Care of patients undergoing withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments: an ICU nurse perspective.

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses working in South Korea report experiencing uncertainty about how to care for patients undergoing withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments (WLT). A lack of consensus on care guidelines for patients with WLT contributes to uncertainty, ambiguity, and confusion on how to act appropriately within current law and social and ethical norms. To date, little has been discussed or described about how ICU nurses construct meaning about their roles in caring for dying patients in the context of wider social issues about end-of-life care and how this meaning interacts with the ICU system structure and national law.

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts Alkylation of Furans with -Quinone Methide Using a Chiral Oxazaborolidinium Ion Catalyst.

A chiral Lewis acid-catalyzed enantioselective Friedel-Crafts furan alkylation with in situ-generated -quinone methides has been developed. In the presence of a chiral oxazaborolidinium ion catalyst, the reaction proceeded in high yield (up to 99%) with excellent enantioselectivity (up to >99% ).

Alteration of Cholesterol Sulfate/Seminolipid Ratio in Semen Lipid Profile of Men With Oligoasthenozoospermia.

The reduction of sperm motility and count, or oligoasthenozoospermia, is one of the major causes of reduced fertility or infertility in men. Lipid composition of spermatozoa is important in determining their functional characteristics, in particular on motility, acrosomal exocytosis or fusogenic properties of the sperm. Here we investigated the levels of semen lipids in 11 infertile patients with severe oligoasthenozoospermia and 9 normozoospermic subjects with normal motility values.

Rationale and design of two prospective, multicenter, observational studies on reproductive outcome in women with recurrent failures after spontaneous or assisted conception: OTTILIA and FIRST registries.

Background: Spontaneous pregnancy loss and implantation failure after assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are very common occurrences. Although 50-60% of all cases remains unexplained, various predisposing factors, including thrombophilias, have been identified. Thus, the potential benefit of a prophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparins in improving outcomes has been often investigated over the years.

Mitochondrial distribution and activity in human mature oocytes: gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist versus antagonist for pituitary down-regulation.

Objective: To analyze the effects of GnRH agonists versus antagonists on mitochondrial distribution and activity in human mature oocytes.

Design: Randomized research experimental study.

Setting: Academic basic research laboratory and hospital-based fertility center.

Localization and quantitative expression of the calcium-sensing receptor protein in human oocytes.

Objective: To investigate the expression of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) protein in human oocytes at the germinal vesicle (GV) and metaphase I (MI) and II (MII) stages.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Academic basic research laboratory and hospital-based fertility center.