories, ontologies, networks, pathways, and knowledge graph databases. In this review, we analyse all publications using or mentioning graph databases retrieved from PubMed and PubMed Central full-text search, focusing on the top 16 available graph databases, Publications are categorized according to their domain and application, focusing on pathway and network biology and relevant ontologies and tools.

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  • The study aimed to assess whether a higher enteral vs parenteral protein ratio in the first 28 days after birth influences brain volume and growth in very low birth weight infants.
  • It analyzed data from 256 VLBW infants, evaluating their macronutrient intake and growth metrics alongside brain imaging at term-equivalent age.
  • Results indicated that a higher enteral to parenteral protein ratio was linked to increased total brain volume and weight gain, suggesting that prioritizing enteral protein could enhance growth in these infants.
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In Germany, the standard format for exchange of clinical care data for research is HL7 FHIR. Graph databases (GDBs), well suited for integrating complex and heterogeneous data from diverse sources, are currently gaining traction in the medical field. They provide a versatile framework for data analysis which is generally challenging for raw FHIR-formatted data.

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Background: Testicular cancer (TC) is a relatively rare type of cancer in men. Early diagnosis of TC remains challenging. Metabolomics holds promise in offering valuable insights in this regard.

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The effects of smoking on human health have long been documented. However, only a few studies have highlighted the direct effects of nicotine on sperm function. Nicotine, as a chemical compound found in tobacco, has been shown to modulate different aspects of spermatogenesis and sperm functions.

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  • Mitochondria in sperm are crucial for ATP production, calcium regulation, and other cellular functions essential for germ cell development and fertilization.* -
  • Defects in mitochondrial function can significantly impact male fertility, and there is ongoing debate about the mitochondria's role during and after fertilization.* -
  • More research is required to understand how variations in sperm mitochondrial characteristics relate to male infertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes, despite their potential clinical significance.*
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Infertility is a globally underestimated public health concern affecting almost 190 million people, i.e., about 17.

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Objective: To increase compliance with standardized safe sleep recommendations for patients in a cohort of regional level III/IV neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in accordance with recently revised guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Study Design: A regional quality improvement (QI) initiative led by a multidisciplinary task force standardized safe sleep criteria across participating NICU sites. Universal and unit-specific interventions were implemented via Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles with evaluation of compliance through routine crib audits, run chart completion, and Pareto chart analysis.

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Background: Male infertility is usually determined by the manual evaluation of the semen, namely the standard semen analysis. It is currently impossible to predict sperm fertilizing ability based on the semen analysis alone. Therefore, a more sensitive and selective diagnosis tool is required.

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  • - The study examined the protective effects of testosterone on rat testes affected by atrazine (ATZ), focusing on TM3 Leydig and TM4 Sertoli cells.
  • - Testosterone administration led to significant improvements in testicular structures and cell counts, enhancing spermatogenesis and reducing oxidative stress in the presence of ATZ.
  • - TM4 Sertoli cells showed a greater sensitivity to testosterone's protective effects against reactive oxygen species than TM3 Leydig cells, suggesting a differential response to hormone treatment.
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Background: Extractions of () are shown to have immune modulation, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. However, is also cytotoxic, antiproliferative, and pro-apoptotic . Furthermore, extractions may influence steroidogenesis.

