Fist batch of oral reports (For Dec. 22-25, 2021)

BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

by Angelo Norey Tayag -
Number of replies: 6

Hi LEC3!! The link below will direct you to our report on the study of Li et al. (2020) entitled “Impaired spermatogenesis in COVID-19 patients.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN8xzTo7170

BIO 133 LEC 3 • WED 1000-1300

  • MARABABOL, Ram Julius
  • TAN, Aryanna Gillian

  • TAYAG, Angelo Norey

In reply to Angelo Norey Tayag

Re: BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

by Lydia LEONARDO -
Thank you for a very thorough and clear presentation. I am a little distracted by the background music so maybe next time don't use one. And for other future presentations please don't use any background music. I noticed that you also included your critique of the paper which is just fine. Appreciate that too. Please respond to the following questions.
1. Please explain the higher number of males infected compared to females.
2. You recommended increase in sample size to improve the study, what would be a good sample size then?
3. Do you think the effect of COVID-19 on the reproductive system is protracted that even after recovery, the effect would still be there?
In reply to Lydia LEONARDO

Re: BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

by Angelo Norey Tayag -
Good day po Maam! To address the background music concern, we are posting a separate copy of our report without the background music: https://tinyurl.com/B133-nobgmusic.
 
Also, since we had no cameras during the report as there were no instructions yet about turning on cameras beforehand, we are thereby posting here the parts that we reported for easier identification of the audio, as illustrated in the picture below (picture may also be viewed by clicking HERE). Salamat po, Maam. 😊❤️
 

Marababol, Ram Julius — Introduction
Tan, Aryanna Gillian — Methodology
Tayag, Angelo Norey — Results & Discussion, Conclusion, Critique

 
 

 

 

Attachment Meet the Speakers.gif
In reply to Angelo Norey Tayag

Re: BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

by Angelo Norey Tayag -
Good day po again, Maam! 🌻
 
Thank you very much for your questions po. We strongly believe that your queries are of much relevance given the pandemic situation we are in right now, especially with the emergence of newer and relatively more complex variants of SARS-CoV-2. With this, we are happy to discuss with you our responses, as listed below.

QUERY 1: Please explain the higher number of males infected compared to females.

While much concern regarding susceptibility to COVID-19 was initially given more emphasis towards the elderly as well as those with comorbidities and underlying health conditions, sex is now being investigated in several studies as an additional factor to susceptibility. As epidemiological findings would indicate significantly higher morbidity and mortality rates in males than females, it was found in further research that the biological and lifestyle differences between males and females actually impact the ability to fight a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

For one, males are found to have a normally higher expression of the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors than females. If we recall, the receptor-binding domains (RBD) of the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 variants have a significantly high affinity to the human ACE2 receptors through which they find entry into our cells. This is why body organs that have more ACE2 receptors (i.e., lungs) are more vulnerable to infection. In the same way, because males have relatively more ACE2 receptors, SARS-CoV-2 would find more sites to bind into and therefore the rate of infection becomes higher, which also explains the higher cases of morbidity and mortality among males.

This higher rate of infection is even fortified by another contributing factor, which is “lifestyle,” such as higher levels of smoking and drinking observed among males than females, which basically has complex drawbacks on the overall health of men, including vulnerability to diseases such as COVID-19.

Finally, as we have reported in the video, while ACE2 is normally abundant in testes, the researchers also found an abnormal increase in ACE2 expression (higher than the “normally abundant” amount) which is hypothesized to be a response to SARS-CoV-2 attachment, and this entails a lot of physiological effects (as discussed in our video) that would overall lead to inflammation of the male reproductive tract and ultimately the impairment in spermatogenesis.

For questions 2 & 3, my other group mates will be answering in a short while. Thank you po, Maam.
In reply to Lydia LEONARDO

Re: BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

by Aryanna Gillian Tan -
Good evening Dr. Leonardo!

Thank you for the relevant question. One limitation of the study is that all collected testicular samples from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 came from autopsies and are thus, post-mortem. Though there was significant damage on the male reproductive system including the irreversible affliction to the blood-testis-barrier, this research alone is not sufficient in answering whether the same long-lasting effects can be observed among COVID-19 survivors, and whether or not incurred damages among milder cases can be reversible. Among more severe cases however, it is likely that effects on the male reproductive system are substantially protracted. Increased inflammation in response to autoimmune activity can cause development of orchitis and epididymitis, inflammation of the testicles and epididymis respectively. Even post-infection, the symptoms for these can last a much longer after initial recovery, leaving symptoms of extreme tenderness. In milder cases where damage to the blood-testis-barrier is perhaps not observed, effects on the male reproductive system may still persist. Although there has yet to be a definitive study and conclusive answer on the matter, much of the cellular damage is due to the autoimmune response from the release of cytokines, leading to hyperimmune response of the associated tissues. This observation has led to the manifestation of “long Covid” in some patients, where symptoms can persist anywhere from weeks to months. Although it should be noted that these observations would vary on a case-to-case basis.
In reply to Lydia LEONARDO

Re: BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

by Ram Julius Marababol -
Good day ma'am! To answer your 2nd question: Unacceptable quality of the sample size or underpowered studies has a very high risk of committing type II error and thus discourage clinicians from accepting these conclusions. For statisticians, an n > 30 is usually sufficient for the Central Limit Theorem to hold so that normal theory approximations can be used for measures such as the standard error of the mean. However, this sample size (n = 30) is unrelated to the clinicians’ objective of detecting biologically significant effects, which determines the specific sample size needed for a specific study. Furthermore, to be more specific, according to Kasiulevičius et al. (2006), studies like this which employed methodology with past exposure to suspected etiological factors is compared with that of controls or referents who do not have the disease; statistical adjustment may be rendered more efficiently by matching cases and controls for exposure to confounders, either on an individual basis (for example, by pairing each case with a control of the same age and sex) or in groups (for example, choosing a control group with an overall age and sex distribution similar to that of the cases). One of the primary reasons as to how this study fails to achieve the desired sample size is due to the nature of its methodology (i.e., experimental requires the sample to be dead). If the methodology is designed in such a way that it can also be applicable to COVID-19 survivors, then it will arguably create conclusions with higher quality than the current study. References: Kasiulevičius, V., ŠApoka, V., & Filipavičiūtė, R. (2006). Sample size calculation in epidemiological studies. Gerontologija, 7(4), 225–231. http://www.gerontologija.lt/files/edit_files/File/pdf/2006/nr_4/2006_225_231.pdf Lee P. H. (2020). Sample sizes in COVID-19-related research. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 192(17), E461. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.75308
In reply to Angelo Norey Tayag

Re: BIO 133 LEC3 (W 10AM-1PM) • SPERMATOGENESIS

by Leomer Aljohn Cionelo -
Thank you for the presentation. The video had nice graphics and the content was great. Your comments on the study are also correct since more data is needed to prove the study’s conclusion. This study is timely and should be further explored in the future. Our group (Cionelo, Marasigan, Morada) would like to ask if there are long term studies on the long term effect of COVID-19 on spermatogenesis?