Objective: To identify the attitudes of infertile couples toward their surplus frozen embryos.

Methods: This study was according to PRISMA-ScR as the guideline for scoping review. Studies that assessed the attitudes of patients or infertile couples who had surplus embryos were included. We conducted systematic searches in English studies from April 2011-April 2021 using 7 databases: PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCO, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, Sage Journals, and Google Scholar. Data were charted based on author, year of publication, country, purpose, data collection, key findings, and research focus/domain.

Results: A total of 37 research articles were included in the analysis. Their attitudes encompassed: supporting the donation of the surplus embryos for both research and reproductive purposes, continuing to store the frozen embryos, and disposing of the surplus embryos.

Conclusions: Most of the infertile patients support donating their surplus embryos for research and reproductive purposes.

Objective: To investigate the association between age and semen parameters among male partners of subfertile couples.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the semen of 1 523 infertile men aged 26 to 50 years. Data were extracted from GarbhaGudi IVF Centre database from January 2019 to September 2020. The basic semen parameters were interpreted according to the WHO manual 2021, 6th edition. Semen parameters in different age groups were compared.

Results: Total and progressive motile sperms were significantly higher in the age group of 26-30 years compared to other age groups (P<0.05). Normal sperm count was significantly higher in the age group of 26-30 years compared to the age groups of 41-45 years and >46 years (P=0.001). However, sperm head defects, neck and midpiece defects, tail defects, and cytoplasmic droplets showed statistically insignificant difference in all the age groups (P>0.05). Semen viscosity showed no statistical difference in all the age groups compared to the reference age group of 26 to 30 years.

Conclusions: Higher age can lead to a significant decrease in normal sperms and motility in subfertile men. Hence, male partner age should be considered as one of the major determining factors for reproductive outcomes.

Objective: To detect common chromosomal aneuploidy variations in embryos from couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology and preimplantation genetic screening and their possible associations with embryo quality.

Methods: In this study, 359 embryos from 62 couples were screened for chromosomes 13, 21, 18, X, and Y by fluorescence insitu hybridization. For biopsy of blastomere, a laser was used to remove a significantly smaller portion of the zona pellucida. One blastomere was gently biopsied by an aspiration pipette through the hole. After biopsy, the embryo was immediately returned to the embryo scope until transfer. Embryo integrity and blastocyst formation were assessed on day 5.

Results: Totally, 282 embryos from 62 couples were evaluated. The chromosomes were normal in 199 (70.57%) embryos and abnormal in 83 (29.43%) embryos. There was no significant association between the quality of embryos and numerical chromosomal abnormality (P=0.67).

Conclusions: Embryo quality is not significantly correlated with its genetic status. Hence, the quality of embryos determined by morphological parameters is not an appropriate method for choosing embryos without these abnormalities.

Objective: To investigate the potential activity of novel herbal combination and novel herbal formulation (syrup) in female Sprague Dawley rats with letrozole-induced polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods: Forty-two rats were randomly divided into seven groups with six rats in each group. Group 1 received 0.5% carboxy methylcellulose orally for 37 days and served as the normal control group. Group 2 was orally administered with letrozole of 1 mg/kg for 21 days and served as the PCOS induction group without treatment. Group 3 to 7 were administered with letrozole of 1 mg/kg for 21 days orally to induce PCOS, and then respectively received clomiphene citrate at 1 mg/kg, 100 and 200 mg/kg of novel herbal combination, 200 mg/kg of novel herbal formulation (syrup), and 400 mg/kg of marketed formulation of Pushyanuga churna, once daily for 15 days. Effects of the novel herbal combination and its syrup formulation were evaluated on the hormonal profile, the levels of antioxidants, the lipid profile and on the ovarian morphology, using letrozole-induced PCOS model in rats.

Results: Letrozole caused alterations in hormonal levels and lipid levels similar to PCOS and ovarian histology showed presence of ovarian cysts confirming the induction of PCOS in rats. On treatment with the novel herbal combination and its syrup formulation in PCOS-induced rats, the altered hormonal and lipid profiles showed significant recovery to normal levels. Ovarian histology confirmed the restoration of folliculogenesis in the PCOS-induced rats. The treatment with the syrup formulation of novel herbal combination was found to be more effective than novel herbal combination and showed better recovery in various parameters evaluated. The results of the study, however, suggested that treatment with novel herbal combination and its syrup formulation provided minimal protection against oxidative stress caused due to the induction of PCOS.

Conclusions: The integrated approach for management of PCOS is to counterbalance the limitations associated with modern therapy. Both the novel herbal combination and the syrup formulation of novel herbal combination show efficacy in the management of PCOS in rats and restore folliculogenesis in the ovary. The syrup formulation of novel herbal combination is most effective in the management of PCOS and shows potential to be developed as an adjuvant therapeutic agent.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of bacteriospermia, the bacterial load, and the potential factors associated with bacterial contamination in boar semen collected by local smallholder artificial insemination operators.

Methods: Fifteen individual raw semen samples were collected from locally available artificial insemination boars owned by different smallholder boar operators within the 5th district of Leyte, Philippines and were subjected to standard bacteriological culture and identification, including a survey of potentially associated factors. Prevalence and bacterial count were determined accordingly, while boar characteristics and collection practices were clustered following agglomerative hierarchical clustering technique.

Results: One hundred percent contamination with a bacterial count of (2.01±0.38)×10³ CFU/mL was observed. At least 73.33% of the samples were positive for Bacillus spp., while other identified isolates included Enterobacter spp., Staphylococcus spp., E. coli, Pseudomonas spp., Citrobacter spp., and Klebsiella spp.

Conclusions: Despite the high prevalence of bacteriospermia, the bacterial count is low. Nevertheless, on-farm practices on boar health and management, semen collection, and sanitation as well as the enhancement of basic protocols to control contamination should be conscientiously considered in smallholder artificial insemination operation.

Objective: To investigate the effects of different concentrations of N-acetylcysteine on follicular growth and morphology, as well as on viability, levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and meiotic progression of oocytes from in vitro cultured bovine early antral follicles.

Methods: Isolated early antral follicles (about 500 μm) were cultured in TCM-199⁺ alone or supplemented with 1.0, 5.0 or 25.0 mM N-acetylcysteine at 38.5 °C with 5% CO₂ for 8 days. Follicle diameters were evaluated at day 0, 4 and 8 of culture. At the end of culture, the levels of ROS, chromatin configuration and viability (calcein-AM and ethidium homodimer-1 staining) were investigated in the cumulus-oocyte complexes. Comparisons of follicle diameters between treatments were performed. Data on percentages of morphologically normal follicles, growth rates and chromatin configuration in different treatments were compared.

Results: An increase in follicular diameters after culture in all treatments was observed, except for follicles cultured with 25.0 mM N-acetylcysteine. Fluorescence microscopy showed that oocytes cultured in all treatments were stained positively with calcein-AM, and that 5.0 mM N-acetylcysteine reduced fluorescence for ethidium homodimer-1. Intracellular levels of ROS in oocytes from follicles cultured with 1.0 mM N-acetylcysteine showed a significant reduction compared to other treatments. The presence of N-acetylcysteine in culture medium did not influence the rates of oocyte at the germinal vesicle stage.Conclusions:N-acetylcysteine at concentrations of 1.0 and 5.0 mM reduces ROS levels and staining for ethidium homodimer-1 in in vitro cultured follicles, respectively, while 25.0 mM N-acetylcysteine decreases follicular growth and the percentages of continuously growing follicles.