International Journal of Reproductive BioMedicine
Volume:20 Issue: 12, Dec 2022

Hormonal imbalance is one of the important etiological factors for Oligoasthenoteratospermias (OAT).

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of hormonal changes including prolactin, TSH, testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and anti-Mullerian hormone on sperm DNA fragmentation in normal men compared with OAT to design a clinical algorithm for the comprehensive study of male factor infertilities.

We consecutively selected 60 candidates referred to the infertility clinic to collect the semen and blood samples. Then, a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling test was performed to evaluate the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). After semen analysis and DFI checking, they were classified into 4 groups consisting of normospermia and OAT men each with or without increased DFI. Hormone parameters were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunoassay.

Follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels showed positive correlations with DFI in a significant way (p ≤ 0.01), while testosterone and thyroid-stimulating hormone were associated with sperm concentration. Prolactin and anti-Mullerian hormone levels significantly correlated (p ≤ 0.01) with sperm concentration and DFI value simultaneously.

Decreased and increased levels of serum hormones could adversely affect semen profile and sperm DNA integrity which lead to severe male infertility. Although we investigated the effects of the main hormones related to male infertility on DNA damage, the role of these hormones on the fertilization rate and embryo quality needs to be evaluated in further studies.

Premature ovarian failure (POF), is menopause occurring before the age of 40, affecting 1-3% of women worldwide. The risk of POF increases with altered immunological parameters such as FAS and FASL genes, which play a fundamental role in embryogenesis and cellular homeostasis.

The study aimed to investigate the potential role of FAS and FASL genes in POF pathogenesis.

In this case-control study, the polymorphisms of FAS-670A/G and FASLIVS2nt_124A/G apoptotic genes were analyzed in 51 Iranian women suffering from POF, and 61 healthy controls. Isolation of DNA was done using the salting-out method, and genotypic analysis was performed for all the subjects using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method.

Our results revealed that homozygous FAS-670A/A and G/G, and heterozygous FAS-670A/G are not significantly different between cases and controls (p = 0.99). Also, in different genotyping models of FASIVS2nt_124, polymorphisms were not related to POF risk (p = 0.23).

There is no statistical association between these polymorphisms and POF risk in women referred to genetic counseling clinics.

Endometrial receptivity is crucial for embryo implantation, and excessive uterine contraction reduces success. Nifedipine which is a calcium channel blocker, could decrease uterine contraction and improve pregnancy outcomes.

This study aimed to assess the effect of Nifedipine before embryo transfer on the pregnancy outcome in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) in a tertiary center in Iran.

150 women who were candidates for IVF were randomly assigned into 2 groups: group 1 received 20 mg Nifedipine 30 min before embryo transfer, and group 2 received no intervention. Blood pressure of the participants was monitored every 10 min for 1 hr under the supervision of an anesthesiologist. Finally, implantation rate and chemical and clinical pregnancy rates were compared between groups.

At the end of the study, 140 participants were included in the final analyses. No significant difference was observed in clinical pregnancy rates between groups (20% vs. 22%, p = 0.51)

Nifedipine administration before embryo transfer does not improve the implantation and clinical pregnancy rates in women undergoing IVF.

Infertility is considered as a common problem appears in about 10-12% of couples in their reproductive ages. Ring finger protein 38 (RNF38) gene is a ubiquitin-protein ligase that can regulate Protein 53 (P53) and affect cellular motility.

Considering the role of P53 on cellular motility and RNF38 on the regulation of P53, the present study aimed to assess the difference between RNF38 and P53 genes expression in normozoospermic and asthenospermic samples as a diagnostic biomarker in males.

The present study was conducted among 21 asthenospermics and 63 healthy individuals. First, the real-time polymerase chain reaction technique was applied to measure the expression level of the P53 and RNF38 genes extracted from sperm samples, and the glyceraldehyde-3phosphate dehydrogenase gene was selected as the reference gene.

An increase and a decrease occurred in the level of P53 and RNF38 genes expressions in asthenospermic and normozoospermic samples, respectively. In addition, a significant difference was observed between increasing P53 gene expression (p < 0.001), reducing RNF38 one, and decreasing sperm motility (p < 0.001) in asthenospermic cells compared to that of normozoospermic ones.

