These results suggest that follicular LH or steroids do not affect PR expression, and full reduction of total PR expression on cumulus cells at the time of oocyte collection is associated with good morphology in human oocytes.

These results suggest that full reduction of Cx43 expression on cumulus cells at the time of oocyte collection during ICSI is essential for developmental competence of human oocytes.

rh-LF has an effect of prolongation of gestation in LPS-induced preterm delivery in mice, suppressing LPS-induced plasma IL-6 augmentation.

Background: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has risen to the forefront of reproductive technology. In the present study, the location of the sperm injection was noted, and a prospective study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the sperm retention site on cleavage rates and embryo quality after ICSI. Methods: This study involved 336 ICSI patients (age 27-44; average 37.4) where 1545 oocytes were observed. An oocyte was divided into nine sites and the sperm retention site was observed microscopically after injection. The polar body was placed at either the twelve or six o'clock position. The injection pipette was introduced at the three o'clock position and oolemma rupture was ascertained by mild suction. The main outcome measures were the relationship of sperm remaining in position in the oocyte to fertilization rate and embryo quality. Results: When the injection pipette was introduced at the three o'clock position, about 80% of the sperm remained in the center or left of center. The fertilization rate was significantly lower (p < 0.05) when the sperm remained near the site of introduction. Embryo quality was not significantly affected by the sperm retention site. Conclusions: About 12-14% of the spermatozoa remained near the introducing position, and in these cases the fertilization rate was low. However, once fertilization occurred, the sperm retention site had minimal impact on embryo quality. Injecting sperm near the spindle site may improve embryo quality.

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Background: Several parameters of early embryo development are known as predictors of implantation success. Recently, zygote or embryo morphological assessments are thought to be a major method of selection in embryo transfer. We expected that the concentrations of the steroids in follicular fluid (FF) were associated with oocyte maturation and embryo quality. In the present paper, we evaluated the relationship of several parameters. Methods:We investigated 105 samples of FF from 22 subjects by in vitro fertilization (IVF). We evaluated the correlations between the FF concentrations of estradiol (E 2 ) and progesterone (P 4 ), the diameter of the ovarian follicles, fertilization, and zygote assessment based on pronuclear morphology and day 3 embryo qualities (i.e. number of blastomeres and fragmentation rate).Results: There was a positive correlation between the E 2 concentrations in FF and serum (r = 0.273, P < 0.01), but there was no correlation between follicular diameter and the FF concentration of each steroid. The concentration of E 2 in FF containing fertilized oocytes was not significantly different from that in FF containing unfertilized oocytes. At the pronuclear stage, the concentration of either steroid in FF did not differ among the morphological groups. The concentration of P 4 in FF was significantly lower in the group in which pronuclei were detected at 20 h after insemination than in the group in which pronuclei were not detected. The concentration of E 2 in FF was significantly related to the number of blastomeres (r = 0.271, P < 0.05) and furthermore, was significantly higher in FF from which morphologically good embryos were obtained at day 3 (P < 0.05). Conclusions:The FF concentrations of the steroids did not affect the pronuclear pattern, but P 4 production may play a role in reducing the potential of the oocyte to develop pronuclei and the concentration of E 2 may predict the cleavage capability of the oocyte. (Reprod Med Biol 2003; 2: 171-176)

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This study develops statistical and machine learning models based on discriminant analysis, logistic regression analysis, and a support vector machine (SVM) to predict the occurrence of radiation fog in Japan. The selection of a suitable set of explanatory variables for the models was made using the Akaike information criterion (AIC). The accuracies of the three models were measured and compared. To determine the optimum combination of explanatory variables, temperature, humidity, wind speed, precipitation, sunshine, and visibility data were considered. Based on the root mean square error (RMSE) and AIC values, the best combination of variables was found to include: the presence of precipitation, mean wind speed during the night, minimum temperature during the night, the amount of temperature cooling during the night, the minimum humidity during the previous day, and visibility at 18:00. A comparison of the predictive accuracies of the three models using the selected variable combination showed that the discriminant model produced a critical success index (CSI, or threat score) of 22.5, while the logistic regression model and the SVM model both produced better CSI results—with scores of 33.8 and 38.2, respectively.