Re-evaluation of post-wash sperm is a helpful tool in the decision to perform in vitro fertilisation or intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

The aim of this study was to find discriminatory parameters, based on sperm characteristics on the day of ovum pickup, that can help guide the decision to perform either intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or in vitro fertilisation (IVF). We evaluated 112 cycles fertilised with both regular and ICSI insemination during the same cycle. A total of 112 cycles were analysed. In 62 cycles, fertilisation was obtained with both ICSI and IVF, and in 50 cycles, fertilisation was obtained by ICSI alone. The sperm samples were re-evaluated after the preparation process. The mean initial total motile sperm count (TMSC) was 66.3 × 10(6) ± 47.5 in the group that underwent both methods and 23.1 × 10(6) ± 20.4 in the ICSI only group (P < 0.05). After sperm preparation, the mean post-wash TMSC was 4.4 × 10(6) ± 3.4 and 1.06 × 10(6) ± 0.9 respectively (P < 0.05). A cutoff of 1.5 × 10(6) or fewer sperm after preparation as an indicator for ICSI has a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 77%. Re-evaluation of TMSC can prevent unexpected fertilisation failure. Fewer than 1.5 million TMSC after wash should be considered an indication for ICSI fertilisation.

[Functional state of the lower urinary tract in children with enuresis]. / Funktsional'noe sostoianie nizhnikh mochevykh putei u detei s énurezom.

Basing on rich statistical materials, the authors studied functional state of the lower urinary tracts in children and adolescents with enuresis. A noticeable reservoir dysfunction of the bladder was found in the probands while evacuatory function did not differ much from healthy controls.

Enhanced efficiency of quantitative trait loci mapping analysis based on multivariate complexes of quantitative traits.

An approach to increase the efficiency of mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) was proposed earlier by the authors on the basis of bivariate analysis of correlated traits. The power of QTL detection using the log-likelihood ratio (LOD scores) grows proportionally to the broad sense heritability. We found that this relationship holds also for correlated traits, so that an increased bivariate heritability implicates a higher LOD score, higher detection power, and better mapping resolution. However, the increased number of parameters to be estimated complicates the application of this approach when a large number of traits are considered simultaneously. Here we present a multivariate generalization of our previous two-trait QTL analysis. The proposed multivariate analogue of QTL contribution to the broad-sense heritability based on interval-specific calculation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the residual covariance matrix allows prediction of the expected QTL detection power and mapping resolution for any subset of the initial multivariate trait complex. Permutation technique allows chromosome-wise testing of significance for the whole trait complex and the significance of the contribution of individual traits owing to: (a) their correlation with other traits, (b) dependence on the chromosome in question, and (c) both a and b. An example of application of the proposed method on a real data set of 11 traits from an experiment performed on an F(2)/F(3) mapping population of tetraploid wheat (Triticum durum x T. dicoccoides) is provided.

Comparison of 14C-sucrose delivery to the brain by intravenous, intraventricular, and convection-enhanced intracerebral infusion.

OBJECT: The authors evaluated convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of 14C-sucrose to the rat brain as a method of enhancing cerebral drug delivery and compared it with intravenous (i.v.) and intraventricular (i.v.t.) routes of administration. METHODS: Groups of rats received 14C-sucrose by bolus i.v. infusion, i.v.t. infusion for 1, 2, or 7 days at 0.17 microl/minute, or CED at rates from 0.01 to 0.5 microl/minute for periods from 1 hour to 7 days. Radioisotope distribution and concentration in tissue were analyzed using quantitative autoradiography. Intravenously administered sucrose reached the entire brain, but levels in tissue were low. After i.v.t. administration, sucrose levels in tissue were high at, and declined exponentially away from, the ventricular surface. Chronic CED administration maintained high levels of sucrose in tissue that focally were up to 10,000 times higher than in the i.v. group. The isotope distribution pattern after chronic CED infusions indicated a central component that resulted from convention and a peripheral component in gray matter that was the result of diffusion. The brain influx (0.42 microl/g/min) and diffusion constants of sucrose (2.8 x 10(-6) cm2/second) were similar to reported values. The total brain efflux constant was 0.0044 minute, whereas the blood-brain barrier (BBB) efflux constant was 0.0016 minute. There were no pathological changes in the brains after CED except those associated with cannula insertion. Sucrose, which was thought to be inert, was found to interact with brain tissue; up to 25% was bound to an unidentified tissue component. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic CED appears to be a potentially useful method for significantly circumventing the BBB and increasing delivery of water-soluble drugs to the brain.

Changes in blood-brain barrier permeability associated with insertion of brain cannulas and microdialysis probes.

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) transcapillary transport was studied after insertion of cannulas and microdialysis probes into the brains of three groups of rats. Quantitative autoradiography was used to measure changes in BBB permeability around the insertion site. In the first group, BBB function was measured with 14C-sucrose at times from immediately, and up to 28 days, after insertion of a microdialysis probe. BBB function was disrupted biphasically: a 19-fold increase in the influx constant (K1) of sucrose occurred immediately after insertion with a second 17-fold increase at 2 days, followed by a slow decline to 5 times normal values at 28 days. In the second group, 14C-dextran (70 kDa) was used to measure BBB transcapillary transport; K1 was increased 90-fold after probe insertion. In the 3rd group, 14C-AIB (alpha-aminoisobutyric acid) was used to evaluate BBB transport after insertion of a 27 gauge cannula, which was used to infuse 1 microliter of saline over 5 min. The K1 of AIB was increased 25 times control values. We conclude that BBB transcapillary transport function is disturbed in response to insertion of brain cannulas and/or microdialysis probes, that BBB dysfunction is maximal at the cannula or probe tip, varies with time after insertion, may persist for at least 28 days after insertion, and occurs over a wide molecular range of solutes. These results suggest caution when using microdialysis as a method to study normal BBB function, and suggest that microdialysis may overestimate the rate of transfer into and out of the brain.

[The treatment of neurogenic hyperreflexic bladder dysfunctions in girls with low-intensity laser radiation]. / Lechenie neirogennykh giperreflektornykh disfunktsii mochevogo puzyria u devochek nizkointensivnym lazernym izlucheniem.

120 girls were investigated for the efficacy of three methods of treatment: conventional, infrared laser radiation on the projection of the bladder plus He-Ne laser radiation on biologically active points (BAP), red He-Ne laser BAP radiation. All the patients suffered from neurogenic hyperreflexic dysfunctions of the bladder, 99.8% had the diagnosis of vegetovascular dystonia, 94.9% had sympathetic-tonic or mixed patterns. The combined laser exposure brought about the greatest response rate-90.0%.

[The organization and efficacy of the rehabilitative therapy of children with respiratory diseases at a sanatorium-preventorium in the Far East region]. / Organizatsiia i éffektivnost' vosstanovitel'noi terapii u detei s zabolevaniiami organov dykhaniia v usloviiakh sanatoriia-profilaktoriia Dal'nevostochnogo regiona.

The findings from 706 children suffering from bronchial and pulmonary diseases who attended sanatoria in the Far East of the Soviet Union provided the underlying material for suggestions made on efficient programmes of health improvement. The most social and economic significance implies combined nonpharmacological treatment of children employing local nature and climate factors.