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The androgen receptor (AR) poly‐glutamine polymorphism (AR‐Q) was reported to play role in endometrial cancer (EMCA) development, yet controversial. Environmental factors interact with genetic variation have been reported in EMCA. Aerosol toxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), are EMCA facilitators. This report examined the interplay between AR‐Qs and BaP in EMCA. During analysing patient AR‐Q polymorphism and Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) expressions, we found overall survival (OS) benefit is ascending with AR‐Q lengths (5‐year OS of 61.3% in Q length <20 and 88% in Q length >23). And AhR is higher expressed in short AR‐Q tumour compared to that in long AR‐Q patient. In vitro study found androgen‐response element (ARE) activity descends with AR‐Qs length (Q13 > Q25 > Q35), whereas BaP suppresses ARE activities in EMCA cells. Furthermore, AR‐Q13 (but not AR‐Q25, or ‐35) enhances BaP‐induced dioxin‐responsive element (DRE) activity. Lastly, AR‐Q13 exerts higher colony‐forming capacity than other AR‐Qs, and knock‐down AhR abolished AR‐Q13‐mediated colony numbers. This study demonstrated a possible interaction of gene (AR‐Q polymorphism) and environmental toxins (e.g. BaP) to affect cancer progression. A large‐scale epidemiology and public health survey on the interaction of environmental toxin and AR poly‐Q in EMCA is suggested.

PurposeTo determine if an explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) model enhances the accuracy and transparency of predicting embryo ploidy status based on embryonic characteristics and clinical data.MethodsThis retrospective study utilized a dataset of 1908 blastocyst embryos. The dataset includes ploidy status, morphokinetic features, morphology grades, and 11 clinical variables. Six machine learning (ML) models including Random Forest (RF), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), AdaBoost (ADA), and Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LGBM) were trained to predict ploidy status probabilities across three distinct datasets: high-grade embryos (HGE, n = 1107), low-grade embryos (LGE, n = 364), and all-grade embryos (AGE, n = 1471). The model’s performance was interpreted using XAI, including SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME) techniques.ResultsThe mean maternal age was 38.5 ± 3.85 years. The Random Forest (RF) model exhibited superior performance compared to the other five ML models, achieving an accuracy of 0.749 and an AUC of 0.808 for AGE. In the external test set, the RF model achieved an accuracy of 0.714 and an AUC of 0.750 (95% CI, 0.702–0.796). SHAP’s feature impact analysis highlighted that maternal age, paternal age, time to blastocyst (tB), and day 5 morphology grade significantly impacted the predictive model. In addition, LIME offered specific case-ploidy prediction probabilities, revealing the model’s assigned values for each variable within a finite range.ConclusionThe model highlights the potential of using XAI algorithms to enhance ploidy prediction, optimize embryo selection as patient-centric consultation, and provides reliability and transparent insights into the decision-making process.

Introduction and hypothesis We investigated whether the expression of alpha-1 antitrypsin (ATT), neutrophil elastase (NE), and lysyl oxidase-like protein 1 (LOXL-1) vary within the vagina in subjects with pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Methods Biopsies were obtained from the anterior and posterior vaginal wall of 22 women with POP (≥stage 2 by POP-Q). The subjects were grouped by the most prominent defect: cystocele, cystocele plus uterine prolapse, and rectocele. Comparative real-time PCR, Western blotting, and NE enzyme activity assay were performed. Results The ratio of anterior and posterior vaginal wall ATT, NE, and LOXL-1 expression varied between individuals within the same defect group. Conclusions ATT, NE, and LOXl-1 expression was variable among different biopsy sites in the vagina. No consistent pattern was present when the subjects were grouped by the most prominent defect. We recommend careful consideration of biopsy sites in future studies on POP to enhance reproducibility of data.

To evaluate the effect of mitochondrial transfer on embryonic development. Mitochondria concentrates were collected from murine hepatocytes and fertilized murine zygotes from young and older mice in the 2PN stage were subjected to mitochondrial transfer and cultured in vitro to evaluate the embryonic development. After extended in vitro culture, 37.65% and 20.91% embryos from the young mice developed to the blastocyst stage in the injected and control groups respectively, which is statistically significant. There was no difference in terms of hatching rates (1.76% and 1.82% respectively). Zygotes from the older mice (>20 weeks old) that received mitochondrial transfer also had a better developmental outcome than the control group (54.35% and 18.92% developed to morula stage, 43.48% and 8.11% developed to the blastocyst stage respectively), which is statistically significant. Our results for the murine model provide direct scientific evidence that mitochondrial transfer improves embryonic development. However, potential risks such as mitochondrial heteroplasmy, nuclear-mitochondrial interaction and epigenetic aspects all deserve further evaluation before mitochondrial transfer is applied clinically.

