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Norma Larrea, of Mexico City, was 47 when she got osteoporosis. "I couldn't do my household chores and had pain throughout my body," she recalls. Her doctor did not diagnose osteoporosis. Eventually, after considerable suffering, a specialist in osteoporosis diagnosed her properly and treated her for the disease. Norma was lucky. Although her diagnosis was late, it came before she broke any bones.

The Internet has the potential to revolutionise the way we obtain and disseminate medical information. There is an enormous volume and variety of health-related information on the Internet [1, 2]. Some information available on the Internet about perinatology (aimed at professionals) is discussed here. We restrict ourselves mainly to websites for professionals in the English language.

The diagnostic sonography (ultrasound) profession is populated by technophiles. In general, people who gravitate to ultrasound are not afraid of technology or computers. For this reason alone, it is not surprising that sonographers and sonologists have flocked to use the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) for education, consultations and communications with colleagues across the globe.

Feasibility of laparoscopic myomectomy is now accepted even if the attention is still stressed on technical difficulties due to myoma location and size and difficulty in reapproximating the incision by laparoscopic suturing that requires perfect mastery of endoscopic suturing.

Brief overview of human egg and embryo freezing. Discussion of merits of currently utilized cryopreservation protocols. Practical issues of cryopreservation with reference to egg or embryo selection, and thaw replacement protocols. Alternative cryopreservation technologies.

This video illustrates a technique for removing a large uterus during a Laparo-Endoscopic Single Site (LESS)/ single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) technique for total or supracervical laparoscopic hysterectomy. A morcellator is used to remove the uterus in small pieces. This technique allows the entire procedure to be performed through one single incision in the belly-button. Patients can often go home the same day.

Cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer amongst women world-wide. Despite optimized protocols, standard treatments still face several disadvantages. Therefore, research aims at the development of immune-based strategies using tumor antigen-loaded dendritic cells for the induction of cellular anti-tumor immunity.

Central to any consideration of techniques in the IVF lab is the quality of the gametes that the lab has to work with. Usually there is little opportunity to modify the basic quality of sperm, however, the oocyte is a direct biological end product of ovarian super-ovulation as commonly conducted in human IVF therapy.

When a graafian follicle ruptures to release an oocyte, it is transformed into a corpus luteum. The corpus luteum is lined by a layer of granulose cells which rapidly become vascularized; some of these thin-walled vessels can rupture. This causes bleeding into the corpus luteum, resulting in the formation of a hemorrhagic cyst of the ovary.

The ubiquitous use of the World Wide Web to facilitate learning has been a benefactor of change, revolutionising the way in which education can be delivered and received. This technological advancement has woven together communities of learners and permitted access to huge repositories of information while eliminating distance as an obstacle to learning (Table I).

Ultra-fast freezing of ovarian tissue from women who have lost their fertility as a result of cancer treatment can lead to it being used in transplants with the same success rate as fresh tissue, a researcher told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

For the first time, researchers have been able to identify genetic predictors of the potential success or failure of IVF treatment in blood. Dr. Cathy Allen, from the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday 1 July) that her research would help understand why IVF works for some patients but not for others.

Ms Vanneste and her team studied each cell from 23 three or four day-old IVF embryos from young (less than 35 years old), fertile couples who had asked for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). PGD is carried out where one or both parents have a known genetic abnormality, in this case an X-linked disorder or the microdeletions (loss of a tiny piece of a chromosome) that can cause such disorders as the cancer predisposition syndrome neurofibromatosis type 1.

Survivors of childhood cancer run particular risks when pregnant and should be closely monitored, the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Wednesday 1 July). Dr. Sharon Lie Fong, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, said that, although such women may have conceived spontaneously and considered themselves to be perfectly healthy, their deliveries should always take place in a hospital.