Outcome of vaginal sildinafil in assisted reproductive technology cycles

Background: The present study assessed the role of sildenafil in endometrial blood flow and successful pregnancy in IVF done in surrogate mothers.Methods: In the present study surrogate mothers were included. Thirty patients were randomized to receive sildenafil 25 mg thrice a day vaginally in addition to standard drugs and technique and another 30 were not given sildenafil.Results: Mean age, anthropometry, duration of infertility and pre-treatment endometrial thickness was similar in the two study groups.  After treatment completion, it was observed that the endometrial pattern in ultrasound was similar in the two study groups (p value=0.58). Heterogenic endometrial pattern was observed in 6.7% of the Sildenafil patients and 3.3% in the control patients, while echogenic pattern was seen in 10% of the sildenafil patients and 6.7% of the control patients. Similarly, endometrial thickness was 10.2±1.7 and 9.7±1.8 mm in sildenafil and control group respectively, p value=0.62. Using doppler ultrasound, uterine artery PI was significantly lower in Sildenafil group patients as compared to control group patients. Similarly, we found uterine artery RI was also significantly lower in the Sildenafil group patients as compared to control group patients. We followed the patients and found that clinical pregnancy rate was significantly higher among Sildenafil group (60%) as compared to control group (26.6%), p value<0.05.Conclusions: Vaginal sildenafil resulted in significantly higher pregnancy rates in our study population. The uterine artery PI and RI were significantly lower in patients taking sildenafil

Correlation of mature mean follicle on transvaginal ultrasound and serum estradiol levels on day of trigger injection of ovulation in ovarian stimulation cycle of in vitro fertilization with retrieved oocytes

Background: Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation aims to obtain mature follicles. The present study was conducted to assess the correlation of mature follicle in transvaginal ultrasound scanning (TVS) and serum estradiol levels on day of trigger injection in ovarian stimulation cycle for IVF with the oocyte yield.Methods: In this prospective study, we evaluated oocyte donor 19 to 45 years of age who underwent oocyte retrieval at our clinic. Outcome variables like number of mature follicles visualized on TVS on the last day of stimulation was noted for all patients. On the same day, serum estradiol levels and number of mature follicles seen on TVS were noted and correlated with the number of oocytes retrieved. Ultrasound guided transvaginal oocyte retrieval was performed and total number of oocytes were noted.Results: During the study period, 20 oocytes donors were included. Mean age of the patients was 27.9±4.7 years. Mean BMI was 26.8±2.3 kg/m2. Mean FSH level was 6.89±1.79 IU/L and mean antral follicle count on day 3 was 14.06±3.56. On the day of trigger, mean mature follicle count seen on TVS was 20.4±13.8, ranging from 8 to 50. On an average, 17.2 oocytes were retrieved. On the day of trigger, mean estradiol level was 4970±203, ranging from 500 to 15,665 pg/ml. It was observed that the number of retrieved oocytes correlated significantly with the serum estradiol levels, (Pearson’s coefficient 0.94, p value<0.001) and number of mature follicles seen on TVS ((Pearson’s coefficient 0.92, p value<0.001).Conclusions: Number of retrieved oocytes correlated significantly with the serum estradiol levels and number of mature follicles seen on TVS on the day of trigger

Hysteroscopic salpingosonography: a novel technique for infertile patients

Background: Infertility is akin to curse in our country. Patients of infertility run from pillar to post to get relief. Government Hospitals in India lie at the tail end of window-shopping of infertility centres by the patients having exhausted all their resources. Patients report without any detailed records, lost reports, coming after long hiatus of having stopped treatment in desperation, making one wonder how to proceed. At the other end are patients who have undergone laparotomy for various reasons like intestinal obstruction, tubercular abdomen, adnexal masses and their tubal status is not very clear on HSG. So, repeat laparoscopy in the former group and performing ab initio in the latter, involves putting the patients to the risk of general anesthesia, injury to internal organs due to anticipated adhesions. Although Hassan’s technique of open trocar entry is well accepted the first port entry, whatever be the mode, is an entry open to risks.Methods: In a selected group of infertile women, a baseline TVS was done on 2/3 day of menses and on the 7/8 day of menstrual cycle hysteroscopy was done which was immediately followed by another transvaginal ultrasound. The descriptive statistics is presented in the form of percentages and appropriate graphs.Results: Among the 54 patients who underwent this procedure, 65% had normal uterine cavity. 18% were referred for IVF. 9.2% conceived post procedure.Conclusions: Successive use of transvaginal ultrasound after hysteroscopy i.e Hysteroscopic sonosalpingography is a useful procedure in a select group of infertile patients. 

