Purpose : To investigate the effect of ultrasound-guided embryo transfer on the rate of implantation and clinical pregnancy. Methods : A prospective randomized trial was performed to compare ultrasound-guided embryo transfer with the traditional method. A total of 330 patients were randomly divided into two groups on the day of embryo transfer. For the cases (n = 178), ultrasound-guided was used; controls (n = 152) was performed using routine methods. Results : The rate of implantation and clinical pregnancy for the cases (19.6 and 37.1%, respectively) was significantly higher than for the controls (12.6 and 25%, respectively; p < 0.05). Conclusion : Ultrasound-guided embryo transfer can significantly increase the rate of implantation and clinical pregnancy, and should be recommended as a routine procedure in the process of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET).
Sarcopenia is a serious condition especially in the elderly population mainly characterized by the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength with aging. Extremity skeletal muscle mass index (EMMI) (sum of skeletal muscle mass in arms and legs/height 2 ) is gaining popularity in sarcopenia definition (less than two standard deviations below the mean of a young adult reference group), but little is known about the gender-and population-specific differences of EMMI. This study aimed at investigating the differences of EMMI, arm muscle mass index (AMMI), and leg muscle mass index (LMMI) between gender groups and populations (Chinese vs. Caucasians). The participants included 1,809 Chinese and 362 Caucasians with normal weight aged from 19 to 45 years old. Extremity muscle mass, arm muscle mass, and leg muscle mass were measured by using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Independent sample t tests were used to analyze the differences in muscle mass indexes between the studied groups. All the study parameters including EMMIs, AMMIs, and LMMIs were significantly higher (P≤0.0003) in the Caucasian group than in the Chinese group and also higher in the male group than in the female group, and these significant differences (P≤0.0005) remained after adjusting for age by simple regressions. The detected differences of muscle mass indexes between different gender and ethnic groups may provide important implications in their different risk of future sarcopenia.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.