Heavy metals and diminished ovarian reserve: single-exposure and mixture analyses amongst women consulting in French fertility centres.

Research Question: Do heavy metals affect the risk of diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) in women of reproductive age?

Design: A total of 139 cases and 153 controls were included between 2016 and 2020. The participants were aged between 18 and 40 years and attended consultations for couple infertility in one of four fertility centres in western France. Cases of DOR were defined as women with an antral follicle count less than 7, anti-Müllerian hormone levels 1.

Serum persistent organic pollutants and diminished ovarian reserve: a single-exposure and mixture exposure approach from a French case-control study.

Study Question: Are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) associated with a diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) in women of reproductive age?

Summary Answer: Amongst 17 POPs detected in over 20% of serum samples, only p,p'-DDE was significantly associated with an increased risk of DOR, and β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH) was significantly associated with a decreased risk of DOR whilst mixture analyses yielded non-significant associations and did not detect any interactions between POPs.

What Is Known Already: Animal studies have shown that several POPs can alter folliculogenesis and increase follicle depletion. However, only a few studies have been conducted in humans, with small sample sizes and inconsistent results.

Progesterone levels on the human chorionic gonadotropin trigger day affect the pregnancy rates for embryos transferred at different stages of development in both general and selected IVF/ICSI populations.

Background: Two meta-analyses have shown that pregnancy and birth rates are significantly higher after blastocyst transfer than after cleaved embryo transfer. Other studies have revealed that a serum progesterone level > 1.5 ng/ml on the trigger day is responsible for premature luteinization and is associated with a low pregnancy rate.

Efficacy of assisted reproductive technology after ovarian tissue transplantation in a cohort of 11 patients with or without associated infertility factors.

Purpose: IVF treatment in women with grafted frozen-thawed ovarian tissue is associated with poor reproductive outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of ovarian tissue transplantation (OTT) followed by assisted reproductive technology (ART) in women with or without associated infertility factors.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study with retrospective data collection including eleven women, four of whom having an infertility factor (IF), who had undergone OTT in one university center between 2005 and 2017, followed by ART in six in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers.

Can Ratios Between Prognostic Factors Predict the Clinical Pregnancy Rate in an IVF/ICSI Program with a GnRH Agonist-FSH/hMG Protocol? An Assessment of 2421 Embryo Transfers, and a Review of the Literature.

None of the models developed in in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) is sufficiently good predictors of pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine whether ratios between prognostic factors could predict the clinical pregnancy rate in IVF/ICSI. We analyzed IVF/ICSI cycles (based on long GnRH agonist-FSH protocols) at two ART centers (the second to validate externally the data).

Blood anti-Müllerian hormone is a possible determinant of recurrent early miscarriage, yet not conclusive in predicting a further miscarriage.

Research Question: Is blood anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration a strong determinant of unexplained recurrent early miscarriage (REM)?

Design: In the first part of the study, AMH concentrations measured using an Immunotech ELISA Kit were compared between 188 unselected (mostly fertile) women consecutively referred for three or more miscarriages in the first trimester of pregnancy and 376 age-matched parous women without pregnancy loss. Cases and controls were previously enrolled in an incident case-control study on thrombophilic mutations. Blood samples were collected >2 months after any recognized obstetric event or hormonal treatment.

[Which ovarian stimulation to which women: The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)].

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a frequent pathology in the young woman, linking infertility to a metabolic disease. Initial support will include a plan (in the case of overweight or obesity) to lose at least 5 to 10% of the weight. Subsequently, clomiphene citrate is the first treatment for ovulation induction with pregnancy rates of 40 to 80% after 6 cycles.

Challenges in ovarian stimulation.

In 2016, ovarian stimulation faces two main challenges: how to obtain good quality oocytes while not endangering the patients treated, but also limited by maternal age and poor ovarian responders (POR). The first IVF birth, Louise Brown, was obtained from a natural cycle. With the introduction, in the 1980s of gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa) and in the 2000s of GnRH antagonists (GnRHant), stimulation became plurifollicular (and source of consequences).

Does 45,X/46,XX mosaicism with 6-28% of aneuploidy affect the outcomes of IVF or ICSI?

