A survey of fertility preservation options available to cancer patients around the globe

Purpose: Oncofertility focuses on providing fertility and endocrine-sparing options to patients who undergo life-preserving but gonadotoxic cancer treatment. The resources needed to meet patient demand often are fragmented along disciplinary lines. We quantify assets and gaps in oncofertility care on a global scale. Methods: Survey-based questionnaires were provided to 191 members of the Oncofertility Consortium Global Partners Network, a National Institutes of Health–funded organization. Responses were analyzed to measure trends and regional subtleties about patient oncofertility experiences and to analyze barriers to care at sites that provide oncofertility services. Results: Sixty-three responses were received (response rate, 25%), and 40 were analyzed from oncofertility centers in 28 countries. Thirty of 40 survey results (75%) showed that formal referral processes and psychological care are provided to patients at the majority of sites. Fourteen of 23 respondents (61%) stated that some fertility preservation services are not offered because of cultural and legal barriers. The growth of oncofertility and its capacity to improve the lives of cancer survivors around the globe relies on concentrated efforts to increase awareness, promote collaboration, share best practices, and advocate for research funding. Conclusion: This survey reveals global and regional successes and challenges and provides insight into what is needed to advance the field and make the discussion of fertility preservation and endocrine health a standard component of the cancer treatment plan. As the field of oncofertility continues to develop around the globe, regular assessment of both international and regional barriers to quality care must continue to guide process improvements

Survey of Third-Party Parenting Options Associated With Fertility Preservation Available to Patients With Cancer Around the Globe

Purpose: In the accompanying article, “Analysis of Fertility Preservation Options Available to Patients With Cancer Around the Globe,” we showed that specific fertility preservation services may not be offered at various sites around the world because of cultural and legal barriers. We assessed global and regional experiences as well as the legal status of third-party reproduction and adoption to serve as a comprehensive international data set and resource for groups that wish to begin oncofertility interventions. Methods: We provide data on the legalities of third-party assisted reproductive technologies and other family-building options in the 28 oncofertility-practicing countries surveyed. Results: We found regional and country differences that will be important in the development of tailored resources for physicians and for patient brochures that are sensitive to these local restrictions and cultural norms. Conclusion: Because many patients first consult Web-based materials, the formal assessment of the availability of these options provides members of the global oncofertility community with data to which they might otherwise not have ready access to better serve their patients

Survey of third-party parenting options associated with fertility preservation available to patients with cancer around the globe

bstract PURPOSE In the accompanying article, “Survey of Fertility Preservation Options Available to Patients With Cancer Around the Globe,” we showed that specific fertility preservation services may not be offered at various sites around the world because of cultural and legal barriers. We assessed global and regional experiences as well as the legal status of third-party reproduction and adoption to serve as a comprehensive international data set and resource for groups that wish to begin oncofertility interventions. METHODS We provide data on the legalities of third-party assisted reproductive technologies and other familybuilding options in the 28 oncofertility-practicing countries surveyed. RESULTS We found regional and country differences that will be important in the development of tailored resources for physicians and for patient brochures that are sensitive to these local restrictions and cultural norms. CONCLUSION Because many patients first consult Web-based materials, the formal assessment of the availability of these options provides members of the global oncofertility community with data to which they might otherwise not have ready access to better serve their patients

SIFT-MS a logical tool for monitoring and evaluating a biofilter performance

This study investigates the SIFT-MS as a new and fast analysis apparatus to determine the biokinetic parameters and the porosity of a biofilter in a short period of time and to obtain more information about mass transfer resistance and reaction limitation which can occur in a bioreactor for dimethylsulfide (DMS), hexane and toluene. The Michaelis-Mentens half saturation parameter, Km = 0.028 ± 0.002 g m-3, and the maximal volumetric elimination rate, rm = 7.23 ± 0.11 g m-3 h-1, were calculated based on measurements at 35, 60 and 90 s EBRT. By using pulse injections, the porosity of the biofilter, 46.7 ± 0.8 %, could be determined online and more information could be collected about mass transfer resistance and reaction limitation. The higher the Henry coefficient, the lower the gas velocities at which mass transfer resistance occurs. The maximal removal of DMS and toluene amounted up to 781 and 73, whereas no removal of hexane was recorded for the biofilter used in this study

