these potential relationships among cumulus cell gene expression, oocyte quality, and age may expand our understanding of oogenesis and embryo development. CKB and PRDX2 may serve as biomarkers or therapeutic targets for the developmental potential of oocytes.
No significant differences were observed in infertile women of advanced age, which may be due to the low GH dose. The GH adjuvant therapy for patients with one or more previous IVF treatment failures and for poor responders significantly improved the oocyte and embryo numbers as well as implantation and pregnancy rates.
Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) banks strive to establish hESC lines from discarded or surplus human embryos. The effect of embryo quality on establishing hESC lines was investigated by observing cultures derived from 28 Taiwanese fresh surplus and donated embryos that were cultured using the whole embryo method. Cultures of hESC lines were followed for 15 months. At the blastocyst stage, 14 of the 28 embryos were graded as good quality, defined as featuring a blastocoel volume of at least half of the embryo volume. Fourteen embryos did not meet these standards on day 5. Five successful hESC lines were derived from the good quality embryos (5/14; 35.7%); these hESC cells grew for 27-60 passages. In contrast, cells from poor quality embryos all stopped growing at the second or third passage. The successful hESC exhibited typical stem cell characteristics, including the capacity for pluripotent differentiation. Embryo quality on day 5, as defined by blastocoel volume, is thus a strong predictor for successful establishment of hESC lines.
High-order multifetal pregnancy is an inevitable consequence of assisted reproduction; and is associated with an increase in perinatal morbidity and mortality. Fetal reduction appears to be a safe and efficacious method for improving obstetric outcome. We made a retrospective study of study population 54 high multiple pregnancy following assisted reproduction that were reduced to twins at Shin Kong Memorial Hospital, Taipei,Taiwan from September 1992 to March 2000. Our study compares the outcome of multifetal pregnancy reduced to twins with the outcome of primary twin pregnancy. Maternal age, birth weight, gestational age at delivery and the incidence of preterm contractions were the only statistically significant differences between the two groups.
Successful embryo implantation depends on interactions between the embryo and the uterus. Investigating factors related to the recipients in an oocyte donation programme could therefore improve the overall pregnancy outcome. In this study, the factors that affect outcomes following IVF after oocyte donation were evaluated in a retrospective cohort study. A total of 143 cycles were evaluated. All oocyte donors were younger than 30 years of age. In the youngest recipients (< 34 years old) the implantation rate was higher (P = 0.042) and the abortion rate was apparently lower than in the recipients of more advanced age (> or =40 years old). The implantation and pregnancy rates were higher when the pulsatility index was > or = 3.0. The pulsatility index on the day of embryo transfer in oocyte donation IVF cycles was an important determinant of successful pregnancy outcomes.
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