Iatrogenic genetic damage of spermatozoa.

Various factors that negatively influence male fertility can affect sperm morphology and physiology. Many studies on humans and animals suggest that both radiation and chemotherapy alter the sperm chromatin, inducing significant damage to sperm DNA, and decrease the level of protamination, thereby altering DNA compaction. Spermatozoa from cancer survivors are affected by chemotherapy even years after the end of treatment.

FGF18 augments osseointegration of intra-medullary implants in osteopenic FGFR3(-/-) mice.

Enhancement of endogenous bone regeneration is a priority for integration of joint replacement hardware with host bone for stable fixation of the prosthesis. Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) 18 regulates skeletal development and could therefore have applications for bone regeneration and skeletal repair. This study was designed to determine if treatment with FGF 18 would promote bone regeneration and integration of orthopedic hardware in FGF receptor 3 deficient (FGFR3(-/-)) mice, previously characterized with impaired bone formation.

VEGF-D(ilated) lymphatics as gateways to metastasis.

VEGF-C and VEGF-D have been implicated in lymphatic metastasis, mainly as inducers of new intra/peritumoral capillary lymphatics. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Karnezis and colleagues challenge this notion and demonstrate that tumor-derived VEGF-D promotes metastasis by causing prostaglandin-dependent dilation of collecting lymphatics outside of the tumor mass.

Is rigorous retrospective harmonization possible? Application of the DataSHaPER approach across 53 large studies.

Background: Proper understanding of the roles of, and interactions between genetic, lifestyle, environmental and psycho-social factors in determining the risk of development and/or progression of chronic diseases requires access to very large high-quality databases. Because of the financial, technical and time burdens related to developing and maintaining very large studies, the scientific community is increasingly synthesizing data from multiple studies to construct large databases. However, the data items collected by individual studies must be inferentially equivalent to be meaningfully synthesized.

Hydrogen peroxide modifies human sperm peroxiredoxins in a dose-dependent manner.

Low levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) modulate signaling pathways required for human sperm activation, but high levels impair sperm function, leading to infertility. Peroxiredoxins (PRDXs) are enzymes with a dual role as ROS scavengers and modulators of ROS-dependent signaling. The present study aimed to characterize PRDXs in human spermatozoa and possible modifications resulting from hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)).