Comparative analysis of different secondary optical elements for aspheric primary lenses.

The performance of different reflexive and refractive secondaries optimized for the same primary lens is studied by using ray-tracing simulation. Different solutions are approached according to materials and manufacturing processes currently available in the market, which can be potentially cost-effective for concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules. They are compared in terms of system optical efficiency and acceptance angle.

Parental mental representations during late pregnancy and early parenthood following assisted reproductive technology.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between assisted reproduction technology (ART) and parental mental representations during late pregnancy and early parenthood.

Study Design: Women (n=25) following ART pregnancies were compared with their partners (n=23) and with women following spontaneous conceptions (n=39). Subjects were interviewed on mental representations at late gestation and three months postpartum.

Clinical surrogate markers of survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with second-third line erlotinib.

Background: Inhibition of the EGFR pathway is a useful strategy in the treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC. The aim of this study is to assess predictive clinical parameters of efficacy.

Methods And Patients: Sixty-two patients with advanced NSCLC were treated with erlotinib as second-third line (150 mg/day).

Proapoptotic effects of lindane on mouse primordial germ cells.

Lindane (gamma-HCH) was examined for its effect on primordial germ cell (PGC) development in the mouse embryo. We found that exposure by gavage of pregnant mice to 15 or 30 mg/kg/bw lindane during the period of PGC migration and gonad colonization (from 8.5 to 11.

Human MATER localization in specific cell domains of oocytes and follicular cells.

MATER (Maternal Antigen That Embryos Require) is an oocyte-specific protein dependent on the maternal genome and required for early embryonic development. The gene products expressed in oocytes play important roles in folliculogenesis, fertilization and pre-implantation development. The aim of this study was to characterize the localization and distribution pattern of the human MATER protein during follicular development and after ovulation, to determine its functional role.

Phospholipase Cgamma1 is required for metastasis development and progression.

Cell motility and invasion play an essential role in the development of metastasis. Evidence suggests that the enzyme phospholipase Cgamma1 (PLCgamma1) may be involved in tumor progression and possibly development of metastasis. In this study, we show that down-regulation of PLCgamma1 expression severely impairs activation of the small GTP-binding protein Rac and cell invasion in breast cancer cell lines and U87 in vitro.

Nitric oxide as an early marker of human embryo metabolic cleavage in ART using fresh or thawed oocytes.

Objective: To study a possible role of nitric oxide (NO) as a marker of development in the early phases of human embryo cleavage during assisted reproduction.

Study Design: 179 women having ART were included. 123 women used fresh oocytes and 56 oocyte thawing cycles in the Center of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Arcispedale S.

Very fast optical flaring from a possible new Galactic magnetar.

Highly luminous rapid flares are characteristic of processes around compact objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. In the high-energy regime of X-rays and gamma-rays, outbursts with variabilities on timescales of seconds or less are routinely observed, for example in gamma-ray bursts or soft gamma-ray repeaters. At optical wavelengths, flaring activity on such timescales has not been observed, other than from the prompt phase of one exceptional gamma-ray burst.

Solar simulator for concentrator photovoltaic systems.

A solar simulator for measuring performance of large area concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules is presented. Its illumination system is based on a Xenon flash light and a large area collimator mirror, which simulates natural sun light. Quality requirements imposed by the CPV systems have been characterized: irradiance level and uniformity at the receiver, light collimation and spectral distribution.

The effect of the 2004 Italian legislation on perinatal outcomes following assisted reproduction technology.

Objective: To assess the perinatal outcomes of the first three years under the 2004 Italian reproductive legislation obligating transfer of all embryos resulting from insemination of < or =3 oocytes.

Study Design: We compared the perinatal results of clinical assisted reproductive technology (ART) pregnancies during the three years following the new Italian legislation with the previous three years.

Results: There were 583 and 571 clinical pregnancies during the respective periods.

Antioxidants partially restore glutamate transport defect in leber hereditary optic neuropathy cybrids.

Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a mitochondrial disease characterized by visual loss resulting from retinal ganglion cell degeneration. Despite the important role of respiratory chain deficiency and oxidative stress induced by mtDNA point mutations affecting complex I, excitotoxic injury has been postulated as a concurrent pathogenic factor. We used transmitochondrial cybrid cell lines constructed using enucleated fibroblasts from three LHON probands carrying the most severe 3460/ND1 mutation and three controls as mitochondria donors, and the osteosarcoma-derived mtDNA-less cells, to study the possible efficacy of two selected antioxidant compounds in preventing glutamate uptake reduction previously observed in LHON cybrids.

Anxiety symptoms during late pregnancy and early parenthood following assisted reproductive technology.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between assisted reproduction technology (ART) and anxiety symptoms during late pregnancy and early parenthood.

