Bovine oocyte activation with bull or human sperm by conventional ICSI and Piezo-ICSI: Its relationship with PLCɀ activity.

Background: The intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique has low efficiency in cattle. This has mainly been attributed to the oocyte activation failure due to oocyte and/or sperm factors.

Aim: Our aim was to evaluate the effect of conventional ICSI and Piezo-ICSI with bull or human sperm on bovine oocyte activation and embryo development and to assess its relationship with the phospholipase C zeta (PLCɀ) activity of both species.

Variations in metabolic parameters of matured porcine oocytes after vitrification-warming.

Background: As the porcine oocyte is the most sensitive to low-temperature damage, it has been difficult to cryopreserve compared to those from other domestic animals. However, at present, vitrification is used as a method for the cryopreservation of both oocytes and embryos in this species.

Aim: Our aim was to analyze alterations in metabolic parameters in vitrified-warmed matured porcine oocytes at different post-warming recuperation times.

Refining Stereotaxic Neurosurgery Techniques and Welfare Assessment for Long-Term Intracerebroventricular Device Implantation in Rodents.

Stereotaxic surgeries enable precise access to specific brain regions, being of particular interest for chronic intracerebroventricular drug delivery. However, the challenge of long-term studies at this level is to allow the implantation of drug storage devices and their correct intrathecal connection while guaranteeing animal welfare during the entire study period. In this study, we propose an optimized method for safe intrathecal device implantation, focusing on preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative procedures, following the 3Rs principle and animal welfare regulations.

Evidence-Based Treatment of Pain in Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

Purpose Of Review: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a debilitating and often painful condition that occurs after administration of chemotherapeutic agents. The primary objective of this systematic review was to appraise the literature on conservative, pharmacological, and interventional treatment options for CIPN pain.

Recent Findings: There is level I evidence supporting modest to moderate improvement in CIPN pain from duloxetine treatment, as well as short-term modest improvement from physical therapy and acupuncture.

Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation for Lower Extremity Neuropathic Pain Syndromes: An Evidence-Based Literature Review.

Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) is a form of selective neuromodulation therapy that targets the dorsal root ganglion. DRG-S offers analgesia in a variety of chronic pain conditions and is approved for treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There has been increasing utilization of DRG-S to treat various neuropathic pain syndromes of the lower extremity, although evidence remains limited to one randomized controlled trial and 39 observational studies.

Did a 3800-year-old ~9.5 earthquake trigger major social disruption in the Atacama Desert?

Early inhabitants along the hyperarid coastal Atacama Desert in northern Chile developed resilience strategies over 12,000 years, allowing these communities to effectively adapt to this extreme environment, including the impact of giant earthquakes and tsunamis. Here, we provide geoarchaeological evidence revealing a major tsunamigenic earthquake that severely affected prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fisher communities ~3800 years ago, causing an exceptional social disruption reflected in contemporary changes in archaeological sites and triggering resilient strategies along these coasts. Together with tsunami modeling results, we suggest that this event resulted from a ~1000-km-long megathrust rupture along the subduction contact of the Nazca and South American plates, highlighting the possibility of ~9.

Residential proximity to pesticide applications in Argentine Patagonia: impact on pregnancy and newborn parameters.

Among residents living close to agricultural fields who are potentially exposed to pesticides, pregnant women and their fetuses are of particular concern for their vulnerability to environmental chemicals. In this collaborative multicenter study, we covered a wide distribution of participants in the most important fruit production zone of north Patagonia (Argentina) to investigate whether maternal residential proximity to fruit croplands with intense pesticide applications (rural group -RG-) is associated with pregnancy complications and alterations in their newborn parameters compared to the urban population (urban group -UG-). A total of 776 pregnant women met the inclusion criteria.

Apoptosis in porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes: Relationship with their morphology and the developmental competence.

The aim of this study was to assess the presence and distribution of apoptosis in porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) and its relations with COC morphology and developmental competence. The COCs were obtained from slaughterhouse ovaries, classified into A1 (top category), A2, B1, B2, C, and D based on their morphology. A1, A2, and B1 were matured and fertilized in vitro, and blastocyst rate was compared among them.

Effects of gonadotrophins and insulin on glucose uptake in the porcine cumulus-oocyte complex during IVM.

The combination of gonadotrophins (LH and FSH) and insulin is frequently used in porcine oocyte IVM, but the individual effects of gonadotrophins and insulin have not been completely studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms involved in glucose metabolism in the swine cumulus-oocyte complex (COC), analysing the effects of gonadotrophins (10IUmL-1 LH+10IUmL-1 FSH) and 0.4μUmL-1 insulin, during 44h of IVM, on glucose transport and consumption, as well as on nuclear maturation and sperm penetration.

Targeting Beta-Amyloid at the CSF: A New Therapeutic Strategy in Alzheimer's Disease.