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  • - Obesity is linked to male infertility, but bariatric surgery doesn't enhance semen quality; however, studies suggest that low-energy diets (LED) might help improve semen quality, but more controlled research is needed.
  • - In a study, men with obesity were split into two groups: one followed a strict 800 kcal/day LED for 16 weeks, while the other had a brief dietary intervention (BDI). The LED group lost significantly more weight than the BDI group.
  • - Both the LED and BDI improved sperm motility in men, but there were no significant differences in improvements between the two diets, indicating that either approach may benefit sperm motility in obese men.
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  • The study investigates global practices and challenges in using sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) assays, which can affect male reproductive potential, as outlined in the latest WHO manual.
  • A survey of 436 reproductive clinicians revealed that the most popular SDF assay is TUNEL, with a significant influence from availability on their choices.
  • Clinicians see the value of SDF testing in understanding infertility but face barriers like insufficient professional guidelines and a lack of accepted reference values for interpreting SDF results.
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  • The meta-analysis investigates the effects of varicocele repair on semen parameters in infertile males, combining data from diverse studies without language restrictions.
  • A total of 351 studies were analyzed, revealing significant improvements in several semen parameters post-repair, including semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility, and morphology, while sperm vitality showed no improvement.
  • This research is the largest of its kind and highlights the benefits of varicocele repair for male infertility, contributing valuable insights for clinical practice.
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Abstract: Infertility affects millions of couples worldwide. Oxidative stress (OS) causes peroxidation of lipids and damage to spermatozoa, thus, reducing the quality of seminal parameters. In addition, the differences in the levels of antioxidants and reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by intrinsic and extrinsic variables linked to lifestyle, diet, genetics, and OS also contribute to male infertility.

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Identifying the metabolome of human seminal plasma (HSP) is a new research area to screen putative biomarkers of infertility. This case-control study was performed on HSP specimens of 15 infertile patients with teratozoospermia (defined as normal sperm morphology < 4%) and 12 confirmed fertile normozoospermic men as the control group to investigate the seminal metabolic signature and whether there are differences in the metabolome between two groups. HSPs were subjected to LC-MS-MS analysis.

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Data sharing is sustainable for several reasons, including minimising economical and human costs or maximising knowledge gain. Still, reuse of biomedical (research) data is often hampered by the diverse technical, juridical, and scientific requirements for biomedical data handling and specifically sharing. We are building a toolbox for automated generation of knowledge graphs (KGs) from diverse sources, for data enrichment, and for data analysis.

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The German Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) aims to increase the interoperability and reuse of clinical routine data for research purposes. One important result of the MII work is a German-wide common core data set (CDS), which is to be provided by over 31 data integration centers (DIZ) following a strict specification. One standard format for data sharing is HL7/FHIR.

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HealthECCO is the driving force behind the COVID-19 knowledge graph spanning multiple biomedical data domains. One way to access CovidGraph is SemSpect, an interface designed for data exploration in graphs. To showcase the possibilities that arise from integrating a variety of COVID-19 related data sources over the last three years, we present three use cases from the (bio-)medical domain.

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  • The study investigates global practices for managing sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) in infertile men, highlighting its impact on fertility and assisted reproductive technology (ART).
  • A survey collecting data from 436 reproductive experts across 55 countries revealed a common recommendation for lifestyle changes and antioxidants, with varying durations for treatment and differing management approaches for specific infertility cases.
  • The findings indicate a lack of uniformity in practices, emphasizing the need for standardized guidelines and expert consensus for treating men with elevated SDF.
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  • The study explores global practices for sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) testing in infertile men, following its inclusion in the WHO laboratory manual.
  • A survey conducted among 436 infertility clinicians across 55 countries reveals varied testing practices, with many testing SDF in cases of unexplained infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, and among smokers.
  • The findings highlight the need for clearer professional guidelines on SDF testing, given the diversity in current practices and the potential benefits for certain patient populations.
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There are conflicting reports on trends of semen parameters from different parts of the globe. However, in recent times there is dearth of information on the trend in Sub-Saharan countries. Therefore, in this study we aimed at determining the trends in semen parameters in Nigeria and South Africa between 2010 and 2019.

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Introduction: Metabolic Age (MetAge) and body composition analysis may reflect an individual's metabolic status, which is believed to influence male sexual and gonadal functions. Although erectile dysfunction (ED) and hypogonadism are increasingly prevalent with age, they are also detected among younger men. This study aims to assess the impact of MetAge and body composition on male sexual and gonadal status overall, and particularly in men younger than 40 years of age.

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Infertility is a globally under-recognized public health problem significantly impacting individual health and socioeconomics affecting millions of couples. The reasons for infertility are manifold and not only include many couples decision to postpone having children but also diseases (e.g.

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