Endocrinology: Nuclear maturity and oocyte morphology after stimulation with highly purified follicle stimulating hormone compared to human menopausal gonadotrophin

Several studies have shown that high concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the follicular phase of stimulation can have a negative effect on oocyte quality, pregnancy rate and incidence of miscarriage. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of highly purified follicle stimulating hormone (FSH HP) on ovarian stimulation and particularly on nuclear maturity and morphological appearance of the oocyte in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) therapy and to compare the results with human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) stimulation. For this purpose, 50 patients for ICSI (HMG: 30; FSH HP: 20) and 26 patients for in-vitro fertilization (TVF; HMG: 14, FSH HP: 12) were stimulated with either HMG of FSH HP using a short-term protocol. Patients were divided into the two groups according to the first letter of their family name. No differences were observed among the groups in relation to patient age, duration of stimulation, number of aspirated oocytes or maturity of the oocyte-cumulus complex. After removal of the cumulus-corona cells in the ICSI oocytes, a significantly higher proportion of oocytes in the FSH HP group were nuclear mature (metaphase II) than in the HMG group (FSH HP: 88.8%, HMG: 80.6%; P = 0.009). Furthermore, in the FSH HP group, significantly fewer oocytes with dark cytoplasm were observed (FSH HP: 14.4%, HMG: 22.4%; P = 0.02). Fertilization, cleavage and pregnancy rates (FSH HP 38%, HMG: 34% per retrieval) were comparable in both groups. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the short-term FSH HP treatment protocol synchronizes oocyte maturation better than comparable stimulation with HM

Cell nuclei detection using globally optimal active contours with shape prior

Cell nuclei detection in fluorescent microscopic images is an important and time consuming task for a wide range of biological applications. Blur, clutter, bleed through and partial occlusion of nuclei make this a challenging task for automated detection of individual nuclei using image analysis. This paper proposes a novel and robust detection method based on the active contour framework. The method exploits prior knowledge of the nucleus shape in order to better detect individual nuclei. The method is formulated as the optimization of a convex energy function. The proposed method shows accurate detection results even for clusters of nuclei where state of the art methods fail

Abnormal chromosomal arrangements in human oocytes

Ninety-one human oocytes, lacking signs of fertilization 50 h after insemination in vitro, were investigated cytogenetically to assess the frequency and type of chromosomal abnormalities. Chromosome spreading permitted adequate karyotyping in 55 oocytes. Non-determined numerical aberrations occurred with the following frequencies: hypohaploidy, 10.9% (6/55), hyperhapJoidy, 14.5% (8/55) and hyperdiploidy, 3.6% (2/55). Total aneuploidy occurred with a frequency of 29.1% and was observed in oocytes from 30 patients. No correlation was found between specific chromosomal aberrations and type of infertility, stimulation treatment or gonadotrophin levels. On the other hand, the frequency of aneuploidy was significantly higher (P 35 years of age. Two chromosomal complements (3.6%) had structural rearrangements; one oocyte had both structural and numerical chromosomal abnormalities and the other had differently condensed regions on the long arms of three chromosomes from group C. The overall frequency of chromosomal aberrations was 32.7%. Only two samples contained an additional set of polar body chromosomes. Thirteen oocytes presented sperm chromosomes in an arrested stage of premature chromosome condensation of the G1, phase and four oocytes showed asynchronous condensation of pronuclear chromosomes. Finally, it was concluded that the high proportion of chromosomal aberrations observed in human oocytes may contribute significantly to abnormal embryonic development in vitr

Generalised Moore spectra in a triangulated category

In this paper we consider a construction in an arbitrary triangulated category T which resembles the notion of a Moore spectrum in algebraic topology. Namely, given a compact object C of T satisfying some finite tilting assumptions, we obtain a functor which "approximates" objects of the module category of the endomorphism algebra of C in T. This generalises and extends a construction of Jorgensen in connection with lifts of certain homological functors of derived categories. We show that this new functor is well-behaved with respect to short exact sequences and distinguished triangles, and as a consequence we obtain a new way of embedding the module category in a triangulated category. As an example of the theory, we recover Keller's canonical embedding of the module category of a path algebra of a quiver with no oriented cycles into its u-cluster category for u>1.Comment: 26 pages, improvement to exposition of the proof of Theorem 3.

Identification of nitric oxide synthase in human and bovine oviduct

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is responsible for the biological production of nitric oxide (NO) in several organs. NOS activity has also been localized in the reproductive tract, although direct evidence for its presence in the human or bovine oviduct is still lacking. In the present study, four different techniques were used to identify the presence of NOS activity in human (n = 11) and bovine (n = 9) oviduct: (i) conversion of [3H]-L-arginine to [3H]-L-citrulline; (ii) production of nitrite/nitrate (NO2/NO3; stable NO metabolites); (iii) identification of NADPH-diaphorase activity; and (iv) immunostaining with antiserum to endothelial NOS. Cytosolic extracts from human ampullary segments of the Fallopian tube, obtained from post-partum patients (n = 4), converted [3H]-L-arginine to [3H]-L-citrulline (21.0 ± 8.8 fmol/mg protein/min). This conversion rate was significantly (P <0.05) reduced in the presence of either EDTA or N-monomethyl-L-arginine monoacetate (L-NMMA), an inhibitor of NOS activity. When bovine (n = 3) ampullary segments were incubated for 36 h in Hanks' balanced salt solution, the concentration of NO2/NO3 in the medium was increased (P <0.05) if segments were pretreated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; an inducer of inducible NOS), but not after treatment with LPS + L-NMMA. Additionally, epithelial cells cultured from ampullary segments showed positive staining both for NADPH-diaphorase activity and with antiserum to endothelial NOS. The results of the present study provide direct evidence for the presence of both the Ca2+ -dependent constitutive form of NOS, as well as the inducible form of NOS activity in human and bovine oviduct. Since the oviduct plays a key role in the reproductive process, it is possible that the two forms of NOS may be involved in the physiological regulation of oviduct functio

Mode structure and ray dynamics of a parabolic dome microcavity

We consider the wave and ray dynamics of the electromagnetic field in a parabolic dome microcavity. The structure of the fundamental s-wave involves a main lobe in which the electromagnetic field is confined around the focal point in an effective volume of the order of a cubic wavelength, while the modes with finite angular momentum have a structure that avoids the focal area and have correspondingly larger effective volume. The ray dynamics indicates that the fundamental s-wave is robust with respect to small geometrical deformations of the cavity, while the higher order modes are associated with ray chaos and short-lived. We discuss the incidence of these results on the modification of the spontaneous emission dynamics of an emitter placed in such a parabolic dome microcavity.Comment: 50 pages, 17 figure