A biomimetic sperm selection device for routine sperm selection.

Research Question: Can a biomimetic microfluidic sperm sorter isolate motile sperm while minimizing DNA damage in comparison with density gradient centrifugation (DGC)?

Design: This was a two-phase study of 61 men, consisting of a proof-of-concept study with 21 donated semen samples in a university research laboratory, followed by a diagnostic andrology study with 40 consenting patients who presented at a fertility clinic for semen diagnostics. Each sample was split to perform DGC and microfluidic sperm selection (one-step sperm selection with 15 min of incubation) side-by-side. Outcomes evaluated included concentration, progressive motility, and DNA fragmentation index (DFI) of raw semen, and sperm isolated using DGC and the microfluidic device.

Successful pregnancy rates amongst patients undergoing ovarian tissue cryopreservation for non-malignant indications: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) is a fertility preservation method that has been clinically applied for almost 30 years. Studies specifically evaluating patients presenting with non-malignant indications for OTC and their subsequent pregnancy rates are limited.

Objective: To summarise the evidence on the rates of successful pregnancy amongst women who have undergone OTC for non-malignant indications.

Embryo selection through artificial intelligence versus embryologists: a systematic review.

Study Question: What is the present performance of artificial intelligence (AI) decision support during embryo selection compared to the standard embryo selection by embryologists?

Summary Answer: AI consistently outperformed the clinical teams in all the studies focused on embryo morphology and clinical outcome prediction during embryo selection assessment.

What Is Known Already: The ART success rate is ∼30%, with a worrying trend of increasing female age correlating with considerably worse results. As such, there have been ongoing efforts to address this low success rate through the development of new technologies.

The Effect of Dietary Patterns on Clinical Pregnancy and Live Birth Outcomes in Men and Women Receiving Assisted Reproductive Technologies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The nutritional status of reproductive-aged couples can have a significant impact on fertility status, but the effect of dietary patterns on pregnancy outcomes in people using assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) is currently unknown. This review aimed to synthesize the published research investigating the relation between preconception dietary patterns and clinical pregnancy or live birth in men and women of reproductive age undergoing ART. Six electronic databases were systematically searched for original research published between January 1978 and June 2021.

Calcium chloride dihydrate supplementation at ICSI improves fertilization and pregnancy rates in patients with previous low fertilization: a retrospective paired treatment cycle study.

Purpose: To determine if 5mM calcium chloride dihydrate supplementation of the Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) media at the time of ICSI (ICSI-Ca) improves fertilization, utilization, and clinical pregnancy rates compared to ICSI alone, particularly in patients with a history of low fertilization (< 50%).

Methods: Retrospective study between 2016 and 2021 at Monash IVF Victoria on a paired cohort of patients (n = 178 patients) where an ICSI cycle was analyzed coupled with the subsequent ICSI-Ca cycle. The paired cohort was further subdivided into a low-fertilization cohort (< 50% fertilization on previous cycles: n = 66 patients) compared to the remaining patients with fertilization ≥ 50% (n = 122).

The impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on fertility patients and clinics around the world.

Research Question: What is the impact of the response to COVID-19 on the management of fertility treatments and clinical practice around the world?

Design: Fertility clinic associates around the world were approached. They completed an online survey containing 33 questions focused on the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Known fertility clinic associates that were contacted comprised scientific directors, medical directors and laboratory managers.

DNA repair and response to sperm DNA damage in oocytes and embryos, and the potential consequences in ART: a systematic review.

Sperm DNA damage is considered a predictive factor for the clinical outcomes of patients undergoing ART. Laboratory evidence suggests that zygotes and developing embryos have adopted specific response and repair mechanisms to repair DNA damage of paternal origin. We have conducted a systematic review in accordance with guidelines from Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) to identify and review the maternal mechanisms used to respond and repair sperm DNA damage during early embryonic development, how these mechanisms operate and their potential clinical implications.

Ageing and ovarian stimulation modulate the relative levels of transcript abundance of oocyte DNA repair genes during the germinal vesicle-metaphase II transition in mice.

Purpose: Oocyte quality and reproductive outcome are negatively affected by advanced maternal age, ovarian stimulation and method of oocyte maturation during assisted reproduction; however, the mechanisms responsible for these associations are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of ageing, ovarian stimulation and in-vitro maturation on the relative levels of transcript abundance of genes associated with DNA repair during the transition of germinal vesicle (GV) to metaphase II (MII) stages of oocyte development.

Methods: The relative levels of transcript abundance of 90 DNA repair-associated genes was compared in GV-stage and MII-stage oocytes from unstimulated and hormone-stimulated ovaries from young (5-8-week-old) and old (42-45-week-old) C57BL6 mice.

Female ageing affects the DNA repair capacity of oocytes in IVF using a controlled model of sperm DNA damage in mice.

Study Question: Does female ageing have a negative effect on the DNA repair capacity of oocytes fertilised by spermatozoa with controlled levels of DNA damage?

Summary Answer: Compared to oocytes from younger females, oocytes from older females have a reduced capacity to repair damaged DNA introduced by spermatozoa.

What Is Known Already: The reproductive lifespan in women declines with age predominantly due to poor oocyte quality. This leads to decreased reproductive outcomes for older women undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments, compared to young women.

Male ageing is negatively associated with the chance of live birth in IVF/ICSI cycles for idiopathic infertility.

