Preoperative Practice Paired With Instructor Feedback May Not Improve Obstetrics-Gynecology Residents' Operative Performance.

Background: There is evidence that preoperative practice prior to surgery can improve trainee performance, but the optimal approach has not been studied.

Objective: We sought to determine if preoperative practice by surgical trainees paired with instructor feedback improved surgical technique, compared to preoperative practice or feedback alone.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial of obstetrics-gynecology trainees, stratified on a simulator-assessed surgical skill.

QF-PCR as a stand-alone test for prenatal samples: the first 2 years' experience in the London region.

Objective: To analyse the results of the first 2 years of a QF-PCR stand-alone testing strategy for the prenatal diagnosis of aneuploidy in the London region and to determine the advantages and disadvantages of this policy.

Methods: A review of the results of 9737 prenatal samples received for exclusion of chromosome abnormalities. All samples were subjected to QF-PCR testing for common aneuploidies but only samples fulfilling specific criteria subsequently had a full karyotype analysis.

Constitutional deletion of chromosome 20q in two patients affected with albright hereditary osteodystrophy.

Albright hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO) results from heterozygous inactivation of G(s)alpha, encoded by the GNAS1 locus on the distal long arm of chromosome 20. This autosomal dominant condition is characterized by short stature, obesity, shortening of the metacarpals and metatarsals, and variable mental retardation and may also include end-organ resistance to multiple hormones. Small insertions and deletions or point mutations of GNAS1 are found in approximately 80% of patients with AHO.