Association between the luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptor (LHCGR) rs4073366 polymorphism and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation

Background The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between a purported luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin (LHCGR) high function polymorphism (rs4539842/insLQ) and outcome to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). Methods This was a prospective study of 172 patients undergoing COH at the Fertility and IVF Center at GWU. DNA was isolated from blood samples and a region encompassing the insLQ polymorphism was sequenced. We also investigated a polymorphism (rs4073366 G \u3e C) that was 142 bp frominsLQ. The association of the insLQ and rs4073366 alleles and outcome to COH (number of mature follicles, estradiol level on day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration, the number of eggs retrieved and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)) was determined. Results Increasing age and higher day 3 (basal) FSH levels were significantly associated with poorer response to COH. We found that both insLQ and rs4073366 were in linkage disequilibrium (LD) and no patients were homozygous for both recessive alleles (insLQ/insLQ; C/C). The insLQ variant was not significantly associated with any of the main outcomes to COH. Carrier status for the rs4073366 C variant was associated (P = 0.033) with an increased risk (OR 2.95, 95% CI = 1.09-7.96) of developing OHSS. Conclusions While age and day 3 FSH levels were predictive of outcome, we found no association betweeninsLQ and patient response to COH. Interestingly, rs4073366 C variant carrier status was associated with OHSS risk. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report suggesting thatLHCGR genetic variation might function in patient risk for OHSS

Dexamethasone impairs the expression of antimicrobial mediators in lipopolysaccharide-activated primary macrophages by inhibiting both expression and function of interferon β

Glucocorticoids potently inhibit expression of many inflammatory mediators, and have been widely used to treat both acute and chronic inflammatory diseases for more than seventy years. However, they can have several unwanted effects, amongst which immunosuppression is one of the most common. Here we used microarrays and proteomic approaches to characterise the effect of dexamethasone (a synthetic glucocorticoid) on the responses of primary mouse macrophages to a potent pro-inflammatory agonist, lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Gene ontology analysis revealed that dexamethasone strongly impaired the lipopolysaccharide-induced antimicrobial response, which is thought to be driven by an autocrine feedback loop involving the type I interferon IFNβ. Indeed, dexamethasone strongly and dose-dependently inhibited the expression of IFNβ by LPS-activated macrophages. Unbiased proteomic data also revealed an inhibitory effect of dexamethasone on the IFNβ-dependent program of gene expression, with strong down-regulation of several interferon-induced antimicrobial factors. Surprisingly, dexamethasone also inhibited the expression of several antimicrobial genes in response to direct stimulation of macrophages with IFNβ. We tested a number of hypotheses based on previous publications, but found that no single mechanism could account for more than a small fraction of the broad suppressive impact of dexamethasone on macrophage type I interferon signaling, underlining the complexity of this pathway. Preliminary experiments indicated that dexamethasone exerted similar inhibitory effects on primary human monocyte-derived or alveolar macrophages.</p

Electrospun amplified fiber optics

A lot of research is focused on all-optical signal processing, aiming to obtain effective alternatives to existing data transmission platforms. Amplification of light in fiber optics, such as in Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, is especially important for an efficient signal transmission. However, the complex fabrication methods, involving high-temperature processes performed in highly pure environment, slow down the fabrication and make amplified components expensive with respect to an ideal, high-throughput and room temperature production. Here, we report on near infrared polymer fiber amplifiers, working over a band of about 20 nm. The fibers are cheap, spun with a process entirely carried out at room temperature, and show amplified spontaneous emission with good gain coefficients as well as low optical losses (a few cm^-1). The amplification process is favoured by the high fiber quality and low self-absorption. The found performance metrics promise to be suitable for short-distance operation, and the large variety of commercially-available doping dyes might allow for effective multi-wavelength operation by electrospun amplified fiber optics.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

Possible physical and thermodynamical evidence for liquid water at the Phoenix landing site

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95444/1/jgre2665.pd

Modern Electronic Techniques Applied to Physics and Engineering

Contains reports on seven research projects.Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) OEMsr-26

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software

Dopamine Signaling Is Essential for Precise Rates of Locomotion by C. elegans

Dopamine is an important neuromodulator in both vertebrates and invertebrates. We have found that reduced dopamine signaling can cause a distinct abnormality in the behavior of the nematode C. elegans, which has only eight dopaminergic neurons. Using an automated particle-tracking system for the analysis of C. elegans locomotion, we observed that individual wild-type animals made small adjustments to their speed to maintain constant rates of locomotion. By contrast, individual mutant animals defective in the synthesis of dopamine made larger adjustments to their speeds, resulting in large fluctuations in their rates of locomotion. Mutants defective in dopamine signaling also frequently exhibited both abnormally high and abnormally low average speeds. The ability to make small adjustments to speed was restored to these mutants by treatment with dopamine. These behaviors depended on the D2-like dopamine receptor DOP-3 and the G-protein subunit GOA-1. We suggest that C. elegans and other animals, including humans, might share mechanisms by which dopamine restricts motor activity levels and coordinates movement

Modern microwave methods in solid state inorganic materials chemistry: from fundamentals to manufacturing

No abstract available