Current and future methods for embryo selection: on a quest for reliable strategies to reduce time to pregnancy.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the usefulness of the principal embryological strategies to reduce time to pregnancy.

Evidence Acquisition: A systematic search of publications in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Scopus databases from inception to present including "IVF," "blastocyst," "embryo colture," "competent embryo," "time to pregnancy," "aneuploid," "euploid," "vitrification," "preimplantation genetic," "IVF strategies" and "embryo selection" alone or in combinations has been done.

Evidence Synthesis: We have selected 230 articles and 9 of them have been included in this mini-review.

Nitric oxide as an early marker of human embryo metabolic cleavage in ART using fresh or thawed oocytes.

Objective: To study a possible role of nitric oxide (NO) as a marker of development in the early phases of human embryo cleavage during assisted reproduction.

Study Design: 179 women having ART were included. 123 women used fresh oocytes and 56 oocyte thawing cycles in the Center of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Arcispedale S.

Limited importance of pre-embryo pronuclear morphology (zygote score) in assisted reproduction outcome in the absence of embryo cryopreservation.

Objective: To investigate the hypothesis that Z-score criteria represent a reliable predictor of implantation rate and pregnancy outcome in in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles, excluding the possibility of embryo selection before the embryo transfer.

Design: Retrospective clinical study.

Setting: Centre of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Arcispedale S.

Outcome of 518 salvage oocyte-cryopreservation cycles performed as a routine procedure in an in vitro fertilization program.

Objective: To document outcomes of oocyte cryopreservation performed as a routine procedure in an IVF program.

Design: Describing the rate of oocyte survival, embryo transfer (ET), implantation, and live births of IVF-intracytoplasmic sperm injection performed on thawed oocytes.

Setting: Reproductive medicine center in Italy.

Pregnancy loss and assisted reproduction: preliminary results after the law 40/2004 in Italy.

The new Italian law on assisted reproduction technology rules that no more than three oocytes can be fertilized at one time, and that all embryos obtained must be transferred to the maternal uterus simultaneously. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of the new law on spontaneous embryonic/fetal losses through comparison of data collected over an identical period of time: the first year of application of the new law compared with the same time period 1 year before (March 10, 2004 to March 9, 2005 versus March 10, 2003 to March 9, 2004). A total of 271 clinical pregnancies were analysed.

Effect of the mode of assisted reproductive technology conception on obstetric outcomes for survivors of the vanishing twin syndrome.

Survivors of the "vanishing" twin syndrome, which occurred in dichorionic twins only, and singletons that began as singletons, had similar mean gestational duration and birth weights, as well as similar frequencies of maternal and neonatal complications. This similarity persisted when conventional IVF and IVF plus ICSI cases were separately evaluated.

Spontaneous embryonic loss rates in twin and singleton pregnancies after transfer of top- versus intermediate-quality embryos.

Objective: To determine whether embryo quality is associated with early spontaneous loss rates in twin and singleton pregnancies after IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Design: Retrospective, single center analysis.

Setting: The Center of Reproductive Medicine, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Prevalence and determinants of genital shedding of herpes simplex virus among women attending Italian colposcopy clinics.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of herpes simplex virus (HSV) shedding among women attending Italian colposcopy clinics and describe their lifestyle, demographic characteristics, genital symptoms and signs.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study was performed to assess shedding of HSV among 4565 women requiring a gynecological consultation. An amplified enzyme immunoassay that detects an HSV type-common glycoprotein D was used to reveal HSV shedding in cervical specimens.

Spontaneous embryonic loss after in vitro fertilization with and without intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Objective: To determine whether pregnancies after IVF, with and without intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), have different early spontaneous loss rates.

Design: Retrospective analysis of IVF/ICSI dataset.

Setting: The Center of Reproductive Medicine, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Spontaneous embryonic loss following in vitro fertilization: incidence and effect on outcomes.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the early spontaneous loss rate in multiple pregnancies following assisted reproductive technology (ART).

Study Design: Analysis of pregnancies following ART as related to the initial number of embryos and maternal age was performed.

Results: At least one spontaneous loss was observed in 47.

Developmental outcomes at one and two years of children conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Background: Present opinions regarding developmental delay of children conceived with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) are variable and without consensus.

Methods: We compared developmental outcome at 1 and 2 years of 50 children conceived by ICSI with 51 spontaneously conceived children. Assessments were performed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development for motor and mental development and quality of behavior, and the CARE-Index for the quality of parent-child interaction.

The Italian STD 'Hot-Line'. Making people aware.

Background: To increase the accessibility of qualified and anonymous information on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Italy, a national telephone hotline was initiated in February 1997.

Goal: The goal was to determine the profile of callers to the national STD hotline, assess their concerns, identify their sources for the hotline telephone number, and to compare callers' disease interests with diagnoses made at STD clinics.

Study Design: The survey analyzed 3577 calls received from February 1997 to December 1999.

Correlations between concentrations of interleukin-12 and interleukin-13 and lymphocyte subsets in the follicular fluid of women with and without polycystic ovary syndrome.

Objective: To investigate a possible correlation between interleukin-12 (IL-12) and IL-13 levels and lymphocyte subsets in the preovulatory follicles of patients with and without polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

Design: Controlled clinical study.

Setting: University hospital.

Physiological levels of 1alpha, 25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 induce the monocytic commitment of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors.

Although supraphysiological levels of 1alpha, 25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 (VD) have been demonstrated extensively to induce the monomacrophagic differentiation of leukemic myelo- and monoblasts, little is known about the role that physiological levels of this vitamin could play in the regulation of normal hematopoiesis. To clarify this issue, we adopted a liquid-culture model in which cord blood CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors, induced to differentiate in the presence of different combinations of cytokines, were exposed to VD at various concentrations and stimulation modalities. The data obtained show that physiological levels of VD promote a differentiation of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors characterized by the induction of all the monomacrophagic immunophenotypic and morphological markers.