NOISE IMPACT REDUCTION IN CLASSIFICATION APPROACH PREDICTING SOCIAL NETWORKS CHECK-IN LOCATIONS

Since August 2010, Facebook has entered the self-reported positioning world by providing the check-in service to its users. This service allows users to share their physical location using the GPS receiver in their mobile devices such as a smart-phone, tablet, or smart-watch. Over the years, big datasets of recorded check-ins have been collected with increasing popularity of social networks. Analyzing the check-in datasets reveals valuable information and patterns in users’ check-in behavior as well as places check-in history. The analysis results can be used in several areas including business planning and financial decisions, for instance providing location-based deals. In this thesis, we leverage novel data mining methodology to learn from big check-in data and predict the next check-in place based on only places’ history and with no reference to individual users. To this end, we study a large Facebook check-in dataset. This dataset has a high level of noise in location coordinates due to multiple collection sources, which are users’ mobile devices. The research question is how we can leverage a noise impact reduction technique to enhance performance of prediction model. We design our own noise handling mechanism to deal with feature noise. The predictive model is generated by Random Forest classification algorithm in a shared-memory parallel environment. We represent how the performance of predictors is enhanced by minimizing noise impacts. The solution is a preprocessing feature noise cleansing approach implemented in R and works fast for big check-in datasets

Comparing knowledge and opinions of medical and dental students in the field of pediatric anesthesia

Background and Purpose: Dental treatment under general anesthesia (GA) is one of the common treatment methods today for dental treatment in children, so dentists' point of view in this field is very important. Therefore, the purpose of this study was evaluation the awareness and attitude of pediatric dentists and final-year dental students about dental treatment for children under GA. Methods: To conduct this study, 150 people, including 75 general dentists (GD) and 75 final-year dental students (FYDS), were randomly selected in Tehran. In this study, a researcher-made questionnaire containing 15 questions (7 awareness questions and 8 attitude questions) was used to evaluate the awareness and attitude of the participants. After extracting the raw results, statistical analysis of the results was done using SPSS-Ver. 22 software. Results: 60% of the participants (90 people) were men and the remaining 40% (60 people) were women. The results showed that the level of awareness of male dentists was significantly higher than that of female dentists (P = 0.015). In addition, although the awareness level of FYDS was lower than GD, this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.130). The average level of awareness among different age groups had a significant difference (P = 0.009), so the age group of 36-45 years compared to the younger age groups (25-35 years) and the older age groups (36-45 and 55 -46 years), had a higher level of awareness. Conclusion: According to the findings, it can be concluded that it is necessary to use appropriate educational methods to improve the level of awareness and attitude of children's dentists

Successful 3D culture and transplantation of mouse isolated preantral follicles in hydrogel of bioengineered Wharton's jelly.

Main objectiveDue to Human Wharton's Jelly (HWJ) could be applied in tissue engineering as a bio scaffold, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of HWJ hydrogel on in vitro culture and auto-transplantation of mouse ovarian follicles.Materials and methodsHWJ was isolated from umbilical cord and decellularized with SDS/Tris/EDTA. DNA, Collagen and Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) were measured. Decellularized Wharton's Jelly (DWJ) was dissolved to make Wharton's Jelly Hydrogel (WJH), and composited with Alginate (ALG) (1.5%) in equal ratio (WJH+ALG). Then, mouse preantral follicles were isolated and encapsulated in 10μL droplets of WJH and randomly considered for both 14 days culture and auto-transplantation.ResultsCollagen, GAGs and DNA evaluations showed majority of WJ cells have been removed and MTT approved no toxicity. Degradation rate and rheological analysis represented optimal hydrogel compatibility. The data from in vitro culture revealed significant antral formation in WJH+ALG (P≤0.05). In transplantation, follicles failed to survive in ALG; however, survived in WJH+ALG to antral stage (PConclusionWharton's jelly hydrogel and Alginate compound is interesting composite for successful development of mouse preantral follicles in both 3D in vitro culture and transplantation