Objective: Several studies have shown an increased frequency of chromosomal aberrations in female partners of couples examined prior to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). A retrospective cohort study was performed to determine whether 45,X/46,XX mosaicism affects the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) or ICSI.

Study Design: Forty-six women with a 45,X/46,XX karyotype with 6-28% of aneuploidy were compared with 59 control women (46,XX), matched for age, from the female population who underwent IVF or ICSI between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2006 at the Reproductive Medicine Unit at Brest University Hospital.

45,X/46,XX mosaicism below 30% of aneuploidy: clinical implications in adult women from a reproductive medicine unit.

Objective: Turner's syndrome (TS) is well known, but prognosis for 45,X/46,XX mosaicism below 30% of aneuploidy has not been established. We evaluated differences in clinical features and biological parameters between patients with numerical sex chromosome mosaicism diagnosed incidentally and control women.

Design: Retrospective observational study of clinical features and biological parameters.

Strong evidence that skewed X-chromosome inactivation is not associated with recurrent pregnancy loss: an incident paired case control study.

Background: Previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding recurrent pregnancy loss and skewed X-chromosome inactivation. Hence, we sought an association by carrying out a specifically designed incident paired case-control study with required statistical power.

Methods: Design incident 1:3 matched case-control study, from 2003 to 2007.

The first assessment of soluble CD146 in women with unexplained pregnancy loss. A new insight?

The mechanisms responsible for pregnancy loss have not all been elucidated. CD146 is a cell adhesion molecule involved in the control of both endothelium integrity and intermediate trophoblast invasiveness, two potential key features in the pathogenesis of pregnancy loss. As CD146 is detectable as a soluble form in the plasma (sCD146), we investigated sCD146 plasma levels in women with a history of pregnancy loss.

Chromosomal abnormalities in couples undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection. A study of 370 couples and review of the literature.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is now widely acknowledged as the most effective therapeutic approach to severe male infertility or unsuccessful in vitro fertilization. Cytogenetic investigations were performed in 370 females and 335 males prior to ICSI between January 1997 and April 2003. Nine men (2.

Two cases of systemic Candida glabrata infection following in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

Presented here are two cases of systemic Candida glabrata infection diagnosed in two expectant mothers and their fetuses at 34 and 22 weeks' gestation. The underlying risk factors in case 1 were in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer, recurrent yeast vaginitis and two intravenous injections of betamethasone. The risk factors in case 2 were in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer, recurrent yeast vaginitis, antibiotics for treatment of a urinary tract infection due to Morganella morganii and amniocentesis.

Sex chromosome mosaicism in couples undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Background: Several studies have shown an increased frequency of constitutional chromosome aberrations in male and female partners of couples examined prior to ICSI. We conducted a cohort study to determine whether there was an increase in numerical sex chromosome mosaicism among couples undergoing ICSI compared with fertile couples.

Methods: Cytogenetic investigations were performed in 228 females and 208 males seen for ICSI between January 1997 and March 2001.

Male infertility risk factors in a French military population.

We investigated infertility risk factors by conducting a population-based case-control study in the military population of the French town of Brest. Sixty couples who had sought medical advice for infertility of more than 12 months duration (cases) were compared with 165 couples who had had a child (controls). All the men in these couples had been employed by the military.

[Socioeconomic approach to the practice of in vitro fertilization in the Brittany region in 1993].

Aim Of The Study: to estimate the social and economical point of view of the practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in Brittany in 1993.

Methods: we made a prospective study of 152 cases of IVF. We studied the medical history of sterility of the patients, treatments during IVF, hormonal and ultrasound monitoring, oocytes retrieval and embryo transfer, and the screening until beta-hCG > 1,000 UI or evidence of pregnancy with ultrasound scan.

Longitudinal study of maternal plasma bioavailable testosterone and androstanediol glucuronide levels during pregnancy.

Objective: The aim of this study to evaluate during normal pregnancy plasma bioavailable testosterone and androstanediol glucuronide levels.

Measurements: Bioavailable testosterone, androstanediol glucuronide and SHBG levels were evaluated every 4 weeks from week 6 to week 38 in 10 normal pregnant women. We also measured plasma oestradiol, oestriol, delta 4-androstenedione, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, progesterone and testosterone.