ABSTRACT
AIM: The aim of the work was to compare two different techniques, local anaesthesia versus continuous intravenous administration of remifentanil for oocyte retrieval. The impact on the medical assisted procreation (PMA) procedures in terms of number and quality of oocytes collected was evaluated. METHODS: The experimental design was a retrospective study which compared two different techniques, local anaesthesia versus continuous intravenous administration of remifentanil. 548 women with the same infertility duration and ovarian reserve were classified in two groups of 274 women each, that underwent to oocytes retrieval with intravenous infusion of remifentanil (first group) or with local anesthesia (second group). RESULTS: The analysis showed that the intravenous infusion of remifentanil doesn't interfere in the quality of oocytes retrieved and embryo score. CONCLUSION: The administration of intravenous remifentanil makes easier the pick-up of oocytes because women had no pain during the procedure. In this way, it was possible to recover more oocytes and to verify that the drug doesn't interfere with the exitus of the techniques. For these reasons we decided to continue in using intravenous infusion of remifentanil for the retrieval of oocytes.
Subject(s)
Alfentanil/pharmacology , Anesthesia, Local/methods , Fertilization in Vitro , Piperidines/pharmacology , Propofol/pharmacology , Reproductive Techniques, Assisted , Adult , Alfentanil/administration & dosage , Female , Humans , Infusions, Intravenous , Oocytes/drug effects , Ovulation Induction , Piperidines/administration & dosage , Propofol/administration & dosage , Remifentanil , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
AIM: The aim of the study was to compare the clinical results and efficiency of three insemination technique: intraperitoneal insemination (IPI), fallopian sperm perfusion (FSP) and intrauterine insemination (IUI). METHODS: The experimental design was a prospective, randomized trial. A total of 101 homologous insemination cycles were performed in 71 consecutive couples with unexplained or male subfertility. Couples were randomized to receive IPI or FSP or IUI by predefined tables of randomization and each couple was submitted to the same insemination technique. The primary outcome of the study was the achievement of clinical pregnancy. RESULTS: The results of the study underlined firstly that basal couple composition was not statistically different between the three groups. Moreover, no significant difference in clinical pregnancy rate was observed, despite a clearly positive trend for FSP, especially for unexplained infertility. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that the three techniques of insemination IUI, FSP and IPI have similar efficacy on the achievement of clinical pregnancy in couples affected by longstanding infertility.
Subject(s)
Infertility, Male , Insemination, Artificial/methods , Female , Humans , Male , Pregnancy/statistics & numerical data , Prospective StudiesSubject(s)
Actinomycosis/complications , Carotid Artery Diseases/etiology , Postoperative Complications , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/surgery , Carotid Artery Diseases/microbiology , Cutaneous Fistula/etiology , Fistula/etiology , Hemorrhage/etiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Oropharyngeal Neoplasms/surgery , Pharyngeal Diseases/etiology , Rupture, Spontaneous , Surgical Wound Infection/etiologyABSTRACT
Sera from HIV-1 infected individuals were examined for their reactivity to the principal neutralizing domain, IGPGRAF sequence, of the V3-loop of HIV-1. Four hybrid proteins carrying this sequence inserted in four different outer loops of a protein that makes up the capsid of an insect virus were used as antigen in a Western blot assay for this survey. All the four antigens showed different activity: sera that recognise all antigens to sera that reacted with only one of them. Competition experiments indicated that the antibodies recognised these proteins with different affinity. Molecular modelling of the hybrid proteins predicted that the inserted sequence adopted different conformations in each position. Comparison of predicted most stable conformations for IGPGRAF indicated that there is a close relationship between conformational similarity to a V3-loop reference structure and the degree of reactivity with sera.
Subject(s)
Epitopes/immunology , HIV Antigens/immunology , HIV Envelope Protein gp120/immunology , HIV-1/immunology , Peptide Fragments/immunology , Amino Acid Sequence , Epitopes/chemistry , HIV Antigens/chemistry , HIV Infections/immunology , Humans , Molecular Sequence Data , Protein Conformation , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/chemistry , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/immunologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Alpha-interferon (alpha-IFN) was found to have a good antiproliferative effect in early stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but recombinant alpha-IFN administration may induce serious side effects. Therefore low-dose "natural" IFN was evaluated in terms of efficacy and safety. METHODS: Fifteen patients affected by stage A (according to Binet) B-CLL underwent the treatment: natural IFN 1 MU three times a week for 6 months. RESULTS: Overall lymphocyte count decreased from 13,050 +/- 3,200 to 7,500 +/- 2,940 within 6 months. One patient did not respond to IFN therapy. No one complained of side effects. CONCLUSION: Low dose "natural" alpha-IFN seems useful and well tolerated in CLL, but the potential curative role of IFN in CLL remains to be established.
