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Light microscopy has remained the primary tool for the assessment of embryo quality and the selection of embryos for transfer in clinical IVF practice. Recent studies have suggested that metabolomic profiling of embryo culture media can distinguish human embryos with better implantation potential. …
Disruptions or imbalances of the vaginal microbiome can lead to negative reproductive health consequences for women, including an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, and preterm birth. HIV-positive women may be particularly vulnerable to microbiome disrup…
Human newborns exposed in utero to maternally administered SSRIs such as fluoxetine (FX) have an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes including poor neonatal adaptation. This comprises respiratory difficulty, jitteriness, cyanosis when feeding and persists for several days after birth. Seve…
Pregnancies derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) are associated with increased rates of chromosome abnormalities, congenital malformations, low birth weight, pre-term births, multiple gestations, and imprinting disorders. Assisted reproductive techno…
With the increasing use of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) every year, concerns have been raised regarding the possible effect these procedures have on the health of the children procured by them. Although patients born via ART are usually healthy, studies have associated these procedures wi…
Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) binds androgens and estrogens with high affinity, and regulates the distribution of these sex steroids in the blood and other biological fluids. Liver is the primary site of SHBG production, but the human SHBG transcription unit responsible for this is also expre…
Abnormal DNA methylation at imprinted and non-imprinted genes has been associated with spermatogenesis failure. However, little information is available regarding DNA methylation at those genes in men affected by severe male factor infertility. We hypothesized a higher incidence of aberrant DNA met…
Nuclear receptors including estrogen receptors (ERs) and progesterone receptors (PRs) are activated by their ligands as well as by signaling pathways in response to peptide hormones and growth factors. In gonadotrophs, gonadotropin releasing hormones (GnRHs) act via the GnRH receptor (GnRHR). Both …
The ADAMTS (A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with TromboSpondin Repeats) are a novel family of secreted metalloproteinases. There is increasing evidence that distinct ADAMTS subtypes play key roles in embryonic development, reproduction and cancer. Nineteen ADAMTS subtypes have been identified i…
Male carriers of chromosomal abnormalities (CA) are more frequent in the infertile population. These men have higher levels of sperm aneuploidy due to the aberrant segregation of the chromosomes involved in the abnormality. The presence of a CA may also influence the segregation of other chromosome…
Due to the ?flare effect? associated with the flare protocol, variation in the degree of follicular maturation during stimulation may result in differences in follicle response as compared to the luteal protocol which is based on maximal pituitary suppression and synchronization of follicular matur…
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has been a successful assisted reproductive technique for men with severe male-factor infertility. However, ICSI requires the subjective selection of normal looking sperm, which does not preclude the transmission of genetically abnormal sperm. Correlation bet…
While the introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has revolutionized the treatment of male infertility, concerns have been raised regarding the risk of chromosomal abnormalities in pregnancies derived from ICSI. Studies on sperm from infertile men have suggested that this population…
In contrast to the success of ICSI in treating male infertility, concerns have been raised about the health outcomes of the children conceived through this procedure. Cohort studies have shown that the ICSI population has an increase in low birth weight (LBW), birth defects, chromosomal abnormaliti…
Homeobox genes, which code for families of transcription factors, act at the top of genetic hierarchies. HOX genes specify positional identity during development, and in adult tissues, regulate differentiation and proliferation. Most ovarian carcinomas are derived from the ovarian surface epitheliu…
Loss of BRCA1/BRCA2 function through genetic or epigenetic mechanisms is common in epithelial ovarian carcinomas (EOC), but because there are multiple potential mechanisms of loss, the overall frequency is unknown. We characterized loss of BRCA1/BRCA2 at the DNA, RNA and protein level from an unsel…
Pre-eclampsia (PET) continues to contribute to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Management decisions include an evaluation of maternal risk, which is assisted by expert opinion-based guidelines, while not accounting for gestational age (GA) at diagnosis. We evaluated the feasibility …
n approximately 40% of ovarian cancers, PIK3CA, which encodes the p110α catalytic subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is amplified. This amplification correlates with increased PIK3CA transcription, p110α protein expression, and PI3K activity. Moreover, PIK3CA is implicated as…
Pre-eclampsia, which is characterized by maternal hypertension, proteinuria, hypoperfusion of end organs and a systemic maternal innate inflammatory response, is a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity world-wide. When of early-onset, pre-eclampsia is associated with fetal intrauterine …
The association between subsets of male infertility, oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT), obstructive azoospermic (OA), non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), and increased risk of having chromosomal abnormalities in the sperm has not been investigated. Chromosomal aneuploidy in sperm will be systematic…