A Sustained-Release Butyrate Tablet Suppresses Ex Vivo T Helper Cell Activation of Osteoarthritis Patients in a Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial.

Degenerative joint disease osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by the degeneration of cartilage, synovial inflammation and low-grade systemic inflammation in association with microbial dysbiosis and intestinal barrier defects. Butyrate is known for its anti-inflammatory and barrier protective effects and might benefit OA patients. In a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial, the effects of four to five weeks of oral treatment with sustained-release (SR) butyrate tablets (600 mg/day) on systemic inflammation and immune function were studied in hand OA patients.

Migraine associated with gastrointestinal disorders: review of the literature and clinical implications.

Recent studies suggest that migraine may be associated with gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel syndrome, and celiac disease. Here, an overview of the associations between migraine and GI disorders is presented, as well as possible mechanistic links and clinical implications. People who regularly experience GI symptoms have a higher prevalence of headaches, with a stronger association with increasing headache frequency.

Are imprinting disorders more prevalent after human in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection?

Objective: To review the literature and present original data to answer the question of whether in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is associated with an increase in imprinted diseases in offspring. If the answer is positive, to investigate whether there is a causal relationship between IVF or ICSI and the imprinted diseases.

Design: Review study.

Coping Strategies Used By Patients With Chronic and/or Complex Wounds .

Unlabelled: Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate coping strategies used by patients with chronic and/or complex wounds treated in an outpatient wound clinic.

Methods: Coping strategies were assessed using the Utrecht Coping List (UCL).

Growth during infancy and early childhood in relation to blood pressure and body fat measures at age 8-18 years of IVF children and spontaneously conceived controls born to subfertile parents.

Background: Little is known about post-natal growth in IVF offspring and the effects of rates of early post-natal growth on blood pressure and body fat composition during childhood and adolescence.

Methods: The follow-up study comprised 233 IVF children aged 8-18 years and 233 spontaneously conceived controls born to subfertile parents. Growth data from birth to 4 years of age, available for 392 children (n = 193 IVF, n = 199 control), were used to study early post-natal growth.

Pubertal development in children and adolescents born after IVF and spontaneous conception.

Background: Previous studies demonstrated a link between adverse conditions during prenatal life and the development of diseases in adult life. It is still unclear whether IVF conception could permanently affect early prenatal development in humans, with post-natal health consequences. The objective of the present study is to examine pubertal development in 8-18-year-old IVF singletons and controls born from subfertile parents who attended one Dutch fertility clinic were included.

Cardiometabolic differences in children born after in vitro fertilization: follow-up study.

Context: Increasing evidence suggests that adverse conditions during early prenatal life are associated with cardiometabolic dysfunction in postnatal life. In vitro fertilization (IVF) conception may be an early prenatal life event with long-term health consequences.

Objective: Our objective was to investigate several cardiometabolic measures in 8- to 18-yr-old IVF singletons and spontaneously conceived controls born from subfertile parents.

Growth and development of children born after in vitro fertilization.

Objective: To evaluate growth and development of children born after IVF treatment.

Design: Literature review.

Conclusion(s): At present there is substantial evidence that children born after IVF are at increased risk for adverse perinatal outcome, congenital malformations, and rare epigenetic defects.

Body composition in children and adolescents born after in vitro fertilization or spontaneous conception.

Context: Increasing evidence suggests that adverse conditions during prenatal life are associated with the development of chronic diseases in adult life. It is still unclear whether in vitro fertilization (IVF) conception could affect the vulnerable developmental processes in humans occurring during early prenatal development with long-term perturbations of developmental pathways.

Objective: Our objective was to examine body composition in 8- to 18-yr-old IVF singletons and spontaneously conceived controls born from subfertile parents.

Infertility, assisted reproduction technologies and imprinting disturbances: a Dutch study.

Background: Evaluation of relationships between assisted reproduction technologies (ART), fertility problems and disorders caused by disturbed genetic imprinting such as Angelman syndrome (AS) and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS).

Methods: A nation-wide questionnaire survey was performed regarding ART in families with a child with AS, BWS or Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) including questions on fertility. Molecular data on the genetic disorder in affected children were gathered.

Comparison of FACSCount AF system, Improved Neubauer hemocytometer, Corning 254 photometer, SpermVision, UltiMate and NucleoCounter SP-100 for determination of sperm concentration of boar semen.

Current research aims at reducing the number of sperm per insemination dose thereby making measurement of sperm concentration in raw semen and the production of uniform insemination doses much more crucial. The present study evaluated the determination of sperm concentration using FACSCount AF System (FACS), Improved Neubauer hemocytometer (HEMO), Corning 254 photometer (Photo C254), SpermVision CASA System (SpermVision), UltiMate CASA System (UltiMate) and NucleoCounter SP-100 (SP-100). The instruments were evaluated with respect to repeatability and to establishing the regression curve towards both HEMO and FACS.

Further considerations on natural or mild hyperstimulation cycles for intrauterine insemination treatment: effects on pregnancy and multiple pregnancy rates.

Background: The high iatrogenic multiple pregnancy rate associated with intrauterine insemination (IUI) in hyperstimulated cycles is becoming less acceptable. Therefore we investigated data from an earlier prospective trial with regard to the specific question of whether the application of mild hyperstimulation in IUI cycles could be an alternative strategy for obtaining acceptable pregnancy rates while preventing a high multiple pregnancy rate, compared with natural cycles for IUI.

Methods: Pregnancy outcome of 310 natural and 334 mildly hyperstimulated cycles for IUI in 171 couples with unexplained or mild male factor subfertility was analysed on a patient level with random coefficient models.

Ovarian response to standard gonadotrophin stimulation for IVF is decreased not only in older but also in younger women in couples with idiopathic and male subfertility.

