Anti-aging is one of the top goals in the field of health care and aesthetics. Anti-aging cosmetics derived from nature are oriented to long-term development, bringing safety to users and being environmentally friendly. The aim of this study was to develop an anti-aging cosmetic formulation process based on coconut oil in combination with deer antler stem cell extract. The results show that the presence of deer antler stem cell extract added to the foundation made the serum product highly stable and helped improve skin aging significantly after 2 weeks of use. The skin site where the serum product was applied showed a smooth and elastic skin surface, with very few fine lines and shallow wrinkles. Serum reduced the number of wrinkles (48.09% compared to commercial serum (ME) and 60.31% compared to positive control (PC)), reduced skin recovery time (39.31% compared to ME and 67.1% of PC) after two weeks of use. After 2 weeks of use, collagen density increased 10.18% compared to ME and 63.76% compared to control. Epidermal thickness increased by 106.1% compared to PC and 121.7% compared to ME.

Astronauts are always faced with serious health problems during prolonged spaceflights. Previous studies have shown that weightlessness significantly affects the physiological function of female astronauts, including a change in reproductive hormones and ovarian cells, such as granulosa and theca cells. However, the effects of microgravity on these cells have not been well characterized, especially in granulosa cells. This study aimed to investigate the effects of simulated microgravity (SMG) on the proliferation and morphology of porcine granulosa cells (pGCs). pGC proliferation from the SMG group was inhibited, demonstrated by the reduced O.D. value and cell density in the WST-1 assay and cell number counting. SMG-induced pGCs exhibited an increased ratio of cells in the G0/G1 phase and a decreased ratio of cells in the S and G2/M phase. Western blot analysis indicated a down-regulation of cyclin D1, cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (cdk4), and cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (cdk6), leading to the prevention of the G1-S transition and inducing the arrest phase. pGCs under the SMG condition showed an increase in nuclear area. This caused a reduction in nuclear shape value in pGCs under the SMG condition. SMG-induced pGCs exhibited different morphologies, including fibroblast-like shape, rhomboid shape, and pebble-like shape. These results revealed that SMG inhibited proliferation and induced morphological changes in pGCs.

The study involved feeding lemongrass essential oil (LEO) supplements to red tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) at concentrations including Control - 0 mg, T1 – 200 mg, T2 – 300 mg, and T3 – 400 mg per kg of feed. The research investigated changes in hematological (HCT, Hb, RBC, WBC & thrombocytes) and erythrocyte’s morphological (major/minor axis; perimeter, and area of erythrocyte) parameters before infection, 5- and 10-days post-infection (DPI). According to analytical findings, a diet containing LEO enhanced the synthesis of both erythrocytes and leukocytes in the peripheral blood of red tilapia after 20 days of being used. Therefore, the indicators of this group of fish showed better performance than those that did not use LEO supplement five days after bacterial infection. Fish fed 200 mg/kg of LEO after being challenged with S. agalactiae for ten days showed an improved effect on red blood cell production. White blood cells decreased at all concentrations because of citral’s immunomodulatory properties.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether selecting euploid embryos by preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) can improve the clinical outcomes in patients with advanced maternal age. Hence, it provides evidence about the role of PGT-A in the treatment for patients with advanced maternal age in Vietnam. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study, conducted at IVFMD, My Duc Hospital, Vietnam, from March 2017 to March 2019. There were 244 patients taking preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A group). Biopsy was performed at the blastocyst stage. On the day of biopsy, about 5-6 trophectoderm cells were collected and sent to analysis, while the remaining was individually vitrified to be used for embryo transfer to the patient. When patients had PGT-A, the clinician consulted and indicated the euploid embryo for frozen embryo transfer cycle. The ongoing pregnancy rate was compared with the group of patients who only performed blastocyst transfer (non-PGT-A group). Other outcomes, such as the average number of transferred embryos, clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, miscarriage rate and multiple pregnancy rate, were also compared between the two groups. Results: In the total of 493 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria, there were 244 patients in PGT-A group and 249 patients in non-PGT-A group. The patient characteristics of the two groups were similar (p > 0.05). A total of 816 blastocysts were biopsied and 315 (38.6%) of these were aneuploidy. The ongoing pregnancy rate of PGT-A group was significantly higher than non-PGT-A group (43.9% vs. 32.1%, p = 0.01). Moreover, mean number of transferred embryos and multiple pregnancy rate of PGT-A group was lower than non-PGT-A group (1.3 vs. 2, p < 0.001; 5.7% vs. 12%, p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: In patients with advanced maternal age, the transfer of euploidy embryos selected by PGT-A improved the ongoing pregnancy rate and reduced the number of transferred embryos and multiple pregnancy rate. Therefore, this group of patients may benefit from PGT-A.

Background: Results from the latest meta-analysis, in fresh cycles, showed that the application of time-lapse monitoring (TLM) together with an embryo-evaluating algorithm was associated with a significantly higher rate of ongoing pregnancy and a lower rate of early pregnancy loss. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes of frozen embryos classified according to morphokinetic versus morphologic criteria. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study, conducted at IVFAS, An Sinh Hospital, Vietnam, from July 2014 to July 2017. Patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment with antagonist protocol and having freeze-only on day 5 were included. Exclusion criteria were patients (i) treated with in-vitro maturation, (ii) having obstructive azoospermia, or (iii) having uterine abnormalities. Embryos were cultured up to day 5 in TLM system (Primo Vision, Vitrolife, Sweden) or in benchtop (G185, K System, Denmark). The quality of frozen embryos was evaluated based on morphokinetic or morphologic criteria. In the subsequent cycle, endometrial preparation was done by using exogenous estradiol and progesterone. Embryos were thawed and up to 2 embryos were transferred to the uterus. The primary outcome was ongoing pregnancy. The rate of post-thaw survival, post-thawed good/moderate embryo, clinical pregnancy, implantation, miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy were used as secondary endpoints. Results: A total of 276 patients were recruited, with 138 patients in the morphokinetic group and 138 patients in the morphologic group. Baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups. There was no significant difference in ongoing pregnancy rate in morphokinetic versus morphologic group (57.2% vs. 60.1%, p=0.71). All secondary outcomes were comparable between the two groups. Conclusion: In frozen day-5 embryo transfer, the clinical outcomes were similar when embryos were classified according to morphokinetic versus morphologic criteria for freezing. Using morphokinetic criteria to select embryos for freezing did not improve the ongoing pregnancy rate, as compared to morphologic criteria.

The transplantation of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) sheets derived from human umbilical cords (hUCs) was investigated in this study as a potential application in treating myocardial infarction (MI). Two groups of hUC-MSC sheets were formed by populating LunaGel^TM, which are 3D scaffolds of photo-crosslinkable gelatin-based hydrogel with two different cell densities. An MI model was created by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery of healthy BALB/c mice. After two weeks, the cell sheets were applied directly to the MI area and the efficacy of the treatment was evaluated over the next two weeks by monitoring the mice’s weight, evaluating the left ventricle ejection fraction, and assessing the histology of the heart tissue at the end of the experiment. Higher cell density showed significantly greater efficiency in MI mice treatment in terms of weight gain and the recovery of ejection fraction. The heart tissue of the groups receiving cell sheets showed human-CD44-positive staining and reduced fibrosis and apoptosis. In conclusion, the hUC-MSC sheets ameliorated heart MI injury in mice and the efficacy of the cell sheets improved as the number of cells increased.