Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Bernard M Y Cheung
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Keynote: Impact of the latest guidelines on the management of hypertension
Time : 09:30-10:15
Biography:
Abstract:
The latest American guidelines (ACC/AHA) on the prevention, detection, evaluation and management of high blood pressure marked a paradigm shift in the management of hypertension. The new definition of hypertension includes a systolic blood pressure of 130-139 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure of 80-89 mmHg. What used to be regarded as prehypertension is now included in the definition of hypertension. This makes a sizeable proportion of the general population hypertensive. In USA, 45.6% of the adult population is deemed to be hypertensive. This is fine in a society in which a disease label entitles people to be reimbursed for medical treatment, but for less developed countries, this poses a challenge. Nevertheless, tackling hypertension at an earlier stage is cheaper than treating the complications of hypertension. Americans with stage-1 hypertension are mostly overweight without cardiovascular complications yet. Stage-1 hypertension can therefore be managed initially by changing lifestyle. For those with a certain level of cardiovascular risk (e.g. 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk of 10% or higher), drug treatment should be considered. Fortunately, stage-1 hypertension is relatively easy to control. Our network meta-analysis of clinical trials suggested that the ACC/AHA target of <130/80 mmHg is associated with reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events.
Keynote Forum
Yona Barak
Dr Yona Barak Laboratories LTD, Israel
Keynote: Intra-cytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection: A tool for selecting the best sperm in real time for the proper patient
Time : 10:15-11:00
Biography:
Abstract:
Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) in humans was first introduced in 1992. ICSI enabled to achieve fertilization, embryo development and pregnancies. It seemed that the importance of routine parameters of sperm morphology decreased in the field of assisted reproduction. However, one of the main concerns in ICSI is the aspiration of good-quality spermatozoa for microinjection into an oocyte. Practically, the injected spermatozoa are randomly chosen and their selection is based on rough morphologic aspects and motility. Sperm morphology is the only criteria for sperm aspiration during ICSI. Routine sperm criteria are based on the raw ejaculate stained sperm cells. Thus, it is important to score and aspirate a good quality motile spermatozoon, which will contribute to the quality of the developing embryo after ICSI, in real time of the procedure. In ICSI, assessment of sperm morphology is limited due to the low magnification (200 X-400 X) and concomitant low resolution. It has been demonstrated that by using intra-cytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injected, a spermatozoon with normal morphology, and more precisely normal nucleus, might affect the incidence of pregnancy. Although the usage of Intracytoplasmic Morphologically selected Sperm Injection (IMSI) is currently wider, it is necessary to standardize which sperm to aspirate, due to criteria based on accumulating data. Moreover, the benefits of IMSI could be noticeable in cases of patients with repeated implantation failures, severe male factor infertility and advanced paternal and maternal age. The magnified on screen image obtained in IMSI, is a combination of the magnification of the objective, the camera adapter, ratio between the diagonal screen size in mm, diagonal of the camera chip size in mm and internal magnification of the microscope. Final values obtained (up to X 6000 and more) is the amplification of the surface of the sperm cell image, not observed by the routine X 200400 in ICSI, due to objective limitations of the human eyes. IMSI is still considered as a controversy technical and laboratory procedure, however, it seems to become a promising procedure in terms of improving the outcome of ICSI treatments.