Effectiveness of letrozole in pituitary downregulated normogonadotrophic young women with an initial poor response.

It has been reported that 10 to 15% of young normogonadotrophic women show suboptimal response to standard long protocols. Letrozole (LE), an aromatase inhibitor, was shown to improve ovarian sensitivity to follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and follicular response to gonadotrophin treatment in poor ovarian response patients. We reasoned that it might be possible to utilize LE in young normogonadotrophic patients with unexpected hypo-response in standard gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist long protocol. A total of 652 patients defined as normogonadotrophic patients with unexpected hypo-response were divided into 2 groups, the +LE group and the +Gn group. +LE group: A fixed daily dose of 2.5 mg of LE was added on day 8 of stimulation. +Gn group: A fixed daily dose of 75 U of human menopausal gonadotrophin was added on day 8 of stimulation. The primary outcome measures were the number of oocytes obtained, fertilization rate, days of stimulation, and total FSH dosage. The secondary outcome measures were the implantation rate and ongoing pregnancy rate. There were no significant differences in the clinical and hormonal characteristics between the 2 groups. A shorter duration of stimulation and a lower dosage of recombinant FSH consumption on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin administration were all observed in the +LE group. Patients who received LE therapy showed a higher number of oocytes obtained and significantly higher fertilization rates. The implantation rate and ongoing pregnancy rate were comparable in both groups. LE significantly improves the number of oocytes obtained in patients with suboptimal response to standard gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist long protocol.

The relationship between serum FSH level and ovarian response during controlled ovarian stimulation.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level during the early controlled ovarian stimulation can be used as a predictor of the ovarian response in the in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycles. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The participants of this retrospective study were chosen from Reproductive Medicine Center, Weifang People's Hospital between January 2015 and December 2020.The participants of this study met the age of 20~43 years old, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) ≥ 1.2 ng/mL, antral follicle count (AFC) ≥ 5, and the data was complete and no cancellation cycle. Each participant was given GnRH agonist protocol and given a fixed dose of recombinant FSH in the first four days during the controlled ovarian stimulation (COS). According to the number of oocytes retrieved, the participants were divided into two different ovarian response groups. Serum FSH level after the fourth recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (rFSH) injection were compared during the different ovarian responders. RESULTS: The number of participants who met both the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria was 235. Serum sFSH levels (mean: 11.76 ± 3.10 IU/L) in the inappropriate responders was significantly higher than serum sFSH levels (mean: 10.79 ± 2.52 IU/L) in the superior responders(p = 0.029). There was a weak correlation between serum sFSH levels and the number of oocytes retrieved (r = -0.134, p = 0.041). Serum sFSH levels had significant clinical valuable (p = 0.0346) in predicting the number of oocytes retrieved. CONCLUSIONS: Serum sFSH levels may be a potential marker to predict the ovarian response during the early COS in the IVF/ICSI cycles, which can guide the adjustment of the exogenous rFSH dose.

