No major differences in perinatal and maternal outcomes between uninterrupted embryo culture in time-lapse system and conventional embryo culture

STUDY QUESTION

Is embryo culture in a closed time-lapse system associated with any differences in perinatal and maternal outcomes in comparison to conventional culture and spontaneous conception?

SUMMARY ANSWER

There were no significant differences between time-lapse and conventional embryo culture in preterm birth (PTB, <37 weeks), low birth weight (LBW, >2500 g) and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy for singleton deliveries, the primary outcomes of this study.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY

Evidence from prospective trials evaluating the safety of time-lapse incubation for clinical use show similar embryo development rates, implantation rates, and ongoing pregnancy and live birth rates when compared to conventional incubation. Few studies have investigated if uninterrupted culture can alter risks of adverse perinatal outcomes presently associated with IVF when compared to conventional culture and spontaneous conceptions.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION

This study is a Swedish population-based retrospective registry study, including 7379 singleton deliveries after fresh embryo transfer between 2013 and 2018 from selected IVF clinics. Perinatal outcomes of singletons born from time-lapse-cultured embryos were compared to singletons from embryos cultured in conventional incubators and 71 300 singletons from spontaneous conceptions. Main perinatal outcomes included PTB and LBW. Main maternal outcomes included hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (pregnancy hypertension and preeclampsia).

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS

From nine IVF clinics, 2683 singletons born after fresh embryo transfer in a time-lapse system were compared to 4696 singletons born after culture in a conventional incubator and 71 300 singletons born after spontaneous conception matched for year of birth, parity, and maternal age. Patient and treatment characteristics from IVF deliveries were cross-linked with the Swedish Medical Birth Register, Register of Birth Defects, National Patient Register and Statistics Sweden. Children born after sperm and oocyte donation cycles and after Preimplantation Genetic testing cycles were excluded. Odds ratio (OR) and adjusted OR were calculated, adjusting for relevant confounders.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE

In the adjusted analyses, no significant differences were found for risk of PTB (adjusted OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.87-1.41) and LBW (adjusted OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.66-1.14) or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy; preeclampsia and hypertension (adjusted OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.67-1.45 and adjusted OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.62-1.53, respectively) between time-lapse and conventional incubation systems. A significantly increased risk of PTB (adjusted OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.08-1.60) and LBW (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.08-1.72) was found for singletons born after time-lapse incubation compared to singletons born after spontaneous conceptions. In addition, a lower risk for pregnancy hypertension (adjusted OR 0.72 95% CI 0.53-0.99) but no significant difference for preeclampsia (adjusted OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.68-1.12) was found compared to spontaneous conceptions. Subgroup analyses showed that some risks were related to the day of embryo transfer, with more adverse outcomes after blastocyst transfer in comparison to cleavage stage transfer.

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION

This study is retrospective in design and different clinical strategies may have been used to select specific patient groups for time-lapse versus conventional incubation. The number of patients is limited and larger datasets are required to obtain more precise estimates and adjust for possible effect of additional embryo culture variables.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS

Embryo culture in time-lapse systems is not associated with major differences in perinatal and maternal outcomes, compared to conventional embryo culture, suggesting that this technology is an acceptable alternative for embryo incubation.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)

The study was financed by a research grant from Gedeon Richter. There are no conflicts of interest for all authors to declare.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

N/A.

Diagnostic probability classification in suspected borreliosis by a novel Borrelia C6-peptide IgG1- subclass antibody test

The tick-borne multisystemic infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Lyme borreliosis, or Lyme disease, occurring in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, continues to spread geographically with the expanding tick population. Despite the rising perceived risk of infection in the population, the clinical diagnosis of Borrelia infection is not always obvious and the most important laboratory test, antibody detection, has limited accuracy in diagnosing active disease. According to international guidelines, the primary serology test, which has a high sensitivity-low specificity, should, be verified using a high specificity confirmation test to improve the specificity. However, this enhancement in specificity comes at the cost of lower sensitivity. This two-step procedure is often omitted in everyday clinical practice. An optimal primary test would be one where no secondary tests for confirmation would be necessary. In the present study, the performance of a novel assay for quantitating IgG1-subclass antibodies to Borrelia C6-peptide was compared to a commercial reference assay of total IgG and IgM antibodies to Borrelia C6-peptide in the setting of a high endemic area for borreliosis. A derivation study on a retrospective clinical material was performed to compare the performance parameters and assess the discriminatory properties of the assays, followed by a prospective validation study. The IgG1-antibody assay achieved comparable summary performance parameters to those of the reference assay. The sensitivity was almost 100% while the specificity was about 50%. In a high-endemic setting, characterized by high background seropositivity of about 50% and disease prevalence of approximately 10%, antibody tests are unable to rule-in active Borrelia infection. The rule-out assessment of the methods revealed that of 1000 patients, 7 - 54 with negative results based on the reference method could have an active Borrelia infection. Such uncertainty was not found for the index test and may help improve the risk classification of patients.

