A study of correlation of endometrial morphology and subendometrial vascularity with pregnancy rate in fresh and frozen embryo transfer cycles

Background: Aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation of endometrial morphology and sub endometrial vascularity with pregnancy rate in fresh and frozen embryo transfer cycles.Methods: Prospective, non-randomized observational study done on 76 women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) treatment at a tertiary health care center. Woman with tubal factor, male factor and unexplained infertility were included in the study. Parameters like endometrial thickness, endometrial pattern, endometrial blood flow were correlated to clinical outcomes such as implantation and clinical pregnancy rates. Independent two-tailed t-test and chi-square test was used as a part of statistical analysis.Results: There is no significant difference in distribution of mean age, mean duration of infertility, cause of infertility, mean basal follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), progesterone (P4), anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), total gonadotropin dose, median E2 (on day of trigger), median P4 (on day of trigger), number of embryos transferred and endometrial thickness between group of cases with positive and negative pregnancy in our study group. Whereas body mass index (BMI), blastocyst quality of embryo transferred, triple-line pattern of endometrium and endometrial blood flow reaching zone 4 were found to be significant in the study group.Conclusions: A combination of endometrial thickness and Doppler analysis of endometrial blood flow was a simple and effective tool to improve pregnancy rates in hormone replacement treatment-frozen embryo transfer (HRT-FET) cycles and should be incorporated into routine clinical practice. In addition, this can help us reduce the number of embryos to be transferred and hence, the multiple pregnancies and the associated complications.

Techniques of wastewater treatment. 1. Introduction to effluent treatment and industrial methods

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A non-interventional, cross-sectional study to analyse the quality of life of infertile patients at rural medical college

Background: World health organization (WHO) estimates that 60 to 80 million couples worldwide currently suffer from infertility and in India, of the 8.8% infertility prevalence, 6.7% women have primary infertility and 2.1% women have secondary infertility Objectives were to assess the quality of life of infertile patients and to appreciate the physical, mental, social, and psychological sufferings of infertile patients.Methods: The 54 sequential infertility patients visiting gynecology OPD at SMBT IMS were self-administered a pre-validated questionnaire having 26 questions, divided into 3 components 1. Physical and psychological health of infertile patients. 2. Marital relationships of infertile patients. 3. Self-assessment of social status.Results: Out of 54 responders, 32 participants were female and 22 were male. Maximum responders had Primary infertility. In our study 46% responders felt they were sad and depressed, and 37% feel infertility makes them angry in their physical, social and work life, 35% responders felt it was difficult to talk to their about infertility. The 24% had severe form of physical pain and discomfort and 48% people were dissatisfied with their sexual relationship, 46% felt uncomfortable and incomplete attending social situations like holidays and celebrations as they felt they were topic of discussion all the time.Conclusions: This study, hopes to generate an empathetic approach among the masses towards patients with infertility. It might help to highlight the need for separate infertility OPDs and to include a psychological counseling dimension to the treatment of infertilit

RADAR: a web server for RNA data analysis and research

RADAR is a web server that provides a multitude of functionality for RNA data analysis and research. It can align structure-annotated RNA sequences so that both sequence and structure information are taken into consideration during the alignment process. This server is capable of performing pairwise structure alignment, multiple structure alignment, database search and clustering. In addition, RADAR provides two salient features: (i) constrained alignment of RNA secondary structures, and (ii) prediction of the consensus structure for a set of RNA sequences. RADAR will be able to assist scientists in performing many important RNA mining operations, including the understanding of the functionality of RNA sequences, the detection of RNA structural motifs and the clustering of RNA molecules, among others. The web server together with a software package for download is freely accessible at http://datalab.njit.edu/biodata/rna/RSmatch/server.htm and http://www.ccrnp.ncifcrf.gov/~bshapiro

Directed differentiation into insulin-producing cells using microRNA manipulation

Our commentary is focused on three studies that used microRNA overexpression methods for directed differentiation of stem cells into insulin-producing cells. Islet transplantation is the only cell-based therapy used to treat type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, due to the scarcity of cadaveric donors and limited availability of good quality and quantity of islets for transplant, alternate sources of insulin-producing cells are being studied and used by researchers. This commentary provides an overview of distinct studies focused on manipulating microRNA expression to optimize differentiation of embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells into insulin-producing cells. These studies have used different approaches to overexpress micro-RNAs that are highly abundant in human islets (such as miR-375 and miR-7) in their differentiation protocol to achieve better differentiation into functional islet beta (β)-cells

