Progesterone regulation of implantation-related genes: new insights into the role of oestrogen

Genomic profiling was performed on explants of late proliferative phase human endometrium after 24-h treatment with progesterone (P) or oestradiol and progesterone (17β-E2+P) and on explants of menstrual phase endometrium treated with 17β-E2+P. Gene expression was validated with real-time PCR in the samples used for the arrays, in endometrium collected from early and mid-secretory phase endometrium, and in additional experiments performed on new samples collected in the menstrual and late proliferative phase. The results show that late proliferative phase human endometrium is more responsive to progestins than menstrual phase endometrium, that the expression of several genes associated with embryo implantation (i.e. thrombomodulin, monoamine oxidase A, SPARC-like 1) can be induced by P in vitro, and that genes that are fully dependent on the continuous presence of 17β-E2 during P exposure can be distinguished from those that are P-dependent to a lesser extent. Therefore, 17β-E2 selectively primes implantation-related genes for the effects of P

Invasiveness of picosecond and nanosecond laser diagnostics on plasma bullets in N2

Laser diagnostics are widely used to obtain plasma characteristics. For example, Thomson scattering is applied for determining the electron temperature and density and recently E-FISH (electric field induced second harmonic generation) was introduced as a method to directly obtain the electric field. So far, laser diagnostics were considered non-invasive. In this research, we will show the effect of a focused pulsed laser beam crossing the path of a plasma bullet in nitrogen flowing into atmospheric air. The laser beam ionizes part of the molecules and atoms along its focus. Therefore, the bullet branches when entering the beam path.The new, simple and promising E-FISH technique is applied to the plasma to obtain its electric field. In E-FISH, a laser beam interacts non-linearly with the ambient electric field in a medium, which results in frequency doubled light. The intensity of these second harmonics scales quadratically with the electric field. In this way, a polarization resolved electric field distribution can be obtained for (almost) any kind of plasma. A nano- and a picosecond pulsed laser are used as a source. For the first time, the obtained field profiles measured with both lasers are compared to each other and the effect of the laser beam on the plasma is examined by using an ICCD camera. This work unfolds a direct correspondence of the determined electric field profile obtained with the nanosecond laser and the branching of the bullet.<br/

Effectiveness of a low intensity outpatient cognitive rehabilitation programme for patients in the chronic phase after acquired brain injury

The aim of this prospective cohort study was to examine the effectiveness of a low intensity outpatient cognitive rehabilitation programme for patients with acquired brain injury in the chronic phase. Twenty-seven patients with acquired brain injury (i.e., stroke, traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid haemorrhage; 52% male) with a mean age of 49.5 (SD 9.2) years and 25 relatives with a mean age of 48.8 (SD 8.8) years were recruited to the study. Mean time since injury in the patient group was 1.9 years (SD 2.0). The group programme consisted of 15 weekly sessions of 2.5 hours and included cognitive strategy training, social skills training, and psycho-education. Patients also received homework. Relatives were invited to attend twice. Repeated measurements were taken: prior to treatment (baseline, T0); directly after treatment (T1, 21 weeks); and at follow-up (T2, 45 weeks). Primary outcome measures were individualised goals (GAS), cognitive failures (CFQ), and quality of life (SA-SIP). Patients did improve significantly on individual goals (p .05) between T0 and T1 and the level of attainment remained stable between T1 and T2. Goals were mostly set in the cognitive and behavioural domains. There were no significant differences between the measurements (T0-T1-T2) on the CFQ and the SA-SIP. The programme had a positive effect on the individual goals set by the patients. However, this did not result in a higher participation level or a better quality of life. This may be due to the low intensity and short duration of the programme

A model of web-based follow-up to reduce assistive technology abandonment

The abandonment of assistive technology (AT) is strictly related to the subjective quality of the service delivery regarding the whole AT assignation process. Starting from this consideration, the aim of this work is to show the design of a Web-based follow-up model (WFM) aimed at overcoming the hearing aid abandonment in the Italian Umbria Region AT service delivery system. The WFM model described here is developed in two phases: an implementation phase, and an experimental evaluation which is still under development. The model meets the current objective of the Umbria Region's Units of Local Health Service to digitize their services in order to easily monitor the quality of the delivery service and evaluate the post-provision outcome