Objective To employ Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess the potential causal relationship between 15 micronutrients in serum and male infertility, so as to provide a scientific basis for the etiological prevention of male infertility. Methods Male infertility was taken as the outcome variable, and 15 serum micronutrients was regarded as the potential influencing factors. A two-sample MR analysis was conducted using genome-wide association study with the European population. Multivariable MR analysis was employed to explore the independent effects of potential micronutrients on male infertility. Results A total of 198 single nucleotide polymorphisms across 15 groups were included as instrumental variables to assess the causal association between micronutrients and male infertility. Univariate analysis showed that increased serum iron levels were positively causally associated with a higher risk of male infertility (odds ratio=2.917, P=0.015). Besides, multivariate MR analysis suggested that this positive causal relationship between iron and male infertility remains significant (odds ratio=3.253, P=0.029). Meanwhile, this study found a negative association between elevated vitamin D levels and the risk of male infertility (odds ratio=0.403, P=0.020).Conclusion Elevated serum iron levels and increased vitamin D levels are associated with significant positive and negative causal effects on male infertility, respectively.
Infectious diseases are characterized by acute onset and rapid progression, and the efficiency of their diagnosis and treatment is highly dependent on the timeliness and accuracy of microbiological testing. Focusing on shortening turnaround time and improving result precision, this paper systematically reviews the evolution of microbiological testing across three stages: manual microscopic examination and conventional culture, automated biochemical identification, and mass-spectrometry-based and molecular diagnostics. It summarizes the breakthroughs and limitations of representative technologies in each stage, analyzes the impacts of technological iteration on clinical decision-making, specimen submission practices and antimicrobial stewardship, and prospects future trends including full-process automation, point-of-care testing, and multi-omics integration.