The AxBioTick Study: Borrelia Species and Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus in Ticks, and Clinical Responses in Tick-Bitten Individuals on the Aland Islands, Finland

The AxBioTick study was initiated to investigate the prevalence of ticks and tick-borne pathogens and their impact on antibody and clinical responses in tick-bitten individuals on the Aland Islands. This geographical area is hyperendemic for both Lyme borreliosis (LB) and Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Blood samples and ticks were collected from 100 tick-bitten volunteers. A total of 425 ticks was collected, all determined to Ixodes ricinus using molecular tools. Of them 20% contained Borrelia species, of which B. garinii and B. afzelii were most common. None contained the TBE virus (TBEV). Blood samples were drawn in conjunction with the tick bite, and eight weeks later. Sera were analyzed for Borrelia- and TBEV-specific antibodies using an ELISA and a semiquantitative antibody assay. In total 14% seroconverted in Borrelia C6IgG1, 3% in TBEV IgG, and 2% in TBEV IgM. Five participants developed clinical manifestations of LB. The high seroprevalence of both Borrelia (57%) and TBEV (52%) antibodies are likely attributed to the endemic status of the corresponding infections as well as the TBE vaccination program. Despite the similar prevalence of Borrelia spp. detected in ticks in other parts of Europe, the infection rate in this population is high. The AxBioTick study is continuing to investigate more participants and ticks for co-infections, and to characterize the dermal immune response following a tick bite.

Detection of MCM5 as a novel non-invasive aid for the diagnosis of endometrial and ovarian tumours

Background

MCM5 is a protein involved in DNA replication, facilitating cell proliferation. In normal epithelium MCM5 expression is restricted to the cells in the basal proliferative compartments, however in the presence of a tumour MCM5 positive cells are present at the surface epithelium and are shed into bodily fluids. The aim of this study was to determine the sensitivity of MCM5 as a biomarker for the detection of endometrial and ovarian cancer.

Methods

Patients with known ovarian or endometrial cancers, or known benign gynaecological conditions, were enrolled. Informed consent was obtained prior to the collection of full void urine, and either a vaginal tampon (worn for 6–8 h), or a vaginal swab. Vaginal secretions were extracted from the tampon or swab, centrifuged and lysed. Urine samples were centrifuged and lysed. MCM5 levels were determined by MCM5-ELISA (Arquer Diagnostics Ltd).

Results

125 patients completed the study protocol, 41 patients had endometrial cancer, 26 ovarian cancer, and 58 benign controls. All patients provided a urine sample and either a tampon or vaginal swab sample. Urine MCM5 levels were higher in cancer patients than controls (p < 0.0001), there was no significant difference in levels between tampon samples or vaginal swab samples in cancer patients when compared to controls.

Performance of MCM5 to discriminate cancer from benign disease was high with an area under the ROC curve of 0.83 for endometrial cancer and 0.68 for ovarian cancer. Using a cut off of 12 pg/mL, overall sensitivity for endometrial cancer was 87.8, and 61.5% for ovarian cancer with a specificity of 75.9%.

Conclusions

MCM5 is a novel sensitive and specific biomarker for the detection of ovarian and endometrial tumours in urine samples, which is likely to have clinical utility as a diagnostic aid.

Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) in the Cerebrospinal Fluid Samples from Children and Adults with Central Nervous System Infections

Neutrophils operate as part of the innate defence in the skin and may eliminate the Borrelia spirochaete via phagocytosis, oxidative bursts, and hydrolytic enzymes. However, their importance in Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) is unclear. Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, which is associated with the production of reactive oxygen species, involves the extrusion of the neutrophil DNA to form traps that incapacitate bacteria and immobilise viruses. Meanwhile, NET formation has recently been studied in pneumococcal meningitis, the role of NETs in other central nervous system (CNS) infections has previously not been studied. Here, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from clinically well-characterised children (N = 111) and adults (N = 64) with LNB and other CNS infections were analysed for NETs (DNA/myeloperoxidase complexes) and elastase activity. NETs were detected more frequently in the children than the adults (p = 0.01). NET presence was associated with higher CSF levels of CXCL1 (p < 0.001), CXCL6 (p = 0.007), CXCL8 (p = 0.003), CXCL10 (p < 0.001), MMP-9 (p = 0.002), TNF (p = 0.02), IL-6 (p < 0.001), and IL-17A (p = 0.03). NETs were associated with fever (p = 0.002) and correlated with polynuclear pleocytosis (r_s = 0.53, p < 0.0001). We show that neutrophil activation and active NET formation occur in the CSF samples of children and adults with CNS infections, mainly caused by Borrelia and neurotropic viruses. The role of NETs in the early phase of viral/bacterial CNS infections warrants further investigation.

Serological diagnostics of Lyme borreliosis: comparison of assays in twelve clinical laboratories in Northern Europe

Lyme borreliosis (LB), caused by spirochetes belonging to the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, is the most common tick-borne infection in Europe. Laboratory diagnosis of LB is mainly based on the patients’ medical history, clinical signs and symptoms in combination with detection of Borrelia-specific antibodies where indirect enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the most widely used technique. The objective of the study was to evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivities and specificities) of serological tests that are currently in use for diagnosis of LB in clinical laboratories in Northern Europe, by use of a large serum panel. The panel consisted of 195 serum samples from well-characterized and classified patients under investigation for clinically suspected LB (n = 59) including patients with Lyme neuroborreliosis, Lyme arthritis, acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans, erythema migrans or other diseases (n = 112). A total of 201 serum samples from healthy blood donors were also included. The panel (396 serum samples altogether) was sent to 12 clinical laboratories (using five different ELISA methods) as blinded for group affiliation and the laboratories were asked to perform serological analysis according to their routine procedure. The results from the study demonstrated high diagnostic concordance between the laboratories using the same diagnostic assay and lower diagnostic concordance between laboratories using different diagnostic assays. For IgG, the results were in general rather homogenous and showed an average sensitivity of 88% (range 85–91%) compared to IgM which showed lower average sensitivity of 59% (range 50–67%) and more heterogeneous results between assays and laboratories.

Assessment of the validity of a multigene analysis in the diagnostics of inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVES

The findings of a previous multigene study indicated that the expression of a panel of seven specific genes had strong differential power regarding inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) versus non-IBD, as well as ulcerative colitis (UC) versus Crohn's disease (CD). This prospective confirmatory study based on an independent patient cohort from a national Danish IBD centre was conducted in an attempt to verify these earlier observations.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

A total of 119 patients were included in the study (CD, UC and controls). Three mucosal biopsies were retrieved from the left side of the colon of each patient. RNA was extracted, and RT-PCR was performed to retain expression profiles from the seven selected genes. Expression data from the training set (18 CD, 20 UC and 20 controls) were used to build a classification model, using quadratic discriminant analysis, and data from the test set (20 CD, 21 UC and 20 controls) were used to test the validity of the model.

RESULTS

The present investigation did not confirm the previous observation that a panel of seven specific genes is able to distinguish between patients with CD and UC, whereas the discriminative power for IBD versus control subjects was substantiated.

CONCLUSION

Our results fail to demonstrate that the previously identified seven-gene classification model is able to discriminate between CD and UC but suggest that the gene panel merely discriminates between inflamed and noninflamed colonic tissue. Thus, a reliable and simple diagnostic tool is still warranted for optimal diagnosis and treatment of patients with IBD, especially the subgroup with unclassified disease.

TBE in Åland Islands 1959–2005: Kumlinge disease

Tick-borne encephalitis, TBE, has been observed in Aland Islands (population 26,500) for more than 60 years. Because of the small population, the relative incidence is high. Antibodies to TBE virus have been found in ca. 5% of healthy blood donors, indicating that subclinical infection must be common. This study is a review of the symptoms and signs of all the 301 serologically verified cases of TBE seen in Aland during 1959-2005. It also aims at analysing any possible changes in the symptoms and signs of TBE over time. The annual number of patients has been from 1 to 26, and has increased over time. The clinical picture has not undergone any conspicuous changes during these years. A few patients have had permanent neurological damage. There were no certain deaths from TBE. Simple practical measures may be taken to diminish, but not to eliminate, the risk of tick bites. Vaccination of exposed people is recommended, and general vaccination against TBE has commenced in Aland, beginning 2006. This is expected to reduce the incidence of TBE among the population to almost nil, provided that new inhabitants are vaccinated and that booster vaccinations are carried out as required.

