Kaitlyn p's Senior Project Blog
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Project Title: Environmenatl Toxins and Invitro Fertilization Outcomes: a Systematic Review BASIS Advisor: Dr. Anna Mae Almeida Internship Location: ASU Biodesign, Sweete Center for Biotechnology Onsite Mentor: Ms. Chenwei Zheng |
Project Abstract
Some aspects of human fertility are on the decline. In males, there has been a decrease in semen quality. From 1973 to 2018, sperm concentrations have decreased by 51.6% according to Levine et al. In females, according to Rossen et al., the risk of pregnancy loss has increased. The World Health Organization estimates that 17.5% of people have experienced infertility (failure to conceive after a year or more of regular unprotected intercourse) in their lifetime. Potentially associated with these changes are environmental toxins, many of which have been shown to adversely affect the reproductive system. Various environmental toxins have been linked to issues like lower sperm and egg quality, sex hormone disruptions, infertility, and pregnancy loss, and people are frequently exposed to these chemicals. With these fertility issues, many couples have turned to assisted reproductive technologies (ART), such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), to have children. There has not yet been research analyzing the impact of environmental toxins as a whole (rather than specific toxins) on IVF. Thus, this systematic review is being conducted to investigate if and how exposure to environmental toxins affects IVF outcomes. We will search several databases using keywords related to IVF and environmental toxins, screen the identified studies for eligibility, and analyze the included studies. Additionally, my work studying PFAS degradation using bacteria at my internship will give me hands-on experience with reproductive toxins and immerse me in the field. My research will synthesize existing information on individual toxins’ effects on IVF into a “summary” that can be used by IVF patients and healthcare providers, as well as other researchers interested in environmental toxins’ effects.
Wrapping Up…Sort Of
It’s the last week of blogs! This week, I’ve mostly been preparing for my presentation and finishing up my paper. For the presentation, I mostly just had to transfer information from my papers to PowerPoint and spoken form. The paper was a bit more complicated. The first step was to track down all the different... Read More
What’s in a Book?
I finished reading the second book I’m including in my project, the updated version of Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. My other book and journal papers helped me understand the process of reproduction and IVF, while this book is meant to cover various common environmental toxins, exposure, and issues... Read More
Risk of Bias Assessment
Risk of bias assessment, otherwise known as critical appraisal or quality assessment, is an essential step in conducting a systematic review. It involves grading each study based on a set of pre-defined criteria to assess the quality of the evidence that each study presents. Different sets of criteria and grading methods are available for different... Read More
Much, Much More Data!
After finishing writing six pages of analysis, I realized I had forgotten to include the sexes of the participants in some of the studies. Ahh! Not many studies so far have looked at men, so it was easy to forget that I needed to make the distinction. However, sex is important for interpreting results, so... Read More
Analysis!
This week has been a full week of analyzing my included studies for reporting in my systematic review! It’s exciting because it’s a big step forward, and once I finish, I’ll be really close to completing the entire systematic review. With 348 studies to go through, though, it’s a huge undertaking, and the process is... Read More
My PRISMA Flow Diagram
This week, I (mostly) finished my PRISMA flow diagram! The PRISMA flow diagram is a visual depiction of the process for performing a systematic review. The chart consists of boxes connected by arrows that represent the “flow” of the systematic review. Each box is filled with the number of studies in that stage of the... Read More
A Correspondence with a Scientist
I finally finished checking the references and citing studies of all my included studies! I have a complete set of 351 studies to analyze in my systematic review! Well, almost. The final step of making sure I get all the possible information for my systematic review is checking if there’s any applicable research that’s currently... Read More
Pages and Pages of “IVF”
This week, I continued working on finding all the applicable studies for my systematic review. On Monday, I finished checking the references of all my included studies. In total, I found 46 new studies just from reference searching! That brings me to a total of 293 included studies in my systematic review so far. The... Read More
Rechecking and Rearranging
This week was a week of adjustment. Part of a systematic review is ensuring all applicable studies are included by double-checking. I’m double-checking by looking through the references of all the studies I already identified through database searching and seeing if there are any new eligible studies there. I underestimated how long it would take... Read More
Beginnings: of Trimester 3 and of Life
As I walked through the doors of ASU’s Biodesign lab, I thought about beginnings. Here I was, about to start my internship, to have time to work on my research, to transition into my high school class-less Trimester 3. Beginnings bring with them so many new opportunities! But they also bring many changes, and often,... Read More