The world's first deliveries of normal babies after use of flow cytometric
separated human sperm cells (MicroSort) for preconception gender selection
are reported. Offspring were of the desired female gender in 92.9% of the
pregnancies. Most of these pregnancies and births were achieved after
simple intrauterine insemination.
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Insemination with donor spermatozoa is an integral part of infertility
treatment. For the last 3 years in our unit, intrauterine insemination with
donor spermatozoa (IUID) has been used in preference to vaginal
insemination. In this retrospective study, patients were offered an initial
course of five single intrauterine inseminations with cryopreserved donor
spermatozoa and treatment was then reviewed. A total of 389 patients
received 1465 inseminations. In all, 1119 cycles were monitored using
luteinizing hormone serum analyses and 346 cycles using the urine home test
kits. The clinical pregnancy rate per insemination for the cycles monitored
by the serum assay was 18.0% (202/1119) compared with the urine cycles
(13.7%, 46/346) (P <05). The pregnancy loss rate was not significantly
different (14.4%, 29/202 and 21.7%, 10/46) (serum and urine cycles
respectively). The viable clinical pregnancy rate was significantly higher
(P <03) for the serum cycles than for the cycles using the urinary
monitoring (15.5%, 173/1119 and 10.4%, 36/346 respectively). The cycles
monitored by serum assay had a significantly higher cumulative viable
clinical pregnancy rate (P <0001) of 70.2% after nine inseminations
compared with the urine monitored cycles of 54.8%. The majority of patients
opted for the serum cycles, with a minority self-selecting the urine cycles
mainly for travelling convenience. The explanation for the significant
differences between the viable clinical pregnancy rates per insemination
and the cumulative viable clinical pregnancy rates may be due to the
sensitivity of the urine home test kit or the patients' interpretation of
the result.
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Ultrasound scans of 51 consecutive patients with gallbladder wall thickening were reviewed, and specific sonographic features were correlated with surgical and clinical follow-up. Two patterns of thickening were identified as specific indicators of the presence or absence of acute cholecystitis. "Striated" wall thickening, consisting of several alternating, irregular, discontinuous, lucent and echogenic bands, was seen in eight of 13 patients (62%) with acute cholecystitis. This pattern was not encountered in any of the patients who did not have acute cholecystitis. Conversely, "three-layer" thickening, consisting of a single circumferential lucent zone between two relatively uniform echogenic layers, was seen in only one of 13 patients (8%) with acute cholecystitis but in 11 of 38 patients (29%) with other diagnoses. Other abnormalities, including the presence of intramural echogenic foci and wall irregularities, were more frequently seen in patients with acute cholecystitis but were not as helpful. Use of these features may suggest or help exclude a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis in those patients in whom the cause of gallbladder wall thickening is otherwise not apparent. 相似文献
Advances in techniques of molecular biology have made possible the
amplification of specific genes from single cells. This has a major
clinical application in preimplantation diagnosis of monogenic disorders.
However, the incidence of allele specific amplification failure (allele
drop out) in heterozygous single cells can lead to misdiagnosis and the
transfer of affected embryos. Few studies have been done to investigate the
actual cause of allele drop out, although some investigators have succeeded
in reducing but not eliminating it. Here we report the efficiency of
amplifying both alleles in heterozygous cells lysed according to two
different protocols. A total of 177 heterozygous cells from carriers of
cystic fibrosis (CF) and haemoglobin C (HbC) were lysed using two different
lysis buffers. Interestingly none of the cells that were lysed with sodium
dodecyl sulphate/proteinase K showed any example of allele specific
amplification failure whereas in those lysed by KOH/dithiothreitol it was
present in 17.6 and 4.7% of the CF and HbC cells respectively. Our results
suggest that the phenomenon of allele specific amplification failure is at
least in part dependent on the lysis buffer used.
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The present study used stereological methods to determine whether long-term administration of lithium, with or without haloperidol, affects the number and average volume of neocortical neurons. Twenty-five rats were divided into three groups and given no treatment, lithium, or lithium combined with haloperidol. Serum lithium levels ranged from 0.5 to 0.8 mmol/l. Haloperidol was injected intraperitoneally at a daily dose of 1 mg/kg. After 30 weeks of treatment, the animals were killed and the brains were prepared. Neocortical volume, density of neurons, total number of neurons and mean volume of neurons were estimated. As no differences were found between the groups, the present study provides no evidence for quantitative morphological changes in the cerebral cortex due to long-term therapeutic levels of lithium, with or without haloperidol. 相似文献
In a simulated field trial Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis (BTI) pellet formulation exhibited an enhanced efficacy with increasing dose. A dosage of 1.0 and 1.5 ppm was most effective under simulated field conditions. In field trials persistence of BTI pellet (1.0 ppm) was observed for 35 days in moderately polluted water collection as compared to 21 days in highly polluted water bodies.KEY WORDS: Bacillus thuringiensis, Malaria, Mosquito control相似文献
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine gender and ethnic differences in survival of persons receiving treatment for HIV infection to determine if differences existed, and if they did, to assess the possibility of explaining these differences by examining other factors, such as age, disease severity when beginning treatment, alcohol, illicit drugs, tobacco, educational level, living arrangements, antiretroviral treatment, PCP prophylaxis, sexually transmitted diseases, mode of transmission and opportunistic infections.
