Cumulative live birth rate of a blastocyst versus cleavage stage embryo transfer policy during in vitro fertilisation in women with a good prognosis: multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To evaluate whether embryo transfers at blastocyst stage improve the cumulative live birth rate after oocyte retrieval, including both fresh and frozen-thawed transfers, and whether the risk of obstetric and perinatal complications is increased compared with cleavage stage embryo transfers during in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

Design: Multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Setting: 21 hospitals and clinics in the Netherlands, 18 August 2018 to 17 December 2021.

Leveraging FHIR in Federated Learning Environments: A Data Harmonization Framework for Cohort Studies.

MyDigiTwin is a scientific initiative for the development of a platform for the early detection and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. This platform, which is supported by prediction models trained in a federated fashion to preserve data privacy, is expected to be hosted by the Dutch Personal Health Environments (PGOs). Consequently, one of the challenges for this federated learning architecture is ensuring consistency between the PGOs data and the reference datasets that will be part of it.

A systematic review identifying seminal plasma biomarkers and their predictive ability on IVF and ICSI outcomes.

The diverse nature and high molecule concentration of seminal plasma (SP) makes this fluid a good potential source for a potential biomarker that could predict assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes. Currently, semen quality parameters cannot accurately predict ART outcomes. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify human SP biomarkers with potential predictive ability for the outcomes of IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Clinical outcomes of uninterrupted embryo culture with or without time-lapse-based embryo selection versus interrupted standard culture (SelecTIMO): a three-armed, multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial.

Background: Time-lapse monitoring is increasingly used in fertility laboratories to culture and select embryos for transfer. This method is offered to couples with the promise of improving pregnancy chances, even though there is currently insufficient evidence for superior clinical results. We aimed to evaluate whether a potential improvement by time-lapse monitoring is caused by the time-lapse-based embryo selection method itself or the uninterrupted culture environment that is part of the system.

Porous liquid metal-elastomer composites with high leakage resistance and antimicrobial property for skin-interfaced bioelectronics.

Liquid metal-elastomer composite is a promising soft conductor for skin-interfaced bioelectronics, soft robots, and others due to its large stretchability, ultrasoftness, high electrical conductivity, and mechanical-electrical decoupling. However, it often suffers from deformation-induced leakage, which can smear skin, deteriorate device performance, and cause circuit shorting. Besides, antimicrobial property is desirable in soft conductors to minimize microbial infections.

Preoperative frailty and chronic pain after cardiac surgery: a prospective observational study.

Background: Chronic pain after cardiac surgery, whether or not related to the operation, is common and has negative impact on health related quality of life (HRQL). Frailty is a risk factor for adverse surgical outcomes, but its relationship with chronic pain after cardiac surgery is unknown. This study aimed to address the association between frailty and chronic pain following cardiac surgery.

The association of polypharmacy with functional decline in elderly patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Aims: Identifying preoperative risk factors in older patients becomes more important to reduce adverse functional outcome. This study investigated the association between preoperative medication use and functional decline in elderly cardiac surgery patients and compared polypharmacy as a preoperative screening tool to a clinical frailty assessment.

Methods: This sub-study of the Anaesthesia Geriatric Evaluation study included 518 patients aged ≥70 years undergoing elective cardiac surgery.

Oncofertility care for newly diagnosed girls with cancer in a national pediatric oncology setting, the first full year experience from the Princess Máxima Center, the PEARL study.

Background: Childhood cancer patients often remain uninformed regarding their potential risk of gonadal damage. In our hospital we introduced a five step standard oncofertility care plan for all newly diagnosed female patients aiming to identify, inform and triage 100% of patients and counsel 100% of patients at high risk (HR) of gonadal damage. This observational retrospective study (PEARL study) evaluated the use of this standard oncofertility care plan in the first full year in a national cohort.

Comparing the cumulative live birth rate of cleavage-stage versus blastocyst-stage embryo transfers between IVF cycles: a study protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled superiority trial (the ToF trial).

Introduction: In vitro fertilisation (IVF) has evolved as an intervention of choice to help couples with infertility to conceive. In the last decade, a strategy change in the day of embryo transfer has been developed. Many IVF centres choose nowadays to transfer at later stages of embryo development, for example, transferring embryos at blastocyst stage instead of cleavage stage.

Pulmonary vein anatomy addressed by computed tomography and relation to success of second-generation cryoballoon ablation in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Background: Cryoballoon isolation is considered a safe and effective treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). However, recurrence of AF after first cryoballoon ablation occurs in ~30% of patients. Pre-procedurally identifying patients at risk of AF recurrence could be beneficial.

Inter-reader variability of SPECT MPI readings in low- and middle-income countries: Results from the IAEA-MPI Audit Project (I-MAP).

Background: Consistency of results between different readers is an important issue in medical imaging, as it affects portability of results between institutions and may affect patient care. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in pursuing its mission of fostering peaceful applications of nuclear technologies has supported several training activities in the field of nuclear cardiology (NC) and SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in particular. The aim of this study was to verify the outcome of those activities through an international clinical audit on MPI where participants were requested to report on studies distributed from a core lab.

