Preanalytical variables influencing the interpretation and reporting of biological tests on blood samples of living and deceased donors for human body materials.

With the present paper, the Working Group on Cells, Tissues and Organs and other experts of the Superior Health Council of Belgium aimed to provide stakeholders in material of human origin with advice on critical aspects of serological and nucleic acid test (NAT) testing, to improve virological safety of cell- and tissue and organ donation. The current paper focusses on a number of preanalytical variables which can be critical for any medical biology examination: (1) sampling related variables (type of samples, collection of the samples, volume of the sample, choice of specific tubes, identification of tubes), (2) variables related to transport, storage and processing of blood samples (transport, centrifugation and haemolysis, storage before and after centrifugation, use of serum versus plasma), (3) variables related to dilution (haemodilution, pooling of samples), and (4) test dependent variables (available tests and validation). Depending on the type of donor (deceased donor (heart-beating or non-heart beating) versus living donor (allogeneic, related, autologous), and the type of donated human material (cells, tissue or organs) additional factors can play a role: pre- and post-mortem sampling, conditions of sampling (e.

Multicentre study on rates and reasons for treatment discontinuation in patients with remaining cryopreserved embryos.

Research Question: What is the discontinuation rate among patients with remaining cryopreserved embryos in Belgium and what are the reasons for discontinuation?

Design: Multicentre, cross-sectional study across 11 Belgian fertility clinics. Patients were eligible (n = 1917) if they had previously undergone an unsuccessful fresh embryo transfer (fresh group) or frozen embryo transfer (FET) (in-between group) and did not start a subsequent FET cycle within 1 year despite having remaining cryopreserved embryos. The denominator was all patients with embryos cryopreserved during the same period (2012-2017) (n = 21,329).

Applicability of Multi-Agent Systems and Constrained Reasoning for Sensor-Based Distributed Scenarios: A Systematic Mapping Study on Dynamic DCOPs.

: At present, sensor-based systems are widely used to solve distributed problems in changing environments where sensors are controlled by intelligent agents. On Multi-Agent Systems, agents perceive their environment through such sensors, acting upon that environment through actuators in a continuous cycle. These problems have not always been addressed from an ad-hoc perspective, designed specifically for the circumstances of the problem at hand.

Impact of ARTs on oncological outcomes in young breast cancer survivors.

Study Question: What is the risk of recurrence in young breast cancer survivors who undergo ARTs following completion of anticancer treatment?

Summary Answer: ART in breast cancer survivors does not appear to have a negative impact on disease-free survival.

What Is Known Already: In healthy women, fertility treatment does not increase the risk of developing breast cancer. At the time of breast cancer diagnosis and before starting anticancer treatments, several studies have shown the safety of performing ART.

Microscopic imaging as a tool to target spatial and temporal extraction of bioactive compounds through ultrasound intensification.

Unravelling a chain of events in ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of bioactive compounds from plants has to start with a detailed description of destructuration at macroscopic and microscopic scale. The present work aims to study the impacts and interactions of UAE on the extreme complexity and diversity of plants structures. Three plant species were selected for their difference in specialized structures and their spatial distribution of secondary metabolites: bitter orange leaf (C.

Histo-cytochemistry and scanning electron microscopy for studying spatial and temporal extraction of metabolites induced by ultrasound. Towards chain detexturation mechanism.

There are more than 1300 articles in scientific literature dealing with positive impacts of Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction (UAE) such as reduction of extraction time, diminution of solvent and energy used, enhancement in yield and even selectivity, intensification of diffusion, and eliminating wastes. This present study aims to understand what are the mechanism(s) behind these positive impacts which will help to design a decision tool for UAE of natural products. Different microscopic observations (Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (e-SEM), Cyto-histochemistry) have been used for spacial and temporal localization of metabolites in rosemary leaves, which is one of the most studied and most important plant for its antioxidant metabolites used in food industry, during conventional and ultrasound extraction.

