Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is the success of human IVF more a matter of genetics and evolution than growing blastocysts?

Quality is clearly deficient in many human embryos growing in vitro. Fewer than 20% implant after transfer to the uterus in the majority of patients, so two or more are replaced which results in high-order multiple pregnancies. Among many approaches to improving quality, co-culture with supporting cells has claimed to be successful (e.g. Bongso et al., 1994), although it is now being replaced by the use of sequential culture media (Ménézo et al., 1998). Zona drilling was also introduced to enhance implantation rates (Cohen et al., 1990). In recent studies, co-cultures combined with assisted hatching failed to improve implantation rates above 23–26% per embryo, which were overall similar to controls (Hu et al., 1998). Perhaps variations between clinics account for differences in the success of these approaches. Growth and transfer of blastocysts, an approach widely used in domestic and laboratory animal species, is now being recommended by several authors, e.g.tially, high implantation rates per embryo seem to be possible, allowing the transfer of only one or two embryos thereby avoiding multiple pregnancies. Blastocyst transfer is claimed to be more physiological than pronucleate and 2-cell transfers. This principle led to the first-ever clinical human pregnancy being established by blastocyst transfer (Steptoe and Edwards, 1978). Blastocysts have been grown in vitro for many years, with rates approaching 50% of embryos cultured being achieved Ͼ10 years ago, although many failed to expand fully (Fishel and Edwards, 1983). Expanded and hatching blastocysts were also cryopreserved, ready for a later transfer (Cohen et al., 1985, Fehilly et al., 1985). In some clinics, modern media containing various additives such as hyaluronate and vitamins still yield low rates of development of cleaving human embryos to expanding or hatched blastocysts. One detailed study (Jones et al., 1998) utilized a cell-and serum-free system of sequential culture media, brief exposures of oocytes to spermatozoa, culture of 2–3 embryos in one microdrop from days 1–3, then transfer to another medium from days 3–5. Gardner's (1994) G1 and G2 media with added albumin were used in this study, in various protocols, and blastocysts required various intervals in culture, i. 1 20% of embryos developed into enlarging blastocysts. Desai et al. (1997) reported 45% of supernumary embryos reached blastocysts, with an inner cell mass in 82% of them. Another recent optimistic study on blastocyst culture in which heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (Hb–EGF) was added to embryos cultured from day 2–7 post-insemination, has also …
KEKERASAN TERHADAP PEREMPUAN DALAM RUMAH TANGGA (KAJIAN DARI PERSPEKTIF HUKUM DAN GENDER)

iolence against women is not only as an individual issue but also as a local, anational and global issue. It is said that global issue can be seen by regulating international law such Wiena Declaration, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Discrimination Against Woman (1979) Declaration of Violence Against Woman (1993), and Bejing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). Nationally, the law regulation about issue can be seen in as Criminal Law, Private Law, Act Number 1, 1974, Act Number 7, 1984, Act Number 39, 1999, and Act Number 23, 2004. Although protection against women has been regulated nationally and internationally, in the several states that mention above but in relity violence against woman still exists and increase from year. From back ground that above a problem arises as polows: What is the factors of violence against woman in a household and What is the protection obtained by woman as victim of violence in a household. The factors of violence: patriarchical etc and from of protection received by woman as victim of violence in ahousehold as Criminal Law, Private Law, Act Number 1, 1974, Act Number 7, 1984, Act Number 39, 1999, and Act Number 23, 2004.
Contrasting effects of nitric oxide on food intake and GH secretion stimulated by a GH-releasing peptide.

