Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Infertility affects 1 in 6 couples causing devastating psychological impact. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment can aid couples to conceive, but personalisation of treatment is needed to optimise patient outcomes. Machine learning can aid in the analysis of large complex datasets such as those encountered during IVF treatment. One example is in determining the optimal follicle size on the day of trigger to maximise the number of oocytes collected. Both follicle...

Background: During IVF treatment, a pharmacological dose of recombinant FSH (rFSH) is used to induce multi-follicular growth (controlled ovarian stimulation; COS). An insufficient dose of rFSH negatively impacts the number of oocytes retrieved, whereas an excessive dose risks the potentially life-threatening complication ‘ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome’. Hence, appropriate rFSH dosing is regarded as a key treatment decision affecting both the success and safety of...

Background: Placentation (invasion of the placenta into the maternal endometrium) is hypothesised to be critical for healthy placental function and is abnormal in two thirds of miscarriages. Kisspeptin has emerged as a putative regulator of physiological placentation; it is highly expressed in placental syncytiotrophoblasts and could play an important paracrine role in the regulation of placentation. Circulating kisspeptin levels are considerably raised during healthy pregnanc...

Background: Placentation (invasion of the placenta into the maternal endometrium of pregnancy known as the decidua) is hypothesised to be critical for healthy placental function and is abnormal in two thirds of miscarriage. Kisspeptin has emerged as a putative regulator of physiological placentation; it is highly expressed in placental syncitio-trophoblasts, whereas its receptor is expressed in both syncitio- and cyto-trophoblasts, such that kisspeptin is hypothesized to play ...