A 20-year overview of fertility preservation in boys: new insights gained through a comprehensive international survey.

Study Question: Twenty years after the inception of the first fertility preservation programme for pre-pubertal boys, what are the current international practices with regard to cryopreservation of immature testicular tissue?

Summary Answer: Worldwide, testicular tissue has been cryopreserved from over 3000 boys under the age of 18 years for a variety of malignant and non-malignant indications; there is variability in practices related to eligibility, clinical assessment, storage, and funding.

What Is Known Already: For male patients receiving gonadotoxic treatment prior to puberty, testicular tissue cryopreservation may provide a method of fertility preservation. While this technique remains experimental, an increasing number of centres worldwide are cryopreserving immature testicular tissue and are approaching clinical application of methods to use this stored tissue to restore fertility.

Associations of 24-Hour Light Exposure and Activity Patterns and Risk of Cognitive Impairment and Decline in Older Men: The MrOS Sleep Study.

Background: Older men with the worse alignment of activity and light may have lower levels of cognition and increased rates of cognitive decline.

Methods: This cohort consisted of 1 036 older men (81.1 ± 4.

Tests of Lepton Universality Using B^{0}→K_{S}^{0}ℓ^{+}ℓ^{-} and B^{+}→K^{*+}ℓ^{+}ℓ^{-} Decays.

Tests of lepton universality in B^{0}→K_{S}^{0}ℓ^{+}ℓ^{-} and B^{+}→K^{*+}ℓ^{+}ℓ^{-} decays where ℓ is either an electron or a muon are presented. The differential branching fractions of B^{0}→K_{S}^{0}e^{+}e^{-} and B^{+}→K^{*+}e^{+}e^{-} decays are measured in intervals of the dilepton invariant mass squared. The measurements are performed using proton-proton collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9  fb^{-1} .

Determinants of eating behaviour in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) university students when living at and away from home: With a focus on the influence of food enculturation and food acculturation.

For some students, university, can be a period of increased autonomy in food choice and for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and international students, the addition of culture may be a governing factor. This study aimed to examine the extent of dietary acculturation and dietary enculturation on the influence of student's food choices using a phenomenological approach. Sixty participants (forty-one home students and nineteen international students) recruited by purposive sampling, were included in the study.

Posture, Gait, Quality of Life, and Hearing with a Vestibular Implant.

Background: Bilateral vestibular hypofunction is associated with chronic disequilibrium, postural instability, and unsteady gait owing to failure of vestibular reflexes that stabilize the eyes, head, and body. A vestibular implant may be effective in alleviating symptoms.

Methods: Persons who had had ototoxic (7 participants) or idiopathic (1 participant) bilateral vestibular hypofunction for 2 to 23 years underwent unilateral implantation of a prosthesis that electrically stimulates the three semicircular canal branches of the vestibular nerve.

The Noninvasive Ventilation Outcomes (NIVO) score: prediction of in-hospital mortality in exacerbations of COPD requiring assisted ventilation.

Introduction: Acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) complicated by acute (acidaemic) hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF) requiring ventilation are common. When applied appropriately, ventilation substantially reduces mortality. Despite this, there is evidence of poor practice and prognostic pessimism.

Crossing the Gap: Using Competency-Based Assessment to Determine Whether Learners Are Ready for the Undergraduate-to-Graduate Transition.

In 2011, the Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum (EPAC) Study Group recruited four medical schools (University of California, San Francisco; University of Colorado; University of Minnesota; and University of Utah) and their associated pediatrics clerkship and residency program directors to be part of a consortium to pilot a model designed to advance learners from undergraduate medical education (UME) to graduate medical education (GME) and then to fellowship or practice based on competence rather than time spent in training. The central design features of this pilot included predetermined expectations of performance and transition criteria to ensure readiness to progress from UME to GME, using the Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency (Core EPAs) as a common assessment framework. Using this framework, each site team (which included, but was not limited to, the EPAC course, pediatric clerkship, and pediatric residency program directors) monitored learners' progress, with the site's clinical competency committee marking the point of readiness to transition from UME to GME (i.

CSF inflammatory response after intraventricular hemorrhage.

Objective: To investigate the temporal pattern and relevant associations of CSF inflammatory measures after intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH).

Methods: We analyzed prospectively collected CSF cell counts and protein and glucose levels from participants in the Clot Lysis Evaluation of Accelerated Resolution of IVH phase III (CLEAR III) trial. Corrected leukocyte count and cell index were calculated to adjust for CSF leukocytes attributable to circulating blood.

Lepton flavor violation in B decays?

The LHCb Collaboration's measurement of R_{K}=B(B^{+}→K^{+}μ^{+}μ^{-})/B(B^{+}→K^{+}e^{+}e^{-}) lies 2.6σ below the Standard Model prediction. Several groups suggest this deficit to result from new lepton nonuniversal interactions of muons.

Structural basis for alpha1 versus alpha2 isoform-distinct behavior of the Na,K-ATPase.

We showed earlier that the kinetic behavior of the alpha2 isoform of the Na,K-ATPase differs from the ubiquitous alpha1 isoform primarily by a shift in the steady-state E(1)/E(2) equilibrium of alpha2 in favor of E(1) form(s). The aim of the present study was to identify regions of the alpha chain that confer the alpha1/alpha2 distinct behavior using a mutagenesis and chimera approach. Criteria to assess shifts in conformational equilibrium included (i) K(+) sensitivity of Na-ATPase measured at micromolar ATP, under which condition E(2)(K(+)) --> E(1) + K(+) becomes rate-limiting, (ii) changes in K'(ATP) for low affinity ATP binding, (iii) vanadate sensitivity of Na,K-ATPase activity, and (iv) the rate of the partial reaction E(1)P --> E(2)P.

New insights into the role of the N terminus in conformational transitions of the Na,K-ATPase.

The deletion of 32 residues from the N terminus of the alpha1 catalytic subunit of the rat Na,K-ATPase (mutant alpha1M32) shifts the E(1)/E(2) conformational equilibrium toward E(1), and the combination of this deletion with mutation E233K in the M2-M3 loop acts synergistically to shift the conformation further toward E(1) (Boxenbaum, N., Daly, S. E.

DNA based prenatal testing for the skin blistering disorder epidermolysis bullosa simplex.

Epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) is a skin fragility disorder in which mild physical trauma leads to blistering. The phenotype of the disorder is variable, from relatively mild affecting only the hands and/or feet, to very severe with widespread blistering. For the severest forms of EBS there is a demand for prenatal diagnosis which until now has involved a fetal skin biopsy in the second trimester.