First polar body morphology before ICSI is not related to embryo quality or pregnancy rate.

Background: The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between the first polar body (1st PB) morphology and the fertilization rate, cleavage rate, embryo quality, pregnancy and implantation rate.

Methods: This was a retrospective study on 167 consecutive cycles undergoing assisted reproduction with ICSI. The 1st PB morphology was evaluated at the moment of ICSI in the 596 injected oocytes and it was coded as intact or fragmented.

Ultrastructural study of granulomatous tissue in tonsillar malakoplakia.

The ultrastructural study carried out in a case of tonsillar malakoplakia confirmed that granulomatous lesions consisted mainly of macrophages containing peculiar calcified inclusions (Michaelis-Gutmann bodies) considered pathognomonic for the disease. Moreover macrophages frequently contained ingested Gram-negative bacilli and presented aspects of mitochondrial degeneration and autophagy. These latter features were probably the consequence of bacterial infection rather than the expression of primary cellular defects, as the clinical evolution of this case of malakoplakia did not support the existence of generalized macrophage alterations.