The objective of this study was to compare four different doses of oxytocin to determine its minimal effective dose during elective cesarean section. A prospective, double-blind, randomized study was undertaken in 40 healthy term parturients presenting for elective cesarean section under regional anesthesia. Subjects were assigned to one of four groups. Group I received 5 IU, Group II 10 IU, Group III 15 IU, and Group IV 20 IU of oxytocin after clamping of the umbilical cord. Uterine tone was assessed by palpation on a linear analog scale (LAS) of 0 to 10 (0 = completely atonic, 10 = fully contracted) at 5, 10, 15 and 20 min after the start of oxytocin infusion. Estimated blood loss (EBL) and the difference in pre- and postoperative hematocrit (delta Hct) were also recorded. At alpha = 0.05, the study design had a power of 95% to detect a 25% difference in the LAS between the four groups. There were no differences in the uterine tone in the four groups at any of the four intervals. EBL and delta Hct were similar in all four groups. There appears to be no benefit in terms of degree of uterine contraction and amount of blood loss to administering more than 5 IU of intravenous oxytocin to term parturients undergoing elective cesarean section with a neuraxial block.

Sperm washing techniques, based on the swim-up principle used before inseminating the human oocyte in in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer programmes (IVF-ET), usually require prior centrifugation which causes damage to the sperm cell. A technique is described for separating sperm at laboratory temperature based on sperm migration--sedimentation principles, using two concentric tubes and recovering 70-90% forward-moving cells. A group of 17 patients is presented who were managed with this method. The results were 85% fertilization rate, 4% polyspermia and six clinical pregnancies.

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