Vasodilators for women undergoing fertility treatment.

Background: The rate of successful pregnancies brought to term has barely increased since the first assisted reproductive technology (ART) technique became available. Research suggests that vasodilators may increase endometrial receptivity, thicken the endometrium, and favour uterine relaxation, all of which could improve the chances of successful assisted pregnancy.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of vasodilators in women undergoing fertility treatment.

An evidence mapping study based on systematic reviews of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for diabetic retinopathy.

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of vision impairment and blindness among individuals with diabetes. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been explored as an alternative treatment for DR, but the quality of evidence remains uncertain. A comprehensive evidence mapping study is necessary to synthesize existing SRs, identify gaps in the literature, and highlight areas requiring further research.

An additive opinion to the committee opinion of ASRM and SART on the use of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A).

After over 20 years of progressively increasing clinical utilization of PGT-A (and its precursors), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and its daughter society, the Society for Assisted Reproduction (SART), for the first time published a committee opinion clearly acknowledging that "the value of PGT-A as a routine screening test for patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) has not been demonstrated." This statement is timely and welcome but requires some additions and raises some new questions, among those why, if PGT-A in a general population does not improve IVF cycle outcomes, the routine clinical utilization of PGT-A should continue.

Progestogens for prevention of luteinising hormone (LH) surge in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation as part of an assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycle.

Background: Currently, gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues are used to prevent premature ovulation in ART cycles. However, their costs remain high, the route of administration is invasive and has some adverse effects. Oral progestogens could be cheaper and effective to prevent a premature LH surge.

Cleavage-stage versus blastocyst-stage embryo transfer in assisted reproductive technology.

Background: Advances in embryo culture media have led to a shift in in vitro fertilisation (IVF) practice from cleavage-stage embryo transfer to blastocyst-stage embryo transfer. The rationale for blastocyst-stage transfer is to improve both uterine and embryonic synchronicity and enable self selection of viable embryos, thus resulting in better live birth rates.

Objectives: To determine whether blastocyst-stage (day 5 to 6) embryo transfer improves the live birth rate (LBR) per fresh transfer, and other associated outcomes, compared with cleavage-stage (day 2 to 3) embryo transfer.

Standardizing definitions and reporting guidelines for the infertility core outcome set: an international consensus development study† ‡.

Study Question: Can consensus definitions for the core outcome set for infertility be identified in order to recommend a standardized approach to reporting?

Summary Answer: Consensus definitions for individual core outcomes, contextual statements and a standardized reporting table have been developed.

What Is Known Already: Different definitions exist for individual core outcomes for infertility. This variation increases the opportunities for researchers to engage with selective outcome reporting, which undermines secondary research and compromises clinical practice guideline development.

Endometrial preparation for women undergoing embryo transfer with frozen embryos or embryos derived from donor oocytes.

Background: A frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle is when one or more embryos (frozen during a previous treatment cycle) are thawed and transferred to the uterus. Some women undergo fresh embryo transfer (ET) cycles with embryos derived from donated oocytes. In both situations, the endometrium is primed with oestrogen and progestogen in different doses and routes of administration.

Quality of evidence matters: is it well reported and interpreted in infertility journals?

Purpose: To evaluate if the authors of published systematic reviews (SRs) reported the level of quality of evidence (QoE) in the top 5 impact factor infertility journals and to analyze if they used an appropriate wording to describe it.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. We searched in PubMed for SRs published in 2017 in the five infertility journals with the highest impact factor.

Sequential inactivated (IPV) and live oral (OPV) poliovirus vaccines for preventing poliomyelitis.

Background: Poliomyelitis mainly affects unvaccinated children under five years of age, causing irreversible paralysis or even death. The oral polio vaccine (OPV) contains live attenuated virus, which can, in rare cases, cause a paralysis known as vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP), and also vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) due to acquired neurovirulence after prolonged duration of replication. The incidence of poliomyelitis caused by wild polio virus (WPV) has declined dramatically since the introduction of OPV and later the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), however, the cases of paralysis linked to the OPV are currently more frequent than those related to the WPV.

Advanced sperm selection techniques for assisted reproduction.

