Novel brain SPECT imaging unravels abnormal cerebral perfusion in patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and cognitive dysfunction.

Cognitive dysfunction is frequently reported in individuals with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), possibly resulting from reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF). We used brain SPECT, an accessible imaging modality that has not been systematically evaluated in this patient group. Retrospective review of participants from our registry was undertaken to identify those who had a brain SPECT performed for investigation of cognitive dysfunction.

Embryos are exposed to a significant drop in temperature during the embryo transfer procedure: a pilot study.

Research Question: During the embryo transfer procedure, to what degree of temperature drop are embryos exposed to between loading the transfer catheter and placing it into the uterus?

Design: Twenty-nine simulated embryo transfer procedures were carried out across five clinics. A thermocouple probe was used for standardized measurements inside the embryo transfer catheter to investigate the change in temperature that occurred in the time period between loading and placing the catheter in the uterus.

Results: In all cases, the temperature at the loaded catheter tip fell rapidly to ambient temperature during transit from the embryo transfer workstation in the laboratory to the procedure room, even though embryo transfer procedures, ambient temperatures and embryo transfer catheter temperatures at loading varied between clinics.

[A silent-growing and fast-killing melanoma in a teenager].

Malignant melanoma is a relatively rare but potentially aggressive tumor in children and adolescents. We report the case of a metastatic malignant melanoma in a 17-year-old girl, first diagnosed on cytological features of a fine-needle lymph node aspiration and then histologically confirmed by both examination of the metastatic adenopathy and a clinically harmless skin lesion of the scalp, which harbored focal microscopic pattern of melanoma. A fluorescent in situ hybridization study revealed that both metastatic and primary cutaneous tumours contained the same and pejorative chromosomal aberration consisting in CCND1 amplification (11q13).

Molecular cytogenetic and genetic aspects of globozoospermia: a review.

Infertility is estimated to affect up to 15% of couples of reproductive age. Among the male factors, globozoospermia (also called round-headed sperm syndrome) is a rare type of teratozoospermia accounting for <0.1% of male infertility.

[Azoospermia: management and results: a series of 90 cases].

Objective: To report our 15-year experience in managing azoospermic males at the Brest University Hospital.

Patients And Methods: From 1996 to 2010, 90 azoospermic males were followed: 41 with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and 49 with obstructive azoospermia (OA). Surgical methods proposed for retrieving sperm were Microsurgical Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (MESA) for men with OA and microdissection Testicular Sperm Extraction (mTESE) for those with NOA.