Sperm preparation for ART

The onset of clinical assisted reproduction, a quarter of a century ago, required the isolation of motile spermatozoa. As the indication of assisted reproduction shifted from mere gynaecological indications to andrological indications during the years, this urged andrological research to understand the physiology of male germ cell better and develop more sophisticated techniques to separate functional spermatozoa from those that are immotile, have poor morphology or are not capable to fertilize oocytes. Initially, starting from simple washing of spermatozoa, separation techniques, based on different principles like migration, filtration or density gradient centrifugation evolved. The most simple and cheapest is the conventional swim-up procedure. A more sophisticated and most gentle migration method is migration-sedimentation. However, its yield is relatively small and the technique is therefore normally only limited to ejaculates with a high number of motile spermatozoa. Recently, however, the method was also successfully used to isolate spermatozoa for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Sperm separation methods that yield a higher number of motile spermatozoa are glass wool filtration or density gradient centrifugation with different media. Since Percoll(®) as a density medium was removed from the market in 1996 for clinical use in the human because of its risk of contamination with endotoxins, other media like IxaPrep(®), Nycodenz, SilSelect(®), PureSperm(®) or Isolate(®) were developed in order to replace Percoll(®). Today, an array of different methods is available and the selection depends on the quality of the ejaculates, which also includes production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by spermatozoa and leukocytes. Ejaculates with ROS production should not be separated by means of conventional swim-up, as this can severely damage the spermatozoa. In order to protect the male germ cells from the influence of ROS and to stimulate their motility to increase the yield, a number of substances can be added to the ejaculate or the separation medium. Caffeine, pentoxifylline and 2-deoxyadenosine are substances that were used to stimulate motility. Recent approaches to stimulate spermatozoa include bicarbonate, metal chelators or platelet-activating factor (PAF). While the use of PAF already resulted in pregnancies in intrauterine insemination, the suitability of the other substances for the clinical use still needs to be tested. Finally, the isolation of functional spermatozoa from highly viscous ejaculates is a special challenge and can be performed enzymatically to liquefy the ejaculate. The older method, by which the ejaculate is forcefully aspirated through a narrow-gauge needle, should be abandoned as it can severely damage spermatozoa, thus resulting in immotile sperm

Prefrontal Cortical Response to Conflict during Semantic and Phonological Tasks

Debates about the function of the prefrontal cortex are as old as the field of neuropsychology—often dated to Paul Broca’s seminal work. Theories of the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex can be roughly divided into those that describe organization by process and those that describe organization by material. Recent studies of the function of the posterior, left inferior frontal gyrus (pLIFG) have yielded two quite different interpretations: One hypothesis holds that the pLIFG plays a domain-specific role in phonological processing, whereas another hypothesis describes a more general function of the pLIFG in cognitive control. In the current study, we distinguish effects of increasing cognitive control demands from effects of phonological processing. The results support the hypothesized role for the pLIFG in cognitive control, and more task-specific roles for posterior areas in phonology and semantics. Thus, these results suggest an alternative explanation of previously reported phonology-specific effects in the pLIFG

Modification of HDL by reactive aldehydes alters select cardioprotective functions of HDL in macrophages

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154382/1/febs15034_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154382/2/febs15034.pd

Comparison of Combustion Efficiency to In-Situ Atmospheric Ammonia Measurements from a Miniature Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer in the LA Basin

Atmospheric ammonia (NH3) has been shown to impact the environment and threaten both human and animal health, especially in heavily populated urban areas, yet to date there remains a paucity of direct measurements. Recent studies have suggested that ammonia may be generated as a byproduct of fossil fuel emissions due to highly active catalytic converters in light-duty gasoline vehicles. To investigate this relationship, an airborne miniature Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (miniCIMS) was used to directly measure atmospheric ammonia and combustion reaction products in the Southern California LA Basin, during the 2015 NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP). The temporal variability in measured ammonia, and the relationship to combustion efficiency will be compared to mobile ground-based measurements from the NASA DISCOVER-AQ campaign, and implications of the findings will be discussed

