LWMA-Net: Light-weighted morphology attention learning for human embryo grading.

Visual inspection of embryo morphology is routinely used in embryo assessment and selection. However, due to the complexity of morphologies and large inter- and intra-observer variances among embryologists, manual evaluations remain to be subjective and time-consuming. Thus, we proposed a light-weighted morphology attention learning network (LWMA-Net) for automatic assistance on embryo grading. The LWMA-Net integrated a morphology attention module (MAM) to seek the informative features and their locations and a multiscale fusion module (MFM) to increase the features flowing in the model. The LWMA-Net was trained with a primary set of 3599 embryos from 2318 couples that were clinically enrolled between Sep. 2016 and Dec. 2018, and generated area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of 96.88% and 97.58% on 4- and 3-category gradings, respectively. An independent test set comprises 691 embryos from 321 couples between Jan. 2019 and Jan. 2021 were used to test the assisted fertility values on the embryo grading. Five experienced embryologists were invited to regrade the embryos in the independent set with and without the aid of the LWMA-Net three months apart. Embryologists aided by our LWMA-Net significantly improved their grading capabilities with average AUCs improved by 4.98%-5.32% on 4- and 3-category grading tasks, respectively, which suggests good potential of our LWMA-Net on assisted human reproduction.

Neuroprotective Effects of Early Brain Injury after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Rats by Calcium Channel Mediating Hydrogen Sulfide.

The present study explored the modulating apoptosis effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) rats and its exact mechanism. A rat SAH model established by intravascular puncturing was used for the present study. After giving NaHS (donor of H2S), an L-type calcium channel opener (Bay K8644), or a calcium channel agonist (nifedipine), the neurological function of the rats, associated pathological changes, and expression of apoptosis-related proteins (Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3) and microtubule-associated protein (MAP-2) were examined. The concentration of H2S and expression of cystathionine beta synthase in the hippocampus changed upon early brain injury (EBI) after SAH. Compared with the SAH group, the neurological function of the rats and microstructure observed by electron microscopy were better in the SAH + NaHS group and SAH + Bay K8644 group. It was observed that apoptosis was more obvious in the SAH group than in the control group and was alleviated in the SAH + NaHS group. Furthermore, the alleviating effect of NaHS was partially weakened by nifedipine, indicating that the effect of anti-apoptosis in H2S might be correlated with the calcium channel. The expression of Bax and caspase-3 was elevated, while the expression of Bcl-2 decreased in the SAH group but improved in the SAH + NaHS and SAH + Bay K8644 group. Compared with the SAH + NaHS group, the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins was higher in the SAH + NaHS + nifedipine group. Therefore, upon EBI following SAH, the H2S system plays an important neurological protective effect by modulating the function of the L-type calcium channel and inhibiting apoptosis.

Clinical features and surgical outcomes in young children with focal cortical dysplasia type II.

AIMS: To investigate clinical characteristics and surgery outcomes of young children with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) type II. METHODS: Young children (onset age ≤6 years) with FCDII who underwent epileptic surgery in Children Epilepsy Center of Peking University First Hospital in 2014-2018 were followed up for at least 6 months after surgery. RESULTS: One hundred and twelve children with FCDII were included, with median age of onset 0.9 years (0.01-5.9), who underwent surgery at 4.1 years old (0.8-16.2). Focal seizures were most frequent (90.2%) and epileptic spasms presented in 23 (20.5%) cases. Epileptic encephalopathy was not uncommon (12.5%), associated with earlier epilepsy onset and higher rate of bilateral onset on ictal EEG (OR = 0.213, 9.059; P = .041, .004). At the last follow-up, 88.4% achieved seizure-free. Before surgery, 49.1% showed moderate/severe developmental delay, associated with earlier seizure onset and higher rate of history of epileptic encephalopathy (OR = 0.740, 5.160, P = .023, .042). For 48 children with preoperatively moderate/severe developmental delay, DQ rank at 6 months postsurgery was improved in only four cases. CONCLUSION: For young children with FCDII, they tend to present with epileptic encephalopathies and show moderate/severe developmental delay before surgery. The seizure outcome was favorable after surgery. For children with preoperatively moderate/severe developmental delay, developmental outcome at 6 months after surgery was not satisfactory.

Bacterial abundance and diversity in pond water supplied with different feeds.

The abundance and diversity of bacteria in two types of ponds were investigated by quantitative PCR and Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The results revealed that the abundance of bacterial 16S rRNA genes in D ponds (with grass carp fed sudan grass) was significantly lower than that in E ponds (with grass carp fed commercial feed). The microbial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria in both E and D ponds, while the abundance of some genera was significantly different between the two types of ponds. Specifically, some potential pathogens such as Acinetobacter and Aeromonas were found to be significantly decreased, while some probiotics such as Comamonadaceae unclassified and Bacillales unclassified were significantly increased in D ponds. In addition, water quality of D ponds was better than that of E ponds. Temperature, dissolved oxygen and nutrients had significant influence on bacterial communities. The differences in bacterial community compositions between the two types of ponds could be partially explained by the different water conditions.