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Abstract Background Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has unusual levels of hormones. The hormone receptors in the endometrium have a hostile effect and make the microenvironment unfavorable for embryo implantation. The use of gonadotropin stimulation during in vitro fertilization (IVF) may have an impact on embryo implantation and live birth rate. According to recent data, the clinical results of day 4 embryo transfer (D4 transfer) were on par with those of day 5 embryo transfer (D5 transfer) in IVF-ET. There are few studies comparing the outcomes of transplants with various etiologies and days. The purpose of this study was to determine which transfer day had the best result for PCOS patients undergoing IVF. Methods This retrospective cohort study was conducted in the Xingtai Infertility Specialist Hospital between January 2017 and November 2021. A total of 1,664 fresh ART cycles met inclusion criteria, including 242 PCOS transfers and 1422 tubal factor infertility transfers. Conclusions PCOS individuals had the highest live birth rate on D4 transferred. It was not need to culture embryos to blastocysts to optimize embryo transfer for PCOS women. This could be a novel approach to transplantation for PCOS.

Background: The question of whether extending embryo culture can provide more benefits for clinical outcomes has been raised. It is important to explore whether the fourth day morulae could be a widely used alternative transplantation option to replace the fifth day blastocysts. Methods: This study involved 1167 patients undergoing their first in in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. They were divided into two groups: those undergoing embryo transfer on the fourth day (D4 ET, n = 974 patients) and those undergoing embryo transfer on the fifth day (D5 ET, n = 193 patients). The time of the study was between January 2018 and June 2021. We used logistic regression to calculate propensity scores based on several variables such as female age, female body mass index (BMI), infertility duration, basal follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), basal luteinizing hormone (LH), antral follicle count (AFC), follicular output rate (FORT), number of embryos transferred, number of transferable embryos, and number of high-quality embryos on day 3. The nearest neighbor random match algorithm was employed to determine the matches for each individual in the study population. The propensity score matching (PSM) was performed with a ratio of 1:1, ensuring equal representation of treated and control groups in the analysis. After PSM, 198 patients were included in the two groups. Results: Before matching, patients in the D4 ET group had lower AFC (16 [13, 20] vs. 17 [14, 22], p = 0.027). Estradiol on the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) day, FORT, number of oocytes retrieved, number of normal fertilization, number of transferable embryos, and number of high-quality embryos on day 3 were lower in the D4 ET group. After PSM, these characteristics were similar in the two groups, except for the number of high-quality embryos on day 3, which was lower in the D4 ET group (3 [2, 3.5] vs. 4 [2, 4], p = 0.035). The D4 ET group showed a higher live birth rate (54.21% vs. 44.88%, p = 0.015), with a lower rate of 1 embryo transferred (21.36% vs. 43.01%, p < 0 .001) before PSM. D4 ET increased live birth rate in fresh cycles relative to D5 ET before PSM (odds ratio (OR) = 1.552, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.036~2.323, p = 0.033). No significant differences were observed in blastocyst formation rate (33.57 vs. 34.05, p = 0.618; 35.10 vs. 33.80, p = 0.468) and cumulative live birth rate (70.02 vs. 73.58, p = 0.322; 69.70 vs. 72.73, p = 0.638) between the two groups before and after PSM in the fresh cycles. There was no significant difference in endometrial thickness (8.8 [8, 10] vs. 8.9 [8, 9.6], p = 0.689; 8.6 [8, 10] vs. 8.9 [8, 9.7], p = 0.993), one embryo transferred rate (28.35 vs. 25.84, p = 0.639; 22.86 vs. 24.44, p = 0.724), clinical pregnancy rate (54.88 vs. 61.80, p = 0.243; 57.14 vs. 73.33, p = 0.129), live birth rate (43.90 vs. 50.56, p = 0.263; 45.71 vs. 55.56, p = 0.382) between the two groups before and after PSM in the first frozen ET cycle after fresh ET. Conclusions: D4 ET did not have a significant adverse impact on clinical outcome in fresh cycles and first frozen ET cycles relative to D5 ET.

Background Elevated estradiol (E2) levels are an inevitable outcome of the controlled ovulation hyperstimulation. However, the effect of this change on pregnancy is still uncertain. Our study aimed to analyze the impact of increased serum E2 at the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration on the clinical outcomes of women with fresh embryo transfer (ET) cycles. Methods This study included 3,009 fresh ET cycles from October 2015 to September 2021. Based on the stage of embryos transferred, these cycles were categorized into the cleavage group and blastocyst group. Both groups were then divided into four sets according to E2 levels when hCG was administered: set 1 (E2 ≤ 2,000 pg/ml), set 2 (E2 = 2,001–3,000 pg/ml), set 3 (E2 = 3,001–4,000 pg/ml), and set 4 (E2 > 4,000 pg/ml). The primary outcome was the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). Binary logistics regression analysis was established to explore the association between CPR and E2 levels. Specifically, the threshold effect of serum E2 on CPR was revealed using the two-piecewise linear regression analyses. Results The multivariate regression model in the cleavage group showed that patients’ CPR in set 4 was 1.59 times higher than those in reference set 1, but the statistical difference was insignificant (P = 0.294). As for the blastocyst group, patients in set 4 had a lower CPR with adjusted ORs of 0.43 (P = 0.039) compared to patients in set 1. The inflection point for the blastocyst group was 39.7 pg/dl according to the results of the two-piecewise linear regression model. When E2 levels were over the point, the CPR decreased by 17% with every 1 pg/dl increases in serum E2 (adjusted OR = 0.83, 95% CI [0.72–0.96], P = 0.012). Conclusions Elevated E2 levels (>39.7 pg/dl) on hCG trigger day were associated with decreased CPR in patients with fresh blastocyst ET. However, it had no similar effect on the CPR of patients with fresh cleavage-stage ET.