Late-phase immune responses limiting oocyst survival are independent of TEP1 function yet display strain specific differences in Anopheles gambiae.

Background: There is emerging evidence that mosquito anti-Plasmodium immunity is multimodal with distinct mechanisms for killing malaria parasites at either the ookinete or oocyst stages. Early-phase responses targeting the ookinete require complement-like components circulating in the mosquito hemolymph that result in TEP1-mediated lysis or melanization. Additional responses mediated by the LL3 and STAT pathways limit oocyst survival through unknown mechanisms that require mosquito hemocyte function.

Intrauterine insemination or intracervical insemination with cryopreserved donor sperm in the natural cycle: a cohort study.

Study Question: Does intrauterine insemination in the natural cycle lead to better pregnancy rates than intracervical insemination (ICI) in the natural cycle in women undergoing artificial insemination with cryopreserved donor sperm.

Summary Answer: In a large cohort of women undergoing artificial insemination with cryopreserved donor sperm, there was no substantial beneficial effect of IUI in the natural cycle over ICI in the natural cycle.

What Is Known Already: At present, there are no studies comparing IUI in the natural cycle versus ICI in the natural cycle in women undergoing artificial insemination with cryopreserved donor sperm.

FDG PET/CT: EANM procedure guidelines for tumour imaging: version 2.0.

The purpose of these guidelines is to assist physicians in recommending, performing, interpreting and reporting the results of FDG PET/CT for oncological imaging of adult patients. PET is a quantitative imaging technique and therefore requires a common quality control (QC)/quality assurance (QA) procedure to maintain the accuracy and precision of quantitation. Repeatability and reproducibility are two essential requirements for any quantitative measurement and/or imaging biomarker.

Recombinant hepatocyte growth factor treatment in a canine model of congenital liver hypoplasia.

Background: Although the liver has a large regenerative capacity, in many hepatopathies, these repair mechanisms fail. The therapeutic potential of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been proven in numerous toxin-induced liver failure models in rodents, but never in spontaneously occurring liver diseases in larger animal models.

Aim: The aim of this study was to induce liver growth in a hypoplastic liver by the administration of exogenous recombinant HGF.

FDG PET and PET/CT: EANM procedure guidelines for tumour PET imaging: version 1.0.

The aim of this guideline is to provide a minimum standard for the acquisition and interpretation of PET and PET/CT scans with [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). This guideline will therefore address general information about[18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) and is provided to help the physician and physicist to assist to carrying out,interpret, and document quantitative FDG PET/CT examinations,but will concentrate on the optimisation of diagnostic quality and quantitative information.

The Netherlands protocol for standardisation and quantification of FDG whole body PET studies in multi-centre trials.

Introduction: Several studies have shown the usefulness of positron emission tomography (PET) quantification using standardised uptake values (SUV) for diagnosis and staging, prognosis and response monitoring. Many factors affect SUV, such as patient preparation procedures, scan acquisition, image reconstruction and data analysis settings, and the variability in methodology across centres prohibits exchange of SUV data. Therefore, standardisation of 2-[(18)F] fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) PET whole body procedures is required in multi-centre trials.

The dog liver contains a "side population" of cells with hepatic progenitor-like characteristics.

The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize potential progenitor cells from healthy dog livers. Stem/progenitor cells can be prospectively isolated from a diversity of tissues using their ability to efficiently pump out the dye Hoechst33342, thereby portraying a side population (SP) in dual-wavelength flow cytometry. We here describe the detection of a SP in dog liver, constituting approximately 3 % of the nonparenchymal-enriched cell fractions.

[Pathogenic bacteria and parasites in wildlife and surface water].

In the period October 2003 to August 2005, 897 faecal samples were collected from wild animals and examined for Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., and Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, the prevalence of which was found to be 0.

In vitro differentiation of liver progenitor cells derived from healthy dog livers.

Naturally occurring liver disease in dogs resemble human liver disease in great detail; including the activation of liver progenitor cells (LPC) in acute and chronic liver disease. The aim of the present study was to isolate, culture, and characterize progenitor cells derived from healthy mature dog livers. A nonparenchymal cell fraction enriched with small hepatocytes was isolated and cultured in Hepatozyme-serum-free media (SFM) to stimulate the growth of colony-forming small epithelial cells.

In vitro and in vivo bioactivity of recombinant canine hepatocyte growth factor.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is crucial for the development and regeneration of the liver and offers a possible new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of canine liver disease. In this study, the in vitro and in vivo bioactivity of recombinant canine HGF (rcHGF) produced with a baculoviral expression system in insect cells was measured. In vitro rcHGF induced mitogenesis, motogenesis, and phosphorylated the HGF receptor c-MET and its downstream mediators PKB and ERK1/2 in two canine epithelial cell lines.