Endometrial scratch injury for women with one or more previous failed embryo transfers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

OBJECTIVE: To investigate endometrial scratch injury (ESI) as an intervention to improve IVF outcome in women with a history of ET failure. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S): Infertile women undergoing IVF after one or more failed ET. INTERVENTION(S): We included all randomized controlled trials of women undergoing IVF after one or more failed ET, where the intervention group received ESI and controls received placebo or no intervention. Pooled results were expressed as relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO before starting the data extraction (CRD42017082777). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Live birth rate (LBR), clinical pregnancy rate (PR), multiple PR, miscarriage rate, ectopic pregnancy (EP) PR. RESULT(S): Ten studies were included (1,468 participants). The intervention group showed higher LBR (RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.05-1.80) and clinical PR (RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.07-1.67) in comparison to controls, without difference in terms of multiple PR, miscarriage rate, and EP PR. Double luteal ESI with pipelle was associated with the greatest effect on LBR (RR 1.54, 95% CI 1.10-2.16) and clinical PR (RR 1.30, 95% CI 1.03-1.65). The ESI was beneficial for patients with two or more previous ET failure, but not for women with a single previous failed ET. No effect was found in women undergoing frozen-thawed ET cycles. CONCLUSION(S): The ESI may improve IVF success in patients with two or more previous ET failures undergoing fresh ET. The ESI timing and technique seem to play a crucial role in determining its effect on embryo implantatio

Metabarcoding data reveal vertical multitaxa variation in topsoil communities during the colonization of deglaciated forelands

Ice-free areas are expanding worldwide due to dramatic glacier shrinkage and are undergoing rapid colonization by multiple lifeforms, thus representing key environments to study ecosystem development. It has been proposed that the colonization dynamics of deglaciated terrains is different between surface and deep soils but that the heterogeneity between communities inhabiting surface and deep soils decreases through time. Nevertheless, tests of this hypothesis remain scarce, and it is unclear whether patterns are consistent among different taxonomic groups. Here, we used environmental DNA metabarcoding to test whether community diversity and composition of six groups (Eukaryota, Bacteria, Mycota, Collembola, Insecta, and Oligochaeta) differ between the surface (0–5 cm) and deeper (7.5–20 cm) soil at different stages of development and across five Alpine glaciers. Taxonomic diversity increased with time since glacier retreat and with soil evolution. The pattern was consistent across groups and soil depths. For Eukaryota and Mycota, alpha-diversity was highest at the surface. Time since glacier retreat explained more variation of community composition than depth. Beta-diversity between surface and deep layers decreased with time since glacier retreat, supporting the hypothesis that the first 20 cm of soil tends to homogenize through time. Several molecular operational taxonomic units of bacteria and fungi were significant indicators of specific depths and/or soil development stages, confirming the strong functional variation of microbial communities through time and depth. The complexity of community patterns highlights the importance of integrating information from multiple taxonomic groups to unravel community variation in response to ongoing global changes

IL-1β inhibits ILC3 while favoring NK-cell maturation of umbilical cord blood CD34(+) precursors

NK cells are innate lymphocytes characterized by the expression of nuclear factor interleukin 3 regulated (NFIL3 or E4BP4), eomesodermin (EOMES) transcription factors (TFs), and by the ability to exert cytolytic activity and release IFN‐γ. In the haploidentical‐hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo‐HSCT) setting, CD34+ donor derived NK cells play a major role in the control of leukemic relapses. Therefore, it is important to better define cytokines that influence NK‐cell differentiation from CD34+ precursors. We analyzed the effects of IL‐1β on NK‐cell differentiation from umbilical cord blood (UCB) CD34+ cells. While IL‐1β inhibited CD161+CD56+ cell proliferation, an increased expression of LFA‐1, CD94/NKG2A, KIRs, and perforin on CD56+ cells was detected. In addition, within the CD161+CD56+IL‐1RI+LFA‐1− cell fraction (representing group 3 innate lymphoid cells, ILC3‐like cells), a significant increase of EOMES, NKp46, and CD94/NKG2A receptors, cytolytic granules, and IFN‐γ was detected. This increase was paralleled by a decrease of related orphan receptors (RORγt) TF, NKp44 expression, and IL‐22 production. These data suggest that IL‐1β inhibits ILC3‐ while favoring NK‐cell maturation. Since in haplo‐HSCT conditioning regimen, infections or residual leukemia cells may induce IL‐1β production, this may influence the NK/ILC3 development from donor‐derived CD34+ precursor

Eco-friendly laminates : from the indentation to non-destructive evaluation by optical and infrared monitoring techniques

In this work, the combined effect of indentation damage and of manufacturing defects of a hybrid laminate including jute hessian cloth (plain weave) and hemp fibres in an epoxy matrix has been investigated. With this aim, various non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques have been employed, such as near-infrared (NIR) reflectography, infrared thermography (IRT), holographic interferometry (HI) and digital speckle photography (DSP). In particular, two different methods of heating were applied during IRT data collection: pulse thermography and square pulse thermography (SPT). The first one using a mid-wave infrared (IR) camera, while the second one using a long-wave IR camera. In the same way, two different cameras working into the near- and short-wave IR spectra were used, to compare different results from ~ 0.74 to 14 µm. Data were processed applying principal component thermography (PCT), correlation and the robust second-order blind identification (SOBI-RO) algorithms. The latter is used for the first time to our knowledge in this work. The defects found were enhanced by image subtraction between the reflectogram and the transmittogram, distance transform and image fusion. In particular, data fusion from IRT and DPS images allowed clearly defining the extension of the indentation damage

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ON SCDTL STRUCTURES FOR PROTONS

The medium-energy section of the proton linear accelerator for radiotherapy under realization in the framework of the TOP-IMPLART Project consists in a high frequency 7-35 MeV SCDTL (Side Coupled Drift Tube Linac) structure. The structure, made of 4 modules supplied by one klystron, has been completely designed. The first module up to 11.6 MeV has been built and is under commissioning at ENEA-Frascati and the second and third modules are under realization. The paper describes the system and presents the main results of the experimental activity on this part of the accelerator

Solid State Detectors Based on Luminescent Point Defects in Lithium Fluoride for Proton Beam Diagnostics

Proton beams of energy 3 and 7 MeV, produced by a linear accelerator for protontherapy under development at ENEA Frascati, were used to irradiate lithium fluoride (LiF) crystals and 1 μm thick LiF films grown by thermal evaporation on glass substrates, in a fluence range from 1011 to 1015 protons/cm2. The irradiation of LiF induced the stable formation of aggregate visible-emitting F2 and F 3+ color centers, which possess almost overlapping absorption bands around 450 nm and, under optical pumping in this spectral region, they simultaneously emit broad photoluminescence bands, peaked at 678 nm and 541 nm, respectively. Their laser excited emission spectra were acquired and the integrated photoluminescence signal was measured using a fluorescence optical microscope equipped with a cooled s-CMOS camera. The photoluminescence of proton irradiated LiF crystals and films shows an interesting linear response as a function of the irradiation fluence. By optical fluorescence microscopy, it was possible to record the transversal proton beam intensity profile by acquiring the photoluminescence image of irradiated LiF. Moreover, using cleaved LiF films grown on silicon substrates irradiated in a particular geometry allowed one to measure the colour centres photoluminescence distribution with proton penetration depth and provided a direct imaging of the Bragg peak. © 2014 AEIT