Short-chain fatty acid concentrations in the incidence and risk-stratification of colorectal cancer:a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The beneficial role of gut microbiota and bacterial metabolites, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), is well recognized, although the available literature around their role in colorectal cancer (CRC) has been inconsistent. METHODS: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the associations of fecal SCFA concentrations to the incidence and risk of CRC. Data extraction through Medline, Embase, and Web of Science was carried out from database conception to June 29, 2022. Predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria led to the selection of 17 case-control and six cross-sectional studies for quality assessment and analyses. Studies were categorized for CRC risk or incidence, and RevMan 5.4 was used to perform the meta-analyses. Standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using a random-effects model. Studies lacking quantitation were included in qualitative analyses. RESULTS: Combined analysis of acetic, propionic, and butyric acid revealed significantly lower concentrations of these SCFAs in individuals with a high-risk of CRC (SMD = 2.02, 95% CI 0.31 to 3.74, P = 0.02). Additionally, CRC incidence was higher in individuals with lower levels of SCFAs (SMD = 0.45, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.72, P = 0.0009), compared to healthy individuals. Qualitative analyses identified 70.4% of studies reporting significantly lower concentrations of fecal acetic, propionic, butyric acid, or total SCFAs in those at higher risk of CRC, while 66.7% reported significantly lower concentrations of fecal acetic and butyric acid in CRC patients compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, lower fecal concentrations of the three major SCFAs are associated with higher risk of CRC and incidence of CRC. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12916-022-02529-4

MicroRNAs as prognostic markers in acute coronary syndrome patients : a systematic review

Background: The potential utility of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of multiple disease states has been an area of great interest since their discovery. In patients with cardiovascular disease, there is a large pool of literature amassed from the last decade assessing their diagnostic and prognostic potential. This systematic review sought to determine whether existing literature supports the use of miRNAs as prognostic markers after an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) presentation. Methods: A systematic review of published articles from 2005-2019 using MEDLINE and EMBASE databases was undertaken independently by two reviewers. Studies addressing prognosis in an ACS population yielded 32 studies and 2 systematic reviews. Results/conclusion: 23 prospective studies reported significant differences in miRNA levels and 16 compared the predictive power of miRNAs. The most common miRNAs assessed included miR-133a, -208b, -21, -1, -34a, -150, and -423, shown to be involved in cell differentiation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. Barriers to the use of miRNAs as prognostic markers include bias in miRNA selection, small sample size, variable normalization of data, and adjustment for confounders. Therefore, findings from this systematic review do not support the use of miRNAs for prognostication post-ACS beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors, existing risk scores, and stratifications tools

The Role of PhD Faculty in Advancing Research in Departments of Surgery

OBJECTIVE: To determine the academic contribution as measured by number of publications, citations, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding from PhD scientists in US departments of surgery. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: The number of PhD faculty working in US medical school clinical departments now exceeds the number working in basic science departments. The academic impact of PhDs in surgery has not been previously evaluated. METHODS: Academic metrics for 3850 faculties at the top 55 NIH-funded university and hospital-based departments of surgery were collected using NIH RePORTER, Scopus, and departmental websites. RESULTS: MD/PhDs and PhDs had significantly higher numbers of publications and citations than MDs, regardless of academic or institutional rank. PhDs had the greatest proportion of NIH funding compared to both MDs and MD/PhDs. Across all academic ranks, 50.2% of PhDs had received NIH funding compared with 15.2% of MDs and 33.9% of MD/PhDs (P < 0.001). The proportion of PhDs with NIH funding in the top 10 departments did not differ from those working in departments ranked 11 to 50 (P = 0.456). A greater percentage of departmental PhD faculty was associated with increased rates of MD funding. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of dedicated research faculty with PhDs supports the academic mission of surgery departments by increasing both NIH funding and scholarly productivity. In contrast to MDs and MD/PhDs, PhDs seem to have similar levels of academic output and funding independent of the overall NIH funding environment of their department. This suggests that research programs in departments with limited resources may be enhanced by the recruitment of PhD faculty

An optimised step-by-step protocol for measuring relative telomere length

Telomeres represent the nucleotide repeat sequences at the ends of chromosomes and are essential for chromosome stability. They can shorten at each round of DNA replication mainly because of incomplete DNA synthesis of the lagging strand. Reduced relative telomere length is associated with aging and a range of disease states. Different methods such as terminal restriction fragment analysis, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and fluorescence in situ hybridization are available to measure telomere length; however, the qPCR-based method is commonly used for large population-based studies. There are multiple variations across qPCR-based methods, including the choice of the single-copy gene, primer sequences, reagents, and data analysis methods in the different reported studies so far. Here, we provide a detailed step-by-step protocol that we have optimized and successfully tested in the hands of other users. This protocol will help researchers interested in measuring relative telomere lengths in cells or across larger clinical cohort/study samples to determine associations of telomere length with health and disease