ESHRE good practice recommendations on recurrent implantation failure

Funding The meetings and technical support for this project were funded by ESHRE. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the 35 experts who contributed to the stakeholder review for their helpful comments and suggestions; the list of these reviewers is available in Supplementary Data S3Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Optical doping and damage formation in AIN by Eu implantation

AlN films grown on sapphire were implanted with 300 keV Eu ions to fluences from 3×1014 to 1.4×1017 atoms/cm2 in two different geometries: “channeled” along the c-axis and “random” with a 10° angle between the ion beam and the surface normal. A detailed study of implantation damage accumulation is presented. Strong ion channeling effects are observed leading to significantly decreased damage levels for the channeled implantation within the entire fluence range. For random implantation, a buried amorphous layer is formed at the highest fluences. Red Eu-related photoluminescence at room temperature is observed in all samples with highest intensities for low damage samples (low fluence and channeled implantation) after annealing. Implantation damage, once formed, is shown to be stable up to very high temperatures.FCT - POCI/FIS/57550/2004FCT - PTDC/FIS/66262/2006FCT - PTDC/CTM/100756/200

Pulse of inflammatory proteins in the pregnant uterus of European polecats (Mustela putorius) leading to the time of implantation

Uterine secretory proteins protect the uterus and conceptuses against infection, facilitate implantation, control cellular damage resulting from implantation, and supply pre-implantation embryos with nutrients. Unlike in humans, the early conceptus of the European polecat (Mustela putorius; ferret) grows and develops free in the uterus until implanting at about 12 days after mating. We found that the proteins appearing in polecat uteri changed dramatically with time leading to implantation. Several of these proteins have also been found in pregnant uteri of other eutherian mammals. However, we found a combination of two increasingly abundant proteins that have not been recorded before in pre-placentation uteri. First, the broad-spectrum proteinase inhibitor α2-macroglobulin rose to dominate the protein profile by the time of implantation. Its functions may be to limit damage caused by the release of proteinases during implantation or infection, and to control other processes around sites of implantation. Second, lipocalin-1 (also known as tear lipocalin) also increased substantially in concentration. This protein has not previously been recorded as a uterine secretion in pregnancy in any species. If polecat lipocalin-1 has similar biological properties to that of humans, then it may have a combined function in antimicrobial protection and transporting or scavenging lipids. The changes in the uterine secretory protein repertoire of European polecats is therefore unusual, and may be representative of pre-placentation supportive uterine secretions in mustelids (otters, weasels, badgers, mink, wolverines) in general

MeV oxygen ion implantation induced compositional intermixing in AlAs/GaAs superlattices

We present in this letter an investigation of compositional intermixing in AlAs/GaAs superlattices induced by 2 MeV oxygen ion implantation. The results are compared with implantation at 500 keV. In addition to Al intermixing in the direct lattice damage region by nuclear collision spikes, as is normally present in low-energy ion implantation, Al interdiffusion has also been found to take place in the subsurface region where MeV ion induced electronic spike damage dominates and a uniform strain field builds up due to defect generation and diffusion. Uniform compositional intermixing of the superlattices results after subsequent thermal annealing when Al interdiffusion is stimulated through recovery of the implantation-induced lattice strain field, the reconstruction and the redistribution of lattice defects, and annealing of lattice damage

Electrical properties of Bi-implanted amorphous chalcogenide films

The impact of Bi implantation on the conductivity and the thermopower of amorphous chalcogenide films is investigated. Incorporation of Bi in Ge-Sb-Te and GeTe results in enhanced conductivity. The negative Seebeck coefficient confirms onset of the electron conductivity in GeTe implanted with Bi at a dose of 2x1016 cm-2. The enhanced conductivity is accompanied by defect accumulation in the films upon implantation as is inferred by using analysis of the space-charge limited current. The results indicate that native coordination defects in lone-pair semiconductors can be deactivated by means of ion implantation, and higher conductivity of the films stems from additional electrically active defects created by implantation of bismuth.Comment: This is an extended version of the results presented in Proc. SPIE 8982, 898213 (2014

Endocardial Pacemaker Implantation in Neonates and Infants

Transvenous pacemaker lead implantation is the preferred method of pacing in adult patients. Lead performance and longevity are superior and the implantation approach can be performed under local anaesthetic with a very low morbidity. In children, and especially in neonates and infants, the epicardial route was traditionally chosen until the advent of smaller generators and lead implantation techniques that allowed growth of the child without lead displacement. Endocardial implantation is not universally accepted, however, as there is an incidence of venous occlusion of the smaller veins of neonates and infants with concerns for loss of venous access in the future. Growing experience with lower profile leads, however, reveals that endocardial pacing too can be performed with low morbidity and good long-term results in neonates and infants

Pharmacokinetic analysis after implantation of everolimus-eluting self-expanding stents in the peripheral vasculature

Background: A novel self-expanding drug-eluting stent was designed to release everolimus 225 mu g/cm(2) to prevent restenosis following peripheral arterial intervention. The purpose of this study was to measure the pharmacokinetic profile of everolimus following stent implantation. Methods: One hundred four patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease underwent implantation of everolimus-eluting stents in the femoropopliteal arteries. In a prespecified subset of 26 patients, blood samples for assay of everolimus content were collected prior to stent implantation, at 1, 4, and 8 hours postprocedure, prior to discharge, and at 1 month postproccdure. Results: A total of 39 stents, ranging from 28 mm to 100 mm in length, were implanted in 26 patients, resulting in a total delivered everolimus dose range of 3.0 to 7.6 mg. Following the procedure, the maximum observed everolimus blood concentrations (C-max) varied from 1.83 +/- 0.05 ng/mL after implantation of a single 80-mm stent to 4.66 +/- 1.78 ng/mL after implantation of two 100-mm stents. The mean time to peak concentration (T-max) varied from 6.8 hours to 35 hours. The pharmacokinetics of everolimus were dose-proportional in that dose-normalized C-max and area under the curve values were constant over the studied dose range. Conclusions: After implantation of everolimus-eluting self-expanding stents in the femoropopliteal arteries, systemic blood concentrations of everolimus are predictable and considerably lower than blood concentrations observed following safe oral administration of everolimus

Proton implanted sapphire planar and channel waveguides

We report low-order transverse-mode planar waveguides in sapphire fabricated for the first time by proton implantation. The waveguides show good guiding properties without post-implantation annealing. Channel waveguiding was achieved by polyimide strip-loading

Calculation of the substitutional fraction of ion-implanted He in an Fe target

Ion-implantation is a useful technique to study irradiation damage in nuclear materials. To study He effects in nuclear fusion conditions, He is co-implanted with damage ions to reproduce the correct He/dpa ratios in the desired or available depth range. However, the short-term fate of these He ions, i.e over the time scales of their own collisional phase, has not been yet unequivocally established. Here we present an atomistic study of the short-term evolution of He implantation in an Fe substrate to approximate the conditions encountered in dual ion-implantation studies in ferritic materials. Specifically, we calculate the fraction of He atoms that end up in substitutional sites shortly after implantation, i.e. before they contribute to long-term miscrostructural evolution. We find that fractions of at most 3% should be expected for most implantation studies. In addition, we carry out an exhaustive calculation of interstitial He migration energy barriers in the vicinity of matrix vacancies and find that they vary from approximately 20 to 60 meV depending on the separation and orientation of the He-vacancy pair.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 2 table