Effect of environmental heat stress on Kıvırcık ram sperm parameters

ΔΕΝ ΔΙΑΤΙΘΕΤΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗThe relationship between environmental conditions and reproduction has been in sight of research. Therefore, there has been a growing interest in effect of climate change, global warming and subsequently environmental heat stress on gametes in last decades. Thus, the present study was designed to investigate the effect of environmental heat stress on Kıvırcık ram sperm parameters. In this study, semen samples (n=72) were collected from six mature rams during a 12-month study period. The temperature and relative humidity of animal box were controlled daily. The mean monthly temperature humidity index (THI) values were calculated to determine heat stress and control periods. According to the mean monthly THI values, the 36 of 72 ejaculates, which were collected between May and October, were classified as heat stress period samples. The others (n=36), which were collected between November and April, were considered as control period samples. The heat stress period sperm samples had lower sperm concentration, motility, viability, membrane integrity and higher abnormal sperm rate compared to control period sperm samples (P< 0.05). Semen volume, sperm DNA integrity and the ability of sperm to undergo acrosome reaction were detected similar between the heat stress and control periods. In conclusion, environmental heat stress was found deleterious for some sperm parameters in Kıvırcık rams.

Foreword to the special issue on pattern recognition in remote sensing

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The nine papers in this special issue focus on covering different aspects of remote sensing image analysis. © 2012 IEE

Effect of seminal plasma on functional integrity of rabbit sperm membranes during storage at 4ºC or freezing

[EN] The effect of semen plasma removal either by simple centrifugation or by separation through a Percoll gradient on the integrity of plasma membranes of rabbit spermatozoa during storage at 4°C and freezing was evaluated in two successive experiments. A modifi ed hypo-osmotic swelling test procedure combined with supravital staining was employed to evaluate simultaneously membrane integrity of head and tail membranes of sperm cells. In the first experiment, the impact of semen plasma on membrane integrity of sperm cells was examined in Tris-citric acid-glucose extender at 4°C for 96 h. The percentage of sperm cells with disintegrated tail and head membranes increased in all groups in correlation with the length of storage. After storage for 96 h, removal of semen plasma, irrespective of the method of removal, resulted in signifi cant increase (P<0.01) in the percentage of sperm cells with disintegrated plasma membranes. The adverse effect of storage and removal of semen plasma was more prominent on the tail membranes, and especially during the fi rst 24 h of the storage period. In the second experiment, the impact of semen plasma on membrane integrity of sperm cells undergoing freezing was examined. A total of three groups were arranged as described in the fi rst experiment, and semen samples were frozen in straws using an extender including acetamide and methyl cellulose. Freezing of semen drastically reduced the percentage of sperm cells with intact plasma membranes in postthaw samples. However, removal of semen plasma, irrespective of the method of removal, did not affect the proportion of sperm cells with intact plasma membranes. In conclusion, the effect of semen plasma on plasma membranes varied signifi cantly relative to the preservation temperature of sperm cells. Although it exerted a protective infl uence during storage at 4°C, no protective impact was monitored during freezing.Aksoy, M.; Cankat Lehimcioglu, N.; Akman, O. (2010). Effect of seminal plasma on functional integrity of rabbit sperm membranes during storage at 4ºC or freezing. World Rabbit Science. 16(1). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.64216

Digital mammographic interpretation by UK radiographer mammographers: A JAFROC analysis of observer performance

Introduction: Radiologists utilise mammography test sets to bench mark their performance against recognised standards. Using a validated test set, this study compares the performance of radiographer readers against previous test results for radiologists. Methods: Under similar test conditions radiographer readers were given an established test set of 60 mammograms and tasked to identify breast cancer, they were measured against their ability to identify, locate and give a confidence level for cancer being present on a standard set of mammographic images. The results were then compared to previously published results for radiologists for similar or the same test sets. Results: The 10 radiographer readers demonstrated similar results to radiologists and for lesion sensitivity were the highest scoring group. The study group score a sensitivity of 83; a specificity of 69.3 and lesion sensitivity of 74.8 with ROC and JAFROC scores of 0.86 and 0.74 respectively. Conclusion: Under test conditions radiographers are able to identify and accurately locate breast cancer in a range of complex mammographic backgrounds. Implications for practice: The study was performed under experimental conditions with results comparable to breast radiologists under similar conditions; translation of these findings into clinical practice will help address access and capacity issues in the timely identification and diagnosis of breast cancer

