Embryo donation: Survey of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) patients and randomized trial of complimentary counseling.

Design: This study surveyed patients with stored frozen embryos and developed and tested an intervention through a randomized trial to support subjects to consider embryo disposition options (EDOs), especially donation for family building.

Methods: Based on a review of literature on EDOs, the authors developed and mailed a 2-page anonymous survey to 1,053 patients in Massachusetts (USA) to elicit their feelings about their stored embryos. Target patients had embryos cryopreserved for ≥1 year and had not indicated an EDO.

Genes invoked in the ovarian transition to menopause.

Menopause and the associated declines in ovarian function are major health issues for women. Despite the widespread health impact of this process, the molecular mechanisms underlying the aging-specific decline in ovarian function are almost completely unknown. To provide the first gene-protein analysis of the ovarian transition to menopause, we have established and contrasted RNA gene expression profiles and protein localization and content patterns in healthy young and perimenopausal mouse ovaries.

Characterization and mutation analysis of the human formin-2 (FMN2) gene in women with unexplained infertility.

Objective: Formin-2 (Fmn2) mutant mice produce oocytes with meiosis I arrest. Our aim was to describe the human FORMIN-2 (FMN2) gene and to identify DNA sequence polymorphisms in patients with unexplained infertility and multiple failed IVF cycles.

Design: Institutional review board-approved observational case-control study.

Risk of death in pregnancy achieved through oocyte donation in patients with Turner syndrome: a national survey.

Unlabelled: To determine the risk of death in pregnant women with Turner syndrome who were treated with oocyte donation, and to ascertain the prevalence of preconception cardiac screening in these patients.

Design: Survey and literature review.

Setting: Academic infertility center.