Physicians and complementary and alternative medicine cancer therapies in Greece: a survey.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) cancer therapies and attitudes toward them in a nonrandom sample of physicians in Greece. SUBJECTS: Four hundred and ninety-four (494) physicians from private practices and hospitals in the Athens area were approached to complete a questionnaire on perceived cancer etiology, self-reported knowledge, and attitudes about CAM therapies used by cancer patients. Two hundred and thirty-six (236) (47.8%) questionnaires were returned. RESULTS: Greek physicians are most familiar with homoeopathy (58.5%), diets (58.1%), antioxidants (vitamin C) (55.9%), and acupuncture (47.9%). Perceived rates of patients using CAM are low. Predominantly, physicians shared concepts of carcinogenesis accepted by conventional biomedicine. Only physicians who considered disorders of cellular metabolism or in the flow of body energy to be relevant believed that homoeopathy could be an adequate CAM therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Greek physicians in our sample displayed little interest in CAM. However, media and Internet coverage may generate a greater demand for these methods in the future in Greece and physicians will thus need to be better informed.

Public, expert and patients' opinions on preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in Germany.

The regulation of reproductive medicine technologies differs significantly among Western industrialized countries. In Germany, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is prohibited due to the Embryo Protection Act, which came into force in 1991. In the last 5 years, this prohibition has been vigorously debated. In the present studies, which are part of the German research programme on ethical implications of the Human Genome Project, representative surveys were undertaken to assess the attitudes on PGD in the general population (n = 1017), five relevant expert groups (n = 879), high genetic risk couples (n = 324) and couples undergoing IVF (n = 108). All groups surveyed clearly favoured allowing PGD in Germany. Compared with the results of recently conducted population surveys in the UK and the USA, where PGD is already carried out, public approval of PGD does not differ significantly. The influence of restrictive biopolitics on the apparently liberal public opinion towards new reproductive technology seems to be marginal according to the present data, which should carefully be considered in the ongoing legislation process on human reproduction.

Influence of polarization effects in ooplasma and pronuclei on embryo quality and implantation in an IVF program.

PURPOSE: The presence of a clear half-moon-like zone of cytoplasm in oocytes is called "halo effect." The prognostic value of this effect is not yet determined. Aligned nucleoli in pronuclei (PN) represent a further polarization phenomenon and a marker for implantation potential. Aim of the prospective study was to evaluate the influence of the halo effect on IVF outcome and to compare the results with observed polarization in PN. METHODS: A total of 374 cycles with embryonic transfer were analyzed regarding halo effect and pattern of nucleoli. The oocytes were single-cultured to observe the following embryo quality of each PN stage. RESULTS: Cycles with halo-positive oocytes showed a significant higher pregnancy rate (44.0% vs. 31.1%; p < 0.05). Furthermore, higher pregnancy rates in cycles with polarized nucleoli were observed. Polarized PN resulted in a significant lower fragmentation and higher cleavage rate of embryos. The fragmentation rate was significantly lower in halo+ oocytes, but the cleavage rate was not influenced. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the presence of a polarized zone of human fertilized oocytes can be a useful indicator for good oocyte quality. Since the origin of ooplasmic polarization seems to be a different process compared with the alignment of nucleoli, the observation will give additional predictive information about the implantation potential.