Outcomes of 13 ICSI-PGD cycles with ejaculated spermatozoa in patients with Klinefelter syndrome

Dear Editor, Klinefelter syndrome （KS） is the most frequent genetic cause of infertility in men. Paternity can be achieved through intracytoplasmic sperm injection （ICSI） with spermatozoa recovered from ejaculated semen if exist, or testes with testicular sperm extraction （TESE）.

Outcomes of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Cycles by Fluorescent In situ Hybridization of Infertile Males with Nonmosaic 47,XYY Syndrome

Background： The 47,XYY syndrome could result in fertility problems. However, seldom studies reported comprehensive researches on the embryonic development and pregnancy outcomes of these patients. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of nonmosaic 47,XYY patients performed with fluorescent in situ hybridization （FISH） and preimplantation genetic diagnosis （PGD） treatment. Methods： This was a retrospective study. Between January 2012 and May 2017, 51 infertile males with nonmosaic 47,XYY syndrome underwent FISH-PGD were included in the study. According to sex chromosomal FISH results, embryos were classified as normal signal, no nuclei fixed, no signal in fixed nuclei, suspensive signal, and abnormal signal groups, respectively. The incidence of each group, the fixation rate, and hybridization rate were calculated. Embryonic development and pregnancy outcomes were also analyzed. The measurement data were analyzed with Student＇s t-test. The comparison of categorical data was analyzed with the Chi-square test and Fisher＇s exact test when expected cell count was 〈5. Results： The 53 PGD cycles with 433 embryos were analyzed. The fixation rate was 89.6%, while the hybridization rate was 96.4%. There were 283 embryos with two sex chromosomal signals with clear diagnosis （65.4%）. The numbers of no nuclei fixed, no signal in fixed nuclei, suspensive signal, and abnormal signal groups were 45 （10.4%）, 14 （3.2%）, 24 （5.5%）, and 67 （15.5%）, respectively. Embryos with abnormal signals were abandoned. The number of good-quality embryos was 210 （57.4%）, including implanted embryos on day 4/day 5 a.ld cryopreserved. The rates of good-quality embryos in the no nuclei fixed （22.2%）, no signal in fixed nuclei （28.6%）, and suspensive signal groups （33.3%） were comparable （P 〉 0.05）, and were significantly lower than the normal signal group （66.4%, P 〈 0.001 ）. The clinical pregnancy rates of fresh and frozen embryos transferred cycles were 70.6% and 85.7%, respectively. Conclusions： Among embryos with a clear diagnosis of sex chromosome, about one-fifth showed abnormal signals. Embryos with two sex chromosomal signals are more likely to develop into good-quality ones. The application of the PGD by FISH may help to improve the clinical outcomes.

Grasshopper （Orthoptera： Acrididae） biodiversity and grassland ecosystems

Interesting results may arise by combining studies on the structure and function of ecosystems with that of biodiversity for certain species. Grasshopper biodiversity is the result of the evolution of grassland ecosystems; however, it also impacts on the structure and the function of those ecosystems. We consider there to be a close relationship between the health of grassland ecosystems and grasshopper biodiversity. The main problems involved in this relationship are likely to include： （i） grasshopper biodiversity and its spatial pattern; （ii） the effect of grasshopper biodiversity on the ecological processes of grassland ecosystems; （iii） the biodiversity threshold of grasshopper population explosions; （iv） the relationship between grasshopper biodiversity and the natural and human factors that affect grassland ecosystems; and （v） grasshopper biodiversity and the health of grassland ecosystems. The solutions to these problems may provide sound bases for controlling disasters caused by grasshoppers and managing grassland ecosystems in the west of China. In this paper, we introduced two concepts for grasshopper biodiversity, that is, ＂spatial pattern＂ and ＂biodiversity threshold＂. It is helpful to understand the action of the spatial pattern of grasshopper biodiversity on the ecological processes of grassland ecosystems and the effect of this spatial pattern on the health of those ecosystems, owing to the fact that, in the west of China, grasslands are vast and grasshoppers are widely distributed. Moreover, we inferred that the change in the level of component richness at each type of grasshopper biodiversity can make an impact on grassland ecosystems, and therefore, there is likely to be a threshold to grasshopper biodiversity for the stability and the sustainability of those ecosystems.