Background: Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) including in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), combine gametes to enhance the probability of fertilisation and pregnancy. Advanced sperm selection techniques are increasingly employed in ART, most commonly in cycles utilising ICSI. Advanced sperm selection techniques are proposed to improve the chance that structurally intact and mature sperm with high DNA integrity are selected for fertilisation.

Vasodilators for women undergoing fertility treatment.

Background: The rate of successful pregnancies brought to term has barely increased since the first assisted reproductive technology (ART) technique became available. Vasodilators have been proposed to increase endometrial receptivity, thicken the endometrium, and favour uterine relaxation, all of which could improve uterine receptivity and enhance the chances for successful assisted pregnancy.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of vasodilators in women undergoing fertility treatment.

[Establishing research priorities for chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes in Central AmericaDeterminação de prioridades em pesquisa da doença renal crônica associada a causas não tradicionais na América Central].

Introduction: In 2013, the PAHO Member States recognized the epidemic of chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes (CKDnT) as a serious public health problem. This article describes the establishment of research priorities to comprehensively address CKDnT in Central America.

Methods: Following a search of the literature for research studies carried out in Central America and prior research agendas on CKD, a virtual survey was conducted using the Delphi methodology.

Conducting and Disseminating Epidemiological Systematic Reviews in Latin America and the Caribbean: Pitfalls and Lessons Learned.

Objectives: To describe the experience, pitfalls, and lessons learned in conducting and disseminating epidemiological systematic reviews (SRs) in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2007 and 2016.

Methods: We used a mixed-methods approach, including a descriptive cross-sectional study and a qualitative study of pitfalls and lessons learned. The following end points were analyzed: number of primary research studies included, country of origin, study design, risk of bias, citations in social media, number of researchers and experts involved, and time devoted by them to conduct SRs.

Physicians and patients' motivations to perform elective single or double-embryo transfers: A nationwide survey.

Objectives: To evaluate motivations to perform an elective single embryo transfer (e-SET).

Methods: Cross-sectional surveys to reproductive medicine specialists and to infertile patients undergoing assisted reproductive treatments.

Results: In the physician's survey (n = 278), we found that the main reasons for not offering e-SET were the physicians' belief that patients prefer optimizing the pregnancy rates regardless of the potential complications (57.

Interchangeability between Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: To assess the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, immunogenicity, and safety related to the interchangeability between pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) and vaccination schedules in pediatric population.

Methods: Systematic searches were conducted in December 2010 and April 2015 for economic evaluations in MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Web sites and databases from medical societies, experts, and associations related to the topic, proceedings or congressional annals, and doctoral theses were also searched.

Cleavage-stage or blastocyst transfer: what are the benefits and harms?

ET is a critical step in an assisted reproduction cycle. Over the past decade there has been an increasing trend to extending culture from cleavage-stage to blastocyst transfer. There has also been a trend to single ET and reporting the success of an assisted reproductive cycle as a cumulative live-birth rate after using both fresh and frozen embryos.

Cleavage stage versus blastocyst stage embryo transfer in assisted reproductive technology.

Background: Advances in cell culture media have led to a shift in in vitro fertilisation (IVF) practice from cleavage stage embryo transfer to blastocyst stage transfer. The rationale for blastocyst transfer is to improve both uterine and embryonic synchronicity and enable self selection of viable embryos, thus resulting in better live birth rates.

Objectives: To determine whether blastocyst stage (day 5 to 6) embryo transfers improve the live birth rate, and other associated outcomes, compared with cleavage stage (day 2 to 3) embryo transfers.

[Successful treatment of a cervical heterotopic pregnancy following an in vitro fertilization procedure].

A 37-year-old nulligravida infertile female had a cervical heterotopic pregnancy following an in vitro fertilization procedure. Early intervention on the 6th week of gestation with a manual vacuum aspirator reached to remove the cervical pregnancy. Ligation of the descending cervical branches of the uterine arteries and a cervical cerclage, were placed before the aspiration, for prevention of possible hemorrhage.

Misleading reporting and interpretation of results in major infertility journals.

Objective: To evaluate the proportion of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in top infertility journals indexed on PubMed that reported their results with proper effect estimates and their precision estimation, while correctly interpreting both measures.

Design: Cross-sectional study evaluating all the RCTs published in top infertility journals during 2014.

Setting: Not applicable.