A prenatally detected adrenal cyst treated by adrenal-sparing surgery: case report and review of the literature

A neonatal case of left adrenal cyst detected in utero and successfully treated by adrenal-sparing surgery is presented and discussed with review of the literature. Incidentally discovered prenatal adrenal masses present a diagnostic dilemma. Benign and malignant conditions can present as a fetal suprarenal mass. There is a wide spectrum of management modalities ranging from followup by serial sonographic scanning during pregnancy to early primary excision of the mass. We report a neonate with prenatal diagnosis of a cystic mass arising from the left adrenal gland. Postnatal excision of the mass without adrenalectomy was carried out. Frozen sections of the mass and a biopsy of the left adrenal gland confirmed the benign nature of the cyst and normal adrenal tissue. The uniloculated cyst was reported as a pseudocyst. After surgery, the recovery was uneventful, and the patient was discharged 4 days postoperatively in good condition. On the basis of this case and review of the literature, we may conclude that early primary surgical excision is recommended for either diagnosis or treatment if the results of prenatal or postnatal imaging studies are unreliable for the precise diagnosis of suprarenal mass. Adrenal-sparing surgery is recommended if pathological evaluation of frozen sections has confirmed the benign nature of the mass.Keywords: adrenal-sparing surgery, neonates, prenatal diagnosis, suprarenal cys

Integrating biological pathways and genomic profiles with ChiBE 2

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Background: Dynamic visual exploration of detailed pathway information can help researchers digest and interpret complex mechanisms and genomic datasets. Results: ChiBE is a free, open-source software tool for visualizing, querying, and analyzing human biological pathways in BioPAX format. The recently released version 2 can search for neighborhoods, paths between molecules, and common regulators/targets of molecules, on large integrated cellular networks in the Pathway Commons database as well as in local BioPAX models. Resulting networks can be automatically laid out for visualization using a graphically rich, process-centric notation. Profiling data from the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics and expression data from the Gene Expression Omnibus can be overlaid on these networks. Conclusions: ChiBE's new capabilities are organized around a genomics-oriented workflow and offer a unique comprehensive pathway analysis solution for genomics researchers

Systematic identification of cancer driving signaling pathways based on mutual exclusivity of genomic alterations.

We present a novel method for the identification of sets of mutually exclusive gene alterations in a given set of genomic profiles. We scan the groups of genes with a common downstream effect on the signaling network, using a mutual exclusivity criterion that ensures that each gene in the group significantly contributes to the mutual exclusivity pattern. We test the method on all available TCGA cancer genomics datasets, and detect multiple previously unreported alterations that show significant mutual exclusivity and are likely to be driver events

Treatment Challenges in Pediatric Stroke Patients

Aim. In this study we presented our experience of 18 years on the etiology, risk factors, prophylactic and acute treatment, the effect of treatment to recurrence rate of patients with stroke. Methods. The population included 108 patients who had been treated for stroke at Pediatric Neurology Department of Ankara University with the diagnosis of arterial ischemic stroke and sinovenous thrombosis between January 1992 and August 2010. Forty-one girls (38%) and 67 boys (62%) with mean symptom age 3.1 ± 4.04 years, (0–18 years old) were followed up with a mean period of 4.9 ± 3.78 years (0–17 years). Results. 30 patients had no risk factors, 34 patients had only one risk factor and 44 patients had multiple risk factors. Recurrence was seen in three patients. There was no any statistical correlation between the recurrence of stroke and the existence of risk factors (P = .961). Seventeen patients received prophylactic treatment; 2 of them without any risk factors, 3 had one risk factor, 12 patients, who constituted the majority of our patients, had multiple risk factors (P = .024). Conclusion. With this study we showed that the right prophylaxis for right patients reduces the rate of recurrence