Role of GPR55 receptor in bovine sperm capacitation.

Background: Endocannabinoids like anandamide (AEA), among other lipids, are recognized signaling molecules that participate in reproductive events.

Objectives: Our aims were to characterize orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPR55) presence; investigate GPR55 activation by AEA and determine GPR55 role in the bovine sperm function.

Materials And Methods: GPR55 presence was assessed by immunocytochemistry.

Characteristics and Causes of Sports-Related Sudden Death in the General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: COVID-19 is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study is to determine the burden, characteristics, and causes of sudden death in sport (SrSD) before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the general population.

Methods: Retrospective observational study.

Revisiting superiority and stability metrics of cultivar performances using genomic data: derivations of new estimators.

The selection of highly productive genotypes with stable performance across environments is a major challenge of plant breeding programs due to genotype-by-environment (GE) interactions. Over the years, different metrics have been proposed that aim at characterizing the superiority and/or stability of genotype performance across environments. However, these metrics are traditionally estimated using phenotypic values only and are not well suited to an unbalanced design in which genotypes are not observed in all environments.

Effect of bicarbonate and polyvinyl alcohol on in vitro capacitation and fertilization ability of cryopreserved equine spermatozoa.

Background: Factors contributing to the limited success of in vitro fertilization in horses remain to be studied. In this work, we elucidated the effect of different essential capacitation media components, bicarbonate, and bovine serum albumin or polyvinyl-alcohol, and the incubation microenvironment on sperm parameters associated with capacitation, acrosome reaction, and their ability to activate oocytes via heterologous intracytoplasmic spermatozoa injection in equine cryopreserved spermatozoa.

Methods: Frozen-thawed spermatozoa underwent incubation at different time intervals in either Tyrode's albumin lactate pyruvate medium (non-capacitating; NC) or Tyrode's albumin lactate pyruvate supplemented with bicarbonate, bicarbonate and polyvinyl-alcohol, bicarbonate and bovine serum albumin, polyvinyl-alcohol and bovine serum albumin alone.

Unveiling the predominance of Saccharum spontaneum alleles for resistance to orange rust in sugarcane using genome-wide association.

Six QTLs of resistance to sugarcane orange rust were identified in modern interspecific hybrids by GWAS. For five of them, the resistance alleles originated from S. spontaneum.

Exposure to residential traffic and trajectories of unhealthy ageing: results from a nationally-representative cohort of older adults.

Background: Traffic exposure has been associated with biomarkers of increased biological ageing, age-related chronic morbidities, and increased respiratory, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality. Whether it is associated with functional impairments and unhealthy ageing trajectories is unknown.

Methods: Nationally representative population-based cohort with 3,126 community-dwelling individuals aged ≥60 years who contributed 8,291 biannual visits over a 10 year period.

Induced degradation of lineage-specific oncoproteins drives the therapeutic vulnerability of small cell lung cancer to PARP inhibitors.

Although mutations are not commonly found in small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a substantial fraction of SCLC shows clinically relevant response to PARP inhibitors (PARPis). However, the underlying mechanism(s) of PARPi sensitivity in SCLC is poorly understood. We performed quantitative proteomic analyses and identified proteomic changes that signify PARPi responses in SCLC cells.

Bioclimatic Characterisation of Specific Native Californian Pinales and Their Future Suitability under Climate Change.

Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns under climate change scenarios are accelerating the depletion of soil moisture and increasing the risk of drought, disrupting the conditions that many plant species need to survive. This study aims to establish the bioclimatic characterisation, both qualitative and quantitative, of ten native Californian Pinales for the period 1980-2019, and to determine their habitat suitability by 2050. To achieve this, an exhaustive search of the Gbif database for records of ten conifer taxa was carried out.

Detecting directional and non-directional epistasis in bi-parental populations using genomic data.

Epistasis, commonly defined as interaction effects between alleles of different loci, is an important genetic component of the variation of phenotypic traits in natural and breeding populations. In addition to its impact on variance, epistasis can also affect the expected performance of a population and is then referred to as directional epistasis. Before the advent of genomic data, the existence of epistasis (both directional and non-directional) was investigated based on complex and expensive mating schemes involving several generations evaluated for a trait of interest.

Evaluation of sperm integrin α5β1 as a potential marker of fertility in humans.

Sperm selection for assisted reproduction techniques is generally based on basic parameters, while key aspects of sperm competence and its journey from the deposition site to the fertilization site are overlooked. Consequently, identifying molecular markers in spermatozoa that can efficiently predict the fertility of a semen sample could be of great interest, particularly in cases of idiopathic male infertility. When spermatozoa reach the female reproductive tract, it provides to them the cellular and molecular microenvironment needed to acquire fertilizing ability.

Building a Calibration Set for Genomic Prediction, Characteristics to Be Considered, and Optimization Approaches.

