ART in Europe, 2020: results generated from European registries by ESHRE†.

STUDY QUESTION: What are the data and trends of ART and IUI cycle numbers and their outcomes, and of fertility preservation (FP) interventions, reported in 2020 as compared to previous years? SUMMARY ANSWER: This 24th ESHRE report highlights the number of ART treatment cycles and children born over the years, showing a decline in the total number of treatment cycles, when comparing 2020 with 2019, alongside a decline in twin deliveries owing to a decrease in transfers of multiple embryos; however, fresh IVF or ICSI cycles and frozen embryo transfers (FET) showed similar pregnancy rates, and the reported IUI cycle numbers decreased while maintaining stable outcomes. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: ART aggregated data generated by national registries, clinics, or professional societies have been gathered and analyzed by the European IVF Monitoring (EIM) consortium since 1997 and reported in a total of 23 manuscripts published in Human Reproduction and Human Reproduction Open. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Data on medically assisted reproduction (MAR) from European countries are collected by EIM for ESHRE each year. The data on treatment cycles performed between January 1 and December 31, 2020, were provided by either national registries or registries based on initiatives of medical associations and scientific organizations or committed persons in the 44 countries that are members of the EIM Consortium. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Overall, 1440 clinics offering ART services in 41 countries reported 923 318 treatment cycles (-14%; in 2019: 1 077 813), including 135 231 with IVF, 356 408 with ICSI, 305 373 with FET, 57 051 with preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), 64 007 with oocyte donation, 353 with IVM of oocytes, and 4895 cycles using frozen oocytes. A total of 1288 institutions reported data on IUI cycles using either husband/partner's semen (IUI-H; n = 112 663) or donor semen (IUI-D; n = 38 839) in 30 and 21 countries, respectively. Sixteen countries reported 29 566 interventions in pre-and post-pubertal patients for FP, including oocyte, ovarian tissue, semen, and testicular tissue banking. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: In 24 countries (21 in 2019) in which all ART clinics reported to the registry, 356 427 treatment cycles were registered for a total population of approximately 268 million inhabitants in these countries, allowing the best estimate of a mean of 1330 cycles performed per million inhabitants (range: 142-3230). Among the reporting countries, for IVF, the clinical pregnancy rates (PR) per aspiration were similar to that in 2019 (22.1% versus 21.8% in 2019). For ICSI, the corresponding PRs showed similar trends (20.0% in 2020 versus 20.2% in 2019). When freeze-all cycles were excluded from the calculations, the clinical PRs per aspiration were 26.4% (28.5% in 2019) and 25.6% (26.2% in 2019) for IVF and ICSI, respectively. After oocyte donation, the PR per embryo transfer was 51.3% (50.5% in 2019) with freshly donated oocytes and 45.7% (44.8% in 2019) with thawed oocytes. After FET, the PR per thawing was 34.9% (versus 35.1% in 2019). In fresh cycles of both IVF and ICSI, the trend towards the transfer of fewer embryos continued with the transfer of 1, 2, 3, and ≥4 embryos in 57.2%, 37.8%, 4.8%, and 0.2%, of all treatments, respectively (corresponding to 55.4%, 39.9%, 2.6%, and 0.2% in 2019). This resulted in a reduced proportion of twin delivery rates (DRs) of 10.9% (11.9% in 2019) and a similar triplet DR of 0.2%. In FET cycles in 2020, the twin and triplet DRs were 7.9% and 0.1%, respectively (versus 8.9% and 0.1% in 2019). While the number of IUI cycles in 2020 decreased from 2019, the DRs remained stable at 8.8% after IUI-H (8.7% in 2019) and at 12.5% after IUI-D (12.1% in 2019). Twin and triplet DRs after IUI-H were 7.9% and 0.4% (in 2019: 8.7% and 0.4%) and 5.7% % and 0.1% after IUI-D (in 2019: 6.2% and 0.2%), respectively. Data on FP were provided by 16 countries (18 in 2019), reporting a total of 29 566 interventions (24 139 in 2019). Cryopreservation of ejaculated sperm (n = 21 864 versus n = 11 592 in 2019) and cryopreservation of oocytes (n = 6077 versus n = 10 784 in 2019) were the most frequently reported forms of FP. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Caution with the interpretation of results should remain as data collection systems and completeness of reporting vary among European countries. Some countries were unable to deliver data about the number of initiated cycles and/or deliveries. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: The 24th ESHRE data collection on ART and IUI interventions shows a decrease of reported treatment cycles. A decline was observed when comparing 2020 with 2019, regarding the numbers of MAR treatments and births derived from these treatments in Europe. This break in the trend from prior years could be due to the effects of the COVID pandemic and/or due to the fact that some countries were not able to report. Although it is the largest data collection on MAR in Europe, further efforts to optimize both the collection and the reporting of data, from the perspective of improving surveillance and vigilance in the field of reproductive medicine, are awaited. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): The study has received no external funding and all costs are covered by ESHRE. There are no competing interests

