Assessing the use of minimally invasive self-sampling at home for long-term monitoring of the microbiota within UK families.

Monitoring the presence of commensal and pathogenic respiratory microorganisms is of critical global importance. However, community-based surveillance is difficult because nasopharyngeal swabs are uncomfortable and painful for a wide age range of participants. We designed a methodology for minimally invasive self-sampling at home and assessed its use for longitudinal monitoring of the oral, nasal and hand microbiota of adults and children within families. Healthy families with two adults and up to three children, living in and near Liverpool, United Kingdom, self-collected saliva, nasal lining fluid using synthetic absorptive matrices and hand swabs at home every two weeks for six months. Questionnaires were used to collect demographic and epidemiological data and assess feasibility and acceptability. Participants were invited to take part in an exit interview. Thirty-three families completed the study. Sampling using our approach was acceptable to 25/33 (76%) families, as sampling was fast (76%), easy (76%) and painless (60%). Saliva and hand sampling was acceptable to all participants of any age, whereas nasal sampling was accepted mostly by adults and children older than 5 years. Multi-niche self-sampling at home can be used by adults and children for longitudinal surveillance of respiratory microorganisms, providing key data for design of future studies.

Ultrasound-assisted reaction of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl bromide with potassium salt of curcumin under PTC conditions.

Reaction of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl bromide with potassium salt of curcumin [bis-1,7-(3'-methoxy-4'-hydroxy)phenyl-5-hydroxy-1,4,6-heptatrien-3-one] under either thermal or high pressure conditions affect the labile substrate, curcumin, thus resulting in drastic reduction in the yields of the glucosides. This drawback could be effectively overcome by carrying out the biphasic reaction in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst under the effect of ultrasound. The reaction under the sonochemical conditions was faster and resulted in the increased yield of the glucoside products. The reaction was investigated in detail with a view to optimizing the yield of the glucosides. The detailed study clearly indicated the important role of the nature and quantity of the phase transfer catalyst employed in the reaction. Also, the selectivity with respect to the formation of mono- or di-beta-glucosides under both mono- and biphasic reaction conditions was clearly discernable. The study establishes a simple synthetic protocol for the glucoside derivatives of curcumin in high yields and selectivity using ultrasonic waves.

Comparison of pregnancy outcome of pronuclear- and multicellular-stage frozen-thawed embryo transfers.

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to determine if supernumerary embryos generated by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) should be frozen (using 1,2-propanediol) at the pronuclear or multicellular stage. METHODS: The study was a retrospective analysis conducted at the Dubai Gynaecology & Fertility Centre of the Department of Health & Medical Services, Dubai, U.A.E. One hundred forty-one women undergoing frozen-thawed embryo replacement cycles with IVF generated embryos and 84 women undergoing the same with ICSI generated embryos. RESULTS: Supernumerary, IVF-generated embryos frozen at the multicellular stage had a significantly higher rate of survival on thawing (73.9%) than embryos frozen at the pronuclear stage (64.4%). The morphological grades of the embryos in the two groups were similar, but a significantly higher pregnancy rate was obtained with embryos frozen at the multicellular stage (22.8%) than with pronuclear-stage embryos (14.8%). Similarly, with ICSI-generated embryos, significantly higher survival was seen with multicellular-stage frozen embryos (74.8%) than pronuclear-stage embryos (64.4%). The morphological grades of the embryos and pregnancy outcomes of the two groups were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Supernumerary embryos generated by IVF and ICSI should be frozen at the multicellular stage so as to allow selection of the best embryos for transfer and embryo freezing of only robust embryos.