Design: A retrospective cohort study of all clients receiving treatment at an HIV only clinic from its opening in early 1988 until the end of May 1993. Statistical methods used to examine the data included incidence density ratios, Kaplan‐Meier survival curves, Breslow (generalized Wilcoxon) tests of equality of survival curves and Cox proportional hazards models both with and without time dependent covariates.
Results: In the cohort (37% African American, 7% Hispanic American and 25% female), 220 deaths occurred during 1223 person years of follow‐up. Compared to European American males, the following incidence density ratios were observed: European American females: 0.50, Hispanic American females: 0.70, Hispanic American males: 0.96, African American females: 1.28 and African American males: 2.38. The differences were noted above for gender/ethnicity groups were significant at the p < 0.0001 level. After adjusting for disease stage (as measured by laboratory testing of CD4 positive T‐lymphocytes), educational level, and age, no differences in survival by gender or ethnicity remained. Disease stage and educational level had the greatest prognostic significance.
Conclusions: European Americans entered treatment at a much earlier disease stage (as measured by CD4 positive T‐lymphocyte counts) and had higher educational levels (a surrogate for socioeconomic status) than African Americans. These factors may explain the longer survival in European Americans as compared to African Americans in this cohort. 相似文献
OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of three new topical anesthetics that do not contain cocaine (prilocaine-phenylephrine, tetracaine-phenylephrine [tetraphen], and tetracaine-lidocaine-phenylephrine) to that of tetracaine-adrenaline-cocaine (TAC) during laceration repair in children. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial. SETTING: The emergency department of an urban children's hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Children 1 year of age or older with a laceration = 5 cm in length that required suturing. Intervention. A total of 240 children were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. OUTCOME MEASURES: Pain felt during suturing was scored by suture technicians, research assistants, parents, and patients >/= 5 years of age using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Suture technicians, research assistants, and parents also scored pain using a seven-point Likert scale. In addition, suture technicians completed an anesthetic effectiveness scale. RESULTS: There was consistently no difference demonstrated between the effectiveness of tetraphen and that of TAC for each outcome measure of each observer group. A statistically significant difference was seen among anesthetics when comparing VAS and Likert scale scores of suture technicians and Likert scale scores of research assistants. Based on post hoc analyses, these statistically significant differences were between TAC and prilocaine-phenylephrine (suture technician VAS and Likert scale) and between TAC and tetracaine-lidocaine-phenyl-ephrine (suture technician Likert scale), but not between TAC and tetraphen. When power analyses were performed using alpha = 0.05 and beta = 0.20, it was possible to detect a difference of 1.2 VAS units for each of the observer groups. Based on anesthetic effectiveness scale scores, the three new topical preparations collectively performed significantly better on the face and scalp than on the extremities (relative risk = 1.83; 95% confidence interval 1.20 < relative risk < 2.79). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of three new non-cocaine-containing topical anesthetics. Consistently, there was no statistical difference demonstrated between the effectiveness of tetraphen and that of TAC for each outcome measure of each observer group. Tetraphen offers an effective alternative to TAC during laceration repair in children. 相似文献
OBJECTIVE: Hypospadias is a common congenital anomaly, the cause of which is unknown. Unexplained increases in the rates of hypospadias occurred in five European countries in the 1970s and 1980s. We examined data from two birth defects surveillance systems in the United States for evidence of similar trends. METHODOLOGY: The Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program (MACDP) provided birth prevalence rates from 1968 to 1993. The nationwide Birth Defects Monitoring Program (BDMP) provided rates from 1970 to 1993. MACDP data are population-based and could be categorized by the severity of the hypospadias. BDMP data allowed analysis of rate trends for the four census regions of the United States. RESULTS: Data from both surveillance systems showed an approximate doubling of hypospadias rates in the 1970s and 1980s. MACDP data showed that the rate of severe cases increased while the ratio of mild to severe cases decreased. BDMP data showed that hypospadias rates increased markedly in all four regions of the United States. CONCLUSIONS: The observed increases are unlikely to be attributable to increased sensitivity of the surveillance systems or the identification of more mild cases by physicians over time, because either trend would have increased rather than decreased the ratio of mild to severe cases. If real, these trends represent the largest number of cases and the first report of an increase in hypospadias rates outside of Europe. Additional investigation of a possible increase in hypospadias rates is warranted. 相似文献