Conservative endometrioma surgery: The combined technique versus CO2-laser vaporization only (BLAST: Belgium LAser STudy): Clinical protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The surgical management of endometrioma(s) remains challenging. Although laparoscopic surgery is a well-established treatment of endometrioma(s), caution is required to minimize ovarian damage. Several surgical techniques have been described to treat endometrioma(s): classical cystectomy, ablative techniques, or a combination of both. As cystectomy is strongly associated with a reduction in ovarian reserve, this randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to determine to what extent the two other surgical procedures may affect ovarian reserve by comparing changes in serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels concentrations after each type of surgery. METHODS: This is a multicenter, non-blinded, RCT with parallel groups (group 1 (combined technique) versus group 2 (CO2 laser vaporization only)) and allocation 1:1. Four Belgian centers will be involved. Main inclusion criteria are symptomatic patients (pain and/or infertility), 18-40 years (both inclusive) with an endometriotic cyst (mean diameter of ≥ 2.5 cm and ≤ 8 cm) and AMH level ≥ 0.7 ng/mL. Suspicion of malignancy, a contralateral endometrioma of > 2 cm, use of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues around timing of surgery or previous oophorectomy are exclusion criteria. The primary aim is the evaluation of the difference in serum AMH levels between baseline and 3 months postoperatively (or delta AMH). The secondary outcomes include differences in AMH levels at 6 and 12 months postoperatively, cyst recurrence rate, evolution of pain pattern and fertility outcomes. DISCUSSION: The present study will help us to answer the question on which surgical technique for endometrioma(s) has the most favorable outcome in patients wishing to preserve their reproductive potential. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04151433. Registered on November 5th, 2019

A House is not a Home: Ettore Sottsass and Arnaldo Pomodoro

The conference was part of the study days "Spaces of Living and Places of Collectivity", organized on September 25–26–27, 2025, by the Department of the Arts at the University of Bologna. "A House is not a Home" (Saturday, September 27, 2025), took place within the session "Exhibiting the Habitat / Displaying Dwelling", curated by Anna Rosellini (supervisor of my doctoral dissertation) and Stefano Setti. "A House is not a Home" was not conceived as a traditional architectural history lecture. Its narrative adopted a paradoxical tone—just like its title, which inverts the famous "A Home is not a House" by Reyner Banham and François Dallegret. The conference began in the present, then moved back to the past, and finally pointed toward an uncertain future. At its core lay a little-known episode involving two major figures: Arnaldo Pomodoro, who in 1965 commissioned his friend Ettore Sottsass Jr.—at a moment of financial fragility—to design a “house–non-house” in Milan

Mieux comprendre le vécu des doctorants en Belgique francophone : synthèse d’un projet de recherche longitudinal interuniversitaire

Le taux d’abandon et le bien être des doctorants sont des problématiques qui ont été largement étudiées ces vingt dernières années. Parmi ces recherches, l’importance de la formation doctorale, de l’intégration sociale et du soutien du promoteur/directeur de thèse ont été pointés comme des leviers importants de persévérance et de bien-être. Cependant, ce domaine de recherche manque d’approches longitudinales et multivariées pour bien comprendre le rôle de ces facteurs dans le processus de complétion du doctorat. Cet article synthétise un projet belge ayant étudié le processus de persévérance au doctorat au moyen d’approches qualitatives et quantitatives interinstitutionnelles et longitudinales. Pour ce faire, les huit articles publiés durant le projet ont été analysés afin d’en faire ressortir les principales découvertes. Cette analyse montre globalement que le processus de complétion est largement impacté par la relation au promoteur, est fonction des différences individuelles et contextuelles, est impacté par l’appropriation du projet par le doctorant et la perception de se voir progresser dans la thèse. Cet article reviendra ensuite sur les résultats du projet et les mettra en lien avec la formation doctorale en Belgique francophone afin d’en tirer des implications pratiques et des perspectives futures de recherche permettant de favoriser la persévérance et le bien-être du doctorant durant le parcours de thèse

Love is not Enough… The Need for Adapted Parenting

Parental maltreatment due to inadequacy is a form of inappropriate parenting that leads to emotional, educational, and/or neglect-related deficiencies with severe consequences for a child’s physical and psychological development, though it is not necessarily intentional abuse. This constitutes a violation of the fundamental rights established in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We present the case of a two-and-a-half-year-old boy who was brought to the emergency department by the police. He was severely malnourished, which resulted in nutritional rickets and developmental delay. He had been fed almost exclusively breast milk. His parents had a profoundly distorted perception of his needs. This case is discussed from paediatric, child psychiatric, and legal perspectives

Revisiting the floruit of Anastasius of Sinai

Modern scholarship commonly places the floruit of Anastasius of Sinai between ca. 640 et ca. 700 CE, that is, in the first decades after the Muslim conquest of Egypt. This dating perhaps relies on, and combines information from, several writings of (or attributed to) Anastasius, but does not seem to do full justice to his career as polemicist. Through a close re-examination and contextualisation of Anastasius’ defence of Chalcedonian doctrine and of dyothelitism, I argue that Anastasius could not have died “shortly after 700”, as is generally believed