Should We Continue to Measure Endometrial Thickness in Modern-Day Medicine? The Effect on Live Birth Rates and Birth Weight

The evaluation of endometrial thickness (EMT) is still part of standard cycle monitoring during IVF, despite the lack of robust evidence of any value of this measurement to predict little revalidation in contemporary medical practice; other tools, however, such as endocrine profile monitoring, have become increasingly popular. The aim of this study was to reassess whether EMT affects the outcome of a fresh embryo transfer in modern-day medicine, using a retrospective, single-centre cohort of 3350 IVF cycles (2827 women) carried out between 2010 and 2014. In the multivariate regression analysis, EMT was non-linearly associated with live birth, with live birth rates being the lowest with an EMT less than 7.0 mm (21.6%; P < 0.001) and then between 7.0 mm and 9.0 mm (30.2%; P = 0.008). An EMT less than 7.0 mm was also associated with a decrease in neonatal birthweight z-scores (-0.40; 95% CI -0.69 to -0.12). In conclusion, these results reaffirm the use of EMT as a potential prognostic tool for live birth rates and neonatal birthweight in contemporary IVF, namely when considered together with other ovarian stimulation monitoring methods, such as the late-follicular endocrine profile.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Generalised Pustular Psoriasis (von Zumbusch type) following renal Transplantation. Report of a case and review of the literature

Generalized pustular psoriasis appears as an uncommon variant form of psoriasis consisting of widespread pustules on an erythematous background (von Zumbusch). A 39-year old male patient with a history of plaque psoriasis since the age of 9 who had an acute onset of generalized pustular psoriasis 12 days after he underwent renal transplantation is presented. Despite administered immunosuppression for transplantation the addition of cyclosporine A and methotrexate did not reverse the ongoing process of disease and the patient died on the 57th post-transplant day due to multiorgan failure following severe bone marrow suppression

Математическая психология

The article is devoted to mathematical psychology. The processes associated with the emergence of mathematical psychology and its stages. Definition of the problem of limited modeling capabilities with the help of this psychology. We consider in this article are still major areas of mathematical professor psychology V.Krylov (he played a leading role in the development of mathematical psychology)

The influence of forest reserve protection on the structure, stability, and functioning of dung-associated invertebrate communities

Communities are influenced by many factors, with anthropogenic impacts being one of the strongest. These factors can influence community structure and may cause non-random species loss by filtering certain traits of species, which may also determine how a species contributes to ecosystem functioning. The structure of a community can also be highly variable over short timescales and across seasons, as abiotic factors can alter a resource over the course of days and also alter intensity of competition within a community. These short-timescale influences are most noticeable in an ephemeral resource that is limited in both space and time. Changes in community structure and interactions can be represented as networks of interactions (links) among species (nodes). Interaction networks describe a community and incorporate non-trophic interactions, which can alter their structure. These are generally measured by counting the number of trophic interactions, ignoring non-trophic interactions such as competition. However, competitive interactions may be important for network dynamics, yet the most appropriate way to quantify competition remains unclear. The outcome of a competitive interaction could potentially be predicted by the body size ofcompeting individuals, and this would remove the need to observe individual interactions. These ideas were tested using the dung-associated community in an Afromontane forest reserve in Nigeria across variation in seasons and in areas that were protected from anthropogenic impacts by fencing. Trapping and recording of interactions within the community was used to assess community structure, and experiments were run to test how dung removal and secondary seed dispersal changed across seasons and in protected areas of the forest. The influence of competition was determined by altering the size and number of dung beetles present at the resource. The community structure was influenced by forest protection and varied across seasons. Additionally, the size and number of dung beetles present was higher in protected areas in the wet season, resulting in higher dung removal and secondary seed dispersal and indicating non-random species loss in unprotected areas. The attractiveness of the dung resource changed over short timescales and desiccation occurred rapidly in the dry season, which resulted in decreased insect abundance and diversity over the course of days. Individual dung removal rates were not additive, and could only be used to predict community-level dung removal when taking into account competitive interactions. The body-size ratio between winners and losers of a competition was a good predictor of an interaction outcome. Competition networks were highly connected and nested, with compartmentalisation occurring in the competition network. At the community level, effects of forest protection and changing seasons only altered network nestedness. Therefore, body size can be used to predict species responses to anthropogenic threats and community structure and function when taking into account density-dependent competitive interactions. Furthermore, when determining community responses to anthropogenic threats, sampling across changes in seasons and observing competitive interactions provides more information about a community structure and stability

Comparison Wage in Trade Union Decision Making

The starting point of this paper is the idea that trade unions and individual workers pay attention to wage settlements in similar sectors of the economy. The foundations of this concept can be found in other social sciences and also in the literature of psychological economics. However, it has not received much attention in connection to union decision making. This comparison or reference wage enters the decision making of the union (i.e. the union utility function). In this paper, we employ a union utility function which incorporates this concept. The analysis is conducted in a bargaining framework and the results show the effects on the optimal wage of important variables like comparison wage, unemployment benefit, union power and of the weight that the union places on the comparison wag

Physics of animal health: on the mechano-biology of hoof growth and form

Global inequalities in economic access and agriculture productivity imply that a large number of developing countries rely on working equids for transport/agriculture/mining. Therefore, the understanding of hoof conditions/shape variations affecting equids' ability to work is still a persistent concern. To bridge this gap, using a multi-scale interdisciplinary approach, we provide a bio-physical model predicting the shape of equids’ hooves as a function of physical and biological parameters. In particular, we show (i) where the hoof growth stress originates from, (ii) why the hoof growth rate is one order of magnitude higher than the proliferation rate of epithelial cells and (iii) how the soft-to-hard transformation of the epithelium is possible allowing the hoof to fulfil its function as a weight-bearing element. Finally (iv), we demonstrate that the reason for hoof misshaping is linked to the asymmetrical design of equids' feet (shorter quarters/long toe) together with the inability of the biological growth stress to compensate for such an asymmetry. Consequently, the hoof can adopt a dorsal curvature and become ‘dished’ overtime, which is a function of the animal's mass and the hoof growth rate. This approach allows us to discuss the potential occurrence of this multifaceted pathology in equids