Search

Objectives To report the short- and medium-term complications of laparoscopic laser excisional surgery for rectovaginal endometriosis. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting University teaching hospital, UK. Population A total of 128 women with histologically confirmed rectovaginal endometriosis who underwent laparoscopic laser surgery between May 1999 and September 2006. Methods Women were identified from operative database, and a case note review was performed. Data for surgical outcome and surgical complications were collected. Main outcome measures Rates of urinary tract and colorectal complications. Results A total of 128 women underwent surgery. Of these, 32 required intraoperative closure of a rectal wall defect, including 3 segmental rectosigmoid resections. There were three rectovaginal fistulae and one ureterovaginal fistula. Ureteric damage occurred in two women, and five women suffered postoperative urinary retention. The risk of intraoperative bowel intervention was increased in women who complained of cyclical rectal bleeding. Conclusion Laparoscopic laser excision of rectovaginal endometriosis is a safe procedure with similar, if not lower, complication rates to other published surgical series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a contribution to the international efforts toward the development of an integrated technology (IT) for managing project information, a major research project has been undertaken at the University of Salford. Based on advances in international standards in data models, i.e., the Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs), and communication protocols, i.e., the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), this project has successfully developed and implemented a three-tier computer architecture environment to integrated design and construction applications. The IFC data model has been implemented as the single project database in an open and distributed computer environment whereby the World Wide Web has been used as the delivery medium. This article explains the background of this project, outlines other international efforts in this field, introduces the concept of the three-tier computer architecture, and discusses the proposed structure for the integrated environment along with its implementation issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response by A. Slack, T. Child, I. Lindsay and et. al to a letter to the editor about their article "Urological and colorectal complications following surgery for rectovaginal endometriosis" is presented.

The use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) has revolutionized the treatment of infertility and is now responsible for 1-5% of all births in industrialized countries. During IVF, it is typical for patients to generate multiple embryos. However, only a small proportion of them possess the genetic and metabolic requirements needed in order to produce a healthy pregnancy. The identification of the embryo with the greatest developmental capacity represents a major challenge for fertility clinics. Current methods for the assessment of embryo competence are proven inefficient, and the inadvertent transfer of non-viable embryos is the principal reason why most IVF treatments (approximately two-thirds) end in failure. In this study, we investigate how the application of proteomic measurements could improve success rates in clinical embryology. We describe a procedure that allows the identification and quantification of proteins of embryonic origin, present in attomole concentrations in the blastocoel, the enclosed fluid-filled cavity that forms within 5-day-old human embryos. By using targeted proteomics, we demonstrate the feasibility of quantifying multiple proteins in samples derived from single blastocoels and that such measurements correlate with aspects of embryo viability, such as chromosomal (ploidy) status. This study illustrates the potential of high-sensitivity proteomics to measure clinically relevant biomarkers in minute samples and, more specifically, suggests that key aspects of embryo competence could be measured using a proteomic-based strategy, with negligible risk of harm to the living embryo. Our work paves the way for the development of "next-generation" embryo competence assessment strategies, based on functional proteomics., (© 2015 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.)