Use Them but Do Not Abuse Them

Undocumented embryos: do not trash them, FISH them.

Pronuclei formation is routinely assessed 16-20 h after oocyte insemination in in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Occasionally, the pronuclei disappear before this time, rendering them as 'undocumented'. Since the number of pronuclei detected is used to distinguish normal from abnormal embryos in the context of ploidy, the diploidy of undocumented embryos is questionable, and therefore they are rout...

Research antibodies: do not use them to stain your reputation.

IN A RECENT ROUNDTABLE organized by the Federation of American Societies For Experimental Biology (FASEB) on data reproducibility and antibodies (8), we learned how the sale and use of antibodies place both basic and preclinical research at risk of losing support from the public at large, from funding agencies, and from Congress. Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted annually on poor data ...

Databases, But Not As We Know Them

Online Reviews: Do Consumers Use Them?

The use of the WWW as a venue for voicing opinions, complaints and recommendations on products and firms has been widely reported in the popular media. However little is known how consumers use these reviews and if they subsequently have any influence on evaluations and purchase intentions of products and retailers. This study examines the effect of negative reviews on retailer evaluation and p...

We can train them, but how can we retain them?

To the Editor: The Department of Surgery at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine is proud of its 100% pass rate in the October 2008 Colleges of Medicine of South Africa examinations held in Durban. Most candidates attended the graduation and joined the 3 who passed in May as registered specialists in general surgery. This represents a stalwart effort on the part of the candidates and their t...