pH stability of human preimplantation embryo culture media: effects of culture and batches.

Research Question: How stable is the pH of human preimplantation embryo culture media during IVF culture and is there variation in pH between batches of culture media?

Design: To evaluate pH stability, three batches of three culture media were incubated in triplicate without embryos (sham culture) at CO levels recommended by the manufacturers (5% or 6%) for 4 days. To evaluate differences in pH between batches, the pH of three batches of five culture media was measured in triplicate during 1 day of sham culture. Linear mixed models were used for the analysis.

Comparison of spermatozoa quality in male smokers and nonsmokers of Iranian infertile couples.

Background: Smoking has a negative effect on fertility and sperm quality. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of smoking on sperm quality and the related parameters such as sperm concentration, morphology and motility.

Materials And Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 infertile men with at least one year history of idiopathic infertility, who admitted to the Avicenna Infertility Center, Tehran, Iran.

Comparison of the Photobleaching and Photostability Traits of Alexa Fluor 568- and Fluorescein Isothiocyanate- conjugated Antibody.

Objective: Synthetic fluorescent dyes that are conjugated to antibodies are useful tools to probe molecules. Based on dye chemical structures, their photobleaching and photostability indices are quite diverse. It is generally believed that among different fluorescent dyes, Alexa Fluor family has greater photostability than traditional dyes like fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and Cy5.

Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS: Do Iranian Pregnant Mothers Know about it?

Introduction: Nowadays, HIV is mostly spreading in Asian countries. One of the important routes for HIV transmission in these countries is the vertical route which infects 35% to 45% of newborns. Mother's education, drug prophylaxis and Cesarean section, accompanied by banning breastfeeding will decrease this rate to 2%.

Production of Monoclonal Antibody against Human Nestin.

We have employed a peptide-based antibody generation protocol for producing antibody against human nestin. Using a 12-mer synthetic peptide from repetitive region of human nestin protein devoid of any N- or O-glyco-sylation sequences, we generated a mouse monoclonal antibody capable of recognizing human, mouse, bovine, and rat nestin. A wide variety of nestin proteins ranging from 140-250 kDa was detected by this antibody.

Ectopic Expression of Sortilin 1 (NTR-3) in Patients with Ovarian Carcinoma.

Gene expression profiling of ovarian carcinoma tissues has shown an increase of four-fold expression of SORT1 gene. Sortilin 1 (NTR-3) is a 95-100 kDa protein normally expressed in heart, brain, placenta, skeletal muscle, spinal cord, thyroid, and testis. However, its expression has never been reported in normal ovary.