Donation of Gametes and Risk of Preeclampsia

[eng] Preeclampsia (PE) complicates between 2 and 8 % of all pregnancies, and it could be classified in two subgroups: Pre-term PE (delivery 37 weeks). The first is believed to be due to an immune maladaptation of the mother to fetal antigens, taking place in the placenta, so there is an intrinsic placental dysfunction. This subtype is more severe, with prematurity, intrauterine growth restriction and adverse consequences for also the mother. The origin of the second is hypothesized to be in a hidden cardiovascular dysfunction of the mother that, due to the increase in hemodynamic demands secondary to the pregnancy, leads to an hypoperfusion of a primary functional placenta and finally to PE. It has been largely described the association between gamete donation and PE, but the cause of this relationship is still on debate: the risk factors of patients undergoing oocyte donation (OD), the high multiple pregnancy rate, the ovarian failure, the infertility or the reproductive treatment could justify it. Additionally, many studies show that there is a decrease in PE after repeated exposure to partner’s sperm and an increase after oocyte or sperm donation, leading to the assumption that the the lack of recognition of embryo antigens after gamete donation have a role in the pathogenesis of PE. Finally, the freezing of the embryos has been related to an increase of PE, always in in vitro fertilization pregnancies with own oocytes (IVF). The explanation could be in an effect of cryopreservants or the freezing/thawing process of those embryos, or also in the different endometrial hormonal milieu that fresh embryo transfer (freshET) and frozen-thawing embryo transfer (FET) IVF patients have. This thesis consists in 4 projects that try to study the relationship between gamete donation and PE: The first is a metaanalysis comparing the incidence of PE between OD pregnancies and IVF, to avoid the bias of compare OD with spontaneous conception pregnancies. The OR of PE in OD compared to IVF is 3.12 (2.56-3.85), and even after adjustment for maternal age and multiple pregnancy the difference remains statistically significative. This data suggest that in OD, the origin of PE is related to an immune maladaptation of the mother to fetal agents. The second project is a retrospective cohort study of patients pregnant by OD that compares the incidence of PE between freshET and FET (with the same hormonal preparation). There is no difference in the incidence of preterm PE or term PE between groups, even after adjusting for confounding factors. With the same hormonal environment there is no difference in PE incidence, inferring that hormonal milieu has a role in the pathogenesis of PE, and that PE origin is more related to the mother or the placenta than to the embryo. The third is a descriptive study of double-donation (DD) (donation of both sperm and oocyte) treatment. These patients have multiple risk factors (advanced maternal age, nuliparity, multiple pregnancy and gamete donation) for developing PE. The last is a retrospective cohort study that compares the incidence of PE between OD pregnancies and DD pregnancies. DD cases compared to OD have an OR of 2.68 [95%CI 1.02, 7.04, p=0.038] for preterm PE, but no difference in term PE. After adjustment for confounding factors, the rate of preterm PE is still increased on DD with significance. These results support the immunological theory of PE origin, as in DD pregnancies, the embryo is completely allogenic to the mother, thus increasing only preterm PE comparing to OD. In assisted reproduction, the more the donated gametes a recipient receive, the more the risk for developing PE. Preterm PE is more severe, but an early diagnose could lead to preventing measures, as giving aspirin. OD and DD patients should be aware of their high risk for developing PE, as well as their physicians.[spa] La preeclampsia (PE) se clasifica en PE pretérmino (parto 37 semanas). La primera se debe a una mala adaptación inmunológica de la madre al feto que tiene lugar en la placenta, dando lugar a una disfunción placentaria intrínseca, y es la más severa. La segunda se debe a un defecto cardiovascular materno que, secundario al incremento en las demandas hemodinámicas por la gestación, lleva a una hipoperfusión de una placenta inicialmente funcional, y finalmente a la PE. La relación entre PE y donación de gametos se ha descrito en múltiples ocasiones, pero la causa de dicha asociación sigue siendo debatida. También se ha descrito un incremento de PE en gestaciones obtenidas tras transferencia de embriones vitrificados (FET) comparado con embriones en fresco (freshET), siempre en pacientes que realizaron ciclos de fecundación in vitro con óvulos propios (FIV), teniendo ambos grupos diferente ambiente hormonal endometrial. Esta tesis consiste en 4 proyectos que estudian la relación entre donación de gametos y PE: El primero en un meta análisis que compara PE en donación de óvulos (OD) y FIV, evitando el sesgo de comparar OD con gestaciones espontaneas. La OD confiere el triple de riesgo de PE que la FIV, sugiriendo que en OD, el origen de la PE está relacionada con una mala adaptación inmunitaria de la madre a antígenos embrionarios. El segundo es un estudio retrospectivo de cohortes que compara, en gestantes tras OD, la incidencia de PE en freshET con FET. Con la misma preparación endometrial, no hay diferencia en PE pretémino ni a término entre grupos. El origen de la PE se relaciona más con factores maternos o placentarios que embrionarios. El tercero es un estudio descriptivo de tratamientos de doble donación (DD) (recepción de tanto óvulos como semen de donantes), que revela que se trata de pacientes con múltiples factores de riesgo para desarrollar PE. El cuarto es un estudio de cohortes retrospectivo que compara PE en DD con OD. La DD incrementa la PE pretérmino comparado con OD, pero no a término, apoyando la teoría inmunológica de la PE, ya que en DD el embrión es completamente alogénico a la madre

