Publications by authors named "Michael Rimmer"

(1) Background: This study aims to establish the knowledge, attitudes and current behaviours towards female fertility preservation (FP) services amongst healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the UK. (2) Methods: An online survey was advertised publicly on the social media platform between 25 February 2021 and 11 March 2021. (3) Results: In total, 415 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria and completed the survey.

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Article Synopsis
  • Male factor infertility affects up to 50% of couples struggling to conceive, prompting research into non-hormonal treatments to enhance sperm production.
  • This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of various non-hormonal pharmacological treatments through a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized trials.
  • Results showed that clomiphene citrate significantly improved sperm concentration compared to other treatments and was deemed the most effective option among them, although the overall quality of the trials was low.
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Erythroblastic island (EBI) macrophages play an essential role in the production and maturation of the vast numbers of red blood cells (RBCs) that are produced throughout life. Their location within the bone marrow makes it difficult to study the cellular and molecular interactions associated with their action so we have used an model of the EBI niche using macrophages derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). We previously demonstrated that the activation of the transcription factor KLF1 enhanced the activity of hiPSC-derived EBI macrophages.

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Study Question: Twenty years after the inception of the first fertility preservation programme for pre-pubertal boys, what are the current international practices with regard to cryopreservation of immature testicular tissue?

Summary Answer: Worldwide, testicular tissue has been cryopreserved from over 3000 boys under the age of 18 years for a variety of malignant and non-malignant indications; there is variability in practices related to eligibility, clinical assessment, storage, and funding.

What Is Known Already: For male patients receiving gonadotoxic treatment prior to puberty, testicular tissue cryopreservation may provide a method of fertility preservation. While this technique remains experimental, an increasing number of centres worldwide are cryopreserving immature testicular tissue and are approaching clinical application of methods to use this stored tissue to restore fertility.

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Background: Endometrial hyperplasia (EH) is a precusor lesion for endometrial cancer (EC), the commonest gynaecological malignancy in high-income countries. EH is a proliferation of glandular tissue, classified as either non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia (NEH) or, if the cytological features are abnormal, atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH). The clinical significance of AEH is that patients face both a high risk of having occult EC and a high risk of progression to EC if untreated.

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Objectives: To explore local induction of labour pathways in the UK National Health Service to provide insight into current practice.

Design: National survey.

Setting: Hospital maternity services in all four nations of the UK.

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Background: Effective pain control is crucial to optimise the success of medical procedures. Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology could offer an effective non-invasive, non-pharmacological option to distract patients and reduce their experience of pain. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology in reducing patient's pain perception during various medical procedures by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer-enclosed subcellular bodies produced by most, if not all cells. Research over the last two decades has recognised the importance of EVs in intercellular communication and horizontal transfer of biological material. EVs range in diameter from tens of nanometres up to several micrometres and are able to transfer a spectrum of biologically active cargoes - from whole organelles, through macromolecules including nucleic acids and proteins, to metabolites and small molecules - from their cells of origin to recipient cells, which may consequently become physiologically or pathologically altered.

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Background: Currently there are no established fertility preservation options for pre-pubertal boys facing cancer treatment. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment has been proposed to be chemoprotective against spermatogonial cell loss in an alkylating chemotherapy model of busulfan treated adult mice. Having previously shown that exposure to the alkylating-like chemotherapy cisplatin resulted in a reduction in germ cell numbers in immature human testicular tissues, we here investigate whether G-CSF would prevent cisplatin-induced germ cell loss in immature human and mouse (fetal and pre-pubertal) testicular tissues.

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Men and boys with cancer treated with chemotherapy are known to have reduced fertility following their treatment. This is because some chemotherapy drugs can damage the cells in the testicles that make sperm. This study found there is limited information available on the effect of one group of chemotherapy drugs, called taxanes, on testicular function and fertility.

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Study Question: What is the risk of miscarriage among pregnant women who received any of the COVID-19 vaccines?

Summary Answer: There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are associated with an increased risk of miscarriage.

What Is Known Already: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the mass roll-out of vaccines helped to boost herd immunity and reduced hospital admissions, morbidity, and mortality. Still, many were concerned about the safety of vaccines for pregnancy, which may have limited their uptake among pregnant women and those planning a pregnancy.

