The (decision) tree of fertility: an innovative decision-making algorithm in assisted reproduction technique

Purpose: Several mathematical models have been developed to estimate individualized chances of assisted reproduction techniques (ART) success, although with limited clinical application. Our study aimed to develop a decisional algorithm able to predict pregnancy and live birth rates after controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) phase, helping the physician to decide whether to perform oocytes pick-up continuing the ongoing ART path. Methods: A single-center retrospective analysis of real-world data was carried out including all fresh ART cycles performed in 1998–2020. Baseline characteristics, ART parameters and biochemical/clinical pregnancies and live birth rates were collected. A seven-steps systematic approach for model development, combining linear regression analyses and decision trees (DT), was applied for biochemical, clinical pregnancy, and live birth rates. Results: Of fresh ART cycles, 12,275 were included. Linear regression analyses highlighted a relationship between number of ovarian follicles > 17 mm detected at ultrasound before pick-up (OF17), embryos number and fertilization rate, and biochemical and clinical pregnancy rates (p < 0.001), but not live birth rate. DT were created for biochemical pregnancy (statistical power–SP:80.8%), clinical pregnancy (SP:85.4%), and live birth (SP:87.2%). Thresholds for OF17 entered in all DT, while sperm motility entered the biochemical pregnancy’s model, and female age entered the clinical pregnancy and live birth DT. In case of OF17 < 3, the chance of conceiving was < 6% for all DT. Conclusion: A systematic approach allows to identify OF17, female age, and sperm motility as pre-retrieval predictors of ART outcome, possibly reducing the socio-economic burden of ART failure, allowing the clinician to perform or not the oocytes pick-up

From X-ray dips to eclipse: Witnessing disk reformation in the recurrent nova USco

The 10th recorded outburst of the recurrent eclipsing nova USco was observed simultaneously in X-ray, UV, and optical by XMM-Newton on days 22.9 and 34.9 after outburst. Two full passages of the companion in front of the nova ejecta were observed, witnessing the reformation of the accretion disk. On day 22.9, we observed smooth eclipses in UV and optical but deep dips in the X-ray light curve which disappeared by day 34.9, then yielding clean eclipses in all bands. X-ray dips can be caused by clumpy absorbing material that intersects the line of sight while moving along highly elliptical trajectories. Cold material from the companion could explain the absence of dips in UV and optical light. The disappearance of X-ray dips before day 34.9 implies significant progress in the formation of the disk. The X-ray spectra contain photospheric continuum emission plus strong emission lines, but no clear absorption lines. Both continuum and emission lines in the X-ray spectra indicate a temperature increase from day 22.9 to day 34.9. We find clear evidence in the spectra and light curves for Thompson scattering of the photospheric emission from the white dwarf. Photospheric absorption lines can be smeared out during scattering in a plasma of fast electrons. We also find spectral signatures of resonant line scattering that lead to the observation of the strong emission lines. Their dominance could be a general phenomenon in high-inclination systems such as Cal87.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. 16 pages, 16 figure

"Growing through relationship" - the Engagement of the Health Professional Students in the Internship Experience: a Grounded Theory Research

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Little is known about the students' engagement in the training experience and how it is lived by the health professional students. We aim at building a theoretical model of the engagement process starting from their lived experiences with Grounded Theory approach. METHODS: In-depth qualitative interviews are conducted with 12 students from the Master Degree Courses in Nursing, Physiotherapy and Prevention Techniques in the environment and in the workplace, who had carried out and/or were doing internships in the same territory (2nd and 3rd year). Results The health professions' student engagement in the training program is developed in three main phases: initial phase, central phase and final phase, where emotions, behaviours, awareness contribute to the development of the entire engagement process with different relevance. The intertwining of these different components that develop along the stages of the experience gives life to the core category: growing through relationship, which expressed the crucial role of the relational network built during the internship experience in shaping students' engagement. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study underline the crucial role of students' engagement in the internship experience in favouring both better learning outcomes and perspective professional success and wellbeing. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Spatial modeling for low pathogenicity avian influenza virus at the interface of wild birds and backyard poultry

Low pathogenicity avian influenza virus (LPAIV) is endemic in wild birds and poultry in Argentina, and active surveillance has been in place to prevent any eventual virus mutation into a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV), which is exotic in this country. Risk mapping can contribute effectively to disease surveillance and control systems, but it has proven a very challenging task in the absence of disease data. We used a combination of expert opinion elicitation, multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA), and ecological niche modeling (ENM) to identify the most suitable areas for the occurrence of LPAIV at the interface between backyard domestic poultry and wild birds in Argentina. This was achieved by calculating a spatially‐explicit risk index. As evidenced by the validation and sensitivity analyses, our model was successful in identifying high‐risk areas for LPAIV occurrence. Also, we show that the risk for virus occurrence is significantly higher in areas closer to commercial poultry farms. Although the active surveillance systems have been successful in detecting LPAIV‐positive backyard farms and wild birds in Argentina, our predictions suggest that surveillance efforts in those compartments could be improved by including high‐risk areas identified by our model. Our research provides a tool to guide surveillance activities in the future, and presents a mixed methodological approach which could be implemented in areas where the disease is exotic or rare and a knowledge‐driven modeling method is necessary

Study of energetic properties of different tree organs in six Olea europaea L. cultivars

