Identification of the metabolites of nimbolide in rat by liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole/orbitrap mass spectrometry.

Nimbolide is a major furanoid compound isolated from Azadirachta indica. The aim of this study was to characterize the metabolites of nimbolide in rats and to propose the metabolic pathways. The metabolites were generated by incubating nimbolide (10 μM) with rat liver microsomes, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), and nucleophiles (glutathione [GSH] or N-acetyl-lysine [NAL]) at 37°C for 60 min.

Island-specific evolution of a sex-primed autosome in a sexual planarian.

The sexual strain of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, indigenous to Tunisia and several Mediterranean islands, is a hermaphrodite. Here we isolate individual chromosomes and use sequencing, Hi-C and linkage mapping to assemble a chromosome-scale genome reference. The linkage map reveals an extremely low rate of recombination on chromosome 1.

Validation of preimplantation genetic tests for aneuploidy (PGT-A) with DNA from spent culture media (SCM): concordance assessment and implication.

Background: Spent culture medium (SCM) as a source of DNA for preimplantation genetic tests aneuploidy (PGT-A) has been widely discussed.

Methods: Seventy-five blastocysts that were donated for research provided a unique possibility in which multiple specimens, including trophectoderm (TE) biopsy, SCM, and paired corresponding whole blastocyst (WB) specimens from the same blastocyst source, could be utilized for the purpose of this preclinical validation.

Results: To conduct a validation ploidy concordance assessment, we evaluated the full chromosomal concordance rates between SCM and WB (SCM-to-WB), and between TE and WB (TE-to-WB) as well as sensitivity, specificity and overall diagnostic accuracy.

Organoids as Novel Models for Embryo Implantation Study.

In the last decade, organoids have become emerging novel models for biomedical research. Organoids are small, self-organized three-dimensional (3D) tissue cultures derived from stem cells that mimic certain tissues or organs. In reproductive medicine, researchers have generated numerous organoids including blastoid (blastocyst organoid), endometrial organoid, and trophoblast organoid.

Single Cell Genetics and Epigenetics in Early Embryo: From Oocyte to Blastocyst.

Single cell technology has enormously changed the landscape of biomedical science, including single cell omics, gene editing, single cell imaging, single cell (embryo) manipulate, or non-invasive micro-test. Single cell technology also leads the research area of early embryo from basic research to reproductive medical application. We got the knowledge of programming/reprogramming and the epigenetics dynamics in the cell lineage differentiation.

The PADI4 gene does not contribute to genetic susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis in Chinese Han population.

The Peptidyl arginine deiminase, type IV (PADI4) gene has been suggested to have an association with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in several populations. But its role in Chinese RA is not clarified. We investigated five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PADI4 as PADI4-89 (rs11203366), PADI4-90 (rs11203367), PADI4-92 (rs874881) PADI4-94 (rs2240340), and PADI4-104 (rs1748033) in Chinese Han population.