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Background: Exposure to chemotherapy during childhood can impair future fertility. Studies using culture have shown exposure to platinum-based alkylating-like chemotherapy reduces the germ cell number in the human fetal testicular tissues. We aimed to determine whether effects of exposure to cisplatin on the germ cell sub-populations are dependent on the gestational age of the fetus and what impact this might have on the utility of using human fetal testis cultures to model chemotherapy exposure in childhood testis.

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Background: The Medical Certificate of Stillbirth (MCS) records data about a baby's death after 24 weeks of gestation but before birth. Major errors that could alter interpretation of the MCS were widespread in two UK-based regional studies.

Methods: A multicentre evaluation was conducted, examining MCS issued 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 in 76 UK obstetric units.

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Introduction: A journal club (JC) is a commonly used medical educational tool. Videoconferencing technology can facilitate the delivery of JCs, however, there remains no evidence on the role of web-based virtual JCs in promoting the acquisition and retention of medical knowledge. The Web-Ed trial aims to evaluate the educational benefits, feasibility and acceptability of web-based virtual JCs compared with traditional face-to-face ones.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to create a core outcome set specifically for male infertility research to standardize data collection and enhance research quality.
  • Existing challenges in male infertility research include inconsistencies in outcome measures and lack of participant perspectives, which the new core set will address.
  • An international steering group will use systematic reviews and consensus methods, like the modified Delphi method, to gather input from various stakeholders and determine prioritized outcomes.
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Study Question: What are the primary outcomes and outcome measures used in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating potential treatments for male infertility in the last 10 years?

Summary Answer: Outcome reporting across male infertility trials is heterogeneous with numerous definitions and measures used to define similar outcomes.

What Is Known Already: No core outcome set for male infertility trials has been developed. Male infertility trials are unique in that they have potentially three participants, a man, a female partner and their offspring and this will likely lead to significant variation in outcome reporting in randomized trials.

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We recently demonstrated that dietary supplementation with seaweed leads to dramatic improvements in immune responses in , a candidate species for aquaculture development in Asia. Here, to assess whether the immunostimulatory effect was facilitated by changes to the gut microbiome, we investigated the effects of those same seaweed species and four commercial feed supplements currently used in aquaculture on the bacterial communities in the hindgut of the fish. Since we found no correlations between the relative abundance of any particular taxa and the fish enhanced innate immune responses, we hypothesised that might have a core microbiome that is robust to dietary manipulation.

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Article Synopsis
  • The review focuses on the function of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from the male reproductive system and their essential role in enhancing the capabilities of sperm after they leave the seminiferous tubules.
  • EVs, which come from areas such as the epididymis and prostate, carry various cargoes (like RNA and proteins) crucial for sperm modifications that improve their motility and fertilization potential.
  • While the interactions between EVs and developing sperm during their journey through the male reproductive tract are well-established, more research is needed to understand how EVs may impact sperm development within the testes.
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Sen's Capability Approach is one of the most significant theoretical contributions to welfare analysis across a range of disciplines. A part of the literature argues that its conceptual linear flow-from resources to 'functionings', which result in well-being-potentially ignores more complex relations with the feedback loops where a single item could be viewed as having a different role by different people, in different contexts. We explore perceptions of existing feedback relationships in interviews with 74 women from nine seaweed farming villages in Indonesia, engaged in two distinct activities: seaweed farming and artisanal seaweed processing.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small lipid bound structures released from cells containing bioactive cargoes. Both the type of cargo and amount loaded varies compared to that of the parent cell. The characterisation of EVs in cancers of the male urogenital tract has identified several cargoes with promising diagnostic and disease monitoring potential.

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Disease is one of the major bottlenecks for aquaculture development, costing the industry in excess of US $6 billion each year. The increase in pressure to phase out some traditional approaches to disease control (e.g.

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Aim: Recurrent implantation failure (RIF) affects 10% of couples undergoing assisted conception, often due to poor endometrial receptivity. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of Intra-venous intralipid (IVI) in improving pregnancy rates in women with history of RIF using.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL for any randomized trials evaluating the use of IVI at the time of embryo transfer in women undergoing assisted conception until September 2020.

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Objective: To determine the value of uterine CD138+ cells, as a marker of chronic endometritis, in predicting subsequent reproductive outcome in women with history of recurrent pregnancy loss.

Design: A prospective longitudinal study.

Setting: Tertiary specialized clinic.

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