Relative carriage rates of nuclear dehydrogenating clostridia in two populations of different colorectal cancer risk

Carriage of nuclear dehydrogenating clostridia has been associated with colon cancer and implicated in its aetiology. This study has compared the carriage of these organisms in a British population at high risk for the development of colon cancer with a low risk Nigerian population. Clostridia were found in all of the stools from both populations. Nuclear dehydrogenating clostridia were only found in the stools of the British subjects (32%). These results support the suggestion that the carriage rate of nuclear dehydrogenating clostridia in a population is related to the risk of colon cancer.     

Development of hatching blastocysts from immature human oocytes following in-vitro maturation and fertilization using a co-culture system

Recently, in-vitro maturation (IVM) of immature human oocytes recovered from non-stimulated follicles has been applied in the treatment of infertility. However, in previous reports, very few embryos cultured in conventional medium have reached the expanded blastocyst stage following in-vitro maturation and fertilization (IVM/IVF). The objective of this study was to investigate whether the developmental competence of human embryos following IVM/IVF could be enhanced by the use of a human ampullary cell co-culture system. Immature human oocytes were aspirated from small follicles at Caesarean section and then cultured in medium containing human menopausal gonadotrophin for 36 to 48 h, followed by insemination. Zygotes were randomly cultured either in conventional culture medium alone or in the co-culture system. Of 48 embryos cultured in conventional medium alone, all arrested at the 2-16- cell stage on day 3 after insemination. Of 46 embryos cultured in the co-culture system, 26 embryos (56.5%) arrested at the 2-16-cell stage. Six embryos (13%) developed to the morula stage. Fourteen embryos (30.4%) developed to expanded blastocysts and two blastocysts were hatching on day 7 after insemination. We conclude that co-culture significantly enhances the development of blastocysts in embryos resulting from IVM/IVF.      

Detection of chromosomes and estimation of aneuploidy in human spermatozoa using fluorescence in-situ hybridization

The development and application of fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) has opened the way for comprehensive studies on numerical chromosome abnormalities in human spermatozoa. FISH can be rapidly applied to large numbers of spermatozoa and thus overcomes the major limitation of karyotyping spermatozoa after penetration of zona-free hamster oocytes. The simultaneous hybridization of two or more chromosome-specific probes to spermatozoa and subsequent detection of the bound probes using different fluorescent detection systems enables two or more chromosomes to be localized simultaneously in the same spermatozoon and provides a technique for undertaking reasonable estimates of aneuploidy. The most commonly used probes are those which bind to the centromeric region of specific chromosomes. Most studies to date have concentrated on estimating aneuploidy in spermatozoa from normospermic men, although reports are beginning to appear on aneuploidy in spermatozoa from subfertile and infertile men. Multi- probe FISH studies have generally reported disomy (hyperhaploidy) estimates of 0.05-0.2% per chromosome. There is preliminary evidence that some chromosomes such as X, Y and 21 are predisposed towards higher rates of non-disjunction during spermatogenesis. There are also suggestions of inter-donor variability in aneuploidy frequencies for specific chromosomes, although this requires confirmation in larger studies. While FISH is clearly a powerful technique that has many applications in reproductive medicine, it must also be realized that it does have limitations and the technology itself is still evolving and has yet to be fully validated on spermatozoa.      

Antigen release from Thermoactinomyces vulgaris by lysozyme treatment

Lysozyme treatment was used to release antigenic material from Thermoactinomyces vulgaris, one of the microbes associated with farmer's lung. Lysozyme caused degradation of the murein layer visualized as changes and disappearance of the bacterial morphology in scanning electron microscopy. Enrichment of different antigenic components in the lysozyme extract and in the cell residue, respectively, was detected by immunoprecipitation. When lysozyme extract and cell residue antigens were used in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to test sera of farmer's lung patients and control persons, it became evident that there was no significant difference between the reactions against the two antigens. However, a number of sera reacted preferentially against one or the other of the two antigens.     

Preliminary observations on polar body extrusion and pronuclear formation in human oocytes using time-lapse video cinematography

In this study, we have used time-lapse video cinematography to study fertilization in 50 human oocytes that had undergone intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Time-lapse recording commenced shortly after ICSI and proceeded for 17-20 h. Oocytes were cultured in an environmental chamber which was maintained under standard culture conditions. Overall, 38 oocytes (76%) were fertilized normally, and the fertilization rate and embryo quality were not significantly different from 487 sibling oocytes cultured in a conventional incubator. Normal fertilization followed a defined course of events, although the timing of these events varied markedly between oocytes. In 35 of the 38 fertilized oocytes (92%), there were circular waves of granulation within the ooplasm which had a periodicity of 20-53 min. The sperm head decondensed during this granulation phase. The second polar body was then extruded, and this was followed by the central formation of the male pronucleus. The female pronucleus formed in the cytoplasm adjacent to the second polar body at the same time as, or slightly after, the male pronucleus, and was subsequently drawn towards the male pronucleus until the two abutted. Both pronuclei then increased in size, the nucleoli moved around within the pronuclei and some nucleoli coalesced. During pronuclear growth, the organelles contracted from the cortex towards the centre of the oocyte, leaving a clear cortical zone. The oocyte decreased in diameter from 112 to 106 microm (P < 0.0001) during the course of the observation period. The female pronucleus was significantly smaller in diameter than the male pronucleus (24.1 and 22.4 microm respectively, P = 0.008) and contained fewer nucleoli (4.2 and 7.0 respectively, P < 0.0001). After time-lapse recording, oocytes were cultured for 48 h prior to embryo transfer or cryopreservation. Embryo quality was related to fertilization events and periodicity of the cytoplasmic wave, and it was found that good quality embryos arose from oocytes that had more uniform timing from injection to pronuclear abuttal and tended to have a longer cytoplasmic wave. In conclusion, we have shown that time-lapse video cinematography is an excellent tool for studying fertilization and early embryo development, and have demonstrated that human fertilization comprises numerous complex dynamic events.      

Predictors of quality of life in newly diagnosed melanoma and breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) is a multidimensional construct, and several psychosocial and medical factors can predict a patient's QoL. We investigated the impact of factors in the psychological stress processes on QoL 3 months after diagnosis of melanoma or breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In consecutive melanoma and breast cancer patients with localized disease, cancer-specific social support, coping with cancer, personality trait anger expression, non-cancer stress, sociodemographic variables, cancer and treatment variables, and QoL (evaluated as self-reported psychological and physical symptoms, self-perceived QoL, and depression) were assessed with validated quantitative questionnaires. The associations between QoL and the other factors were investigated with multivariate methods. RESULTS: Only a few factors differed between melanoma and breast cancer, in terms of treatment modalities and gender. The amount of received social support was higher among breast cancer patients. The predicting power of psychological stress factors on all the QoL measures was strong, but differed between the treatment groups (surgery only versus adjuvant treatment). Psychosocial factors were the strongest predictors of QoL, not cancer type or treatment. Behavioral Escape-Avoidance coping was associated with worse QoL. However, non-cancer life stresses showed the strongest QoL-decreasing influence. QoL-enhancing factors, including social support, were seen clearly only within the breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant treatment. CONCLUSIONS: QoL of newly diagnosed cancer patients is highly associated with psychosocial factors. Non-cancer life stresses seem to be very important in the QoL of newly diagnosed cancer patients. Adjuvant treatment may comprise supportive psychosocial factors that enhance QoL in cancer.