Potassium citrate administration ameliorates tubulointerstitial lesions in rats with uric acid nephropathy

Although controversial, chronic uric acid nephropathy is a tubulointerstitial disease capable of developing renal function loss. On the other hand, potassium citrate (KCi) administration has demonstrated to be effective in calcium as well as uric acid nephrolithiasis therapy. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible benefit of KCi treatment in the prevention or amelioration of renal interstitial damage in uric acid nephropathy. Two-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups: G1 hyperuricemic (HU), G2 hyperuricemic + KCi (HU+KCi), and G3 KCi. G1 and G2 were fed on oxonic acid (inhibitor of rat liver uricase), and a uric acid supplement, during 4 weeks. G2 and G3 were given 2% KCi in drinking water, and G1 regular tap water and standard rat chow. At the end of the study, renal tissue was processed for light and electron microscopy and immunostaining by alpha-smooth muscle actin (SMA). Tubulointerstitial lesions and the amount of alpha-SMA immunostaining in renal tissue were evaluated by histomorphometric quantitation. Rats belonging to the hyperuricemic groups treated with KCi (G2) showed fewer tubulointerstitial lesions as follows: % tubular atrophy: 1.7 +/- 0.3 versus 7.2 +/- 1.2, p < 0.05; inflammatory cells infiltrate (number of cells/area): 0.6 +/- 0.1 versus 2.4 +/- 0.2, p < 0.01; % interstitial fibrosis (cortex): 3.3 +/- 0.3 versus 9.3 +/- 0.5, p < 0.05; % interstitial fibrosis (medulla): 5.2 +/- 0.3 versus 21.9 +/- 1.2, p < 0.01, lower albuminuria (32.8 +/- 11.2 mg/day versus 128.5 +/- 10.4, p < 0.01), higher creatinine clearance ( 1.36 +/- 0.02 ml/min versus 0.74 +/- 0.01, p < 0.01 ) and less percentage of alpha-SMA in renal tissue (1.8 +/- 0.1 versus 10.5 +/- 1.4, p < 0.05), when compared with the hyperuricemic group not treated with KCi (G1). These data suggest that KCi administration could provide a substantial benefit in the regard to tubulointerstitial lesion and progressive renal damage.

Intracervical versus intravaginal PGE2 for induction of labor at term in patients with an unfavorable cervix

In a randomized double-blind study we evaluated the effects on cervical ripening and labor induction of 0.5 mg PGE2 in gel given intracervically and 2.0 mg PGE2 given as a vaginal suppository. All patients were at term with unfavorable cervical scores. The indications for induction were toxemia, diabetes mellitus, Rh-immunization, or intrauterine growth retardation. Significantly better results for both cervical priming and labor induction were obtained after intracervical PGE2-gel application than after treatment with placebo or vaginal suppositories. Eleven out of 19 patients (58%) were delivered within 24 h after intracervical PGE2-gel compared to two out of 19 patients given placebo (p less than 0.01). In patients not delivered 24 h after the start of treatment, the mean cervical score had changed from 3.7 to 6.0 (p less than 0.05) after PGE2-gel application compared to a change from 3.9 to 4.3 after placebo treatment (n.s.). The outcome after treatment with PGE2 suppositories did not differ significantly from that with placebo treatment. In a subsequent study 25 patients were given 0.5 mg PGE2-gel intracervically. The results were consistent with those obtained in patients receiving PGE2-gel intracervically in the double-blind study. Few side effects were noted. No patient complained of gastro-intestinal discomfort but increased myometrial activity was observed in two patients; one after placebo and the other after active intracervical PGE2-gel treatment. The hyperactivity was readily countered with the beta 2-agonist, terbutaline. All infants were born in good condition with Apgar scores of 7 or more within 5 min. At pediatric examinations at 1 week and at 6 months of age all children seemed healthy.