The effect of the Ontario Fertility Program on IVF utilization and outcomes in women of advanced reproductive age.

Research Question: Are the demographics and clinical outcomes similar for patients aged ≥40 but <43 years seeking IVF in Ontario, Canada, before and after implementation of the Ontario Fertility Program (OFP), which supports public funding of IVF up to age 43?

Design: Retrospective database review using the Canadian Assisted Reproductive Technologies Registry Plus (CARTR Plus) and Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) Ontario databases. Cycles from women who underwent autologous IVF and who were aged ≥40 and <43 years were analysed during a 2-year period prior to (2014-2015) and after (2016-2017) introduction of publicly funded IVF through the OFP.

Results: There was an almost doubling of treatment cycles in women aged 40-42 in Ontario after the OFP launch.

A comparison of two months pretreatment with GnRH agonists with or without an aromatase inhibitor in women with ultrasound-diagnosed ovarian endometriomas undergoing IVF.

Research Question: Does the addition of an aromatase inhibitor improve IVF outcomes in women with endometriomas when pretreating them with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists?

Design: Retrospective two-centre cohort study involving 126 women aged 21-39 years who failed a previous IVF cycle and all subsequent embryo transfers and had sonographic evidence of endometriomas. Women were non-randomly assigned to either 3.75 mg intramuscular depo-leuprolide treatment alone or in combination with 5 mg of oral letrozole daily for 60 days prior to undergoing a fresh IVF cycle.

Do Patients Understand the Role of Resident Physicians in the Operating Room? A Survey of Gynaecology Patients.

Objective: Studies from disciplines outside gynaecology have found that most patients do not understand the clinical responsibilities allocated to physicians-in-training. No research on this topic has been published in gynaecology, despite litigation against gynaecological surgeons regarding the role of residents in surgery. The goal of this research was to explore what gynaecological surgery patients understand about the role of resident doctors.

Intraoperative parathyroid hormone level in parathyroidectomy: which patients benefit from it?

Background: Intraoperative parathyroid hormone level (IOPTH) is withdrawn during parathyroidectomy to confirm the success of the procedure. Recently, the importance of IOPTH has been put to question. The purpose of this study is to determine whether IOPTH is necessary for all patients undergoing parathyroidectomy in the presence of frozen section.

The gut microbiota and human health with an emphasis on the use of microencapsulated bacterial cells.

The gut microbiota plays a crucial role in maintaining health. Alterations of the gut bacterial population have been associated with a number of diseases. Past and recent studies suggest that one can positively modify the contents of the gut microbiota by introducing prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and other therapeutics.

Superior cell delivery features of genipin crosslinked polymeric microcapsules: preparation, in vitro characterization and pro-angiogenic applications using human adipose stem cells.

The ability of mesenchymal stem cells to self-renew and differentiate into specialized cell lineages makes them promising tools for regenerative medicine. Local injection and use of scaffolds had been employed earlier to deliver these cells; yet, an optimal delivery system remains to be identified. Here, using genipin, which is a non-toxic natural cross linker for proteins, we prepared alginate-chitosan polymeric microcapsules (GCAC) to develop an efficient stem cell delivery system.