OBJECTIVE Among the many actions of nitric oxide (NO) are those on endocrine and feeding behaviour. Based on NO involvement in the GH-releasing effect of the GH-releasing peptides (GHRPs) and the reported orexigenic activity of these compounds, we sought to evaluate the effect of the combined administration of a long-acting NO donor, molsidomine, and the newly synthesized GHRP EP92632 on food intake and GH secretion in rats. Moreover, to verify the specificity of a potential NO involvement, we evaluated whether or not the effects of GHRPs were abolished by a pre-treatment with an inhibitor of NO synthase, N-nitro-arginine-methyl-ester (NAME). METHODS In the food intake experiments, adult Sprague-Dawley male rats underwent acute administration of: (1) EP92632 (160 microg/kg, s.c.); (2) molsidomine (100 mg/kg, i.p.); (3) EP92632+molsidomine; (4) l-NAME (40 and 60 mg/kg, i.p.); (5) EP92632+l-NAME (60 mg/kg, i.p.); (6) EP92632+molsidomine+l-NAME (60 mg/kg, i.p.); and (7) 0.9% saline (0.1 ml/kg, i.p.). After treatments, the cumulative food intake in the 6 post-treatment hours was carefully evaluated. In the neuroendocrine experiments, rats were given the same compounds according to the above reported schedule, except for the use of one dose of NAME (60 mg/kg, i.p.) and a lower EP92632 dose (80 microg/kg, s.c.), and were sampled via atrial cannula. RESULTS EP92632 significantly stimulated food intake, an effect which was further enhanced by molsidomine, though the latter did not elicit per se any orexigenic effect. l-NAME given alone significantly decreased food intake and abolished the orexigenic effect of the GHRP and the enhancing effect of molsidomine. Plasma GH levels increased significantly following administration of EP92632 but, in contrast to the food intake experiments, molsidomine significantly inhibited both basal and EP92632-stimulated GH secretion; moreover, NAME had a biphasic effect on the EP92632-stimulated GH release: initially inhibitory and then, from 45 min on, stimulatory. NAME did not affect basal GH levels but, surprisingly, combined administration of molsidomine and NAME induced a striking inhibition of both basal and the peptide-stimulated GH release. CONCLUSIONS In summary, these data indicate that NO in the rat is physiologically involved in a stimulatory way in the GHRP-mediated effect on food intake, but exerts a dual action, probably stimulatory at hypothalamic and inhibitory at pituitary levels, on basal and GHRP-stimulated GH secretion.
Host Gene Expression Profiling and In Vivo Cytokine Studies to Characterize the Role of Linezolid and Vancomycin in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Murine Sepsis Model

Linezolid (L), a potent antibiotic for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), inhibits bacterial protein synthesis. By contrast, vancomycin (V) is a cell wall active agent. Here, we used a murine sepsis model to test the hypothesis that L treatment is associated with differences in bacterial and host characteristics as compared to V. Mice were injected with S. aureus USA300, and then intravenously treated with 25 mg/kg of either L or V at 2 hours post infection (hpi). In vivo alpha-hemolysin production was reduced in both L and V-treated mice compared to untreated mice but the reduction did not reach the statistical significance [P = 0.12 for L; P = 0.70 for V). PVL was significantly reduced in L-treated mice compared to untreated mice (P = 0.02). However the reduction of in vivo PVL did not reach the statistical significance in V- treated mice compared to untreated mice (P = 0.27). Both antibiotics significantly reduced IL-1β production [P = 0.001 for L; P = 0.006 for V]. IL-6 was significantly reduced with L but not V antibiotic treatment [P<0.001 for L; P = 0.11 for V]. Neither treatment significantly reduced production of TNF-α. Whole-blood gene expression profiling showed no significant effect of L and V on uninfected mice. In S. aureus-infected mice, L altered the expression of a greater number of genes than V (95 vs. 42; P = 0.001). Pathway analysis for the differentially expressed genes identified toll-like receptor signaling pathway to be common to each S. aureus-infected comparison. Expression of immunomodulatory genes like Cxcl9, Cxcl10, Il1r2, Cd14 and Nfkbia was different among the treatment groups. Glycerolipid metabolism pathway was uniquely associated with L treatment in S. aureus infection. This study demonstrates that, as compared to V, treatment with L is associated with reduced levels of toxin production, differences in host inflammatory response, and distinct host gene expression characteristics in MRSA sepsis.
Low-dose hyper-radiosensitivity of progressive and regressive cells isolated from a rat colon tumour: Impact of DNA repair