DIFFERENCE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF MOXIFLOXACIN AND CEFIXIME TRIHYDRATE IN BULK AND COMBINED DOSAGE FORM

Objective: To develop rapid, accurate, reproducible, validated and economical difference spectroscopy method for the simultaneous determination of moxifloxacin (MFN) and cefixime (CEF) in tablet dosage forms.Methods: The method comprised the measurement of the absorbance of a solution of the tablet extract in 0.1 M NaOH relative to that of an equimolar solution in 0.1 M HC1 at 254 nm for MFN and 292 nm for CEF. The presence of identical isosbestic points for pure drug solutions and tablet extracts indicated the non-interference of excipients in the absorption at these wavelengths.Results: The method was found to be linear over the concentration range of 10-50 μg/ml for CEF and 4-20 μg/ml for MFN. Accuracy was found to be in the range of 99.91-101.18%. Relative standard deviation for precision and intermediate precision was found to be less than 2%. The developed method was successfully applied for the simultaneous estimation of Moxifloxacin and Cefixime in tablet formulation. The results obtained from the validation experiments prove that the developed method is suitable for routine analysis.Conclusion: This method is simple, selective, linear, precise, and accurate and sensitive hence can be successfully employed for the routine quality control of dosage forms containing both the drugs in pharmaceutical industries.Â

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF NOVEL SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHODS FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF PIOGLITAZONE AND METFORMIN IN BULK AND FIXED DOSAGE FORMS BY AREA UNDER CURVE AND DUAL WAVELENGTH MODE

Objective: Two simple, accurate and reproducible spectrophotometric methods have been developed and validated for simultaneous estimation of metformin (MET) and pioglitazone (PIO) in bulk and tablet dosage forms. Methods: (1) Area under curve method (Area calculation): The proposed area under the curve method involves measurement of area at selected wavelength ranges. Two wavelength ranges were selected 228-238 nm and 265-275 nm for estimation of MET and PIO respectively. (2) Dual wavelength method: In the dual-wavelength method, two wavelengths were selected for each drug in a way so that the difference in absorbance is zero for another drug. PIO shows equal absorbance at 235 and 266 nm, where the difference in absorbance was measured for determination of MET. Similarly, the difference in absorbance at 216 and 241.5 nm was measured for determination of MET. Results: Linearity range for MET and PIO is 2-10 μg/ml and 10-50 μg/ml at respective selected wavelengths. Accuracy and precision studies were carried out, and results were satisfactory. The proposed methods have been validated as per ICH guidelines and successfully applied to the estimation of MET and PIO in their combined tablet dosage form. Conclusion: The developed methods are simple, precise, rugged and economical. The utility of the methods has been demonstrated by analysis of commercially available formulations. Keywords: Metformin, Pioglitazone, Area under curve method, Dual wavelength metho

Micropillar Compression Study on the Deformation Behavior of Electrodeposited Ni–Mo Films

The influence of Mo addition on the compression behavior of Ni films was studied by micropillar deformation tests. Thus, films with low (0.4 at.%) and high (5.3 at.%) Mo contents were processed by electrodeposition and tested by micropillar compression up to the plastic strain of about 0.26. The microstructures of the films before and after compression were studied by transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the as-deposited sample with high Mo concentration has a much lower grain size (~26 nm) than that for the layer with low Mo content (~240 nm). In addition, the density of lattice defects such as dislocations and twin faults was considerably higher for the specimen containing a larger amount of Mo. These differences resulted in a four-times higher yield strength for the latter sample. The Ni film with low Mo concentration showed a normal strain hardening while the sample having high Mo content exhibited a continuous softening after a short hardening period. The strain softening was attributed to detwinning during deformation