Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E

BACKGROUND: The number of unintentionally childless couples is increasing as more couples seek to conceive for the first time in the third or fourth decade of the woman's life. Determination of ovarian reserve is an essential component of i…

BACKGROUND: Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) are suspected of having relevance to adverse reproductive events. METHODS: This study aims to investigate the potential effect of ANA on IVF/ICSI outcome and the therapeutic role of prednisone plus…

BackgroundWhen stimulating a patient with poor ovarian response for IVF, the maximal dose of gonadotropins injected is often determined by arbitrary standards rather than a measured response. The purpose of this study was to determine if se…

BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) has been reported to be an important regulator of cell migration and invasion through degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in many diseases, such as cancer and endometriosis. Here, we …

BACKGROUND: We sought to evaluate the incidence and clinical impact of luteinizing hormone (LH) rises prior to and during gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist treatment started on day 5 or 6 of ovarian stimulation with recombina…

BACKGROUND: Accidental exposure of oocyte/cumulus complex to endometriotic fluid is not uncommon during oocyte retrieval. Only two studies were available on this subject and they gave conflicting results. In this study, we used a mouse mode…

BACKGROUND: Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is widely used to treat infertility, and its adequate indication is important to obtain good pregnancy rates. To assess which couples could benefit from IUI, this study aimed to evaluate whether s…

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a common disease. The most widely used staging system of endometriosis is the revised American Fertility Society classification (r-AFS classification) which has limited predictive ability for pregnancy after sur…

BACKGROUND: Endometrial cells, which are shed by retrograde menstruation, may aberrantly express molecules involved in invasion and migration, leading to endometriosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of the laminin …

BACKGROUND: Some data suggest that the results of human in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be affected by the site of the uterine cavity where embryos are released. It is not yet clear if there is an optimal range of embryo-fundus distance (E…

Approximately 10 to 15% of couples are impacted by infertility. Recently, the pivotal role that lifestyle factors play in the development of infertility has generated a considerable amount of interest. Lifestyle factors are the modifiable h…

BACKGROUND: The eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis, compared with disease-free individuals, contains certain molecular alterations, including the differential expression of microRNA (miRNA). The aim of the study was to compare …

The female reproductive system (FRS) has a great capacity for regeneration. The existence of somatic stem cells (SSC) that are likely to reside in distinct tissue compartments of the FRS is anticipated. Normal SSC are capable of regeneratin…

BACKGROUND: Women having experienced several consecutive failing IVF cycles constitute a critical and particular subset of patients, for which growing perception of irremediable failure, increasing costs and IVF treatment related risks nece…

BACKGROUND: Infertile women might get pregnant sometime after fertility treatment, but today, there is no prediction model on who will eventually have children. The objective of the present study was to characterize hormone levels in an arb…

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine and metabolic disorder in women. The developmental competence of oocytes and embryos in PCOS patients is reduced to a certain extent (comparing to non-PCOS patients, the hig…

BACKGROUND: Recently, the concept of recurrent implantation failure (RIF) in assisted reproductive technology has been enlarged. Chronic uterine inflammation is a known cause of implantation failure and is associated with high matrix metall…

BACKGROUND: To compare the outcome of IVF cycles in women receiving controlled ovarian stimulation with recFSH or recFSH plus low dose hCG. METHODS: A retrospective case control study, performed at a private practice affiliated with an aca…

BACKGROUND: The objective was to present a new ovarian response prediction index (ORPI), which was based on anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels, antral follicle count (AFC) and age, and to verify whether it could be a reliable predictor of …

BACKGROUND: High circulating luteinizing hormone (LH) level is a typical biochemical feature of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) whose pathophysiology is still unclear. Certain mutations of LH and LH receptor (LHR) may lead to changes in bi…

BACKGROUND: The counselling of poor ovarian responders about the probability of pregnancy remains a puzzle for gynaecologists. The aim of this study was to optimise the management of poor responders by investigating the role of the oocyte-d…

BACKGROUND: Ovarian aging patterns differ between races, and appear to affect fertility treatment outcomes. What causes these differences is, however, unknown. Variations in ovarian aging patterns have recently been associated with specific…

BACKGROUND: One of the unique characteristics of the female genital tract is the extensive tissue remodeling observed throughout the menstrual cycle. Multiple components of the extracellular matrix take part in this tissue rebuilding; howev…

BACKGROUND: Studies suggested that microRNAs influence cellular activities in the uterus including cell differentiation and embryo implantation. In assisted reproduction cycles, luteal phase support, given to improve endometrial characteris…

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to determine the incidence of survivin gene expression in human granulosa cells during ovarian stimulation in Greek women with normal FSH levels, undergoing IVF or ICSI and to discover any correlatio…