Semi-quantitative analysis of endometrial receptivity marker mRNA expression in the mid-secretory endometrium of patients with uterine fibromas

In fertile women, expression of molecular marker of endometrial receptivity, HOXA11, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and basic transcriptional element binding protein 1 (BTEB1), rises during the luteal phase with the peak occurring during the implantation window. We evaluated the transcript levels of HOXA-11, LIF and BTEB1 in the mid-secretory endometrium of infertile patients with uterine fibroid infertility (n = 8) and from normal fertile women (n = 8). Expression levels of HOXA11, LIF and BTEB1 mRNA were measured in endometrium during the mid-secretory phase using semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Endometrial HOXA11, LIF and BTEB1 mRNA expression levels (normalized to ß-actin expression) were significantly decreased in endometrium of infertile patients with uterine fibroid as compared with healthy fertile controls at the time of implantation (P<0.05). The results suggest that the alteration in expression pattern of some genes could account for some aspects of infertility in patients with uterine fibroma.Key words: Myoma, fibromas, implantation, HOXA11, leukemia inhibitory factor, basic transcriptional element binding protein 1

A semismooth newton method for the nearest Euclidean distance matrix problem

The Nearest Euclidean distance matrix problem (NEDM) is a fundamentalcomputational problem in applications such asmultidimensional scaling and molecularconformation from nuclear magnetic resonance data in computational chemistry.Especially in the latter application, the problem is often large scale with the number ofatoms ranging from a few hundreds to a few thousands.In this paper, we introduce asemismooth Newton method that solves the dual problem of (NEDM). We prove that themethod is quadratically convergent.We then present an application of the Newton method to NEDM with $H$-weights.We demonstrate the superior performance of the Newton method over existing methodsincluding the latest quadratic semi-definite programming solver.This research also opens a new avenue towards efficient solution methods for the molecularembedding problem

Increased expression of two alternative spliced variants of CD1d molecule in human gastric cancer

Background: CD1d presents glycolipid antigens to invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. The role of CD1d in the development of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer has not been revealed, yet. Objective: To clarify the expression of alternatively spliced variants of CD1d in peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Methods: Patients with dyspepsia were selected and divided into three groups of non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD), peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and gastric cancer (GC), according to their endoscopic and histopathological examinations. H. pylori infection was diagnosed by rapid urease test and histopathology. The expression levels of V2, V4, and V5 spliced variants of CD1d molecule were determined by quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR. Results: Relative gene expression levels of V4 were higher in GC patients (n=37) than those in NUD (n=49) and PUD (n=51) groups (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Moreover, GC patients showed higher expression levels of V5 compared to NUD and PUD groups (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Positive correlation coefficients were attained between V4 and V5 expression in patients with PUD (r=0.734, p<0.0001) and GC (r=0.423, p<0.01), but not in patients with NUD. Among NUD patients, the expression levels of V4, but not V5, were higher in H. pylori-positive patients than in H. pylori-negative ones (p<0.01). Conclusion: Collectively, both membrane-bound (V4) and soluble (V5) isoforms of CD1d were over-expressed in gastric tumor tissues, suggesting that they are involved in anti-tumor immune responses. © 2015, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Agricultural Reforms and Use of Market Mechanisms for Risk Management

In July 2004, the Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) unanimously agreedon a framework for liberalising farm trade under the Doha Development Agenda with a view to establishing a fair and market-orientated trading system. The ultimate objective is to promote living standards, employment and sustainable development around the world, particularly in developing countries, through a process of fundamental reform. The key ingredients of this process are substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support, the elimination of all forms of export subsidisation by an agreed date, and a further opening-up of agricultural markets. The European Community has already taken importantunilateral steps in that direction, most recently through the introduction of the Single Farm Payment scheme agreed under the 2003 Mid-term Review of the Common Agricultural Policy. This policy change coupled with the reforms that will result from the WTO negotiations will expose European farmers, like farmers in other countries, more prominently to market forces. The present report provides an important analysis of the opportunities and challenges ahead for the European farm community in adapting to the new policy environment. It also provides guidance for farmers, agro-industries and policy markets with respect to effective risk management strategies designed to facilitate smooth adjustment and a soft landing as these reforms are being implemented. Finally, the report highlights a few important areas which need to be further explored in the quest for instruments to facilitatea successful liberalisation of agricultural markets in Europe

WAYS OF RATIONAL USE OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE OIL INDUSTRY

This article talks about promising ways of development of petrochemical and oil refining industry and efficient use of water resources. Water affects most segments of the petroleum industry, and therefore efficient water management plays a key role in oil and gas exploitation. In most process industries, water is vital to many operations and is used for a variety of purposes such as product preparation, cooling, high purity water makeup water systems, general plant service water, waste handling/conveyance, potable/sanitary service, and fire protection, The water to be managed is produced together with hydrocarbons, formed as a by-product during oil and gas processing. Water has been identified as one of the top four challenges facing the exploitation of one of the largest crude oil fields (oil sands extraction). Large volumes stored in tailings ponds from oil-sand separation must be managed with a long-term view, as dike failure can cause a major environmental disaster

