Background: In the past few months, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused extensive economic and social damage. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19–related measures on partner relationships and sexual and reproductive health in China. Methods: From May 1 to 5, 2020, 3500 young Chinese individuals were recruited through WeChat or Weibo to participate in a survey to obtain information on sexual and reproductive health (eg, sexual desire, frequency of sexual intercourse, sexual satisfaction, etc). The questionnaire also collected demographic data (eg, age, race, education, current financial status, sexual orientation, relationship status, etc). Results: In total, 967 participants were included in the sexual health analysis. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures, 22% of participants (n=212) reported a decrease in sexual desire; 41% (n=396) experienced a decrease in the sexual intercourse frequency; 30% (n=291) reported an increase in the frequency of masturbation; 20% (n=192) reported a decrease in alcohol consumption before or during sexual activities, and 31% (n=298) reported a deterioration in partner relationships during the pandemic. The logistic regression analysis indicated that the following influenced partner relationships: accommodations during the pandemic (P=.046; odds ratio [OR] 0.59; 95% CI 0.30-0.86); exclusive relationship status (yes or no) (P<.001; OR 0.44; 95 % CI 0.27-0.73); sexual desire (P=.02; OR 2.01; 95% CI 1.38-2.97); and sexual satisfaction (P<.001; OR 1.92; 95% CI 1.54-2.50). COVID-19 also caused disruptions in reproductive health services such as prenatal and postnatal care, childbirth and abortion services, contraception availability, and the management of sexually transmitted infections. Conclusions: Our results show that many young people have wide-ranging issues affecting their sexual and reproductive health due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures. Strategies and guidelines are needed to safeguard the sexual and reproductive health of young people during this pandemic.

Background: Asthenoteratospermia, one of the most common causes for male infertility, often presents with defective sperm heads and/or flagella. Multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF) is one of the common clinical manifestations of asthenoteratospermia. Variants in several genes including DNAH1, CEP135, CATSPER2 and SUN5 are involved in the genetic pathogenesis of asthenoteratospermia. However, more than half of the asthenoteratospermia cases cannot be explained by the known pathogenic genes. Methods and results: Two asthenoteratospermia-affected men with severe MMAF (absent flagella in >90% spermatozoa) from consanguineous families were subjected to whole-exome sequencing. The first proband had a homozygous missense mutation c.188G>A (p.Arg63Gln) of DZIP1 and the second proband had a homozygous stop-gain mutation c.690T>G (p.Tyr230*). Both of the mutations were neither detected in the human population genome data (1000 Genomes Project, Exome Aggregation Consortium) nor in our own data of a cohort of 875 Han Chinese control populations. DZIP1 encodes a DAZ (a protein deleted in azoospermia) interacting protein, which was associated with centrosomes in mammalian cells. Immunofluorescence staining of the centriolar protein Centrin1 indicated that the spermatozoa of the proband presented with abnormal centrosomes, including no concentrated centriolar dot or more than two centriolar dots. HEK293T cells transfected with two DZIP1-mutated constructs showed reduced DZIP1 level or truncated DZIP1. The Dzip1-knockout mice, generated by the CRSIPR-Cas9, revealed consistent phenotypes of severe MMAF. Conclusion: Our study strongly suggests that homozygous DZIP1 mutations can induce asthenoteratospermia with severe MMAF. The deficiency of DZIP1 induces sperm centrioles dysfunction and causes the absence of flagella.

To characterize the incidence and risk factors for monochorionic diamniotic(MC-DA) twinning after assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Retrospective population-based study. The study was conducted in China; Department of Reproductive Medicine Center at The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. A cohort of 8860 clinical pregnancies after embryo transfer (ET) carried out in our center between 2011 and 2016 were retrospectively analyzed for the incidence of MC-DA twinning. Logistic regression was used to model the effect on the incidence of MC-DA twinning after ART. Different clinical data (maternal age) and laboratory procedures (type of ET (fresh versus frozen), insemination (IVF or ICSI)), embryo stage at time of ET (cleavage or blastocyst)) on the incidence of MC-DA twinning were evaluated. Monochorionic-diamniotic pregnancies were identified when more than one fetal poles was visualized in one gestational sac via trans-vaginal ultrasound at early first-trimester (7 to 8 weeks). The overall MC-DA twinning rate was 2.55% (226/8860). Eighty one MC-DA twinnings occurred in the fresh cycles and 145 in the frozen cycles (2.67% vs. 2.49%). MC-DA twinning incidence showed no significant difference whether ICSI was performed or not (2.79% vs. 2.44%). The MZT that resulted from single embryo transfer (SET) cycles (1.99%) was slightly lower than multiple embryo transfer cycles (2.61%),but with non-significance. However, women <35 years displayed a significant higher rate (2.81%) than women ≥35 years old (1.16%). Blastocyst transfer was associated with a significantly increase in MC-DA twinning incidence than cleavage-stage embryos transfer (2.79% VS 2.02%, P = 0.008). In the results of logistic regression analysis, blastocyst transfer is a major risk factor of MZT in the fresh cycles (P = 0.044), while maternal age plays a more important role in the frozen cycles (P = 0.004). There is an elevated prevalence of MC-DA twinning after ART. Both maternal age and blastocyst transfer are risk factors of monozygotic pregnancy independently. Blastocyst transfer is a major risk factor of MC-DA twinning in the fresh cycles, while maternal age plays a more important role in the frozen cycles.