[Analysis on regional homogeneity of resting brain during balance acupuncture-induced analgesic effect in migraine patients without aura].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the relationship between the analgesic effect of balance acupuncture and functional changes in brain in patients with migraine without aura. METHODS: A total of 40 cases of migraine without aura were equally randomized into a headache-acupoint group and a sham-acupoint group. When acupuncture given, a filiform needle was inserted into the headache-acupoint (the midpoint of the depression region anterior to the juncture of the first and second metatarsal bones on the dorsum of the foot) or the sham point (the midpoint of the depression region anterior to the juncture site between the 3rd and 4th metatarsal joints of the dorsum of the foot) about 25-40 mm deep and manipulated for a while till the patient experienced feelings of electric shock and numbness, then withdrawn immediately. The treatment was conducted once daily for 4 weeks. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the severity of pain, and the regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess changes of the spontaneous brain activity. RESULTS: After acupuncture, the analgesic effect of headache-acupoint was better than that of the sham-acupoint in both intervention stage and the follow-up stage (P< 0.05), and was also stronger in the intervention stage than in the follow-up stage (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the analgesic effect between the intervention stage and the follow-up stage in the sham-acupoint group (P>0.05). Compared with pre-intervention, 4-weeks' intervention at the headache-acupoint showed an increase of ReHo values in the anterior cingulate gyrus, anterior central gyrus, superior orbital frontal gyrus, insula, inferior lobule, left anterior cingulate gyrus, ventral lateral nucleus and ventral posteromedial nucleus of the thalamus, pontine nucleus, cerebellar tonsils and orbital frontal inferior gyrus of the brain (P<0.05), and a decrease of ReHo values in the right brain bridge, central posterior gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, left central anterior gyrus, posterolateral nucleus of thalamus, and hippocampus (P<0.05), separately. In the sham-acupoint group, the ReHo value was increased in the right tongue gyrus, the left anterior lobe, the anterior cingulate gyrus and the lower occipital gyrus of the brain (P<0.05), and reduced in the left ventral posterolateral nucleus of the thalamus, separately (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Balance acupuncture stimulation of headache acupoint has an analgesic effect in migraine patients without aura, which may be related to its effect in regulating resting state brain function of the limbic-system-dominated multiple brain regions.

Expression of IER3 in primary hepatocarcinoma: correlation with clinicopathological parameters.

BACKGROUND: Studies indicate the immediate early response gene 3 (IER3) is involved in many biological processes. Recently, it was discovered that IER3 plays an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Thus it may be a valuable biomarker in tumor. This study was designed to investigate the expression status of IER3 in primary hepatocarcinoma (PHC) and correlation with clinicopathological parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Real-time PCR was performed to evaluate the expression levels of IER3 in 62 pathologically diagnosed human PHC specimens. RESULTS: A statistically significant association was disclosed between the expression of IER3 and P53 mutant protein (short for P53), Ki-67, EGFR and the biggest diameter, differentiation grade of tumor. CONCLUSIONS: This work is the first to shed light on the potential clinical usefulness of IER3, as an efficient tumor biomarker in PHC.

Genomewide analysis of LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES Domain gene family in Zea mays.

The investigation of transcription factor (TF) families is a major focus of postgenomic research. The plant-specific ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2-LIKE (ASL) / LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES Domain (LBD) proteins constitute a major zincfinger-like-domain transcription factor family, and regulate diverse biological processes in plants. However, little is known about LBD genes in maize (Zea mays). In this study, a total of 44 LBD genes were identified in maize genome and were phylogenetically clustered into two groups (I and II), together with LBDs from Arabidopsis. The predicted maize LBDs were distributed across all the 10 chromosomes with different densities. In addition, the gene structures of maize LBDs were analysed. The expression profiles of the maize LBD genes under normal growth conditions were analysed by microarray data and qRT-PCR. The results indicated that LBDs might be involved in various aspects of physiological and developmental processes in maize. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a genomewide analysis of the maize LBD gene family, which would provide valuable information for understanding the classification and putative functions of the gene family.

Transcript profiling of microRNAs during the early development of the maize brace root via Solexa sequencing.

To characterize the microRNAs that contribute to the development of brace root, Solexa high-throughput sequencing of three libraries derived from tissues of node (N), nodes with just-emerged brace roots (NR), and nodes with just-emerged brace roots after IAA treatment (NRI) was performed. Total 650,793, 957,303 and 1,082,948 genome-matched unique reads were obtained in N, NR and NRI libraries, respectively. Further analysis confirmed the authenticity of 137 known miRNAs and the discovery of 159 novel miRNAs in maize. 14 conserved and 16 novel miRNAs differentially expressed in brace root, as well as 15 target genes, were identified and validated by qRT-PCR during maize brace root development. Moreover, we identified 9 miRNA precursor-matched novel sRNAs that may form miRNA clusters, as well as 24 nt siRNAs in the three libraries. In addition, we suggest that auxin represent a regulator in brace root development and can be regulated at the posttranscriptional level by miRNAs.