To clarify the effect of preincubation of oocytes on the results of IVF and ICSI. A total of 176 IVF and 64 ICSI cycles received long protocol ovarian stimulation. The oocytes were incubated for 1-8 h before insemination or sperm injection. Metaphase II (MII) percentage was evaluated in the ICSI arm; fertilization rates, embryo quality, and pregnancy outcomes were analyzed in both IVF and ICSI arms according to the preincubation period duration of oocytes. The MII percentage of the ICSI arm was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the group with preincubation period of < 2.5 h. The fertilization rates in groups with preincubation for 2.5-5.5 h were significantly higher (P < 0.001) for IVF. Embryo quality and pregnancy outcomes were not significantly different between the IVF or ICSI arm. The preincubation of oocytes for at least 2.5 h is beneficial to both IVF and ICSI outcomes by increasing the nuclear maturity of oocytes.

The androgen receptor (AR) poly-glutamine polymorphism (AR-Q) was reported to play role in endometrial cancer (EMCA) development, yet controversial. Environmental factors interact with genetic variation have been reported in EMCA. Aerosol toxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), are EMCA facilitators. This report examined the interplay between AR-Qs and BaP in EMCA. During analysing patient AR-Q polymorphism and Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) expressions, we found overall survival (OS) benefit is ascending with AR-Q lengths (5-year OS of 61.3% in Q length <20 and 88% in Q length >23). And AhR is higher expressed in short AR-Q tumour compared to that in long AR-Q patient. In vitro study found androgen-response element (ARE) activity descends with AR-Qs length (Q13 > Q25 > Q35), whereas BaP suppresses ARE activities in EMCA cells. Furthermore, AR-Q13 (but not AR-Q25, or -35) enhances BaP-induced dioxin-responsive element (DRE) activity. Lastly, AR-Q13 exerts higher colony-forming capacity than other AR-Qs, and knock-down AhR abolished AR-Q13-mediated colony numbers. This study demonstrated a possible interaction of gene (AR-Q polymorphism) and environmental toxins (e.g. BaP) to affect cancer progression. A large-scale epidemiology and public health survey on the interaction of environmental toxin and AR poly-Q in EMCA is suggested.The androgen receptor (AR) poly-glutamine polymorphism (AR-Q) was reported to play role in endometrial cancer (EMCA) development, yet controversial. Environmental factors interact with genetic variation have been reported in EMCA. Aerosol toxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), are EMCA facilitators. This report examined the interplay between AR-Qs and BaP in EMCA. During analysing patient AR-Q polymorphism and Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) expressions, we found overall survival (OS) benefit is ascending with AR-Q lengths (5-year OS of 61.3% in Q length <20 and 88% in Q length >23). And AhR is higher expressed in short AR-Q tumour compared to that in long AR-Q patient. In vitro study found androgen-response element (ARE) activity descends with AR-Qs length (Q13 > Q25 > Q35), whereas BaP suppresses ARE activities in EMCA cells. Furthermore, AR-Q13 (but not AR-Q25, or -35) enhances BaP-induced dioxin-responsive element (DRE) activity. Lastly, AR-Q13 exerts higher colony-forming capacity than other AR-Qs, and knock-down AhR abolished AR-Q13-mediated colony numbers. This study demonstrated a possible interaction of gene (AR-Q polymorphism) and environmental toxins (e.g. BaP) to affect cancer progression. A large-scale epidemiology and public health survey on the interaction of environmental toxin and AR poly-Q in EMCA is suggested.

To clarify the effect of preincubation of oocytes on the results of IVF and ICSI. A total of 176 IVF and 64 ICSI cycles received long protocol ovarian stimulation. The oocytes were incubated for 1-8 h before insemination or sperm injection. Metaphase II (MII) percentage was evaluated in the ICSI arm; fertilization rates, embryo quality, and pregnancy outcomes were analyzed in both IVF and ICSI arms according to the preincubation period duration of oocytes. The MII percentage of the ICSI arm was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the group with preincubation period of < 2.5 h. The fertilization rates in groups with preincubation for 2.5-5.5 h were significantly higher (P < 0.001) for IVF. Embryo quality and pregnancy outcomes were not significantly different between the IVF or ICSI arm. The preincubation of oocytes for at least 2.5 h is beneficial to both IVF and ICSI outcomes by increasing the nuclear maturity of oocytes.