Fertility outcomes after preconceptional laparoscopic abdominal cerclage for second-trimester pregnancy losses.

Objective(s): Cervical incompetence is an important cause of recurrent pregnancy loss, typically presenting in the second trimester with silent cervical dilation and premature delivery of the fetus. We aimed to evaluate the conception rate and time to conception or failure to conceive after preconceptional laparoscopic abdominal cerclage (LAC).

Study Design: We conducted this retrospective observational cohort study at a tertiary referral center.

The impact of a poor quality embryo on the implantation chance of a good quality one when transferred together: A study on double blastocyst transfers.

Objective: Embryo quality assessment with morphological evaluation remains the first-line method of assessment to select the best embryo for transfer. We aimed to determine if an effect of poor quality embryos on good quality ones exists, whether by a paracrine effect or an adverse endometrial influence, when they are transferred together.

Materials And Methods: We included 412 couples, who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles in a tertiary IVF center.

Optical phase cloaking of 700 nm light waves in the far field by a three-dimensional carpet cloak.

Transformation optics is a design tool that connects the geometry of space and propagation of light. Invisibility cloaking is a corresponding benchmark example. Recent experiments at optical frequencies have demonstrated cloaking for the light amplitude only.

Three-dimensional polarization-independent visible-frequency carpet invisibility cloak.

We miniaturize all features in a previously introduced polarization-independent three-dimensional carpet invisibility cloak by more than a factor of 2. This leads to operation wavelengths in the visible. The structures are characterized by electron and optical microscopy.

Optical microscopy of 3D carpet cloaks:ray-tracing calculations.

In a recent publication (T. Ergin et al., Science 328, 337 (2010)), three-dimensional broadband dielectric carpet cloaks have been fabricated and experimentally characterized by optical bright-field and dark-field microscopy using unpolarized light from an incandescent lamp.

Three-dimensional invisibility cloak at optical wavelengths.

We have designed and realized a three-dimensional invisibility-cloaking structure operating at optical wavelengths based on transformation optics. Our blueprint uses a woodpile photonic crystal with a tailored polymer filling fraction to hide a bump in a gold reflector. We fabricated structures and controls by direct laser writing and characterized them by simultaneous high-numerical-aperture, far-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy.

Transient osteoporosis of pregnancy: case report.

Transient osteoporosis of pregnancy is a rarely observed skeletal pathology developing in the last months of pregnancy. Meticulous evaluation is important for the differential diagnosis of severe and progressive hip and/or groin pain in pregnant patients. MRI is a valuable and safe technique for demonstrating bone marrow edema and skeletal abnormalities during pregnancy.

The impact of cervical dilatation on pregnancy outcomes after cerclage placement in women with a short cervical length.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the outcome of pregnancies with cerclage placement in which cervical length was <15 mm and 15-25 mm. We further investigated the impact of cervical dilatation on delivery at <34 weeks.

Material And Methods: Women with singleton gestations with cerclage placement due to cervical insufficiency were enrolled into the study.

Photorealistic images of carpet cloaks.

Using home-built dedicated ray-tracing software, we simulate photorealistic images of sceneries in three dimensions including dielectric carpet cloaks--i.e., continuously varying refractive-index distributions that allow for invisibility cloaking of a bump in a metallic carpet.

Intracranial injection with KCl: an alternative method in selected cases of multifetal pregnancy reduction.

Multifetal pregnancy reduction (MFPR) offers a therapeutic option which reduces the maternal, prenatal, neonatal morbidity and mortality associated with multifetal pregnancies. In certain cases of MFPR, where difficulty is encountered in reaching the thorax due to the fetal position as well as the location of membranes and placenta, an alternative approach may be the insertion of the needle to the fetal cranium. We describe a new technique for MFPR performed by fetal intracranial injection of potassium chloride.

Laparoscopic management of heterotopic cesarean scar pregnancy with preservation of intrauterine gestation and delivery at term: case report.

Objective: To present a case of laparoscopic removal of a heterotopic cesarean scar pregnancy under ultrasound guidance.

Design: Case report.

Setting: Private hospital.

New rapid bed-side test to predict preterm delivery: phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 in cervical secretions.

Background: Phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (phIGFBP-1) is secreted by decidual cells and leaks into cervical secretions when fetal membranes detach from decidua. Our aim was to assess whether detection of phIGFBP-1 in cervical secretions by a rapid bed-side test could be used to predict preterm delivery in patients with regular uterine contractions.

Study Design: In our prospective study, 36 women between 20 and 36 weeks of gestation with regular, persistent contractions (> 10/h) and 18 women between 20 and 36 weeks gestation without symptoms of preterm labor were assessed for the presence of cervical phIGFBP-1.

Maternal-fetal factors that affected Doppler waveform analysis in a patient undergoing hemodialysis.

Pregnancy in women having chronic renal insufficiency and undergoing hemodialysis is a rare event with a poor outcome. This is the 1st case in whom pre- and posthemodialysis fetal renal artery Doppler flow velocimetry was used in conjunction with fetal blood sampling which was performed to assess fetal karyotype and blood chemistry. Uteroplacental Doppler measurements were also performed, and a close correlation between maternal-fetal blood creatinine and urea nitrogen levels and fetal renal, umbilical, and uterine artery resistance indexes was observed.

Does insulin secretion in patients with one abnormal glucose tolerance test value mimic gestational diabetes mellitus?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the insulin response to a 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test and to compare the insulin levels in the gestational diabetes mellitus and single abnormal test value groups with a nondiabetic control group.

Study Design: One hundred ten Turkish women with uncomplicated pregnancy participated in this prospective controlled study between 24 to 28 weeks of gestation. A 100-g 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test was given, and glucose and insulin plasma levels were assayed.