Editor's Choice
vansteirteghema{at}humanreproduction.co.uk
As mentioned in my last Editorial (March, 2008), it is my intention to provide the readers of Human Reproduction with a personal selection of relevant and interesting articles appearing in each issue of the journal. For the sake of all authors and readers, I must first stress that I consider all papers that reach the publication stage of this journal to be of high quality and importance—indeed our reviewing process and acceptance rates attest to this. The papers selected are those that I find particularly interesting, and I hope perhaps you will too.
Fertility preservation in cancer patients by cryostorage of ovarian tissue has become part of clinical practice. There is, however, a risk that cancer cells are present in the stored tissue and that the cancer could recur after transplantation. Meirow et al. report in a series of haematological cancers that safety can be enhanced by pre-operative imaging for cancer detection and by evaluation of minimal residual disease using sensitive cancer markers (p 1007).
The presence of reactive oxygen species in sperm are known to impair fertilization. Chi et al. demonstrate that when the antioxidants EDTA or catalase are added to sperm-washing medium, the overall functional sperm parameters are improved. The influence on the outcome of assisted reproductive technology will require further assessment (p 1023).
Sherwin et al. examine whether endometriosis can be diagnosed by means other than laparascopy. Global gene analysis by microarray in late secretory endometrium failed to reveal differences between patients with and without endometriosis, precluding its use as a minimally invasive test for endometriosis. Such searches may be extended to other timings in the endometrial cycle (p 1063).
Two articles report on treatment procedures which may have an influence on outcome. Drakeley et al. concluded from a large randomized controlled trial (RCT) that ultrasound-guided embryo transfer did not improve delivery rates, which is in contrast with published meta-analyses (p 1101). Hammadieh et al. report results from a small RCT examining whether ultrasound-guided hydrosalpinx fluid aspiration at the time of oocyte retrieval improves initial pregnancy rates. More relevant outcome parameters such as delivery rates are needed to reach a conclusion that may influence clinical practice (p 1113).
Jones et al. compared, using whole genome analysis and data mining, in vitro matured and in vivo matured oocytes. A large number of genes involved in basic cellular processes are overexpressed in in vitro matured oocytes. These results may provide an insight into why in vitro matured oocytes have developmental incompetence (p 1138).
Finally, two ‘reproductive genetics’ articles indicate that this area is still very much in its infancy. Goodarzi et al. report that three single-nucleotide polymorphisms from a gene involved in androgen and insulin pathways (SGTA gene) may be considered as candidate genes for polycystic ovary syndrome (p 1214). Stouffs et al. examined whether a systematic search for partial deletions in the AZFc region (gr/gr deletions) is indicated in male infertility. These deletions were found to be present in infertile and control patients with similar frequency (p 1193).
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Related articles in Hum. Reprod.:
- Searching for evidence of disease and malignant cell contamination in ovarian tissue stored from hematologic cancer patients
- Dror Meirow, Izhar Hardan, Jehoshua Dor, Eduard Fridman, Shai Elizur, Hila Ra'anani, Elena Slyusarevsky, Ninette Amariglio, Eyal Schiff, Gideon Rechavi, Arnon Nagler, and Dina Ben Yehuda
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1007-1013.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Protective effect of antioxidant supplementation in sperm-preparation medium against oxidative stress in human spermatozoa
- H.J. Chi, J.H. Kim, C.S. Ryu, J.Y. Lee, J.S. Park, D.Y. Chung, S.Y. Choi, M.H. Kim, E.K. Chun, and S.I. Roh
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1023-1028.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Global gene analysis of late secretory phase, eutopic endometrium does not provide the basis for a minimally invasive test of endometriosis
- J.R.A. Sherwin, A.M. Sharkey, A. Mihalyi, P. Simsa, R.D. Catalano, and T.M. D'Hooghe
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1063-1068.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - A randomized controlled clinical trial of 2295 ultrasound-guided embryo transfers
- Andrew J. Drakeley, Andrea Jorgensen, John Sklavounos, Thomas Aust, Rafet Gazvani, Paula Williamson, and Charles R. Kingsland
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1101-1106.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Ultrasound-guided hydrosalpinx aspiration during oocyte collection improves pregnancy outcome in IVF: a randomized controlled trial
- Nahed Hammadieh, Arri Coomarasamy, Bolarinde Ola, Spyros Papaioannou, Masoud Afnan, and Khaldoun Sharif
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1113-1117.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Gene expression profiling of human oocytes following in vivo or in vitro maturation
- Gayle M. Jones, David S. Cram, Bi Song, M. Cristina Magli, Luca Gianaroli, Orly Lacham-Kaplan, Jock K. Findlay, Graham Jenkin, and Alan O. Trounson
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1138-1144.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Do we need to search for gr/gr deletions in infertile men in a clinical setting?
- Katrien Stouffs, Herman Tournaye, Josiane Van der Elst, Patrick Haentjens, Inge Liebaers, and Willy Lissens
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1193-1199.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Small glutamine-rich tetratricopeptide repeat-containing protein alpha (SGTA), a candidate gene for polycystic ovary syndrome
- M.O. Goodarzi, N. Xu, J. Cui, X. Guo, Y.I. Chen, and R. Azziz
Hum. Reprod. 2008 23: 1214-1219.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text]
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