The present article is a report on two cases of male Kartagener's syndrome enrolled in intraconjugal IVF programme due to akinetospermia. Viable spermatozoa were selected using a hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) and pentoxifylline activation and subsequently microinjected into vitrified/warmed oocytes. The treatment enabled one of these two couples to achieve a pregnancy and to give birth to a healthy baby girl.
The Clubfoot painted by José de Ribera depicts a young beggar affected by a typical equinus clubfoot. He shows a contorted right hand and wrist. His left hand holds a begging note, suggesting some difficulty to speak. This condition may be caused by a cerebral palsy, consisting of a brain injury in the left hemisphere responsible for right hemiplegia and speech disturbance. Recently, it was suggested that the boy's condition is a consequence of arthrogryposis, perhaps amyoplasia or distal arthrogryposis type A1. Some clinical features may suggest the diagnosis of Sheldon-Hall syndrome. Considering all the signs represented on the painting, the diagnosis of hemiplegia due to cerebral palsy cannot be discarded. The present article is a novel analysis of the painting based on previously proposed diagnoses of the boy's condition, namely, hemiplegia and arthrogryposis.
Purpose Oocyte vitrification is a worldwide used technique that has proved its worth. Although it was shown not to alter oocyte integrity, a recent study concluded that it may affect oocyte embryo development. As the morphology and kinetics of embryos derived from sibling fresh and vitrified oocytes have not been described previously, the present study evaluates cleavage rate, blastomeres size, fragmentation rate, and blastocyst formation in vitrified/warmed oocyte derived embryos (VODE) as compared with sibling fresh oocytes derived embryos (FODE). Methods This investigation included 90 infertility cases displaying large cohort of mature oocytes at pick up, divided into 2 groups after denudation. A part of oocytes underwent ICSI while others were vitrified. Oocyte warming cycles were performed when no pregnancy was achieved using fresh eggs. Zygote to blastocyst development was recorded prospectively in an image database up to day 5. Results VODE did not show major difference as compared with FODE in terms of cleavage rate, number of blastomeres, fragmentation rate, and blastomeres size. Furthermore, percentage of morulae at day 4 and blastocysts at day 5 are not affected by oocyte vitrification. Conclusion Although our results show that embryo development is not altered by oocyte vitrification, offspring follow-up is essential to exclude any adverse developmental effect of the technique.
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