Performing the ERA test in a mock cycle prior to a FET does not seem to improve the ongoing pregnancy rate in good prognosis patients. Further large prospective studies are needed to elucidate the role of ERA testing in both good prognosis patients and in patients with recurrent implantation failure.

No abstract

The development of ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is a promising approach to restore the required bone marrow function of patients with hematological disorders. Previously, we have reported the development of an optimized serum-free and cytokines-limited defined medium using statistic methodology for umbilical cord blood-derived HSC expansion. The aim of this study was to analyze further the characteristics and functions of cells in vitro and in vivo when cultured in this defined medium. After a 7-day batch culture, the average absolute fold expansions for CD133(+) cells, CD34(+)CD133(+) cells, CD34(+)CD38() cells, CD133(+)CD38(-) cells, CD34(+)CXCR4(+) cells, CD133(+)CXCR4(+) cells, and long-term culture-initiating cells were 21-, 20-, 723-, 618-, 160-, 384-, and 8-fold, respectively. The high enrichment of CD38(-) cells and CXCR4(+) cells of the CD34(+) subpopulation provided a very early uncommitted HSC proliferation and homing ability. Furthermore, the expanded cells showed a high level of telomerase activity to maintain their telomere length and repopulated the lethally irradiated NOD/SCID mice in vivo. These results indicated that the cytokines limited expanded cells from CD133(+) cells could substantially support simultaneous expansion of various stem/progenitor cells and engraft with the expanded cells from a low number of HSCs initially.

No abstract

The field of assisted reproductive technology is rapidly progressing with many new advances in the last decade. The present review discusses methods to improve oocyte quality in older women and new stimulation protocols that may improve the number of mature oocytes retrieved during an in vitro fertilization cycle. We will discuss the present use of pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) and finally focus on some new methods to determine endometrial receptivity. The focus of this review is to point out areas of technology that may be controversial or are new enough to require proper controlled studies for validation.