GnRH-Agonist Cycles versus Combined Pretreatment with Oral Contraceptive Pills in Long Protocol GnRH-Agonist Cycles: A Randomised Controlled Trial

The strategy of in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures relies on the increasing pregnancy rate and decreasing the risk of premature ovulation and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. They are also designed to avoid weekend oocyte retrievals. Combined oral contraceptive (OC) pills are among the medicines used to accomplish these objectives. Alternatively, estradiol can be used instead of OC to obtain similar results. The aim of our study was to compare the differences in pregnancy rates (PRs), implantation rates, and miscarriage rates between a short agonist protocol with estradiol priming and a long protocol with combined OC. Of the 298 women who participated in this study, 134 achieved clinical pregnancies (45.0%). A higher PR (58.4%, = 80, compared to 40.3%, = 54) was achieved in the long protocol after OC pretreatment group. The implantation rate was also higher for this group (37.8% versus 28.0%; = 0.03). The miscarriage rate was 15.0% ( = 12) for the long protocol after OC pretreatment group and 20.4% ( = 11) for the short agonist group ( = 0.81). The short agonist protocol required a 5.7% lower human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) dosage than the long protocol but surprisingly the number of oocytes retrieved was also smaller

INDIGO-DataCloud: A data and computing platform to facilitate seamless access to e-infrastructures

This paper describes the achievements of the H2020 project INDIGO-DataCloud. The project has provided e-infrastructures with tools, applications and cloud framework enhancements to manage the demanding requirements of scientific communities, either locally or through enhanced interfaces. The middleware developed allows to federate hybrid resources, to easily write, port and run scientific applications to the cloud. In particular, we have extended existing PaaS (Platform as a Service) solutions, allowing public and private e-infrastructures, including those provided by EGI, EUDAT, and Helix Nebula, to integrate their existing services and make them available through AAI services compliant with GEANT interfederation policies, thus guaranteeing transparency and trust in the provisioning of such services. Our middleware facilitates the execution of applications using containers on Cloud and Grid based infrastructures, as well as on HPC clusters. Our developments are freely downloadable as open source components, and are already being integrated into many scientific applications

Age-related decline in AMH is assay dependent limiting clinical interpretation of repeat AMH measures across the reproductive lifespan

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine whether the assays exhibit an interaction with age and exhibit heterogeneous age related declines in AMH. Apart of chronological age, AMH variation was investigated with relation to menstrual cycle day (MCD). The goal implicates two questions: Are distributions of AMH concentrations homogenous after adjustment for the specific AMH assay? Does age-assay product has an effect on AMH depletion? Methods: The study was conducted by examining results of AMH tests performed for 12,917 women with four types of AMH assays: Immunotech I generation kit (IMI, 4016 samples), Beckman Coulter II generation kit RUO (BCII RUO, 3430 samples), Beckman Coulter II generation kit with IVD certificate (BCII IVD, 830 samples), and Ansh Labs I generation kit (AnshLabs, 4641 samples). Statistical analysis included ACNOVA and least square regression technique. Results: Menstrual cycle day has no effect on AMH measurements. On the other hand, AMH values differed substantially between the four assays, with a marked discordance in the rate of age-related AMH decline for the four assays (ranging from –8.16% (95% CI: –8.79, –7.54) to –11.53% (95% CI –12.20, –10.87), with a significant interaction between age and assay. Conclusions: (1) The distribution of AMH concentration is heterogeneous after controlling the age across assays; (2) the rate of AMH decline as a function of age is different for the four manual AMH ELISA assays

Estradiol Valerate Pretreatment in Short Protocol GnRH-Agonist Cycles versus Combined Pretreatment with Oral Contraceptive Pills in Long Protocol GnRH-Agonist Cycles: A Randomised Controlled Trial

The strategy of in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures relies on the increasing pregnancy rate and decreasing the risk of premature ovulation and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. They are also designed to avoid weekend oocyte retrievals. Combined oral contraceptive (OC) pills are among the medicines used to accomplish these objectives. Alternatively, estradiol can be used instead of OC to obtain similar results. The aim of our study was to compare the differences in pregnancy rates (PRs), implantation rates, and miscarriage rates between a short agonist protocol with estradiol priming and a long protocol with combined OC. Of the 298 women who participated in this study, 134 achieved clinical pregnancies (45.0%). A higher PR (58.4%, n=80, compared to 40.3%, n=54) was achieved in the long protocol after OC pretreatment group. The implantation rate was also higher for this group (37.8% versus 28.0%; P=0.03). The miscarriage rate was 15.0% (n=12) for the long protocol after OC pretreatment group and 20.4% (n=11) for the short agonist group (P=0.81). The short agonist protocol required a 5.7% lower human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) dosage than the long protocol but surprisingly the number of oocytes retrieved was also smaller