Pruning is an important horticultural practice for the management of olive orchards (Olea europaea L.) that generates a considerable amount of residues every year. Olive orchards are increasingly expanding beyond the Mediterranean Basin to new growing Countries (Australia, California, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) and this will certainly lead to larger availability of pruning material. Currently, the interest in use of olive tree pruning residues for energy purposes is increasing but unfortunately, the information on the differences among organs of the tree, in terms of calorific value and ash content, is scarce. Another unknown aspect is the effect of cultivar vigour on dry matter partition among different tree organs, these are important traits to establish the energetic quality of pruning residues. The aim of this research was to study energetic aspects of six olive cultivars, largely grown in the Sicilian olive industry and characterized by different vigour. The trees taken into consideration in the study were selected in an experimental orchard to avoid any effect due to differences in environmental conditions and management. The energetic characteristics, calorific value and ash content, were evaluated for the various tree organs particularly shoots, leaves and branches; also root system was evaluated, although the roots can only be used once the trees are uprooted. Significant differences were observed in the calorific values among the different tree organs and the cultivars. Regarding the ash, shoots and leaves showed the highest content with respect to the other organs, thus causing a possible tendency in slagging with fouling and corrosion of boiler components

Water safety in healthcare facilities. The Vieste Charter

The Study Group on Hospital Hygiene of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (GISIO-SItI) and the Local Health Authority of Foggia, Apulia, Italy, after the National Convention "Safe water in healthcare facilities" held in Vieste-Pugnochiuso on 27-28 May 2016, present the "Vieste Charter", drawn up in collaboration with experts from the National Institute of Health and the Ministry of Health. This paper considers the risk factors that may affect the water safety in healthcare facilities and reports the current regulatory frameworks governing the management of installations and the quality of the water. The Authors promote a careful analysis of the risks that characterize the health facilities, for the control of which specific actions are recommended in various areas, including water safety plans; approval of treatments; healthcare facilities responsibility, installation and maintenance of facilities; multidisciplinary approach; education and research; regional and national coordination; communication

A Dynamic Splicing Program Ensures Proper Synaptic Connections in the Developing Cerebellum

Tight coordination of gene expression in the developing cerebellum is crucial for establishment of neuronal circuits governing motor and cognitive function. However, transcriptional changes alone do not explain all of the switches underlying neuronal differentiation. Here we unveiled a widespread and highly dynamic splicing program that affects synaptic genes in cerebellar neurons. The motifs enriched in modulated exons implicated the splicing factor Sam68 as a regulator of this program. Sam68 controls splicing of exons with weak branchpoints by directly binding near the 3′ splice site and competing with U2AF recruitment. Ablation of Sam68 disrupts splicing regulation of synaptic genes associated with neurodevelopmental diseases and impairs synaptic connections and firing of Purkinje cells, resulting in motor coordination defects, ataxia, and abnormal social behavior. These findings uncover an unexpectedly dynamic splicing regulatory network that shapes the synapse in early life and establishes motor and cognitive circuitry in the developing cerebellum

Search for CP violation in D0 and D+ decays

A high statistics sample of photoproduced charm particles from the FOCUS (E831) experiment at Fermilab has been used to search for CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay modes D+ to K-K+pi+, D0 to K-K+ and D0 to pi-pi+. We have measured the following CP asymmetry parameters: A_CP(K-K+pi+) = +0.006 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.005, A_CP(K-K+) = -0.001 +/- 0.022 +/- 0.015 and A_CP(pi-pi+) = +0.048 +/- 0.039 +/- 0.025 where the first error is statistical and the second error is systematic. These asymmetries are consistent with zero with smaller errors than previous measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Performance Of A Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber Exposed To The WANF Neutrino Beam

We present the results of the first exposure of a Liquid Argon TPC to a multi-GeV neutrino beam. The data have been collected with a 50 liters ICARUS-like chamber located between the CHORUS and NOMAD experiments at the CERN West Area Neutrino Facility (WANF). We discuss both the instrumental performance of the detector and its capability to identify and reconstruct low multiplicity neutrino interactions.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures. Submitted for publication to Physical Review

Organism-sediment interactions govern post-hypoxia recovery of ecosystem functioning

Hypoxia represents one of the major causes of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning loss for coastal waters. Since eutrophication-induced hypoxic events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, understanding the response of ecosystems to hypoxia is of primary importance to understand and predict the stability of ecosystem functioning. Such ecological stability may greatly depend on the recovery patterns of communities and the return time of the system properties associated to these patterns. Here, we have examined how the reassembly of a benthic community contributed to the recovery of ecosystem functioning following experimentally-induced hypoxia in a tidal flat. We demonstrate that organism-sediment interactions that depend on organism size and relate to mobility traits and sediment reworking capacities are generally more important than recovering species richness to set the return time of the measured sediment processes and properties. Specifically, increasing macrofauna bioturbation potential during community reassembly significantly contributed to the recovery of sediment processes and properties such as denitrification, bedload sediment transport, primary production and deep pore water ammonium concentration. Such bioturbation potential was due to the replacement of the small-sized organisms that recolonised at early stages by large-sized bioturbating organisms, which had a disproportionately stronger influence on sediment. This study suggests that the complete recovery of organism-sediment interactions is a necessary condition for ecosystem functioning recovery, and that such process requires long periods after disturbance due to the slow growth of juveniles into adult stages involved in these interactions. Consequently, repeated episodes of disturbance at intervals smaller than the time needed for the system to fully recover organism-sediment interactions may greatly impair the resilience of ecosystem functioning.