Impact of vaccination against COVID-19 on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer: a retrospective cohort study / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become the primary approach in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. Studies have shown that vaccination against COVID-19 has adverse effects, particularly on human reproductive health, despite the fact that vaccination rates are still on the rise. However, few studies have reported whether vaccination affects the outcome of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or not. In this study, we compared the outcome of IVF-ET and the development of follicles and embryos between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups.@*METHODS@#A single-center retrospective cohort study of 10,541 in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles was conducted from June 2020 to August 2021. 835 IVF cycles with a history of vaccination against COVID-19 and 1670 IVF cycles that served as negative controls were selected and analyzed utilizing the Matchlt package of R software ( http://www.R-project.org/ ) and the nearest neighbor matching algorithm for propensity-matched analysis at a 1:2 ratio.@*RESULTS@#The number of oocytes collected in the vaccinated group and the unvaccinated group were 8.00 (0, 40.00) and 9.00 (0, 77.00) ( P  = 0.073) and the good-quality embryo rates of the two groups were 0.56±0.32 and 0.56±0.31 averagely ( P  = 0.964). Clinical pregnancy rates for the vaccinated group and unvaccinated group were 42.4% (155/366) and 40.2% (328/816) ( P  = 0.486) and biochemical pregnancy rates were 7.1% (26/366) and 8.7% (71/816) ( P  = 0.355). Two other factors were analyzed in this study; vaccination among different genders and different types (inactivated vaccine or recombinant adenovirus vaccine) showed no statistically significant effect on the above outcomes.@*CONCLUSIONS@#In our findings, vaccination against COVID-19 showed no statistically significant effect on the outcomes of IVF-ET and the development of follicles and embryos, nor did the gender of the vaccinated person or the formulation of vaccines show significant effects.

Clinical characteristics of severe late-onset ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and its impact on the live birth outcome of IVF-ET / 中华妇产科杂志

Objective:To investigate the correlation between different clinical features and live birth in patients with severe late-onset ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) after in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET).Methods:The clinical information of 330 patients who were pregnant after IVF-ET and referred to medical treatments diagnosed as late-onset severe OHSS in Peking University Third Hospital from January 2016 to December 2020 was retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into live birth achieved group ( n=287) and non-live birth achieved group ( n=43) according to pregnancy outcomes, and live birth achieved group was further divided into two subgroups, full-term birth group ( n=222) and early-term birth group ( n=65) according to gestational week at delivery for better analysis. Single factor and multi-factor analysis were utilized to clarify the influencing factors of both live birth and early-term birth. Results:Among all the patients who received IVF-ET, the incidence of severe OHSS was 0.67% (673/100 758). Among 330 severe late-onset OHSS patients, 42.4% (140/330) had pleural effusion, the incidence of abnormal liver function was 69.4% (229/330), and the live birth rate was 87.0% (287/330). Among the 287 patients who achieved live birth, 55.4% (159/287) had no pleural effusion, 18.5% (53/287) had a small amount of pleural effusion, and 26.1% (75/287) had medium or massive pleural effusion; in the non-live birth achieved group, there were more patients without pleural effusion and less patients with a small amount of pleural effusion; the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=6.213, P=0.045). The rate of selective fetal reduction in live birth achieved group was 16.0% (46/287), which was significantly higher than that in the non-live birth achieved group, which was 2.3% (1/43; χ2=5.749, P=0.017). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that moderately abnormal liver function was an independent risk factor for live birth ( OR=3.15, 95% CI: 1.60-6.19), while selective fetal reduction was an independent protective factor for live birth ( OR=0.13, 95% CI: 0.02-0.96). Additionally, subgroup analysis suggested that twin birth was an independent risk factor for preterm birth ( OR=8.54, 95% CI: 4.31-16.91). Conclusions:Moderate hepatic dysfunction may be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in patients with severe late-onset OHSS. Selective fetal reduction and singleton pregnancy are recommended to ameliorate live birth rate, full-term delivery rate, also the maternal and neonatal prognosis for patients with multiple pregnancies.

Packaging and identification of miR-137 overexpression lentivirus / 吉林大学学报(医学版)

Objective:To construct lentiviral vector which can overexpression miR-137 and produce lentivirus by lentivirus packaging system, and to explore its infection efficiency and expression in HEK293T cells.Methods: miR-137 sequence was chemically synthesized and cloned into lentiviral vector GV209, and the recombinant plasmid containing human miR-137 was obtained and identified.Then miR-137 recombinant plasmid together with two helper plasmids were transfected into HEK293T cells using Lipofectamine 2000.After the HEK293T cells were infected in multiplicity of infection(MOI) 40 for 48 h, the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) was observed by fluorescence microscope and the expression level of miR-137 was detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR.Results:The sequencing results showed that the inserted gene sequence was completely consistent with the published human miR-137 gene sequence in GenBank.The GFP was observed in the HEK293T cells infected with miR-137 overexpression lentivirus under fluorescence microscope.The fluorescence quantitative PCR results showed that the expression level of miR-137 in the cells infected with overexpression lentivirus was 12.74 times higher than that in the control cells.Conclusion:The lentivirus containing miR-137 gene is successful packaged, and it could efficiently infect the HEK293T cells.