Method: Women with ART pregnancies were prospectively compared to their partners and to women with spontaneous pregnancies. The sample of 87 subjects, 48 ART (25 mothers and 23 fathers) and 39 non-ART mothers were given the ASQ-IPAT Anxiety Scale at 30-32 weeks of gestation, and at one week and three months after delivery.

A phase II pharmacodynamic study of erlotinib in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

Purpose: To examine potential markers of clinical benefit and the effects of erlotinib on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients refractory to platinum-based chemotherapy.

Experimental Design: Patients were given erlotinib (150 mg/d). Tumor biopsies were done immediately before treatment and in a subgroup of patients after 6 weeks' treatment.

Sphingolipids in macroautophagy.

Sphingolipids are constituents of biological membranes. Ceramide and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) also act as second messengers and are part of a rheostat system, in which ceramide promotes cell death and growth arrest, and S1P induces proliferation and maintains cell survival. As macroautophagy is a lysosomal catabolic mechanism involved in determining the duration of the lifetime of cells, we raised the question of its regulation by sphingolipid messengers.

Lack of evidence for oxidative stress in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis fibroblasts.

Background: It is conceivable that an early therapeutic intervention in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) would lead to better results in terms of disease progression for these patients. One possible strategy to increase the sensitivity of the diagnosis is represented by the use of biological parameters reflecting, for example, oxidative stress alterations associated with ALS. Such biomarkers would be valuable tools both for a better diagnostic evaluation and for studying the impact of therapeutic interventions on the disease course.

Depressive symptoms during late pregnancy and early parenthood following assisted reproductive technology.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between assisted reproduction technology (ART) and depressive symptoms during late pregnancy and early parenthood.

Design: Case-control longitudinal study.

Setting: The Center of Reproductive Medicine, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Psychological vulnerability of singleton children after the 'vanishing' of a co-twin following assisted reproduction.

We test the hypothesis that parents who conceived twins by assisted reproduction technology (ART), but experienced loss of one twin, have a different parental-child relationship compared with ART parents following a singleton pregnancy. We used the 1994-2005 ART database of the Centre for Infertility of the Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova in Reggio Emilia, Italy to identify families of 53 singleton births after the 'vanishing' twin syndrome. The controls comprised 106 families who conceived and delivered singletons, matched for gestational age (>or= 28 or= 32 or= 37 weeks), maternal age (< 35, >or= 35 40 years), child's age (1-3, 4-6, and 7-11 years) and child's gender.

The effect of selecting oocytes for insemination and transferring all resultant embryos without selection on outcomes of assisted reproduction.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of selecting three best oocytes for insemination and transfer of all resultant embryos on outcomes of assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Study Design: Comparative study.

Setting: The Center of Reproductive Medicine, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Disruption of retinoic acid receptor alpha reveals the growth promoter face of retinoic acid.

Background: Retinoic acid (RA), the bioactive derivative of Vitamin A, by epigenetically controlling transcription through the RA-receptors (RARs), exerts a potent antiproliferative effect on human cells. However, a number of studies show that RA can also promote cell survival and growth. In the course of one of our studies we observed that disruption of RA-receptor alpha, RARalpha, abrogates the RA-mediated growth-inhibitory effects and unmasks the growth-promoting face of RA (Ren et al.

Genotype-based differentiation of the Cryptococcus neoformans serotypes by combined PCR-RFLP analysis of the capsule-associated genes CAP10 and CAP59.

This report describes an indirect identification method for Cryptococcus neoformans serotypes developed using combined restriction enzyme pattern analysis of two PCR-amplified portions of the capsule-associated genes CAP10 and CAP59. The method relies on the recognition of the sequence conformation of nine serotype-related polymorphic sites by the analysis of four restriction profiles. A 610 nucleotides long trait of the CAP10 gene was digested with the enzymes Sty I or Sal I and a 597 nucleotides long trait of the CAP59 gene was digested with the enzymes Sal I or EcoRV+PstI.

The effect of legislation on outcomes of assisted reproduction technology: lessons from the 2004 Italian law.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of the 2004 Italian regulations (insemination of
Design: Case-control study.

Setting: The Center of Reproductive Medicine, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

The role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase C2alpha in insulin signaling.

The members of the class II phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) family can be activated by several stimuli, indicating that these enzymes can regulate many intracellular processes. Nevertheless, to date, there has been no definitive identification of their in vivo product, their mechanism(s) of activation, or their precise intracellular roles. By metabolic labeling, we here identify phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate as the sole in vivo product of the insulin-dependent activation of PI3K-C2alpha, confirming the emerging role of such a phosphoinositide in signaling.

The GPI-anchored CD52 antigen of the sperm surface interacts with semenogelin and participates in clot formation and liquefaction of human semen.

CD52 is a human glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored antigen exclusively expressed in leukocytes and epididymal cells. It is also present in sperm, being inserted in their plasma membrane as they pass through the epididymis. In a previous paper we identified a new CD52 form without GPI anchor by fast performance liquid chromatography (FPLC) fractionation of semen components.