Mammalian pre-implantation development is a complex process involving dramatic changes
in the transcriptional architecture 1, 2, 3, 4. We report here a comprehensive analysis of
transcriptome dynamics from oocyte to morula in both human and mouse embryos, using …

Traditional routine semen analysis and biochemical assays are insufficient for the
determination of fertility status in individual men. In recent years, clinical evidence has
shown that damaged human sperm DNA may adversely affect assisted reproductive …

Heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) is a heat shock protein family member which can inhibit
apoptosis. Our previous studies reported down-regulated Hsp27 in ovarian tissue derived
from women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) however, the exact effect of Hsp27 on …

A normal fertilized human zygote contains two pronuclei, but zygotes may also display one,
three, or even more pronuclei resulting from irregular insemination or meiotic division. Today
diploid and triploid human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines have been derived from …

Late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL-2) is a severe debilitating autosomal
recessive disease caused by mutations in TPP1. There are no effective treatments, resulting
in early childhood death. A couple with two affected children presented for reproductive …

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the applied value of rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
after complete fertilization failure during in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. METHODS: After 16-
18 h co-culture with sperm, all the unfertilized oocytes with the first polar body were re …

OBJECTIVE: To separate high-quality sperm by PureSperm centrifugation applied to
intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles. METHODS: We compared the separate results after
washing the semen with one-layer and two-layer PureSperm gradient centrifugation …

Previous studies by this study group have showed that heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27),
expressed in the oocyte of growing follicles, is down-regulated in polycystic ovary syndrome
ovaries and that down-regulation of Hsp27 improves the maturation of mouse oocytes and …

Spreading of a molten metal system on an intermetallic surface with anisotropic
microstructured surface topography was studied with hot-stage microscopy and an elliptical
spreading pattern was noticed. Surface characterization indicates that the spreading is …

Hydrophobic, methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayer (SAM) surfaces can be used to
reduce friction. Among methyl-terminated SAMs, the frictional properties of alkanethiol SAMs
and silane SAMs have been well-studied. In this research, we investigated friction of methyl …