Morphology and taxonomy of the genus Ramazzottius (Eutardigrada; Ramazzottiidae) with the integrative description of Ramazzottius kretschmanni sp. nov

The species of the genus Ramazzottius (Ramazzottiidae, Eutardigrada) are among the most common and widespread tardigrade species in the world. Most of the 28 Ramazzottius species have been described only with morphological characters which were most of the time represented only with drawings. The discovery of a new species of this genus in the Black Forest (Germany) provided the opportunity to compare this species with the type specimens of ten Ramazzottius species, to propose the status of species dubia for Ramazzottius edmondabouti, and through new photographs to elucidate the anatomy of animals and eggs (in particular of the head sensory regions, eye spots, buccal tube, ornamentations of the dorsal posterior cuticle, and morphology of egg processes). These thorough observations led to a better understanding of the diversity and evolution, not only of this cosmopolitan genus, but also of other eutardigrade genera. The new species Ramazzottius kretschmanni is described with an integrative approach integrating morphological (light and electron microscopy observations and morphometric data) and molecular (cox1 and ITS2 genes) data. The PTP and ASAP analyses confirmed the validity of the new species from a molecular point of view. The new species is morphologically similar to Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri, but is distinguishable by the smooth cuticle, the presence of a “cheek-like” area on the head, and the size of egg processes as well as different sequences of the molecular markers

Innovative Telearbeitsformen in klein- und mittelständischen Unternehmen

Dieser Beitrag beschreibt Anwendungsszenarien für Telearbeit und deren praktische Umsetzung in kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU). Ausgehend von der allgemeinen Betrachtung der verschiedenen Formen, Anwendungsfelder und Vor- und Nachteile von Telearbeit werden verschiedene alternative Implementationsvarianten vorgestellt und eine detaillierte Kostenanalyse speziell für KMU durchgeführt. Im Vorfeld des Projektes wurde anhand des konkreten Anwendungsszenarios von vernetzten Schreibdiensten mit „TeleScript“ eine Pilotlösung für zukünftige Telekooperations- und Mehrwertdienste geschaffen und in der Praxis in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Sächsischen Staatsministerium des Innern, der Teleconnect GmbH und Philips Diktiersysteme erprobt. Als konkretes Beispiel wird der Teleworking-Vermittlungsdienst TeleGrafiker vorgestellt, der in Zusammenarbeit mit einem Pilotanwender, dem Plötz Grafik-Atelier Dresden, entwickelt und getestet wurde. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit basieren auf der Zusammenarbeit mit KMUs (Kleinen und Mittleren Unternehmen) aus Sachsen im Rahmen eines Landesinnovationskollegs, das vom Sächsischen Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst gefördert wird

Modeling of Spinel Settling in Waste Glass Melter

Each 1% increase of waste loading (W), defined as the high-level waste (HLW) mass fraction in glass, can save the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) over a half billion U.S. dollars for vitrification and disposal. For a majority of Hanford and Savannah River waste streams, W is limited by spinel precipitation and settling in waste glass melters. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of spinel behavior is crucial for economy and the low-risk operation of HLW vitrification. The goal of this research is to develop a basic understanding of the dynamics of spinel formation and motion in velocity, temperature, and redox fields that are characteristic for the glass-melting process. This goal is being achieved by directly studying spinel formation and settling in molten glass and by developing a mathematical tool for predicting the spinel behavior and accumulation rate in the melter. The main potential benefit of this study is achieving a lower waste-glass volume, which translates into a shorter cleanup time, a smaller processing facility, a smaller repository space, and, hence, a reduced investment of time and money to reach acceptable technical risks. Additional benefits include (1) more accurately assessing sensible limits for problem constituents (such as chromium) in the melter feed, (2) reducing the blending requirements, and (3) comparing cost and risk with other options (pretreatment, blending or diluting the waste) to determine the best path forward. The results of this study will allow alternate melter designs and operating conditions to be evaluated. The study will also address the option of removing the settled sludge from the melter