ABSTRACT
The study assessed the developmental potential of germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes subjected to in vitro maturation (IVM) after prematuration culture with cilostamide (a phosphodiesterase-3 inhibitor) and the impact of cilostamide exposure on the morphology of meiosis II (MII) oocytes and subsequent embryo quality. Methods: In total, 994 oocytes were collected from 63 patients. Among 307 GV oocytes, 140 oocytes were selected for the experimental group and 130 oocytes for the control group. The denuded GV-stage oocytes were cultured for 6 hours with cilostamide in the experimental group and without cilostamide in the control group. After 6 hours, the oocytes in the experimental group were washed and transferred to fresh IVM medium. The maturational status of the oocytes in both groups was examined at 26, 36, and 48 hours. Fertilization was assessed at 18 hours post-intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Embryo quality was assessed on days 3 and 5. Results: In total, 92.1% of the oocytes remained in the GV stage, while 6.4% converted to the MI stage (p0.05). With the advent of cilostamide, blastocyst quality was better in the experimental group than in the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Cilostamide effectively blocked nuclear maturation and promoted cytoplasmic growth. Prematuration culture with cilostamide enabled synchronization between cytoplasmic and nuclear maturity, resulting in better blastocyst outcomes.
ABSTRACT
Sex determination is the preliminary step in every forensic investigation and the hard palate assumes significance in cranial sexing in cases involving burns and explosions due to its resistant nature and secluded location. This study analyzes the sexing potential of incisive foramen to posterior nasal spine length, palatine process of maxilla length, horizontal plate of palatine bone length and transverse length between the greater palatine foramina. The study deviates from the conventional method of measuring the maxillo-alveolar length and breadth as the dimensions considered in this study are more heat resistant and useful in situations with damaged alveolar margins. The study involves 50 male and 50 female adult dry skulls of Indian ethnic group. The dimensions measured were statistically analyzed using Student's t test, binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve. It was observed that the incisive foramen to posterior nasal spine length is a definite sex marker with sex predictability of 87.2%. The palatine process of maxilla length with 66.8% sex predictability and the horizontal plate of palatine bone length with 71.9% sex predictability cannot be relied upon as definite sex markers. The transverse length between the greater palatine foramina is statistically insignificant in sexing crania (P=0.318). Considering a significant overlap of values in both the sexes the palatal dimensions singularly cannot be relied upon for sexing. Nevertheless, considering the high sex predictability of incisive foramen to posterior nasal spine length this dimension can definitely be used to supplement other sexing evidence available to precisely conclude the cranial sex.