New Insight of Lipiodol Flush on Pregnancy Outcomes in Women with Recurrent Implantation Failure Undergoing IVF/ICSI: a Prospective Study Based on Propensity Score Matching.

Pregnancy outcomes in women with recurrent implantation failure (RIF) undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI): does treatment with lipiodol flush matter? In this propensity score-matched study, we recruited 966 RIF patients who underwent IVF/ICSI from two tertiary hospitals. These patients were divided into groups based on whether they received lipiodol flush or not. Further stratification was applied to investigate the effect of lipiodol flush on pregnancy outcomes in RIF patients with different cycle type of embryo transferred.

The Potential Role of Genic-SSRs in Driving Ecological Adaptation Diversity in Plants.

, a xerophytic shrub genus widely distributed in northern China, exhibits distinctive geographical substitution patterns and ecological adaptation diversity. This study employed transcriptome sequencing technology to investigate 12 species, aiming to explore genic-SSR variations in the transcriptome and identify their role as a driving force for environmental adaptation within the genus. A total of 3666 polymorphic genic-SSRs were identified across different species.

Influence of maternal obesity on embryonic vitrification injury and subsequent pregnancy outcomes: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: We previously reported that obese mice had significantly high lipid content in embryos, and excessive lipids are detrimental to embryonic development. However, whether maternal obesity has an effect on embryonic vitrification injury and subsequent pregnancy outcomes is still controversial. This study was conducted to clarify the influence of maternal obesity on embryonic vitrification injury and subsequent pregnancy outcomes by in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI).

Asymmetric response of aboveground and belowground temporal stability to nitrogen and phosphorus addition in a Tibetan alpine grassland.

Anthropogenic eutrophication is known to impair the stability of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), but its effects on the stability of belowground (BNPP) and total (TNPP) net primary productivity remain poorly understood. Based on a nitrogen and phosphorus addition experiment in a Tibetan alpine grassland, we show that nitrogen addition had little impact on the temporal stability of ANPP, BNPP, and TNPP, whereas phosphorus addition reduced the temporal stability of BNPP and TNPP, but not ANPP. Significant interactive effects of nitrogen and phosphorus addition were observed on the stability of ANPP because of the opposite phosphorus effects under ambient and enriched nitrogen conditions.

Climate change filtered out resource-acquisitive plants in a temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia, China.

Global climate change has led to the decline of species and functional diversity in ecosystems, changing community composition and ecosystem functions. However, we still know little about how species with different resource-use strategies (different types of resource usage and plant growth of plants as indicated by the spectrum of plant economic traits, including acquisitive resource-use strategy and conservative resource-use strategy) would change in response to climate change, and how the changes in the diversity of species with different resource-use strategies may influence community-level productivity. Here, using long-term (1982-2017) observatory data in a temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia, we investigated how climate change had affected the species richness (SR) and functional richness (FRic) for the whole community and for species with different resource-use strategies.

Two interacting basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors control flowering time in rice.

Flowering time is one of the most important agronomic traits affecting the adaptation and yield of rice (Oryza sativa). Heading date 1 (Hd1) is a key factor in the photoperiodic control of flowering time. In this study, two basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors, Hd1 Binding Protein 1 (HBP1) and Partner of HBP1 (POH1) were identified as transcriptional regulators of Hd1.

Comparing the prognosis of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection and embryo transfer between unexplained primary infertility patients with repeated artificial insemination with homologous semen failure and tubal infertility patients.

Background: Both in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection and embryo transfer (ICSI-ET) have been recommended for unexplained primary infertility after recurrent artificial insemination with homologous semen failure (UAIHF), but few studies focused on the safety and efficiency of the IVF/ICSI-ET technique for these patients. In this study, we compared the IVF/ICSI-ET outcomes and perinatal and postnatal complications between UAIHF patients and tubal infertility (TI) patients.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of UAIHF and TI patients who underwent IVF/ICSI-ET at Guangxi Reproductive Medical Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from January 2012 to March 2021.

Stability and asynchrony of local communities but less so diversity increase regional stability of Inner Mongolian grassland.

Extending knowledge on ecosystem stability to larger spatial scales is urgently needed because present local-scale studies are generally ineffective in guiding management and conservation decisions of an entire region with diverse plant communities. We investigated stability of plant productivity across spatial scales and hierarchical levels of organization and analyzed impacts of dominant species, species diversity, and climatic factors using a multisite survey of Inner Mongolian grassland. We found that regional stability across distant local communities was related to stability and asynchrony of local communities.

Genomic Survey of Gene Family in Rice: Identification, Phylogenetic Analysis, and Expression Profiles in Organs and under Abiotic Stresses.

Phosphatidylethanolamine-binding-protein (PEBP) domain-containing proteins play important roles in multiple developmental processes of plants; however, functions of few members in the gene family have been elucidated in rice and other crops. In this study, we found that twenty genes identified in rice are not evenly distributed on the chromosomes. Four colinear pairs are identified, suggesting the duplication of during evolution.

Relationships Between Soil Microbial Diversities Across an Aridity Gradient in Temperate Grasslands : Soil Microbial Diversity Relationships.

Soil microbes assemble in highly complex and diverse microbial communities, and microbial diversity patterns and their drivers have been studied extensively. However, diversity correlations and co-occurrence patterns between bacterial, fungal, and archaeal domains and between microbial functional groups in arid regions remain poorly understood. Here we assessed the relationships between the diversity and abundance of bacteria, fungi, and archaea and explored how environmental factors influence these relationships.

