Directional freezing permits a precise and uniform cooling rate in both small and large volume samples. Directional freezing was used for slow and rapid freezing, as well as for vitrification of oocytes and embryos using the minimum drop size technique. Sperm samples from a wide range

of domestic and wild animals check details were successfully cryopreserved using the directional freezing method. The method enabled, for the first time, successful freezing of a whole ovary and freeze-drying of mammalian cells followed by thawing and transplantation and rehydration, respectively.”
“Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a measure of peripheral vascular disease (PVD), low values of which are associated with CVD.

Objectives: Objectives were to identify the prevalence of PVD in SLE, to identify risk factors associated with PVD in SLE, and to determine whether SLE is an independent risk factor for PVD as assessed by ABI.

Methods: In a cross-sectional analysis of SLE subjects and control subjects, free of known CVD, SLE-related variables and cardiovascular risk factors were measured. Peripheral Idasanutlin concentration vascular disease was assessed using ABI. The prevalence of PVD (ABI <= 1.0) and comparisons

of mean ABI, between SLE and control subjects, were examined. Systemic lupus erythematosus was examined as an independent risk for PVD in the cohort using propensity score matching. Logistic regression

was performed to identify independent risk factors for PVD in SLE.

Results: Ankle-brachial index was lower in the 134 SLE subjects compared with 77 control subjects: 1.05 versus 1.09 (P = 0.003), and the prevalence of PVD was higher in SLE than in control subjects (33% vs 20%; P = 0.037). Systemic lupus erythematosus was not an independent risk for PVD. In the SLE subjects, the only significant risk factor for PVD was smoking.

Conclusions: Ankle-brachial index, a marker of subclinical CVD, is an inexpensive and easy method in which to assess PVD. There was a 33% prevalence of PVD in SLE, which was independently associated with smoking. As PVD is a coronary artery disease risk equivalent, screening and diagnosis may change lipid management in preventive this website cardiovascular risk assessment in patients with SLE. The combination of SLE and a smoking history may identify individuals for whom checking an ABI makes particular sense.”
“Objective. To examine whether short-term postnatal health-related quality of life differed among women after different methods of cesarean sections.

Methods. One hundred forty-five women were evaluated with previous CS (85 by Misgav Ladach and 60 by Pfannenstiel-Dorffler). Short-time quality of life was measured using the Croatian version of Short Form Health Survey (SF 36). Short-term postoperative recovery was assessed using two criteria: febrile morbidity and degree of pain.