Based on the results, an increase in the expression of the P53 gene and a decrease in the expression of the RNF38 gene had a significant relationship with asthenospermia in men. Therefore, it is expected that an effective step should be adopted to diagnose the asthenospermia expression pattern by using these results.

Sperm freezing is an important procedure in assisted reproductive technology. Freezing results in physical and chemical changes in the sperm. Ceratonia siliqua L (C.siliqua) is a tree that has antioxidant properties.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of different concentrations of C.siliqua in a freezing medium on semen parameters, and some biochemical parameters in asthenozoospermic specimens.

40 asthenozoospermic specimens (semen specimens with motility < 32%) were obtained from men aged between 20-40 yr according to the World Health Organization criteria. Each sample was divided into 6 groups: I) fresh, II) control, III) 5, IV) 10, V) 20, and VI) 30 µg/ml C.siliqua extract were added to a freezing medium respectively. Then sperm parameters, malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity, reactive oxygen species, and sperm DNA assay were evaluated using related protocols after thawing.

Data analysis shows that sperm parameter, and total antioxidant capacity level increased at a concentration of 20 µg/ml of C. siliqua extract compared to the other concentrations of C.siliqua extract after cryopreservation and thawing (p < 0.001). Also, the sperm DNA fragmentation assay, reactive oxygen species, and malondialdehyde levels were significantly reduced by adding 20 µg/ml of C. siliqua extract to the sperm freezing medium compared to the other treated groups after cryopreservation (p < 0.001).

C.siliqua extract significantly improved sperm parameters after cryopreservation and thawing in asthenozoospermic specimens, and the greatest impact was observed at the 20 µg/ml C.siliqua L extract concentration (p < 0.001).

Paying special attention to the development indicators of medical tourism (MT) can lead to the further development of this industry and tourists' satisfaction.

This study aimed to investigate MT development indicators in Yazd Reproductive Sciences Research Institute, Yazd, Iran in 2021.

In this cross-sectional study, 430 medical tourists referred to the Yazd Reproductive Sciences Institute, Yazd, Iran in 2021were studied. A researcher-made questionnaire with 46 questions and 10 dimensions was used in both internal and external environments to collect data. The Spearman correlation coefficient was also used to assess the correlation between the quantitative factors.

The reliability and validity of the scale were confirmed. The mean ± SD of the advertising and marketing index scored was lower than the other internal environmental indices (15.05 ± 2.16). Also, the economic factors and tourism infrastructure was lower than the other external environmental factors (9.8 ± 1.99, 8.53 ± 2.11, respectively). 

Given the importance of MT, top managers and relevant authorities should pay close attention to the criteria of advertising, marketing, and tourism infrastructure. MT demand can be improved by increasing the importance of advertising, implementing realistic advertising strategies, and developing adequate urban infrastructure and services.

Citrullinemia type 1 is an autosomal recessive disease resulting in ammonia accumulation in the blood, and if uncontrolled may progress to coma or death in the early months after birth.

Cases presentation: 

7 families from Southwest Iran having one or more children in their families or relatives, who died in the early months after birth due to citrullinemia type 1 visited for genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis. Whole-exome sequencing was performed on peripheral blood specimens and chorionic villus samples. Sanger sequencing confirmed the genetic results. Both parents were identified as carriers for the exon 15 c.1168G>A mutation in each family. The fetus in 6 out of 7 families was homozygote for A substitution on the argininosuccinate synthetase 1 gene.

The presence of a common mutation in the argininosuccinate synthetase 1 gene in all affected families of Southwest Iran shows a possible population cluster in this area.