LAZY1 Controls Tiller Angle and Shoot Gravitropism by Regulating the Expression of Auxin Transporters and Signaling Factors in Rice.

Tiller angle is a key factor determining rice plant architecture, planting density, light interception, photosynthetic efficiency, disease resistance and grain yield. However, the mechanisms underlying tiller angle control are far from clear. In this study, we identified a mutant, termed bta1-1, with an enlarged tiller angle throughout its life cycle.

Biotic stability mechanisms in Inner Mongolian grassland.

Biotic mechanisms associated with species diversity are expected to stabilize communities in theoretical and experimental studies but may be difficult to detect in natural communities exposed to large environmental variation. We investigated biotic stability mechanisms in a multi-site study across Inner Mongolian grassland characterized by large spatial variations in species richness and composition and temporal fluctuations in precipitation. We used a new additive-partitioning method to separate species synchrony and population dynamics within communities into different species-abundance groups.

Contrasting Biogeographic Patterns of Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity in the Top- and Subsoils of Temperate Grasslands.

Biogeographic patterns and drivers of soil microbial diversity have been extensively studied in the past few decades. However, most research has focused on the topsoil, while the subsoil is assumed to have microbial diversity patterns similar to those of the topsoil. Here we compared patterns and drivers of microbial alpha and beta diversity in and between topsoils (0 to 10 cm) and subsoils (30 to 50 cm) of temperate grasslands in Inner Mongolia of China, covering an ∼1,500-km transect along an aridity gradient.

Increasing water availability and facilitation weaken biodiversity-biomass relationships in shrublands.

Positive biodiversity-ecosystem-functioning (BEF) relationships are commonly found in experimental and observational studies, but how they vary in different environmental contexts and under the influence of coexisting life forms is still controversial. Investigating these variations is important for making predictions regarding the dynamics of plant communities and carbon pools under global change. We conducted this study across 433 shrubland sites in northern China.

Patterns of plant carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentration in relation to productivity in China's terrestrial ecosystems.

Plant nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content regulate productivity and carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. Estimates of the allocation of N and P content in plant tissues and the relationship between nutrient content and photosynthetic capacity are critical to predicting future ecosystem C sequestration under global change. In this study, by investigating the nutrient concentrations of plant leaves, stems, and roots across China's terrestrial biomes, we document large-scale patterns of community-level concentrations of C, N, and P.

Linking above- and belowground traits to soil and climate variables: an integrated database on China's grassland species.

Knowledge of plant functional traits and trait-environment interactions is important for characterizing species strategies and understanding ecological processes. However, comprehensive field data on both above- and belowground traits, together with their environmental variables are scarce. Biome-scale studies are particularly lacking.

Maternal obesity in mice not only affects fresh embryo quality but also aggravates injury due to vitrification.

Purpose: The aims of the present study are to identify the mechanism(s) whereby obesity impairs fresh embryos and to clarify the effects of vitrification on lipid droplet content within embryos from maternally obese mice.

Methods: The diet-induced obesity mouse model was established, and the zygotes were captured and cultured to day 3. The eight-cell embryos were selected and divided into fresh and vitrified groups.

Luteal-phase ovarian stimulation is a feasible method for poor ovarian responders undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer treatment compared to a GnRH antagonist protocol: A retrospective study.

Objective: Poor ovarian response to ovarian hyperstimulation is one of the biggest challenges in assisted reproduction technology. Although many stimulation protocols have been established to improve clinical outcomes in poor ovarian responders (PORs), which protocol is the most effective remains controversial. Luteal-phase ovarian stimulation (LPOS) has been used in normal ovarian responders with satisfactory outcomes.

[Research advance on angiogenesis in ischemic heart induced by aerobic exercise and stem cell mobilization].

Aerobic exercise has specific angiogenesis effect, also in the ischemic heart. But its mechanism has not been fully clarified. Coronary microvascular angiogenesis is the precondition of heart repair after myocardial infarction (MI).

Scaling of nitrogen and phosphorus across plant organs in shrubland biomes across Northern China.

Allocation of limiting resources, such as nutrients, is an important adaptation strategy for plants. Plants may allocate different nutrients within a specific organ or the same nutrient among different organs. In this study, we investigated the allocation strategies of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in leaves, stems and roots of 126 shrub species from 172 shrubland communities in Northern China using scaling analyses.

Increased topsoil carbon stock across China's forests.

Biomass carbon accumulation in forest ecosystems is a widespread phenomenon at both regional and global scales. However, as coupled carbon-climate models predicted, a positive feedback could be triggered if accelerated soil carbon decomposition offsets enhanced vegetation growth under a warming climate. It is thus crucial to reveal whether and how soil carbon stock in forest ecosystems has changed over recent decades.

Subclinical impairment of ovarian reserve in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with normal menstruation not using alkylating therapy.

Background: Disease activity is a major factor in menstrual disorders in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients not receiving alkylating therapy. However, the ovarian reserve of SLE women with normal menstruation is still unclear.

Methods: Twenty-three SLE patients naïve to cytotoxic agents (SLE group) and nineteen SLE patients receiving current or previous cyclophosphamide (CTX) therapy (without other cytotoxic agents; SLE-CTX group) were enrolled.

Obesity does not aggravate vitrification injury in mouse embryos: a prospective study.

Background: Obesity is associated with poor reproductive outcomes, but few reports have examined thawed embryo transfer in obese women. Many studies have shown that increased lipid accumulation aggravates vitrification injury in porcine and bovine embryos, but oocytes of these species have high lipid contents (63 ng and 161 ng, respectively). Almost nothing is known about lipids in human oocytes except that these cells are anecdotally known to be relatively lipid poor.