Background: The impact of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) on endometrial receptivity and embryo quality is a subject of debate. Different PCOS patient types may exhibit different effects on these factors. This study aimed to identify causes for low live birth rate by comparing endometrial receptivity and embryo quality among different PCOS types. Methods: Overall, a total of 767 PCOS patients with first in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment classified into phenotype A (n = 167 patients) and phenotype D (n = 600 patients) were eligible for analysis. Patients with single polycystic ovary (n = 406 patients) served as a control group to exclude the advantages of clinical outcome from higher number of oocytes retrieved in women with PCOS. Results: In phenotype A and D, Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), antral follicle count (AFC) and basic estradiol were significantly higher compared to single polycystic ovary. However, estradiol, progestin and endometrial thickness on the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) day were significantly decreased. In fresh cycles, phenotype A had a significant statistical decrease in the live birth rate compared with single polycystic ovary (35/78 [44.87%] vs. 135/233 [57.94%], p < 0.05), although there was no significant difference in the number of embryo transplants and clinical pregnancy rate among the three groups. It might be associated with the significant reduction of total gonadotropin (Gn) dose, Gn duration, and follicular output rate (FORT) in all the typed PCOS groups. In the first frozen embryo transfer (ET) cycles, no significant difference was observed for estrogen, progestin, or endometrial thickness on the day of ovulation and live birth rate. Women with live birth had a higher estradiol on the hCG day in the phenotype A (3763 [3121, 4752] vs. 2954 [2112, 4036] ng/mL) while a lower estradiol in the single polycystic ovary (3312 [2341, 4465] vs. 3417 [2350, 4638] ng/mL). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, estradiol on the hCG day was a significant independent factor predicting live birth for women with phenotype A (odds ratio (OR) >1.000, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.000–1.001), p = 0.034) and single polycystic ovary (OR

The Chinese BeiDou global satellite system (BDS-3) and regional system (BDS-2) are predicted to coexist over the next decade. Intersystem biases (ISBs) in BDS-2/BDS-3 play a key role in maintaining the consistency and continuity from the BDS-2 to BDS-3 time transfer. Here, we discuss the temporal characteristics, parameter composition, generation mechanism, and the effect of ISBs in BDS-2/BDS-3 on time and frequency transfer. The satellite orbits and clock products from three international GNSS service analysis centers, namely Wuhan University (WUM, China), GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ, Germany), and the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE), were employed to investigate the time-transfer stability of ISBs when BDS-2 and BDS-3 were used in combination. We analyzed the intrinsic characteristics of ISBs, the receiver types, antennas, and frequency standards. Our first results showed that ISBs are stable for different analysis center products, although the mean values of daily results differed markedly for the three analysis centers. With respect to the relationship between station attribution and ISB difference for a time link, the receiver type, antenna, and frequency standard influence the ISB differences in time and frequency transfer. The effect of three ISB stochastic models was evaluated with respect to time and frequency transfer. The “walk” and “constant” schemes were slightly superior to “noise”, with the improvement in their frequency stability being approximately 5% compared with that of “noise”.

Interleukin (IL)-35 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine that may have a protective role in atherosclerosis (AS). However, the exact role of IL-35 in the disease, and the etiology of AS, remain incompletely understood. The present study aimed to investigate whether exogenous IL-35 was able to attenuate the formation of atherosclerotic lesions in apoE-/- mice, and analyze alterations in the expression levels of forkhead box protein 3 (Foxp3) in peripheral blood and the lesions during the progression of AS. ApoE-/- mice were randomly divided into two groups that received either a basal diet (negative control group) or a high-fat diet (HFD) for 4 weeks. The HFD group was further subdivided into groups that received IL-35, atorvastatin or no treatment for 12 weeks. Diagnostic enzyme assay kits were applied for the detection of plasma lipids, and hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to analyze the severity of atherosclerotic lesions in apoE-/- mice. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry were performed to analyze the expression of Foxp3 in the plasma and atherosclerotic plaques. As compared with the negative control group, the plasma lipids were significantly increased, and the lesions were obviously formed, in the HFD groups. Furthermore, the area of the lesion was reduced in IL-35- and atorvastatin-treated groups, as compared with the AS control group. In addition, Foxp3 expression was upregulated in the plasma and lesions of the IL-35- and atorvastatin-treated groups, as compared with the AS control group. The present study demonstrated that IL-35 improved Treg-mediated immune suppression in atherosclerotic mice, thus suggesting that IL-35 may be a novel therapeutic target for AS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]