Although immunotherapies against the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide tried so date failed to prove sufficient clinical benefit, Aβ still remains the main target in Alzheimer's disease (AD). This article aims to show the rationale of a new therapeutic strategy: clearing Aβ from the CSF continuously (the "CSF-sink" therapeutic strategy). First, we describe the physiologic mechanisms of Aβ clearance and the resulting AD pathology when these mechanisms are altered.

Inhibition of bioenergetic metabolism by the combination of metformin and 2-deoxyglucose highly decreases viability of feline mammary carcinoma cells.

Feline mammary carcinoma (FMC) is a highly aggressive pathology that has been proposed as an interesting model of breast cancer disease, especially for the hormone refractory subgroup. Recently, cancer cell metabolism has been described as a hallmark of cancer cells. Here, we investigate the effects and mechanism of metabolic modulation by metformin (MET, anti-diabetic drug), 2-deoxyglucose (2DG, hexokinase inhibitor) or a combination of both drugs, MET/2DG on two established FMC cells lines: AlRB (HER2 (3+) and Ki67<5%) and AlRATN (HER2 (-) and Ki67>15%).

Implications of glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways on the oxidative status and active mitochondria of the porcine oocyte during IVM.

Glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) were modulated in porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes during IVM by the addition of inhibitors and stimulators of key enzymes of the pathways to analyze their influence on the oxidative status, active mitochondria, and maturation of the oocyte. The influence of pharmacologic and physiological inhibitors of glycolysis (Sodium fluoride and ATP) and PPP (6-Aminonicotinamide and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) was validated by assessing glucose and lactate turnover and brilliant cresyl blue staining in oocytes. Inhibitors of glycolysis and PPP activity significantly perturbed nuclear maturation, oxidative metabolism (Redox Sensor Red CC-1), and active mitochondria (Mitotracker Green FM) within oocytes (P < 0.

Critical role of two-dimensional island-mediated growth on the formation of semiconductor heterointerfaces.

We experimentally demonstrate a sigmoidal variation of the composition profile across semiconductor heterointerfaces. The wide range of material systems (III-arsenides, III-antimonides, III-V quaternary compounds, III-nitrides) exhibiting such a profile suggests a universal behavior. We show that sigmoidal profiles emerge from a simple model of cooperative growth mediated by two-dimensional island formation, wherein cooperative effects are described by a specific functional dependence of the sticking coefficient on the surface coverage.

Electromechanical effects on multilayered cells in nonuniform rotating fields.

We use the Maxwell stress tensor to calculate the dielectrophoretic force and electrorotational torque acting on a realistic four-shelled model of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a nonuniform rotating electric field generated by four coplanar square electrodes. The comparison of these results with numerical calculations of the dipolar and quadrupolar contributions obtained from an integral equation for the polarization charge density shows the effect of the quadrupole contribution in the proximity of the electrode plane. We also show that under typical experimental conditions the substitution of the multilayered cell by an equivalent cell with homogeneous permittivity underestimates the quadrupole contribution to the force and torque by 1 order of magnitude.

Immature oocyte quality and maturational competence of porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes subpopulations.

Porcine immature oocyte quality (i.e., that of live oocytes at the germinal vesicle stage) was evaluated according to features of the surrounding cumulus, aiming to establish maturational competence of different subpopulations of such cumulus-oocyte complexes.

Polarizability of shelled particles of arbitrary shape in lossy media with an application to hematic cells.

We show that within the dipole approximation the complex polarizability of shelled particles of arbitrary shape can be written as the volume of the particle times a weighted average of the electric field in the particle, with weights determined by the differences in permittivities between the shells and the external, possibly lossy media. To calculate the electric field we use an adaptive-mesh finite-element method which is very effective in handling the irregular domains, material inhomogeneities, and complex boundary conditions usually found in biophysical applications. After extensive tests with exactly solvable models, we apply the method to four types of hematic cells: platelets, T-lymphocytes, erythrocytes, and stomatocytes.

Erythrocyte rouleau formation under polarized electromagnetic fields.

We study the influence of an external electromagnetic field of 1.8 GHz in the formation or disaggregation of long rouleau of identical erythrocyte cells. In particular we calculate the variation of the transmembrane potential of an individual erythrocyte illuminated by the external field due to the presence of the neighboring erythrocytes in the rouleau, and compare the total electric energy of isolated cells with the total electric energy of the rouleau.

Oblique osteotomy for multiplanar correction of malunions of the femoral shaft.

Between 1990 and 1996, six patients had oblique femoral osteotomies for symptomatic posttraumatic femoral malunions. In each patient, an oblique osteotomy was done that allowed for correction in the coronal, transverse, and sagittal planes. Fixation was achieved with lag screws supplemented by a neutralization plate.