Doctors love conventions. They have them in exotic places and they frequently use them to defend what would otherwise be inexplicable calculations. Thus 38 weeks of true gestation is, of course, 40 weeks of amenorrhoea, which may also be viewed as 38–40 weeks of pregnancy if timing is based on a “conventional” menstrual cycle. Even if this leaves the outside world to wonder, the clinicians understand. Many of the proponents of such ambiguity have moved away from obstetrics into reproductive medicine but have carried with …
ART outcome reporting, IVF results presentation, pregnancy rate per cycle, live birth rate reporting, cumulative pregnancy rate, assisted reproduction statistics, clinical pregnancy definition, embryo transfer success rates, reporting standards fertility treatment, outcome denominator ART
PMID 10530397 10530397 DOI 10.1023/a:1020590614263 10.1023/a:1020590614263
Cite this article
Driscoll, G. L., & Tyler, J. P. (1999). What is the best strategy for presenting ART results? A controversial comment. Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics, 16(9), 463-467. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1020590614263
Driscoll GL, Tyler JP. What is the best strategy for presenting ART results? A controversial comment. J Assist Reprod Genet. 1999;16(9):463-467. doi:10.1023/a:1020590614263
Driscoll, G. L., and J. P. Tyler. "What is the best strategy for presenting ART results? A controversial comment." Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics, vol. 16, no. 9, 1999, pp. 463-467.
Keywords
Benchmarking, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Embryo Transfer, Female, Fertilization in Vitro, Humans, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Outcome, Pregnancy Rate
The number of sperm that reaches the oocytes in mammalian species is limited. In mice, 8-10 oocytes are ovulated, a similar number of sperm reaches the oocytes, and nearly all oocytes are fertilized via natural mating. Meanwhile, our improved superovulation technique (ultrasuperovulation: administration of inhibin antiserum and equine chorionic gonadotropin [IASe]) produced 100 oocytes from a single female C57BL/6 mouse but resulted in only approximately 20 fertilized oocytes via mating. We hypothesized that sperm shortage in the ampulla might cause this low fertilization rate. Mice were mated in the proestrus stage or after hormone injection, but ovulation timing was not considered. In clinical application, the rhythm method supports fertilization by testing the ovulation period and synchronizing the ovulation and copulation timings. Therefore, this study examined the effects of ovulation and copulation timings on in vivo fertilization in female mice with IASe. Synchronization of the ovulation and copulation timings increased fertilization efficiency in female mice with ultrasuperovulation. The number of embryos obtained post ovulation was three times higher than that obtained pre ovulation. This study suggests that synchronized ovulation and copulation timings improve the efficiency of in vivo fertilization in IASe-treated female mice. This technique can be used to produce genetically modified mice and develop technologies for infertility treatment.
With the increasing offer of fertility treatment by a largely privatised sector, which has involved the proliferation of treatment add-ons lacking evidence of effectiveness, In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) patients are expected to make informed choices on what to include in their treatment. Drawing on interviews with 51 individuals undergoing fertility treatment, this article explores patients' approaches to medical evidence interpretation and its role in their decisions to include add-ons. While most IVF patients share understandings of what counts as medical evidence, our findings show how their approaches also differ. Our analysis focuses on how patients negotiate the notion of medical evidence and its relation to other forms of experience or knowledge. We present four different (1) delegating evaluations of evidence to experts; (2) critically assessing available evidence; (3) acknowledging the process of making evidence; and (4) contextualising evidence in their lived experience of infertility. We suggest that patients' choice to include add-ons is not due to a lack of information on or understanding of evidence, but rather should be interpreted as part of the complexity of patients' experiences of infertility.
Body LiteracyEthics/PhilosophyResearch Methodology
Open Access
To assess whether editorial desk rejection at general medical journals (without peer review) of two clinical research manuscripts may relate to author gender or women's physiology topics. Given evidence for bias related to women in science and medicine, and editorial board attitudes, our hypothesis was that submissions by women authors, on women's reproductive, non-disease topics received differential editorial assessment.
A prospective investigation of publications, author gender and topics in general medical journals in two issues following the editorial rejections of two clinical research manuscripts by five major English-language general medical journals. The rejected manuscripts (subsequently published in lower impact journals) described research funded by national granting bodies, in population-based samples, authored by well-published women scientists at accredited institutions and describing innovative women's reproductive physiology results.
Tertiary academic medical centre. All clinical research published in the two issues following rejection date by each of the five major general medical journals were examined for first/senior author gender. The publication topic was assessed for its gendered population relevance, whether disease or physiology focused, and its funding. Rejection letters assessed editor gender and status. Women were underrepresented as original research authors; men were 84% of senior and 69% of first authors. There were no, non-disease focused publications relating to women's health, although most topics were relevant to both genders. The majority (80%) of rejection letters appeared to be written by junior-ranked women editors. Sex/gender accountability is necessary for clinical research-based editorial decisions by major general medical journals. Suggestions to improve gender equity in general (1) an editorial board sex/gender champion with power to advocate for manuscripts that are well-performed research of relevance to women's health/physiology; (2) an editorial rejection adjudication committee to review author challenges; and (3) gender parity in double-blind peer review.
Infertility affects \~20% of the couples in the world. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) are currently the most common treatment option for infertility. Nevertheless, ARTs may be associated with complications for mothers and/or offspring. Natural procreative technology (NaProTechnology) is a natural treatment which minimizes these risks by seeking to identify the causes of infertility to enable better treatments. This narrative review summarizes the complications related to ARTs and clarifies how the NaProTechnology approach can help ARTs to achieve better results or be used in alternative to ARTs. Data in the literature indicate that NaProTechnology is a natural approach for treating infertility. The percentage of live births obtained by NaProTechnology is similar to that of ARTs. An extensive search for the genetic defects causing infertility or subfertility through genetic testing can help both ARTs and NaProTechnology to achieve successful pregnancies. By discovering the underlying causes of infertility, genetic tests enable better family counseling, like the implications of transmitting risk- and disease-alleles to future generations.