Does oocyte donation compared with autologous oocyte IVF pregnancies have a higher risk of preeclampsia?

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether pregnancies resulting from oocyte donation have a higher risk of preeclampsia compared with pregnancies after IVF using autologous oocytes. Propensity score matching on maternal age and parity was carried out on a one to one basis, and a total of 144 singleton pregnancies resulting in delivery beyond 22 gestational weeks, achieved by oocyte donation, were compared with 144 pregnancies achieved through IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection with the use of autologous oocytes. All pregnancies were achieved after fresh embryo transfer.

AMH mutations with reduced in vitro bioactivity are related to premature ovarian insufficiency.

Study Question: Could anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) mutations be implicated in the development of idiopathic premature ovarian insufficiency (POI)?

Summary Answer: Three rare or unknown missense variants of the AMH gene were identified in a cohort of 55 POI patients; all three variants showed a drastically reduced in vitro bioactivity.

What Is Known Already: Genetic factors are implicated in 5-15% of cases of POI. However, only a few genes have been shown to be involved in its development.

Safety and usefulness of cryopreservation of ovarian tissue to preserve fertility: a 12-year retrospective analysis.

Study Question: Do the benefits of ovarian tissue cryopreservation outweigh the risks for patients seeking to preserve fertility before gonadotoxic treatment in various indications?

Summary Answer: In >90% of the patients undergoing cryopreservation of ovarian tissue, oncological treatment was associated with a reduced ovarian reserve and in 30% of patients, premature ovarian failure (POF) occurred within 5 years.

What Is Known Already: Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is an effective fertility preservation option, especially for pre-pubertal patients and patients who have a short time between diagnosis of a disease and gonadotoxic treatment.

Study Design, Setting, Duration: This study retrospectively analysed ovarian function and fertility recovery rates, as well as ovarian tissue characteristics, of patients who underwent ovarian tissue cryopreservation at Erasme Hospital between 1999 and 2011.

Contribution of cryopreservation in a mandatory SET policy: analysis of 5 years of application of law in an academic IVF center.

Objective: To analyse treatment outcomes after SET law enforcement and to evaluate the contribution of cryopreservation in a SET policy.

Material: Embryo transfer cycles performed after the law enforcement (SET period) was retrospectively compared to the cycles performed before the law enforcement (DET period).

Results: Pregnancy and delivery rates after fresh transfer of SET and DET periods were comparable (31.

Pregnancy outcome after oocyte donation in patients with Turner's syndrome and partial X monosomy.

Background: Fertility expectations for patients with Turner's syndrome (TS) have clearly changed in the last three decades. However, medical risks during pregnancy are supposed to be highly increased. The aim of the study was to assess clinical outcome and obstetrical complications in a series of patients with TS in an oocyte donor programme.

Variants of the BMP15 gene in a cohort of patients with premature ovarian failure.

Background: Bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) is an oocyte-derived growth factor acting as a major player in follicle differentiation in mammals. Mutations in the BMP15 gene, some of which lead to defective secretion of bioactive dimers, have been associated with premature ovarian failure (POF) in humans.

Methods: Fifty patients diagnosed with POF with a normal karyotype were included in the study.

Psychological assessment of patients with idiopathic pruritus ani.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare psychological profiles in 17 patients suffering from idiopathic pruritus ani with a control group of 28 patients showing secondary pruritus ani.

Methods: The two groups completed the Mini-Mult personality test and results were compared using chi 2 test and analysis of variance.

Results: The mean hypomania and depression scale scores were greater and smaller respectively in the idiopathic pruritus ani group.

[Importance of Aetoxisclerol in sclerotherapy of hemorrhoids].

The author used Aetoxisclerol in the treatment of 35 patients suffering from hemorrhoids. The indications were: hemorrhages, intermittent prolapses, pains. These symptoms were diversely gathered in the same patient.