Purpose: To ask whether highly metastatic sublines show more marked low-dose hyper-radiosensitivity (HRS) response than poorly metastatic ones. Materials and methods: The progressive (PRO) subline showing tumourigenicity and metastatic potential and the regressive (REG) subline showing neither tumourigenicity nor metastatic potential were both isolated from a parental rat colon tumour. Clonogenic survival, micronuclei and apoptosis, cell cycle distribution, DNA single- (SSB) and double-strand breaks (DSB) induction and repair were examined. Results: HRS phenomenon was demonstrated in PRO subline. Before irradiation, PRO cells show more spontaneous damage than REG cells. After 0.1 Gy, PRO cells displayed: (i) More DNA SSB 15 min post-irradiation, (ii) more unrepaired DNA DSB processed by the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and by the RAD51-dependent recombination pathways, (iii) more micronuclei, than REG cells while neither apoptosis nor p53 phosphorylation nor cell cycle arrest was observed in both sublines. Conclusions: HRS response of PRO subline may be induced by impairments in NHEJ repair that targets G1 cells and RAD51-dependent repair that targets S-G2/M cells. The cellular consequences of such impairments are a failure to arrest in cell cycle, the propagation of damage through cell cycle, mitotic death but not p53-dependent apoptosis. Tumourigenic cells with high metastatic potential may preferentially show HRS response.
Passing on Poverty: The Intergenerational Transmission of Well-Being and Ill-Being in Rural Bangladesh

The paper presents findings on the intergenerational transmission of poverty from life histories conducted in rural Bangladesh as part of a study of poverty dynamics and the impact of development interventions. The life histories provide evidence for a relatively high prevalence of intergenerational transmission of poverty (and of well-being). The means by which poverty is passed on from parents to children is explored, painting a picture of poor families being more exposed to, and more damaged by, a relatively small number of categories of shocks and downward pressures, such as those caused by illness, crop damage and floods, and with lasting effects often carried to the next generation. In addition, the reduced ability of many poor people to benefit from a similarly small set of opportunity types is also frequently passed on to the next generation. This is because the capacity to seize opportunities is linked to tangible assets such as land and livestock, and intangible assets, such as those that facilitate entry to salaried work. Poor endowments of these assets tend to continue to the next generation. Some who benefit from success in business or salaried work do manage to escape the poverty of their parents, but these people are the fortunate few. They are also more likely to live in areas closer to the metropolitan centres. Even while significant progress in reducing poverty has been made in rural Bangladesh in recent years, it seems likely that tomorrow’s poor will continue to be the children of today’s poor, unless more is done to ameliorate these socio-economic processes that allow poverty to be passed from one generation to the next.
Inflation Risk Premia, Yield Volatility and Macro Factors

We incorporate a latent stochastic volatility factor and macroeconomic expectations in an affine model for the term structure of nominal and real rates. We estimate the model over 1999-2016 on U.S. data for nominal and TIPS yields, the realized and implied volatility of T-bonds and survey forecasts of GDP growth and inflation. We find relatively stable inflation risk premia averaging at 40bps at the long-end, and which are strongly related to the volatility factor and conditional mean of output growth. We also document real risk premia that turn negative in the post-crisis period, and a non-negligible variance risk premium.
Supply boosting technique for designing very low-voltage mixed-signal circuits in standard CMOS

This paper presents a technique called supply boosting for designing sub-1V analog/mixed-signal circuits. Supply boosting technique (SBT) is suitable for sub-micron CMOS processes containing MOSFET transistors with threshold voltages comparable to the supply voltage. SBT is based on the idea that if current consumption of the circuit block is very low, in the order of nanoamper, supply voltage could be boosted locally to higher levels during a period that the processing of input signals is done. This technique is very suitable for very-low power clocked and continuous time circuits such as level shifters, operational amplifiers, and comparators. Design of a 10-bit supply boosted (SB) SAR ADC is presented as an example of the technique. SB-SAR ADC simulated using 0. 5µm CMOS process that has high-VT NMOS and PMOS devices. Simulations show that the SB-SAR ADC achieves 0.24pJ/conv-step figure of merit (FOM) when operating ADC at 10KS/sec and 1.2V supply.
A Study of Predictive Accuracy for Four Associative Classifiers

Association rule discovery is one of the primary tasks in data mining that extracts patterns to describe correlations between items in a transactional database. Using association rule mining for constructing classification systems is a promising approach. There are many associative classification approaches that have been proposed recently such as CBA, CMAR and MCAR. In this research paper, four associative rule algorithms (CBA, CMAR, CPAR, MCAR) have been compared with reference to accuracy against 12 benchmark classification problems. Our goal is to determine the most accurate technique in forecasting the future classes of unseen test data objects. After experimentation with different data sets, the results revealed that none of the investigated techniques dominated the others with regards to accuracy. Moreover, MCAR produced more accurate classification systems than CBA, CMAR and CPAR, respectively. This is due to the less pruning operation employed by MCAR, which leads to generating larger classifiers. A post pruning method is recommended to reduce the number of rules generated by MCAR, where it is obvious for cases like “Cleve” and “Germany” data sets.
Acute pulmonary oedema in chronic dialysis patients admitted into an intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND Acute pulmonary oedema (APO) in patients undergoing chronic dialysis (CD), a common cause of hospital admission in this population, is poorly documented. The objective of this study was to determine the causes, profile, clinical course and outcomes of APO in CD patients admitted in an intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS Medical charts of all CD patients consecutively admitted for APO in the renal ICU of the Tenon Hospital (Paris, France) between January 2000 and December 2007 were considered. Data collection included patient characteristics, etiologic factors for chronic renal failure and co-morbidities, past history of APO, precipitating factors, clinical evolution and outcomes. RESULTS Of the 112 files considered, 102 (65% men) were included in the final analysis. Patients were aged 20-88 years and had been dialysed for a median duration of 2 years. Hypertension (36.3%), chronic glomerulonephritis (25.5%) and diabetes mellitus (17.6%) were the main etiologic factors of chronic renal failure; 38.2% had a past history of APO. Acute pulmonary infection (26%), excessive interdialytic weight gain (25%) and inappropriate dry weight prescription (23%) were the leading causes of APO. The duration of hospitalization was <4 days in 60% of participants. Nine deaths (four being of cardiac origin) were recorded. Being referred from another hospital service was the main predictor of death. CONCLUSIONS APO fuelled in part by chest infection, excessive interdialytic weight gain and inappropriate dry weight are important causes of hospitalization in CD patients. Mortality is high among those referred from other services usually in critical conditions.
Association between Angiotensinogen M235T Polymorphism and Preeclampsia in Iranian Pregnant Women

Objective: To determine the possible association between the M235T variant of angiotensinogen gene and preeclampsia in Iranian preeclamtic women with hypertension during pregnancy. Materials and methods: During a case control study, we used polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis to investigate the association between M235T polymorphism in preeclamtic women compared to normotensive controls. Results: The M235T polymorphism was significantly associated with increased preeclampsia risk in the studied population as supported by a p value of 0.017 and chi-square value of 8.12. The frequency of mutated allele and genotype distribution showed a significant difference between preeclamtic women and control groups. Conclusion: The result indicates that the AGT M235T polymorphism plays a significant role in preeclampsia observed in selected Iranian preeclamtic women, and it can be considered as a major risk factor for preeclampsia.
Facile high-throughput forward chemical genetic screening by in situ monitoring of glucuronidase-based reporter gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana

The use of biologically active small molecules to perturb biological functions holds enormous potential for investigating complex signaling networks. However, in contrast to animal systems, the search for and application of chemical tools for basic discovery in the plant sciences, generally referred to as “chemical genetics,” has only recently gained momentum. In addition to cultured cells, the well-characterized, small-sized model plant Arabidopsis thaliana is suitable for cultivation in microplates, which allows employing diverse cell- or phenotype-based chemical screens. In such screens, a chemical's bioactivity is typically assessed either through scoring its impact on morphological traits or quantifying molecular attributes such as enzyme or reporter activities. Here, we describe a facile forward chemical screening methodology for intact Arabidopsis seedlings harboring the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter by directly quantifying GUS activity in situ with 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-glucuronide (4-MUG) as substrate. The quantitative nature of this screening assay has an obvious advantage over the also convenient histochemical GUS staining method, as it allows application of statistical procedures and unbiased hit selection based on threshold values as well as distinction between compounds with strong or weak bioactivity. At the same time, the in situ bioassay is very convenient requiring less effort and time for sample handling in comparison to the conventional quantitative in vitro GUS assay using 4-MUG, as validated with several Arabidopsis lines harboring different GUS reporter constructs. To demonstrate that the developed assays is particularly suitable for large-scale screening projects, we performed a pilot screen for chemical activators or inhibitors of salicylic acid-mediated defense signaling using the Arabidopsis PR1p::GUS line. Importantly, the screening methodology provided here can be adopted for any inducible GUS reporter line.
How Tightly Linked Are Pericopsis elata (Fabaceae) Patches to Anthropogenic Disturbances in Southeastern Cameroon

While most past studies have emphasized the relationships between specific forest stands and edaphic factors, recent observations in Central African moist forests suggested that an increase of slash-and-burn agriculture since 3000–2000 BP (Before Present) could be the main driver of the persistence of light-demanding tree species. In order to examine anthropogenic factors in the persistence of such populations, our study focused on Pericopsis elata, an endangered clustered timber species. We used a multidisciplinary approach comprised of botanical, anthracological and archaeobotanical investigations to compare P. elata patches with surrounding stands of mixed forest vegetation (“out-zones”). Charcoal samples were found in both zones, but were significantly more abundant in the soils of patches. Eleven groups of taxa were identified from the charcoals, most of them also present in the current vegetation. Potsherds were detected only inside P. elata patches and at different soil depths, suggesting a long human presence from at least 2150 to 195 BP, as revealed by our charcoal radiocarbon dating. We conclude that current P. elata patches most likely result from shifting cultivation that occurred ca. two centuries ago. The implications of our findings for the dynamics and management of light-demanding tree species are discussed.
The Expansion of CD25highIL-10highFoxP3high B Regulatory Cells Is in Association with SLE Disease Activity

B regulatory cells (Bregs) belong to a subgroup of activated B cells tasked with maintaining self-tolerance and preventing autoimmunity. While sharing similar regulatory mechanisms such as IL-10 dependency, they also defer in exhibiting their suppressive effects by expressing Fas-Ligand, TGF-beta, and PDL-1. In this study we show, for the first time, the expansion of CD25highFoxP3high Bregs in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients compared to healthy individuals (18.5 ± 3.052% versus 11.0 ± 1.654%, p < 0.001, resp.). This expansion was also shown to correlate with SLE disease activity (r = 0.75). In addition, CD25highFoxP3high Bregs were also IL-10high expressing and further expanded when stimulated with semaphorin 3A. In sum we show that CD25highFoxP3high are an additional subtype of Bregs, involved in regulating SLE disease activity. Being IL-10 expressing, we may assume that they are one of the sources of increased serum IL-10 in SLE patients. Further studies are required in order to assess the relation between high serum IL-10 and CD25highFoxP3high Breg cells.
Terrorism in Australia: A Psychometric Study into the Western Australian Public Perception of Terrorism

Terrorism is not a new concept, as historically terrorist organisations have used the threat of violence or actual violence to generate fear in individuals, organisations and governments alike. Fear is a weapon and is used to gain political, ideological or religious objectives. Past terrorist attacks have raised concerns around the world, as governments ensured that their anti-terrorism security strategies are adequate. Domestically, Australia upgraded its capacity to respond to terrorism events through security enhancements across many areas and with new initiatives such as the 2002 public counter terrorism campaign. Nevertheless, there has been restricted research into how terrorist events have impacted on the Australian public from a psychometric risk perception perspective. The study used the psychometric risk perception theory, applied to 340 participants, as a benchmark to compare the perception of terrorism risk using its two dimensions of dread and familiarity to risk. The study presented terrorism within a spatial psychometric risk map and found that when compared to other risks, terrorism ranked second highest in terms of dread risk and mid-range in terms of familiarity to risk. Recommendations include the ongoing need to understand public risk perception and directed benefit of public awareness safety campaigns. It is only through such understanding that decision-makers can implement effective safety and security reforms that will benefit both industry and the general community.