After thawing, sperm motility and motion parameters, plasma membrane and acrosome integrity, apoptosis status and mitochondrial
activity were evaluated. The results shown that total and progressive motility (54.43 +/- 1.33% and 25.43 +/- 0.96%, respectively) were significantly higher in SL1.5 when compared to other semen extenders. Sperm motion parameters (VAP, JQ-EZ-05 VSL, VCL, ALH and STR) were significantly higher in SL1.5 compared to other extender, with the exception of SL1 extender. Plasma membrane integrity (48.86 +/- 1.38%) was significantly higher in SL1.5 when compared to other semen extenders. Also, percentage of spermatozoa with intact acrosome in SL1.5 (85.35 +/- 2.19%) extender was significantly higher than that in SL0.5, SL2.5 and EYT extenders. The results showed that the proportion of live post-thawed sperm was significantly increased in SL1.5 extender compared Ralimetinib manufacturer to SL0.5, SL2 and EYT extenders. In addition, SL1, SL1.5 and SL2.5 extenders resulted in significantly lower percentage of early-apoptotic sperm than that in EYT extender. There were no significant
differences in different semen extenders for percentage of post-thawed necrotic and late-apoptotic spermatozoa. Also, the results indicated that there are slight differences for percentage of live spermatozoa with active mitochondria between extenders. In conclusion, SL1.5 extender was better than other extenders in most in vitro evaluated sperm parameters.”
“To distinguish hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) from hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy (H-LVH) based on a morphological examination is often challenging. Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for several cardiovascular diseases. In patients with LVH, GDF-15 promises to be a useful biomarker to
distinguish between HCM and H-LVH. We evaluated 93 patients with H-LVH, 28 with HCM, and 28 disease BMS-345541 molecular weight control individuals. Serum GDF-15 concentrations were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Circulating GDF-15 levels were significantly higher in patients with H-LVH than with HCM (P = 0.003). On the other hand, values for plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels were significantly lower in patients with H-LVH than with HCM (P = 0.004). Serum GDF-15 and plasma BNP levels positively correlated in patients with H-LVH but not with HCM. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed GDF-15 (odds ratio 12.06, confidence interval 1.85-78.77, P < 0.01) as an independent predictor of H-LVH among patients with LVH. In receiver-operating characteristic analysis, GDF-15 achieved an area under the curve of 0.70 for the identification of H-LVH. We found that GDF-15 might be a useful biomarker for discriminating HCM from H-LVH. Understanding serum GDF-15 values may have clinical utility for patients with LVH because the therapeutic strategies for treating HCM and H-LVH differ.