Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 17, Issue 4, 2016

The Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) was born in order to help couples with infertility issues in having a baby. The first treatments of IVF used the spontaneous cycle of the women, with the retrieval of only one oocyte. Further studies have shown that it is possible to induce ovulation by administrating gonadotropins during the menstrual cycle, in order to obtain a higher number of oocytes. Many stimulation protocols Read More

Cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) is a multifaceted phenomenon. It may involve both the movement of patients to undertake assisted reproductive treatment through technologies otherwise denied and the movement of assisted reproduction professionals, egg and sperm donors and surrogates, as well as the importing and exporting of gametes. The reasons for CBRC vary between countries. In this global landsca Read More

The bioethical and juridical debate on the status of frozen embryos sometimes adds new issues arising from new scientific evidence or by accidental occurrences that bring to the attention of the scientific community the need for new practical solutions. Within this scenario, there have been, in recent years, episodes concerning the accidental thawing of embryos, which have been cryopreserved for transfer. Two Italian Read More

A woman, after undergoing fertility treatment in hospital in Rome, became pregnant but three months later she was informed that she was carrying he twins of another couple. The error had gone unnoticed until the mother had a genetic test revealing that neither she nor her husband were the genetic parents. In December 2013 an embryo exchange took place, because embryos belonging to one couple, who had und Read More

Background: Pregnancy in advanced reproductive age is nowadays part of the social and welfare scenario. The effects and assessment of the risks and complications in women over the age of 43 must still be more specifically defined. The aim of this study is to compare the outcomes between spontaneous pregnancies with those induced by assisted reproductive technology (ART) in women ≥ 43 years. Methods: This retrospecti Read More

The past several decades have seen tremendous advances in the field of medical genetics. Currently, the application of genetic testing on human embryos determines if embryos harbor a lethal condition or a serious genetic disease. The purpose of this sort of testing is not to “improve” the offspring of a couple. Rather, current testing strategies focus on helping couples to have a healthy family in an efficient manner. Newly e Read More

A recent decision of the Italian Constitutional Court has legitimized for the first time heterologous artificial insemination. On April 9th, 2014 the “Consulta” declared unconstitutional the sections of law n. 40 of 19 February 2004 (Judgment n. 162/2014), which prohibited heterologous fertilization: a) section 4 paragraph 3 “It is forbidden the use of techniques of medically assisted procreation of the heterologous type”; Read More

The usefulness of selective inhibitors of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) is well known, first for the treatment of male erectile dysfunction and more recently for pulmonary hypertension. The discovery that PDE5 is present in the systemic artery endothelium and smooth muscle cells led investigators to test the extra sexual effects of sildenafil, the first and most investigated PDE5 inhibitor, in diseases affecting the systemi Read More

Candida species are some of the most common causes of fungal infection worldwide. The limited efficacy of clinically available antifungals warrants the search for new compounds for treating candidiasis. This study evaluated the effect of condensed tannin-rich fraction (F2 fraction) of Stryphnodendron adstringens on in vitro and in vivo growth of Candida tropicalis, and on yeast adhesion properties. F2 exhibited a fungi Read More

Insulin replacement therapy is essential in type 1 diabetic individuals and is required in ~40- 50% of type 2 diabetics during their lifetime. Prior attempts at beta cell regeneration have relied upon pancreatic injury to induce beta cell proliferation, dedifferentiation and activation of the embryonic pathway, or stem cell replacement. We report an alternative method to transform adult non-stem (somatic) cells into pancre Read More

Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) are a great problem in hospitals, where thousands of people are infected daily, with the occurrence of high mortality rates, especially in infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (KPC-producing Kpn). The challenge is to find new compounds that can control KPC producing-Kpn infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibiotic a Read More