An ART score to note objectively the quality of an ART procedure.

Objective: To construct an ART score to evaluate an ART procedure before the result (pregnancy or not), and to provide objective data in discussions with couples in the decision to discontinue further attempts.

Study Design: A retrospective multicentrique study was performed. The ART score was constructed using data from the MediFirst database used in our center.

Donor sperm insemination after failed intra-couple intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Unlabelled: The purpose of the present multicenter study was to investigate whether an artificial insemination with donor sperm (AID) procedure after intra-couple intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) failure offers a significant chance of pregnancy and to identify prognostic factors for pregnancy after an AID procedure. An eleven-year retrospective multicenter study was conducted among 13 Centre d'Etude et de Conservation des Oeufs et du Sperme (CECOS) centers. A total of 319 couples having undergone an AID procedure after intra-conjugal ICSI failure were included in this study; a total of 1,159 AID and 1,011 intra-conjugal ICSI cycles were performed.

Reinforcement of STAT3 activity reprogrammes human embryonic stem cells to naive-like pluripotency.

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)/STAT3 signalling is a hallmark of naive pluripotency in rodent pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), whereas fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 and activin/nodal signalling is required to sustain self-renewal of human PSCs in a condition referred to as the primed state. It is unknown why LIF/STAT3 signalling alone fails to sustain pluripotency in human PSCs. Here we show that the forced expression of the hormone-dependent STAT3-ER (ER, ligand-binding domain of the human oestrogen receptor) in combination with 2i/LIF and tamoxifen allows human PSCs to escape from the primed state and enter a state characterized by the activation of STAT3 target genes and long-term self-renewal in FGF2- and feeder-free conditions.

Subcellular dynamics of the maternal cell death regulator BCL2L10 in human preimplantation embryos.

Study Question: What is the expression status and subcellular localization of the maternally expressed Bcl-2 family member, BCL2L10, in early human embryos of diverse developmental stages and quality?

Summary Answer: The anti-apoptotic protein, BCL2L10, is expressed in human preimplantation embryos at least until the blastocyst stage and appears to be differentially distributed at the subcellular level between viable embryos and fragmented or arrested embryos.

What Is Known Already: BCL2L10 is an anti-apoptotic member of the BCL-2 family that shows abundant expression in human oocytes and limited sequence conservation to its mouse homologue.

Study Design, Size, Duration: Embryos donated with informed consent by couples consulting for infertility in the Department of Reproductive Medicine (Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant, Bron, France) were divided into two groups: high quality embryos (n = 18) and poor quality embryos (n = 30).

Abnormal methylation of KCNQ1OT1 and differential methylation of H19 imprinting control regions in human ICSI embryos.

Summary To evaluate the integrity of genomic imprinting in embryos that failed to develop normally following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), we analysed the methylation profile of H19 and KCNQ1OT1 imprinting control regions, H19DMR and KvDMR1 respectively, in high-grade blastocysts and in embryos that exhibited developmental anomalies. Significant hypomethylation of KvDMR1 was specifically observed in 5/5 atypical blastocysts graded BC, which probably reflected the vulnerability of the imprint in the inner cell mass during the methylation remodelling phase in the early embryo. In addition, KvDMR1 was hypermethylated in 2/5 CC graded atypical blastocysts and in 2/8 embryos that exhibited developmental delay.

Analysis of H19 methylation in control and abnormal human embryos, sperm and oocytes.

ART is suspected to generate increased imprinting errors in the lineage. Following an intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedure, a certain number of embryos fail to develop normally and imprinting disorders may be associated to the developmental failure. To evaluate this hypothesis, we analysed the methylation profile of H19DMR, a paternally imprinting control region, in high-graded blastocysts, in embryos showing developmental anomalies, in the matching sperm and in oocytes of the concerned couples when they were available.

Oocytes and early embryos selectively express the survival factor BCL2L10.

Apoptosis has been reported in oocytes and human preimplantation embryos both in vitro and in vivo. BCL-2 family proteins are likely to play a pivotal role in controlling oocyte and early embryo degeneration. However, no BCL-2-related survival factors have been identified that would specifically function during oocyte maturation, after fertilization and during early embryogenesis.

Environmental, occupational and familial risks for testicular cancer: a hospital-based case-control study.

Testicular cancer (TC) risk factors remain largely unknown, except for personal history of cryptorchidism and familial history of TC. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study on familial, environmental and occupational conditions in which we compared 229 cases and 800 controls. TC was correlated with cryptorchidism (OR = 3.

Follicular growth in vitro: detection of growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) and bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) during in vitro culture of ovine cortical slices.