Decreasing Quality of the New Generations of Anti-Müllerian Hormone Assays

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) measurements are widely used to optimize the stimulation protocols. First generation AMH kits correlated well with ovarian reserve and response to stimulation. In the present study we aimed to asses if the new generation kits share the same accurate correlations. Retrospective data were collected from 8323 blood samples. For comparison we used Immunotech I generation kit (ImI 4035 samples), Beckman Coulter II generation kit RUO (BCII RUO 3449, samples) and Beckman Coulter II generation kit with IVD certificate (BCII IVD 839 samples). We compared average AMH concentrations measured with different kits, as well as correlation between kits. We also compared average AMH concentrations in sera collected on different cycle days and samples of different quality of preservation. AMH serum concentrations differed for each kit, ranging 4.4 ± 4.12 (mean ± SD) for the ImI, 2.68 ± 3.15 for the BCII RUO, and 1.64 ± 2.85 for BCII IVD. The mean differences from an adjusted regression model were −48.7%, −40%, and −69.2%, respectively. In conclusion, the changes of the BC AMH kits are unpredictable; however, the improvement of them is still possible. It would be very dangerous to use elaborated stimulation protocol (based on the Ist generation AMH results) with the results from the IInd generation assays

Particle production as a function of charged-particle flattenicity in pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

International audienceThis paper reports the first measurement of the transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm{T}}$) spectra of primary charged pions, kaons, (anti)protons, and unidentified particles as a function of the charged-particle flattenicity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. Flattenicity is a novel event shape observable that is measured in the pseudorapidity intervals covered by the V0 detector, $2.8<\eta<5.1$ and $-3.7<\eta<-1.7$. According to QCD-inspired phenomenological models, it shows sensitivity to multiparton interactions and is less affected by biases towards larger $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ due to local multiplicity fluctuations in the V0 acceptance than multiplicity. The analysis is performed in minimum-bias (MB) as well as in high-multiplicity events up to $p_{\mathrm{T}}=20$ GeV/$c$. The event selection requires at least one charged particle produced in the pseudorapidity interval $|\eta|<1$. The measured $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ distributions, average $p_{\mathrm{T}}$, kaon-to-pion and proton-to-pion particle ratios, presented in this paper, are compared to model calculations using PYTHIA 8 based on color strings and EPOS LHC. The modification of the $p_{\mathrm{T}}$-spectral shapes in low-flattenicity events that have large event activity with respect to those measured in MB events develops a pronounced peak at intermediate $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ ($2<p_{\mathrm{T}}<8$ GeV/$c$), and approaches the vicinity of unity at higher $p_{\mathrm{T}}$. The results are qualitatively described by PYTHIA, and they show different behavior than those measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity based on the V0M estimator

Measurement of Λ3H{}_{\Lambda}^{3}\mathrm{H} production in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

International audienceThe first measurement of $_{\Lambda}^{3}\mathrm{H}$ and $^3_ {\overline{\Lambda}}\overline{\mathrm{H}}$ differential production with respect to transverse momentum and centrality in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$~TeV is presented. The $_{\Lambda}^{3}\mathrm{H}$ has been reconstructed via its two-charged-body decay channel, i.e., $_{\Lambda}^{3}\mathrm{H} \rightarrow {}^{3}\mathrm{He} + \pi^{-}$. A Blast-Wave model fit of the $p_{\rm T}$-differential spectra of all nuclear species measured by the ALICE collaboration suggests that the $_{\Lambda}^{3}\mathrm{H}$ kinetic freeze-out surface is consistent with that of other nuclei. The ratio between the integrated yields of $_{\Lambda}^{3}\mathrm{H}$ and $^3\mathrm{He}$ is compared to predictions from the statistical hadronisation model and the coalescence model, with the latter being favoured by the presented measurements

Addendum: Dielectron production in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02 TeV

International audienceThis is an addendum to the article [arXiv:2005.11995] "Dielectron production in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV" published in Phys. Rev. C 102 no. 5, (2020) 055204. We update the extracted charm cross section at midrapidity given in Table 3 and Figure 4 (left) of the original publication with the fragmentation fractions of charm quarks in pp collisions published in Phys. Rev. D 105 (2022) L011103