We studied the article written by Morteza Motedayen et al. (1) that was published in the International Journal of Reproductive Biomedicine in July 2019. The objective of this study was determined the relationship between body mass index and preeclampsia. The results of this meta-analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between BMI and the risk of preeclampsia, so it can be said that BMI may be one of the ways to diagnose preeclampsia. Although these results were very interesting, some methodological issues should be considered: Authors for assessing risk of bias and quality of included studies used the Newcastle-Ottawa checklist, but the authors not reported results of this scale in tables and results. In the method section, the authors used funnel plot and Beggs test for reporting publication bias, but results related to Beggs test, for example, Beta, p-value, and 95% CI were not reported in the manuscript. Also, for assessing of publication bias in the meta-analysis, it is better to use the Egger test for publication bias, because this test use regression for detecting the correlation between variables and its SD (2-4). Search strategy is not complete, because this step in meta-analysis should be done independently by 2 researchers. In meta-analysis studies search strategy, quality assessment or risk of bias, and data extraction should be done independently by 2 researchers. On the other hand, gray’s literature is not done by authors. The database was incomplete, Web of sciences was not mentioned or searched. Therefore, it seems that in this meta-analysis, the search strategy was not sensitive. One of the most important aspects of meta-analysis is to determine whether heterogeneity exists in the studies, and investigated the source of such heterogeneity. In this meta-analysis, this section is ambiguous (5). Results showed that heterogeneity is higher and authors have not conducted any subgroup analysis for detecting heterogeneity sources. In the analysis section, the authors should be calculated the weight or standard mean difference in 2 groups of case-control studies and estimated this standard mean difference in meta-analysis (6, 7). For each study, authors should be calculated the standardized mean difference (difference in mean outcomes between groups / standard deviation of outcome among participate). After that, authors should be combined these effects and were reported pooled estimates (8, 9).

Thanks for your observations and giving us a chance to reply to the letter you received about our paper entitled: “The relationship between body mass index and preeclampsia: A systematic review and meta-analysis”. In the following, the authors have tried to answer the issues raised as much as possible:The quality assessment was done by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, 27 articles with a quality score of < 3 were excluded from the study, and 16 high-quality studies were analyzed (Figure 1). The article was written according to PRISMA guidelines (1). According to this guidelines reporting the quality assessment details is not obligatory in all meta-analysis, in meta-analysis conducted on randomized clinical trials and Cochrane articles, this section is usually reported in analytically in most articles. But only 30% of meta-analysis report quality assessment in the results of articles (Page 9, Table II, Item 22) (2). Many statistical tests, such as Begg and Mazumdar (1994), can be used to check publication bias. In this article, we report the p-value and a plot in the results section, which seems to be sufficient (Page 469, Table II (p = 0.584), Figure 5). Egger et al. proposed a test for the asymmetry of the funnel plot. The power of this method to detect bias will be low with small numbers of studies. Begg and Mazumdar  proposed testing the interdependence of variance and effect size using Kendall's method. This bias indicator makes fewer assumptions than that of Egger et al. (3, 4). Pubmed and Scopus databases for English and SID for Persian articles had good coverage for our search, no search results for additional article were found on Web of Sciences. Using the Web of Sciences is not obligatory in search of all meta-analysis studies. In our investigation, there were neither any articles in the Web of Sciences nor in PubMed and Scopus databases. Subgroup analysis were done according to mild and severe preeclampsia (Figure 3, 4). To pool the results of articles, there were alternative, fixed effect models, (when heterogeneity is not significant) and random effect models (when heterogeneity is significant) (5). Effect size was defined by the researcher as mean BMI with a 95% confidence interval (CI), when we use CI there is the sample size in its formula (mean ±zơ/ ).  Effect size can be defined as mean difference, or SMD, WMD, OR, RR, if we use SMD it would lead to an increase in missing values, SMD is computed when mean, SD, and sample size are avaliable in both cases and control groups, but when we define mean BMI as effect size, it is not necessary we have mean, SD, and sample size in both groups. Consequently, the results of this article, according to pooled results of 16 high-quality articles, are valid to cite.

The authors have been informed of an error that occurred on page 461 in which the family name of last author (Nasim Tabibnejhad) has been enterd incorrectly, which should be corrected as: "Nasim Tabibnejad". On behalf of the author, the publisher wishes to apologize for this error. The online version of article has been updated on 20 December 2022 and can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/ijrm.v17i12.5801

This article has been retracted at the request of the IJRM editorial board, based on the results of an investigation which found serious flaws in the study results.