Background: With the occasional reports of unexpectedly poor ovarian response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) for IVF in young normally cyclic women in mind, we studied age-related ovarian response to COH in a group of women who underwent standard IVF.

Methods: Ovarian response to COH was defined as the number of follicles > or = 14 mm on the day of hCG administration. Ovarian response to COH was analysed by multiple regression analysis with woman's age and basal FSH concentration as explanatory variables in a prospective cohort of patients with idiopathic and mild male factor subfertility (n = 85), and additionally in a large retrospective cohort of women with unexplained, mild male and tubal subfertility (n = 1155), with age as explanatory variable.

Capillary-loaded particle fluid dynamics: effect on estimation of sperm concentration.

Capillary loaded chambers are frequently used for semen analysis. Poiseuille flow of specimen into these chambers causes migration of suspended particles or cells in a direction transverse to the flow, which results in their preferential accumulation in the Segre-Silberberg (SS) planes. This SS effect depends on the transverse velocity gradient in the laminar flow.

Particle distribution in low-volume capillary-loaded chambers.

Accurate determination of sperm concentration in fluid suspension is a critical component in a semen analysis. Inaccurate estimations can lead to misinterpretation of the spermiogram and, in the case of livestock production, can lead to faulty insemination doses, which can adversely affect stud power, fertility, fecundity, and cost effectiveness of breeding programs. Capillary-loaded slides, like the hemacytometer, have been the standard for calibration of other concentration estimation modalities such as photometry, Coulter counter, flow cytometry, and computer-automated semen analysis (CASA).

The place of the crossover design in infertility trials: a maximum likelihood approach.

Background: For some years, there has been a debate as to the place of the crossover trial in assisted reproduction technology (ART). We aimed to investigate whether crossover and parallel designs result in different estimates of treatment effects.

Methods: We carried out computer simulation of cohorts of patients undergoing either intra-uterine insemination (IUI) or IVF under both parallel and crossover designs, under scenarios involving censoring and carryover effects.

High level of alpha1-acid glycoprotein in human seminal plasma is associated with high branching and expression of Lewis(a) groups on its glycans: supporting evidence for a prostatic origin.

Background: Changes in concentration of seminal plasma alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein (AGP) have been studied in detail before. However, the source of high levels of AGP as well as the glycosylation of seminal plasma AGP has not been elucidated yet.

Methods: The glycosylation of AGP was studied by crossed affinity immunoelectrophoresis using fucose-specific lectins and immunostaining.

The impact of the embryo transfer catheter on the pregnancy rate in IVF.

Background: The aim was to assess whether the type of embryo transfer set used for embryo transfer affects the ongoing pregnancy rate in IVF.

Methods: The TDT set was compared with the K-soft 5000 in a large, prospective, randomized study. Patients were randomized moments before transfer by drawing a consecutively numbered, sealed, opaque envelope indicating the catheter to be used.

Health of human and livestock conceived by assisted reproduction.

Assisted reproduction is used to resolve infertility problems in human and in breeding programs to generate livestock. Except for gestation length and birth weight, perinatal outcome of children conceived by In Vitro Fertilization is similar to that of spontaneously conceived children. However, large offspring syndrome observed after In Vitro Production in livestock is quite alarming.

Multivariate Markov chain analysis of the probability of pregnancy in infertile couples undergoing assisted reproduction.

Background: Estimating the probability of pregnancy leading to delivery and the influence of clinical factors on that probability is of fundamental importance in the treatment counselling of infertile couples. A variety of statistical techniques have been used to analyse fertility data, many borrowed from survival analysis.

Methods And Results: We propose an alternative method of analysis which is based on a discrete time Markov chain approach, with states 'pregnancy (leading to a delivery)', 'not pregnant', and 'censored' and in which the transition probabilities are dependent both on the clinical characteristics of the patient and the treatment given.

The postwash total progressively motile sperm cell count is a reliable predictor of total fertilization failure during in vitro fertilization treatment.

Objective: To predict the chance of total fertilization failure (TFF) before the day of ovum pickup with known semen and female variables.

Design: A statistical model was constructed to predict TFF by retrospective analysis (2,366 couples) and subsequently tested on a new IVF population (917 couples).

Setting: Academic tertiary referral center.

The acrosome index, radical buffer capacity and number of isolated progressively motile spermatozoa predict IVF results.

Background: The accuracy by which a number of newly described semen variables can predict either total fertilization failure (TFF) or pregnancy outcome in IVF, has not previously been investigated. The study aim was, therefore, to determine prospectively the predictive value of these variables.

Methods: The semen variables investigated were the post-wash total progressively motile sperm cell count (TPMC(post-wash)), the acrosome index (AI), 'cytoplasmic residues' and normal sperm morphology, evaluated according to the strict criteria ('strict criteria'), as well as the fast and slow total radical trapping antioxidant potential ('fast TRAP' and 'slow TRAP' respectively).

Progressively motile human spermatozoa are well protected against in vitro lipid peroxidation imposed by induced oxidative stress.

Semen samples of 24 patients were analysed. Volumes were measured and the numbers of progressively motile (PMS), motile (MS) and nonmotile spermatozoa (NMS) were determined. These 24 samples appeared to show a large variation in motility percentages and numbers.

Quantification of the nonenzymatic fast and slow TRAP in a postaddition assay in human seminal plasma and the antioxidant contributions of various seminal compounds.

Total radical-trapping antioxidant potential (TRAP) measurements of human seminal plasma (N = 25) were performed by using a post-addition assay based on trapping 2,2' Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radicals. This method enables the antioxidant capacity of human seminal plasma and its constituents to be quantified. The standard procedure consisted of determination of the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) after incubating the test sample in the ABTS radical solution for 10 seconds (fast TRAP) and 300 s (total TRAP).