Primordial follicles from different mammal species can survive and enter the growth phase in vitro but do not develop beyond the primary stage. The hypothesis was that, in sheep, in vitro follicular growth is arrested because of a lack of secretion of GDF9 and/or BMP15. Cortical slices of 0.

Sperm deoxyribonucleic acid fragmentation as a prognostic indicator of assisted reproductive technology outcome.

Objective: To examine sperm DNA fragmentation in semen used for assisted reproduction procedures to establish this factor's prognostic role in fertilization rate, embryo development, pregnancy rate, and outcome.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Department of Medicine and Biology of Reproduction of the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon, France.

Follicular viability and histological assessment after cryopreservation of whole sheep ovaries with vascular pedicle by vitrification.

Objective: To evaluate a cryopreservation technique by vitrification of whole ovaries with their vascular pedicle in sheep, by using two cryoprotectant solutions.

Design: Animal study.

Setting: Fertility clinic in a university teaching hospital.

Upregulation of the BRCA1 gene in human germ cells and in preimplantation embryos.

The quantification of BRCA1 messenger RNA molecules by a quantitative competitive one-step reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction method indicates that BRCA1 is upregulated both in human male and female germ cells and in preimplantation embryos. Because BRCA1 is involved in several pathways that participate in preserving intact chromosome and genome integrity, these data suggest that BRCA1 dysfunction might alter human embryogenesis or fertility.

Normal gestations and live births after orthotopic autograft of vitrified-warmed hemi-ovaries into ewes.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term outcome of autotransplantation of vitrified warmed hemi-ovaries into ewes.

Methods: Six hemi-ovaries from six ewes aged 6 to 12 months were vitrified. After dissection of the medulla, the hemi-ovarian cortex was stored at -196 degrees C in liquid nitrogen.

Quantitation by image analysis of global DNA methylation in human spermatozoa and its prognostic value in in vitro fertilization: a preliminary study.

Objective: To determine the relationship between sperm DNA methylation level and sperm characteristics and pregnancy rates.

Design: Prospective study. Quantitation by image analysis of DNA methylation in sperm nucleus.

The cryopreservation of ovarian tissue: uses and indications in veterinary medicine.

Animal experiments have shown that cryopreservation of the ovarian cortex, containing primordial follicles, could be used to preserve gametes thereby restoring fertility in humans and animals. During the last 100 years, many hundreds of species have been lost, and a third of the breeding animals are threatened with extinction. To preserve genetic diversity, notably for the conservation of endangered species, it is essential to conserve female and male gametes.

Sperm DNA fragmentation decreases the pregnancy rate in an assisted reproductive technique.

Background: Standard sperm characteristics are poor predictors of the outcome of IVF treatments. On the contrary, sperm genome quality has been emphasized for several years as playing a major role in early embryogenesis, thus in the success of IVF attempt.

Methods: Sperm DNA fragmentation from a selected group of 104 couples undergoing assisted reproductive techniques (ART) (IVF: n = 50; and ICSI: n = 54) was measured by TUNEL assay and correlated with semen and ART outcomes.

[Treatment of excretory azoospermia. Biological aspects of surgery].

The therapeutical strategy for excretory azoospermia is very efficient at the present time. It is represented by two complementary methods very different both in their concept and their practical aspects. The surgery for recanalisation of the seminal tract is the old method, associated with reproducible and validated results providing a sophisticated operative methodology which implies microsurgery.

Detection and characterization of hepatitis C virus RNA in seminal plasma and spermatozoon fractions of semen from patients attempting medically assisted conception.

To investigate the risk of transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) via semen in assisted reproduction techniques, semen samples from 32 men chronically infected with HCV attending a center for assisted procreation were tested for HCV RNA by a reverse transcription-PCR protocol by using a modified version of the Cobas AMPLICOR HCV assay (version 2.0; Roche Diagnostics). The sensitivity of the test was 40 copies/ml.

Morphological alterations and DNA fragmentation in oocytes from primordial and primary follicles after freezing-thawing of ovarian cortex in sheep.

Objective: To evaluate DNA fragmentation in the oocyte of primordial and primary follicles and morphology of these follicles after freezing and thawing of ovarian cortex in sheep using two freezing protocols.

Design: Fragmentation of DNA was evaluated by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) technique.

Setting: Fertility clinic in a large university hospital.

Normal pregnancies and live births after autograft of frozen-thawed hemi-ovaries into ewes.

Objective: To evaluate long-term outcome of autotransplantation of cryopreserved hemi-ovaries into ewes.

Design: Animal study.

Setting: University fertility center, Hospices Civils de Lyon; and Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon.