Metformin in Reproductive Biology.

Initially produced in Europe in 1958, metformin is still one of the most widely prescribed drugs to treat type II diabetes and other comorbidities associated with insulin resistance. Metformin has been shown to improve fertility outcomes in females with insulin resistance associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and in obese males with reduced fertility. Metformin treatment reinstates menstrual cyclicity, decreases the incidence of cesareans, and limits the number of premature births.

Correspondence on "Preorganization and Cooperation for Highly Efficient and Reversible Capture of Low-Concentration CO by Ionic Liquids".

The preorganization and cooperation mechanism of imide-based ionic liquids reported in a recent Communication was evocated to rationalize the extremely high gravimetric CO capture displayed by these fluids. An analysis of the reported spectroscopic evidences together with additional experiments led to the proposition of an alternative, simpler, and feasible mechanism involving the formation of bicarbonate.

Substrate-Induced Self-Assembly of Cooperative Catalysts.

Dissipative self-assembly processes in nature rely on chemical fuels that activate proteins for assembly through the formation of a noncovalent complex. The catalytic activity of the assemblies causes fuel degradation, resulting in the formation of an assembly in a high-energy, out-of-equilibrium state. Herein, we apply this concept to a synthetic system and demonstrate that a substrate can induce the formation of vesicular assemblies, which act as cooperative catalysts for cleavage of the same substrate.

Parents' and children's comprehension and decision in a paediatric early phase oncology trial: a prospective study.

Objective: To analyse parents' and children's understanding of consent information and assess their decision-making process in paediatric oncology.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Settings: Eleven French paediatric oncology units.

Altered three-dimensional organization of sperm genome in DPY19L2-deficient globozoospermic patients.

Purpose: To explore the three-dimensional (3D) organization of sperm genome in DPY19L2-deficient globozoospermic patients speculating a link between DPY19L2 and genome organization of sperm nucleus.

Methods: This is a study of chromatin organization in DPY19L2-deficient globozoospermic patients and healthy donors using three-dimensional fluorescence in situ hybridization (3D-FISH) combined with confocal laser scanning microscopy followed by 3D image analysis. The 3D structures of sperm nuclei, chromocenter, telomeric regions and chromosome territories (CTs), were reconstructed using IMARIS software, and the relative radial position for each individual signal was calculated.

Prolonged Recovery From General Anesthesia Possibly Related to Persistent Hypoxemia in a Draft Horse.

Horses are susceptible to developing large areas of pulmonary atelectasis during recumbency and anesthesia. The subsequent pulmonary shunt is responsible for significant impairment of oxygenation. Since ventilation perfusion mismatch persists into the post-operative period, hypoxemia remains an important concern in the recovery stall.

Substrate-Induced Self-Assembly of Cooperative Catalysts.

Dissipative self-assembly processes in nature rely on chemical fuels that activate proteins for assembly through the formation of a noncovalent complex. The catalytic activity of the assemblies causes fuel degradation, resulting in the formation of an assembly in a high-energy, out-of-equilibrium state. Herein, we apply this concept to a synthetic system and demonstrate that a substrate can induce the formation of vesicular assemblies, which act as cooperative catalysts for cleavage of the same substrate.

COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERVENTIONS BASED ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC CONDITIONS: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to review evidence on the cost-effectiveness of exercise-based interventions in the treatment of chronic conditions a decade after the publication of Roine et al. in 2009 (Roine E, Roine RP, Räsänen P, et al. Int J Technol Assess Health Care.

Is the formation of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) a feasible mechanism for the distillation of imidazolium ionic liquids?

We describe the synthesis of two tetrachloroindate ionic liquids used as probes to study the involvement of NHCs (N-heterocyclic carbenes) in the distillation of imidazolium derivatives. Atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (APCI-MS), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), atmospheric-pressure thermal desorption ion mass spectrometry (APTDI-MS) and laser-induced acoustic desorption (LIAD) were used to depict the possibility of the involvement of NHCs during the distillation process. Each type of imidazolium derivative showed a particular mechanism of distillation, pointing firmly to the dependence of both the cation and the anion natures to distil as ion pairs or NHCs.

Intensity fluctuation-invariant maximum likelihood estimation of speckle order.

We present a speckle order estimation method invariant to mean intensity variations inside the sample. It is based on the acquisition of two statistically independent speckle images. The Cramer-Rao lower bound and the maximum likelihood estimator in the presence of pure speckle noise are derived and shown to have performance very close to classical estimation methods that are not invariant to mean intensity fluctuations.

Performance of semiconductor sequencing platform for non-invasive prenatal genetic screening for fetal aneuploidy: results from a multicenter prospective cohort study in a clinical setting.

Objective: To validate and evaluate the performance metrics of the high-throughput semiconductor sequencing platform, Ion Proton®, in non-invasive prenatal genetic screening (NIPS) for common fetal aneuploidies in a clinical setting.

Methods: This prospective cohort study included 2505 pregnant women from eight academic genetics laboratories (695 high risk for trisomy 21 (risk ≥ 1/250) pregnancies in a validation study, and 1810 such pregnancies, without ultrasound anomalies, in a real-life NIPS clinical setting). Outcome was available for all cases in the validation cohort and for 521 in the clinical cohort.

Historical perspective on neuroembryology: Wilhelm His and his contemporaries.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the neural crest by Wilhelm His (1831-1904). Beyond this discovery, His made possible the program of comparative anatomy at the cellular level thanks to the introduction in 1866 of the first microtome to have micrometer advance. His studies of the origin, migration, and fate of neural crest cells were foundational in the field of neuroembryology and contributed to the establishment of the neuron doctrine.

Cation-Anion-CO Interactions in Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquid Sorbents.

A series of functionalized N-alkylimidazolium based ionic liquids (ImILs) were designed, through anion (carboxylates and halogenated) and cation (N-alkyl side chains) structural modifications, and studied as potential sorbents for CO . The sorption capacities of as prepared bare ImILs could be enhanced from 0.20 to 0.

Supramolecular interaction of non-racemic benzimidazolium based ion pairs with chiral substrates.

A series of novel benzimidazolium-based non-racemic ionic liquids (ILs) was synthesized from low-cost chiral terpenoid alcohols and fully characterized by the use of a wide variety of techniques, such as DSC, ESI-MS, ATR FT-IR, polarimetry as well as 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The ILs were investigated as chiral shift agents for the chiral recognition of racemic mixtures of Mosher's acid potassium salt by 19F NMR spectroscopy, leading to high splitting values of the CF3 signal. Supramolecular interactions between salt and H-C2 of chiral benzimidazolium cation are responsible for the chiral recognition, as was demonstrated by experimental evidences.

No Significant Role for Smooth Muscle Cell Mineralocorticoid Receptors in Atherosclerosis in the Apolipoprotein-E Knockout Mouse Model.

Elevated levels of the hormone aldosterone are associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke in humans and increased progression and inflammation of atherosclerotic plaques in animal models. Aldosterone acts through the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) which is expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) where it promotes SMC calcification and chemokine secretion . The objective of this study is to explore the role of the MR specifically in SMCs in the progression of atherosclerosis and the associated vascular inflammation in the apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE) mouse model.

Chicken Is a Useful Model to Investigate the Role of Adipokines in Metabolic and Reproductive Diseases.

Reproduction is a complex and essential physiological process required by all species to produce a new generation. This process involves strict hormonal regulation, depending on a connection between the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis and peripheral organs. Metabolic homeostasis influences the reproductive functions, and its alteration leads to disturbances in the reproductive functions of humans as well as animals.

Apelin in Reproductive Physiology and Pathology of Different Species: A Critical Review.

Apelin has been isolated from the bovine stomach extracts as an endogenous ligand of the previously orphan receptor APJ. Expression of the apelinergic system (apelin and APJ) was described in many organs where pleiotropic effects like regulation of food intake, body weight, or cardiovascular and immune function were described. Recent studies have shown that apelin also plays an important role in the regulation of female and male reproduction.

Adipokines in Semen: Physiopathology and Effects on Spermatozoas.

Adipokines are secreted by adipose tissue and could be the link between obesity and infertility. Different studies investigated the involvement of adipokines in reproductive functions but only a few have looked into the male part. This review assesses adipokine functions on male reproductive parameters.

Precision of polarimetric orthogonal state contrast estimation in coherent images corrupted by speckle, Poisson, and additive noise.

We consider laser-illuminated active polarimetric imaging systems that measure the orthogonal state contrast (OSC), a frequently used surrogate to the degree of polarization, that can be used, for example, to discriminate manmade objects from natural backgrounds in remote sensing. We investigate the estimation precision of the OSC parameter in the presence of speckle, Poisson, and additive noise by using the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB). Using Monte Carlo simulations and optical experiments, we show that the expression of the CRLB models the actual OSC estimation performance with excellent accuracy.

The role of type I interferons (IFNs) in the regulation of chicken macrophage inflammatory response to bacterial challenge.

Mammalian type I interferons (IFNα/β) are known to modulate inflammatory processes in addition to their antiviral properties. Indeed, virus-induced type I interferons regulate the mammalian phagocyte immune response to bacteria during superinfections. However, it remains unresolved whether type I IFNs similarly impact the chicken macrophage immune response.

Pineal-dependent increase of hypothalamic neurogenesis contributes to the timing of seasonal reproduction in sheep.

To survive in temperate latitudes, species rely on the photoperiod to synchronize their physiological functions, including reproduction, with the predictable changes in the environment. In sheep, exposure to decreasing day length reactivates the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis, while during increasing day length, animals enter a period of sexual rest. Neural stem cells have been detected in the sheep hypothalamus and hypothalamic neurogenesis was found to respond to the photoperiod.

Intermolecular hydrogen bonds in water@IL supramolecular complexes.

The role of small amounts of water in ionic liquids (ILs), namely, 1-n-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium imidazolate (BMMI·Im), 2-methylimidazolate (BMMI·MeIm), and pyrazolate (BMMI·Pyr), is examined using NMR spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) indicates that a water molecule is trapped inside the ionic network, keeping the ion pair in contact through strong H-bonds involving the hydrogen atoms of water and the nitrogen atoms of the IL anions to give a guest@host supramolecular structure. The formation of the H2O@IL pair complex with different ILs combined with the strong hydrogen bond strength within the complex is responsible for the selective H/D exchange reactions at the imidazolium C2-Me and ketone Cα positions.