Association of a miRNA-137 rs1625579 polymorphism with neurocognitive function in patients with schizophrenia / 天津医药

Objective To investigate the aassociation of a microRNA-137 (miR-137) polymorphism, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1625579, with neurocognitive function in patients with schizophrenia. Methods A total of 250 patients with schizophrenia were included in this study. The positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) was used to evaluate patients. The brief assessment of cognition in schizophrenia (BACS) scale was used to determine neurocongnitive functions in patients. Blood samples of patients were collected, and SNaPshot technique was used to compare the neurocognitive functions of different genotypes of rs1625579. Results The genotypes of TT, GT and GG were 221 (88.4%), 28 (11.2%) and 1(0.4%). There was no significant difference in PANSS score between TT genotype carriers and G allele (GG+GT) carriers. The detection of BACS showed that the digit sequencing score was significantly lower in patients with TT genotype than that of G allele (GG+GT) carrier ( P<0.05). There were no significant differences in other scores of BACS evaluation between two groups of patients. Conclusion The miR-137 polymorphism influences the working memory performance of schizophrenic patients in Chinese Han population.

Study on plasminogen and BDNF expression in the hippocampus of depression rat mode and its relationship / 重庆医学

Objective To study on the relationship between plasminogen and brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF),and explain the molecular mechanism of depression ,then provide new clew for diagnosis and treatment of depression .Methods The chronic unpredictable mild depression rat mode was established ,then depression symptoms including absence of delight ,the decline of actions and activities ,and weight reduction of rat were tested .The levels of individual plasminogen and BDNF in hippocampus were determined by Western blot .Results The expression of BDNF and plasminogen in depression rat mode and control group was significantly different(P<0 .01) ,and there was a positive correlation between BDNF and plasminogen(r=0 .65 ,P<0 .01) .Accord-ing to the linear-regression analysis ,there was a dependence relationship between them(r2 =0 .423) .The equation of regression was YBDNF=0 .750XPlasminogen +0 .201 .Conclusion Stress could affect the growth and survival of nerve cell ,which lead to the depression behavior of rats ,meanwhile ,the decline of plasminogen and BDNF levels ,the positive correlation between them illustrate that plas-minogen and BDNF take part in the mechanism of depression .

Effects of nano-lead exposure on learning and memory as well as iron homeostasis in brain of offspring rats / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of nano-lead exposure on learning and memory and iron homeostasis in the brain of the offspring rats on postnatal day 21 (PND21) and postnatal day 42 (PND42).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty adult pregnant female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group and nano-lead group. Rats in the nano-lead group were orally administrated 10 mg/kg nano-lead, while rats in the control group were administrated an equal volume of normal saline until PND21. On PND21, the offspring rats were weaned and given the same treatment as the pregnant rats until 42 days after birth. The learning and memory ability of offspring rats on PND21 and PND42 was evaluated by Morris water maze test. The hippocampus and cortex s amples of offspring rats on PND21 and PND42 were collected to determine iron and lead levels in the hippocampus and cortex by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The distributions of iron in the hippocampus and cortex were observed by Perl's iron staining. The expression levels of ferritin, ferroportin 1 (FPN1), hephaestin (HP), and ceruloplasmin (CP) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After nano-lead exposure, the iron content in the cortex of offspring rats on PND21 and PND42 in the nano-lead group was significantly higher than those in the control group (32.63 ± 6.03 µg/g vs 27.04 ± 5.82 µg/g, P<0.05; 46.20 ±10.60 µg/g vs 36.61 ± 10.2µg/g, P<0.05). The iron content in the hippocampus of offspring rats on PND42 in the nano-lead group was significantly higher than that in the control group (56.9 ± 4.37µg/g vs 37.71 ± 6.92µg/g, P<0.05). The Perl's staining showed massive iron deposition in the cortex and hippocampus in the nano-lead group. FPNl level in the cotfex of offspring rats on PND21 in the nano-lead group was significantly lower than that in the control group (3.64 ± 0.23 ng/g vs 4.99 ± 0.95 ng/g, P<0.05). FPN1 level in the hippocampus of offspring rats on PND42 in the nano-lead group was significantly lower than that in the control group (2.28 ± 0.51 ng/g vs 3.69 ± 0.69 ng/g, P<0.05). The escape latencies of offspring rats on PND21 and PND42 in the nano-lead group were longer than those in the control group (15.54 ± 2.89 s vs 9.01 ± 4.66 s; 6.16 ± 1.42 s vs 4.26 ± 1.51 s). The numbers of platform crossings of offspring rats on PND21 and PND42 in the nano- lead group were significantly lower than those in the control group (7.77 ± 2.16 times vs 11.2 ± 1.61 times, P<0.05; 8.12 ± 1.51 times vs 13.0 ± 2.21 times, P<0.05).</p><p><b>ONCLUSION</b>n Nano-lead exposure can result in iron homeostasis disorders in the hippocampus and cortex of offspring rats and affect their learning and memory ability.</p>