Protective Effect of Minocycline Hydrochloride on the Mouse Embryonic Development Against Suboptimal Environment.

Numerous studies have reported how inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) was determined during the process of early mouse embryonic development from zygotes into organized blastocysts, however, multiple mysteries still remain. It is noteworthy that pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which are derived from embryos at different developmental stages, have identical developmental potential and molecular characteristics to their counterpart embryos. Advances of PSCs research may provide us a distinctive perspective of deciphering embryonic development mechanism. Minocycline hydrochloride (MiH), a critical component for maintaining medium of novel type of extended pluripotent stem cells, which possesses developmental potential similar to both ICM and TE, can be substituted with genetic disruption of Parp1 in our previous study. Though Parp1-deficient mouse ESCs are more susceptible to differentiate into trophoblast derivatives, what role of MiH plays in mouse preimplantation embryonic development is still a subject of concern. Here, by incubating mouse zygotes in a medium containing MiH till 100 h after fertilization, we found that MiH could slow down embryonic developmental kinetics during cleavage stage without impairing blastocyst formation potential. Olaparib and Talazoparib, two FDA approved PARP1 inhibitors, exhibited similar effects on mouse embryos, indicating the aforementioned effects of MiH were through inhibiting of PARP1. Besides, we showed an embryonic protective role of MiH against suboptimal environment including long term exposure to external environment and H2O2 treatment, which could mimic inevitable manipulation during embryo culture procedures in clinical IVF laboratory. To our knowledge, it is not only for the first time to study MiH in the field of embryo development, but also for the first time to propose MiH as a protective supplement for embryo culture, giving the way to more studies on exploring the multiple molecular mechanisms on embryonic development that might be useful in assisted reproductive technology.

Single Crystal Halide Perovskite Film for Nonlinear Resistive Memory with Ultrahigh Switching Ratio.

Morre's law is coming to an end only if the memory industry can keep stuffing the devices with new functionality. Halide perovskite acts as a promising candidate for application in next-generation nonvolatile memory. As is well known, the switching ratio is the key device requirement of resistive memory to improve recognition accuracy. Here, the authors introduce an all-inorganic halide perovskite CsPbBr3 single crystal film (SCF) into resistive memory as an active layer. The Ag/CsPbBr3 /Ag memory cells exhibit reproducible resistive switching with an ultrahigh switching ratio (over 109 ) and a fast switching speed (1.8 µs). It is studied that the Schottky barrier of metal/CsPbBr3 SCF contact follows the tendency of Schottky-Mott theory, and the Fermi level pinning effect is effectively reduced. The interface S parameter of metal/CsPbBr3 SCF contact is 0.50, suggesting a great interface contact is formed. The great interface contact contributes to the steady high resistance state (HRS), and then the steady HRS leads to an ultrahigh resistive switching ratio. This work demonstrates high performance from halide perovskite SCF-based memory. The introduction of halide perovskite SCF in resistive random access memory provides great potential as an alternative in future computing systems.

Clinical and neonatal outcomes of intrauterine insemination with frozen donor sperm.

This retrospective study evaluated the association between frozen donor sperm used for intrauterine insemination and clinical and neonatal outcomes, including 304 singleton pregnancies resulting from artificial insemination by the husband (AIH) and 173 singleton pregnancies resulting from artificial insemination by a donor (AID). The clinical outcomes for AID showed no increased risk of abortion, ectopic pregnancy or pregnancy complications compared to those for AIH. There were no differences in gender, gestational age or prematurity of live births between the two groups. However, the birthweight of live births from AID was significantly higher than that from AIH. Moreover, the AID group exhibited no increased risk of stillbirths or fetal defects compared to the AIH group. These results indicate that frozen donor sperm did not increase the occurrence of adverse clinical and neonatal outcomes when compared to sperm from the husband. ABBREVIATIONS: AID: artificial insemination by a donor; AIH: artificial insemination by the husband; ART: assisted reproduction technology; FET: frozen embryo transfer; IVF: in vitro fertilization; ICSI: intracytoplasmic sperm injection; IUI: intrauterine insemination; LBW: low birth weight.

Effects of preanalytical frozen storage time and temperature on screening coagulation tests and factors VIII and IX activity.

Preanalytical quality control of blood samples is critical for tests of coagulation function and coagulation factor activity. Preanalytical storage time and temperature are the main variables. We investigated the effects of preanalytical frozen storage time and temperature on activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (Fbg), prothrombin time (PT)/international normalized ratio (INR), thrombin time (TT), factor VIII activity (FVIII:C), and factor IX activity (FIX:C) in frozen plasma. Samples (n = 144) were randomly and equally divided into four groups (storage at -80 °C or -20 °C) and analysed by CS5100 or CA7000 coagulation analysers. Baseline values and results after storage for 15 days, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year were measured after thawing. Mean percent changes and scatter plots were used to determine clinically relevant differences. The stabilities of coagulation tests and coagulation factor activities measured by the CS5100 system were consistent with those measured by the CA7000 system. At -80 °C, assessment samples of PT/INR, Fbg, and TT can be safely stored for 1 year, APTT for 6 months, and FVIII:C and FIX:C for 1 month. At -20 °C, samples of Fbg and TT can be stored for 1 year, PT/INR and FIX:C for 1 month, and APTT and FVIII:C for 15 days.