First Irish delivery following sequential, two-stage embryo and blastocyst transfer.

BACKGROUND: The timing of embryo transfer (ET) after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) remains controversial, and there are no reliable guidelines available to prospectively identify which patients would benefit from either day-3 or blastocyst transfer. While blastocyst transfer is generally favoured over day-3 transfers, very few IVF patients get both in the same treatment cycle. CASE DESCRIPTION: We report on a 35.5-year-old female with tubal factor infertility who underwent IVF, which included transfer of a fresh day-3 embryo and a thawed blastocyst frozen at day 6. Transfer occurred on two separate days (days 3 and 6) in a two-stage/dual catheter fashion and resulted in a healthy term singleton livebirth. CONCLUSIONS: While combined day-3 and day-5 ET has been available elsewhere for several years, this is the first description of its successful application in Ireland and confirms the effectiveness of coordinated two-stage transfer in a single IVF treatment cycle

Squalamine: An Appropriate Strategy against the Emergence of Multidrug Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria?

We reported that squalamine is a membrane-active molecule that targets the membrane integrity as demonstrated by the ATP release and dye entry. In this context, its activity may depend on the membrane lipid composition. This molecule shows a preserved activity against bacterial pathogens presenting a noticeable multi-resistance phenotype against antibiotics such as polymyxin B. In this context and because of its structure, action and its relative insensitivity to efflux resistance mechanisms, we have demonstrated that squalamine appears as an alternate way to combat MDR pathogens and by pass the gap regarding the failure of new active antibacterial molecules

The Effect of Human Factor H on Immunogenicity of Meningococcal Native Outer Membrane Vesicle Vaccines with Over-Expressed Factor H Binding Protein

The binding of human complement inhibitors to vaccine antigens in vivo could diminish their immunogenicity. A meningococcal ligand for the complement down-regulator, factor H (fH), is fH-binding protein (fHbp), which is specific for human fH. Vaccines containing recombinant fHbp or native outer membrane vesicles (NOMV) from mutant strains with over-expressed fHbp are in clinical development. In a previous study in transgenic mice, the presence of human fH impaired the immunogenicity of a recombinant fHbp vaccine. In the present study, we prepared two NOMV vaccines from mutant group B strains with over-expressed wild-type fHbp or an R41S mutant fHbp with no detectable fH binding. In wild-type mice in which mouse fH did not bind to fHbp in either vaccine, the NOMV vaccine with wild-type fHbp elicited 2-fold higher serum IgG anti-fHbp titers (P = 0.001) and 4-fold higher complement-mediated bactericidal titers against a PorA-heterologous strain than the NOMV with the mutant fHbp (P = 0.003). By adsorption, the bactericidal antibodies were shown to be directed at fHbp. In transgenic mice in which human fH bound to the wild-type fHbp but not to the R41S fHbp, the NOMV vaccine with the mutant fHbp elicited 5-fold higher serum IgG anti-fHbp titers (P = 0.002), and 19-fold higher bactericidal titers than the NOMV vaccine with wild-type fHbp (P = 0.001). Thus, in mice that differed only by the presence of human fH, the respective results with the two vaccines were opposite. The enhanced bactericidal activity elicited by the mutant fHbp vaccine in the presence of human fH far outweighed the loss of immunogenicity of the mutant protein in wild-type animals. Engineering fHbp not to bind to its cognate complement inhibitor, therefore, may increase vaccine immunogenicity in humans

The Impact of eHealth on the Quality and Safety of Health Care: A Systematic Overview

Aziz Sheikh and colleagues report the findings of their systematic overview that assessed the impact of eHealth solutions on the quality and safety of health care

Biomedical informatics and translational medicine

Biomedical informatics involves a core set of methodologies that can provide a foundation for crossing the "translational barriers" associated with translational medicine. To this end, the fundamental aspects of biomedical informatics (e.g., bioinformatics, imaging informatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics) may be essential in helping improve the ability to bring basic research findings to the bedside, evaluate the efficacy of interventions across communities, and enable the assessment of the eventual impact of translational medicine innovations on health policies. Here, a brief description is provided for a selection of key biomedical informatics topics (Decision Support, Natural Language Processing, Standards, Information Retrieval, and Electronic Health Records) and their relevance to translational medicine. Based on contributions and advancements in each of these topic areas, the article proposes that biomedical informatics practitioners ("biomedical informaticians") can be essential members of translational medicine teams

Antibodies to polysialic acid and its N -propyl derivative: Binding properties and interaction with human embroyonal brain glycopeptides: J.Infect.Dis.

NRC publication: Ye

An analysis of electronic document management in oncology care

In this research in progress, a reference model for the use of electronic patient record (EPR) systems in oncology is described. The model, termed CICERO, comprises technical and functional components, and emphasises usability, clinical safety and user acceptance. One of the functional components of the model—an electronic document and records management (EDRM) system—is monitored in the course of its deployment at a leading oncology centre in the UK. Specifically, the user requirements and design of the EDRM solution are described.The study is interpretative and forms part a wider research programme to define and validate the CICERO model. Preliminary conclusions confirm the importance of a socio-technical perspective in Onco-EPR system design