The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of quarter zona-pellucida (ZP) opening by laser-assisted hatching (QLAH) on the clinical outcomes following transfer of vitrified-warmed blastocysts developed from low-grade cleavage-stage embryos in patients with all high-grade and fair-grade cleavage-stage embryos transferred without achieving pregnancy. Patients were randomized into two groups: QLAH (n=101) and control (n=102). The implantation and clinical pregnancy rates were significantly higher in the QLAH group compared with the control group (P=0.021 and P=0.034, respectively). The live birth rate of the QLAH group was also higher, although not significantly. When the clinical outcomes according to the day of blastocyst vitrification were compared between the groups, the implantation, clinical pregnancy and live birth rates of the QLAH group were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of the control group for day 6 blastocysts, but not for day 5 or day 5/day 6 blastocysts. These results suggest that QLAH improves the clinical outcomes of vitrified-warmed blastocysts, especially of day 6 vitrified blastocysts, developed from low-grade cleavage-stage embryos.

The ratios of Th1/Th2 were fluctuated during COS, and they might affect the pregnancy outcome of IVF. The circulating NK cytotoxicity and percentage of lymphocyte subsets were relatively stable during the COS.

This study aimed to explore whether the presence of a Y chromosome azoospermia factor (AZF) microdeletion confers any adverse effect on embryonic development and clinical outcomes after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment. Fifty-seven patients with AZF microdeletion were included in the present study and 114 oligozoospermia and azoospermia patients without AZF microdeletion were recruited as controls. Both AZF and control groups were further divided into subgroups based upon the methods of semen collection: the AZF-testicular sperm extraction subgroup (AZF-TESE, n = 14), the AZF-ejaculation subgroup (AZF-EJA, n = 43), the control-TESE subgroup (n = 28) and the control-EJA subgroup (n = 86). Clinical data were analyzed in the two groups and four subgroups respectively. A retrospective case-control study was performed. A significantly lower fertilization rate (69.27 versus 75.70%, P = 0.000) and cleavage rate (89.55 versus 94.39%, P = 0.000) was found in AZF group compared with the control group. Furthermore, in AZF-TESE subgroup, the fertilization rate (67.54 versus 74.25%, P = 0.037) and cleavage rate (88.96 versus 94.79%, P = 0.022) were significantly lower than in the control-TESE subgroup; similarly, the fertilization rate (69.85 versus 75.85%, P = 0.004) and cleavage rate (89.36 versus 94.26%, P = 0.002) in AZF-EJA subgroup were significantly lower than in the control-EJA subgroup; however, the fertilization rate and cleavage rate in AZF-TESE (control-TESE) subgroup was similar to that in the AZF-EJA (control-EJA) subgroup. The other clinical outcomes were comparable between four subgroups (P > 0.05). Therefore, sperm from patients with AZF microdeletion, obtained either by ejaculation or TESE, may have lower fertilization and cleavage rates, but seem to have comparable clinical outcomes to those from patients without AZF microdeletion.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of the automated oscillometric upper-arm blood pressure (BP) monitor Globalcare GCE603 for home BP monitoring according to the International Protocol of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) revision 2010. Methods BP was sequentially measured in 33 adult participants and compared with a standard mercury sphygmomanometer. A total of 99 comparison pairs were obtained and analyzed according to the ESH international protocol. Results For the 33 eligible participants, the device achieved 80/99, 98/99 and 99/99 measurements of absolute differences between device and observers within 5, 10 and 15 mmHg for systolic BP (SBP) and 87/99, 98/99 and 99/99 for diastolic BP (DBP), respectively. The average device-observer difference was 1.01 ± 4.11 mmHg for SBP and −0.69 ± 3.56 mmHg for DBP, respectively. The number of participants with two or three of the device-observer difference within 5 mmHg was 28 for SBP and 30 for DBP, and there was no subject with none of the device-observer difference within 5 mmHg. Conclusion According to the validation results on the basis of the ESH international protocol revision 2010, the Globalcare GCE603 automated upper-arm BP monitor can be recommended for home measurement in general population.

The effects of salinity, temperature and pH on the activity in the spermatozoa of Siganus guttatus were studied. Milt were collected from 8 wild mature males that came from a commercial hatchery. Sperm motility was measured with a VHS video-recorder and a video camera connected to a microscope. The results showed that most of the sperm were highly motile in 400-700 mM NaCl, the longest duration of sperm motility recorded in 600mM NaCl and the duration was 788.0±16.9 s. Sperm was not motile when suspended at pH 4, sperm motility was observed at pH 5, there was a relatively higher percentage of motile sperm in solutions at pH 5-8 (above 80%), the duration was the longest and achieved (769.0±19.8) s when pH was 8. The motility and duration increased within 10-25ºC and decreased at the range of 25-40ºC, the highest motility and the longest duration were all appeared at 25 ºC, they were (91.0±1.4) % and (725.0±21.2) severally. Optimum salinity, temperature and pH for S.guttatus reproduction was 600mM NaCl, 25 ºC and 8 respectively.