The efficiency of genomic selection strongly depends on the prediction accuracy of the genetic merit of candidates. Numerous papers have shown that the composition of the calibration set is a key contributor to prediction accuracy. A poorly defined calibration set can result in low accuracies, whereas an optimized one can considerably increase accuracy compared to random sampling, for a same size.

Patient Characteristics Influencing Adherence to Enhanced Recovery Protocols for Colorectal Surgery: a Multicentric Prospective Study.

Background: High compliance within enhanced recovery protocols is associated with lower complication rates. Understanding which clinical characteristics make patients more prone to fail adequate adherence to enhanced recovery after surgery guidelines are essential to improve quality care. Our aim was to identify patient characteristics that influence adherence to enhanced recovery protocols in colorectal surgery.

Assessment of genomic prediction reliability and optimization of experimental designs in multi-environment trials.

New forms of the coefficient of determination can help to forecast the accuracy of genomic prediction and optimize experimental designs in multi-environment trials with genotype-by-environment interactions. In multi-environment trials, the relative performance of genotypes may vary depending on the environmental conditions, and this phenomenon is commonly referred to as genotype-by-environment interaction (G[Formula: see text]E). With genomic prediction, G[Formula: see text]E can be accounted for by modeling the genetic covariance between trials, even when the overall experimental design is highly unbalanced between trials, thanks to the genomic relationship between genotypes.

Contribution to the Knowledge of Rocky Plant Communities of the Southwest Iberian Peninsula.

The rocky habitats of southern Portugal are ecosystems with extreme xericity conditions, associated with special abiotic strains. In these unstable ecological conditions, a considerable diversity of plant communities occurs. The objective of this study, carried out in the Algarve and Monchique, and the Mariánica Range biogeographical sectors, is to compare chasmo-chomophytic communities of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, using a phytosociological approach (Braun-Blanquet methodology) and numerical analysis (hierarchical cluster analysis).

Intraoperative crystalloid utilization variability and association with postoperative outcomes: A post hoc analysis of two multicenter prospective cohort studies.

Background: The optimal regimen for intravenous administration of intraoperative fluids remains unclear. Our goal was to analyze intraoperative crystalloid volume administration practices and their association with postoperative outcomes.

Methods: We extracted clinical data from two multicenter observational studies including adult patients undergoing colorectal surgery and total hip (THA) and knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Genomic prediction and training set optimization in a structured Mediterranean oat population.

The strong genetic structure observed in Mediterranean oats affects the predictive ability of genomic prediction as well as the performance of training set optimization methods. In this study, we investigated the efficiency of genomic prediction and training set optimization in a highly structured population of cultivars and landraces of cultivated oat (Avena sativa) from the Mediterranean basin, including white (subsp. sativa) and red (subsp.

TrainSel: An R Package for Selection of Training Populations.

A major barrier to the wider use of supervised learning in emerging applications, such as genomic selection, is the lack of sufficient and representative labeled data to train prediction models. The amount and quality of labeled training data in many applications is usually limited and therefore careful selection of the training examples to be labeled can be useful for improving the accuracies in predictive learning tasks. In this paper, we present an R package, TrainSel, which provides flexible, efficient, and easy-to-use tools that can be used for the selection of training populations (STP).

Association between glycemic control and dietary patterns in patients with type 2 diabetes in a Mexican institute.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between glycemic control (hemoglobin (Hb) A1c <7%) and the dietary patterns identified in Mexican patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: This was a secondary analysis conducted with 4838 patients with T2DM in Mexico. Biochemical blood profiles, socioeconomic level, anthropometric measurements, and dietary data were obtained.

Accounting for Group-Specific Allele Effects and Admixture in Genomic Predictions: Theory and Experimental Evaluation in Maize.

Populations structured into genetic groups may display group-specific linkage disequilibrium, mutations, and/or interactions between quantitative trait loci and the genetic background. These factors lead to heterogeneous marker effects affecting the efficiency of genomic prediction, especially for admixed individuals. Such individuals have a genome that is a mosaic of chromosome blocks from different origins, and may be of interest to combine favorable group-specific characteristics.

Disentangling group specific QTL allele effects from genetic background epistasis using admixed individuals in GWAS: An application to maize flowering.

When handling a structured population in association mapping, group-specific allele effects may be observed at quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for several reasons: (i) a different linkage disequilibrium (LD) between SNPs and QTLs across groups, (ii) group-specific genetic mutations in QTL regions, and/or (iii) epistatic interactions between QTLs and other loci that have differentiated allele frequencies between groups. We present here a new genome-wide association (GWAS) approach to identify QTLs exhibiting such group-specific allele effects. We developed genetic materials including admixed progeny from different genetic groups with known genome-wide ancestries (local admixture).

Acute Bioprosthetic Mitral Valve Thrombosis During Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane.

Bioprosthetic valve thrombosis is a rare complication. Left atrial dilatation, atrial fibrillation, hypercoagulability and low cardiac output are known risk factors. We report the case of a patient undergoing a bioprosthetic mitral valve replacement who required postoperative circulatory support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and presented acute bioprosthetic valve thrombosis.