Study Question: Is male age associated with the clinical outcomes of IVF/ICSI cycles for idiopathic infertility after adjustment for female age?

Summary Answer: Male ageing is negatively associated with clinical IVF/ICSI outcomes in couples with idiopathic infertility independent of female age.

What Is Known Already: The effect of male age on the outcomes of infertility treatments is controversial and poorly explored. In contrast, fertility is known to decline significantly with female age beyond the mid-30s, and reduced oocyte quality plays an important role.

Macrozoospermia associated with mutations of AURKC gene: First case report in Latin America and literature review.

A Chilean 35-year-old male patient with a history of primary infertility made an appointment at the Unit of Reproductive Medicine at Clínica Las Condes, Santiago, Chile. Multiple semen analyses revealed abnormal sperm morphology as the most prevalent finding. Multiflagellated and macrocephalic spermatozoa were observed and indicated a possible macrozoospermic phenotype.

A dynamic continental moisture gradient drove Amazonian bird diversification.

The Amazon is the primary source of Neotropical diversity and a nexus for discussions on processes that drive biotic diversification. Biogeographers have focused on the roles of rivers and Pleistocene climate change in explaining high rates of speciation. We combine phylogeographic and niche-based paleodistributional projections for 23 upland terra firme forest bird lineages from across the Amazon to derive a new model of regional biological diversification.

Mutations in the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene have no influence on the distinct patterns of melanic plumage found in the manakins of the genus Antilophia (Aves: Pipridae).

The melanocortin-1 receptor gene is the most widely-used marker for the investigation of the genetic determination of melanic plumage patterns. Studies of a number of wild bird species have shown an association between non-synonymous mutations of the MC1R gene and the presence of melanic variants. The genus Antilophia (Pipridae) includes only two manakin species (A.

Damming the rivers of the Amazon basin.

More than a hundred hydropower dams have already been built in the Amazon basin and numerous proposals for further dam constructions are under consideration. The accumulated negative environmental effects of existing dams and proposed dams, if constructed, will trigger massive hydrophysical and biotic disturbances that will affect the Amazon basin's floodplains, estuary and sediment plume. We introduce a Dam Environmental Vulnerability Index to quantify the current and potential impacts of dams in the basin.

Avian malaria, ecological host traits and mosquito abundance in southeastern Amazonia.

Avian malaria is a vector transmitted disease caused by Plasmodium and recent studies suggest that variation in its prevalence across avian hosts is correlated with a variety of ecological traits. Here we examine the relationship between prevalence and diversity of Plasmodium lineages in southeastern Amazonia and: (1) host ecological traits (nest location, nest type, flocking behaviour and diet); (2) density and diversity of avian hosts; (3) abundance and diversity of mosquitoes; and (4) season. We used molecular methods to detect Plasmodium in blood samples from 675 individual birds of 120 species.

Minimal volume vitrification of epididymal spermatozoa results in successful fertilization and embryo development in mice.

This study compared three cryopreservation protocols on sperm functions, IVF outcomes, and embryo development. Epididymal spermatozoa cryopreserved using slow-cooling (18% w/v raffinose, RS-C) were compared with spermatozoa vitrified using 0.25 M sucrose (SV) or 18% w/v raffinose (RV).

Gonadotropin-induced puberty does not impair reproductive performance of gilts over three parities.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproductive performance of three parities of gilts treated or not treated with gonadotropin to induce puberty. Sixty gilts received 600 IU of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) followed by 2.5 mg of porcine luteinizing hormone (LH) 72 h later.

Differences in maternal plane of nutrition and body condition during late gestation coupled with estrus synchronization at weaning do not result in differences in embryonic development at 4 days of gestation.

This study was conducted to assess the effects of dietary energy in late pregnancy and hormone therapy at weaning on plasma metabolite profile, litter performance, reproductive parameters, and embryo viability in the second pregnancy. A total of 23 first-parity sows at 75 d of pregnancy were randomly allocated to 4 treatments. Treatments were factorial (2 × 2) combinations of 2 nutritional strategies [standard-energy feed (SEF) and high-energy feed (HEF)] and 2 hormone therapies [600 IU eCG and 2.

Climate change patterns in Amazonia and biodiversity.

Precise characterization of hydroclimate variability in Amazonia on various timescales is critical to understanding the link between climate change and biodiversity. Here we present absolute-dated speleothem oxygen isotope records that characterize hydroclimate variation in western and eastern Amazonia over the past 250 and 20 ka, respectively. Although our records demonstrate the coherent millennial-scale precipitation variability across tropical-subtropical South America, the orbital-scale precipitation variability between western and eastern Amazonia exhibits a quasi-dipole pattern.

[Association of age with sperm DNA fragmentation].

Background: There is an association between aging ana an increased number of sperms with alterations in nuclear DNA.

Aim: To study the association between age and fragmentation of sperm DNA.

Material And Methods: Sixty two volunteers provided semen for analysis.

The genetic effects of Late Quaternary climatic changes over a tropical latitudinal gradient: diversification of an Atlantic Forest passerine.

The increase in biodiversity from high to low latitudes is a widely recognized biogeographical pattern. According to the latitudinal gradient hypothesis (LGH), this pattern was shaped by differential effects of Late Quaternary climatic changes across a latitudinal gradient. Here, we evaluate the effects of climatic changes across a tropical latitudinal gradient and its implications to diversification of an Atlantic Forest (AF) endemic passerine.