Letter to the Editor on: Prostate-specific antigen density is predictive of outcome in suboptimal prostate seed brachytherapy

In this study, a novel method was developed to measure acidic and basic drugs in biological and wastewater samples. The method used magnetic nanoparticles based on Vortex-Assisted Dispersive Micro-Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and then identifying with HPLC-UV. The magnetic nanoparticle (Fe3O4@SiO2@Kit-6@NH2) has been used as an efficient adsorbent for the extraction of acidic and basic drugs ibuprofen (IFB), fenoprofen calcium (FPC), methocarbamol (MTC), and clonazepam (CZP). The magnetic nanoparticle was characterized by techniques including SEM, XRD, EDX, and FT-IR. The effect of various parameters in the V-D-μ-SPE method was studied completely through the design of the response surface methodology (RSM) of the Box–Behnken design (BBD) based response method and the utility function. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency were optimized including sample pH, adsorbent amount, absorption time, the salt concentration in the sample solution, CTAB of concentration, desorption time, and the volume of an eluent. After optimization, the limit of detection and calibration curve in the linear range were obtained 0.062–0.32 μg L−1 and 0.1–800 μg L−1, respectively. Its linear correlation was R2&gt; 0.9951. The relative standard deviation (n = 5) was between 2.4 and 5.1. Finally, this method was used to determine target analytes in human serum, urine, and wastewater. • In this study, for the first time, a novel method for the determination of some drugs from human serum, urine, and wastewater samples. • The Synthesized Fe3O4@SiO2@Kit-6@NH2 NPs based V-D-μ-SPE was characterized by techniques including SEM, XRD, EDX, and FT-IR. • The effects of various parameters in the V-D-μ-SPE methods were studied through the design of the RSM of BBD. © 202

Detection of human papillomavirus DNA sequences in oral lesions using polymerase chain reaction

The purpose of the present study was to estimate the frequency of HPV DNA in four groups of oral lesions, including oral squamous cell carcinoma. Sixty paraffin-embedded oral tissue samples were examined for the presence of HPV DNAs using the PCR technique. These specimens were obtained from patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), leukoplakia, oral lichen planus (OLP), and pyogenic granuloma (PG). Consensus primers for L1 region (MY09 and MY11) and specific primers were used for detection of HPV DNA sequences in this study. we detected HPV DNA in 60% (9 out of 15) of OSCCs, 26.7% (4 out of 15) of leukoplakia, 13.3% (2 out of 15) of OLPs, and 6.7% (1 out of 15) of PGs. Statistical analysis showed that the prevalence of HPV in OSCC was significantly higher than other groups (P < 0.05). The frequency of HPV-16 and 18 detection in OSCC samples were 40% and 20%, respectively. The prevalence of these high risk HPVs was significantly higher in OSCC group (P < 0.05). The results of the present study show a successive increase of detection rate of HPV-16 and 18 DNAs from low level in samples of pyogenic granuloma and non-premalignant or questionably premalignant lesions of OLP to premalignant leukoplakia and to OSCC. © 2007 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

History-based construction of log-process alignments for conformance checking : discovering what really went wrong

Alignments provide a robust approach for conformance checking which has been largely applied in various contexts such as auditing and performance analysis. Alignment-based conformance checking techniques pinpoint the deviations causing nonconformity based on a cost function. However, such a cost function is often manually defined on the basis of human judgment and thus error-prone, leading to alignments that do not provide the most probable explanations of nonconformity. This paper proposes an approach to automatically define the cost function based on information extracted from the past process executions. The cost function only relies on objective factors and thus enables the construction of the most probable alignments, i.e. alignments that provide the most probable explanations of nonconformity. Our approach has been implemented in ProM and assessed using both synthetic and real-life data. Keywords: Conformance checking, alignments, cost function

History-based construction of log-process alignments for conformance checking : discovering what really went wrong

Alignments provide a robust approach for conformance checking which has been largely applied in various contexts such as auditing and performance analysis. Alignment-based conformance checking techniques pinpoint the deviations causing nonconformity based on a cost function. However, such a cost function is often manually defined on the basis of human judgment and thus error-prone, leading to alignments that do not provide the most probable explanations of nonconformity. This paper proposes an approach to automatically define the cost function based on information extracted from the past process executions. The cost function only relies on objective factors and thus enables the construction of the most probable alignments, i.e. alignments that provide the most probable explanations of nonconformity. Our approach has been implemented in ProM and assessed using both synthetic and real-life data. Keywords: Conformance checking, alignments, cost function