Higher Concentrations of Essential Trace Elements in Women Undergoing IVF May Be Associated with Poor Reproductive Outcomes Following Single Euploid Embryo Transfer.

Essential trace elements are micronutrients whose deficiency has been associated with altered fertility and/or adverse pregnancy outcomes, while surplus may be toxic. The concentrations of eight essential trace elements were measured using inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and assessed with respect to clinical in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes in a population of 51 women undergoing IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), pre-implantation genetic screening for aneuploidy (PGT-A), and single frozen euploid embryo transfer (SET/FET). Specifically, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), molybdenum, selenium, lithium, iron, chromium, and manganese were quantified in follicular fluid and whole blood collected the day of vaginal oocyte retrieval (VOR) and in urine collected the day of VOR and embryo transfer. We found that the whole blood Cu/Zn ratio was significantly associated with superior responses to ovarian stimulation. Conversely, the whole blood zinc and selenium concentrations were significantly associated with poor ovarian response outcomes. Higher levels of whole blood zinc and selenium, urinary selenium, lithium, and iron had significant negative associations with embryologic outcomes following IVF. Regarding clinical IVF outcomes, higher urinary molybdenum concentrations the day of VOR were associated with significantly lower odds of implantation and live birth, while higher urinary Cu/Mo ratios on the day of VOR were associated with significantly higher odds of implantation, clinical pregnancy, and live birth. Our results suggest that essential trace element levels may directly influence the IVF outcomes of Spanish patients, with selenium and molybdenum exerting negative effects and copper-related ratios exerting positive effects. Additional studies are warranted to confirm these relationships in other human populations.

Bioaccumulation of Non-Essential Trace Elements Detected in Women's Follicular Fluid, Urine, and Plasma Is Associated with Poor Reproductive Outcomes following Single Euploid Embryo Transfer: A Pilot Study.

This study aims to determine the association of non-essential trace elements present in follicular fluid, plasma, and urine with reproductive outcomes of women undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies (PGT-A) and single frozen euploid embryo transfer (SET/FET). This single-center, prospective cohort study included sixty women undergoing ICSI with PGT-A and SET/FET between 2018 and 2019. Urine, plasma and follicular fluid samples were collected on the vaginal oocyte retrieval day to simultaneously quantify ten non-essential trace elements (i.e., Ba, Sr, Rb, Sn, Ti, Pb, Cd, Hg, Sb, and As). We found several associations between the levels of these non-essential trace elements and clinical IVF parameters. Specifically, the increased levels of barium in follicular fluid were negatively associated with ovarian function, pre-implantation development and embryo euploidy, while elevated strontium concentrations in this biofluid were negatively associated with impaired blastulation and embryo euploidy. Elevated plasma strontium levels were negatively associated with ovarian function, fertilization and blastulation. Enhanced presence of other trace elements in plasma (i.e., rubidium and arsenic) were associated with a diminished ovarian function and limited the number of recovered oocytes, mature oocytes and zygotes, respectively. Fully adjusted models suggested significantly lower odds of achieving a live birth when increased concentrations of barium and tin were found in urine.

The Impact of Essential Trace Elements on Ovarian Response and Reproductive Outcomes following Single Euploid Embryo Transfer.

Essential trace elements are required in extremely small amounts and obtained through diet. This research focuses on detecting major trace elements in different biofluids of sixty women undergoing ICSI with PGT-A and SET/FET at IVI-RMA, New Jersey, and assessing their impact on their IVF outcomes. Urine, plasma, and follicular fluid samples were collected on the vaginal oocyte retrieval day to measure the concentrations of eight essential trace elements (copper, zinc, molybdenum, lithium, selenium, manganese, chromium, and iron) using ICP-MS. After analysis, ovarian response and preimplantation outcomes had significant positive associations with both copper alone and the copper/zinc ratio in the follicular fluid and plasma, in addition to plasma manganese. Alternatively, elevated follicular fluid lithium concentrations were significantly associated with poor preimplantation outcomes while the urinary molybdenum concentration was significantly associated with a lower probability of implantation, clinical pregnancy, and live birth. Urinary lithium and chromium concentrations were significantly associated with a lower probability of achieving a live birth. Our results suggest that the essential trace elements present in follicular fluid, plasma, and urine of women are directly associated with their reproductive outcomes, with copper and manganese exerting positive effects and lithium and molybdenum exerting negative effects.

Comparison of Thermal and Laser-Reduced Graphene Oxide Production for Energy Storage Applications.

A way to obtain graphene-based materials on a large-scale level is by means of chemical methods for the oxidation of graphite to obtain graphene oxide (GO), in combination with thermal, laser, chemical and electrochemical reduction methods to produce reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Among these methods, thermal and laser-based reduction processes are attractive, due to their fast and low-cost characteristics. In this study, first a modified Hummer's method was applied to obtain graphite oxide (GrO)/graphene oxide. Subsequently, an electrical furnace, a fusion instrument, a tubular reactor, a heating plate, and a microwave oven were used for the thermal reduction, and UV and CO2 lasers were used for the photothermal and/or photochemical reduction. The chemical and structural characterizations of the fabricated rGO samples were performed by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy measurements. The analysis and comparison of the results revealed that the strongest feature of the thermal reduction methods is the production of high specific surface area, fundamental for volumetric energy applications such as hydrogen storage, whereas in the case of the laser reduction methods, a highly localized reduction is achieved, ideal for microsupercapacitors in flexible electronics.

Isotope dilution-thermal ionisation mass spectrometric analysis for tin in a fly ash material.

Isotope dilution-thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) analysis has been applied to the determination of tin in a fly ash sample supplied by the EC Joint Research Centre (Ispra, Italy). The proposed procedure includes the silica gel/phosphoric acid technique for tin thermal ionisation activation and a strict heating protocol for isotope ratio measurements. Instrumental mass discrimination factor has been previously determined measuring a natural tin standard solution. Spike solution has been prepared from 112Sn-enriched metal and quantified by reverse isotope dilution analysis. Two sample aliquots were spiked and tin was extracted with 4.5M HCl during 25 min ultrasound exposure time. Due to the complex matrix of this fly ash material, a two-step purification stage using ion-exchange chromatography was required prior TIMS analysis. Obtained results for the two sample-spike blends (10.11+/-0.55 and 10.50+/-0.64 micromol g(-1)) are comparable, both value and uncertainty. Also a good reproducibility is observed between measurements. The proposed ID-TIMS procedure, as a primary method and due to the lack of fly ash reference materials certified for tin content, can be used to validate more routine methodologies applied to tin determination in this kind of samples.