Analysis of the SEO visibility of university libraries and how they impact the web visibility of their universities

This article comparatively analyzes the web visibility of 20 libraries corresponding to the top 10 universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the 10 largest Spanish universities, and explores whether a correlation exists between the web visibility of libraries and of their respective universities. To study web visibility, a search engine optimization (SEO) tool called Sistrix Toolbox was used. It analyzes a large amount of data, the most notable of which is the visibility index, which combines different data indicators to analyze web visibility. The results are checked with Xovi, another SEO tool that offers its own visibility index. Both tools allow us to observe similar trends in the visibility of library websites. The results show that university library visibility is generally low and that there is no direct correlation between the visibility index of libraries and that of their universities. Some revealing exceptions were identified, in which libraries have made significant contributions to the web visibility of their universities. The results would suggest that higher education institutions need to implement SEO strategies in order to increase their visibility more effectively

Život i rad u vili Torre di Pordenone

Le recenti verifiche archeologiche (2008-2009) nel giardino del Castello di Torre di Pordenone hanno consentito di indagare in estensione questo settore di un più ampio complesso individuato alla metà del secolo scorso: gli studi precedenti avevano già posto in relazione la villa (c.d. “terme romane”) presso il fiume Noncello, nella zona più bassa, con i resti emergenti oltre il corso d’acqua al di sotto della chiesa parrocchiale; sul pianoro sommitale era stata accertata la presenza di alcune tombe di inumati (di datazione incerta fra l’epoca tardoantica e quella altomedievale), che rioccuparono alcuni ambienti spoliati. Lo scavo areale ha chiarito che le sepolture tardoromane si sovrapponevano parzialmente ad un unico edificio, costituito da una quindicina di piccoli vani quadrangolari con portico sulla fronte ed alcuni ambienti annessi: se ne discute una destinazione utilitaria, mentre la coerenza di orientamento lo ricollega alla villa.U svjetlu rezultata arheoloških iskopavanja provedenih 2008. i 2009. godine u parku Castella di Torre, na području koje se nalazi neposredno iznad glavnog proizvodnog prostora vile koja je svjetlost dana ugledala sredinom prošlog stoljeća te koja je već temeljito istražena, ovom prilikom predlažemo cjelovito ponovno tumačenje prostranog rezidencijalnog sklopa sastavljenog od više građevinskih terasastih jedinica koji se nalaze na obje strane današnjeg toka rijeke Noncello. Nedavno istražene građevinske strukture ukazuju na uporabnu namjenu ovog sektora. Naime, otkriven je niz od 15 četverokutnih prostora, mogućih spremišta ili pomoćnih prostorija, koji se proteže neprekidno od područja gdje počinje nasip na rijeci prema središtu zaravni sve dokle je taj niz bilo moguće slijediti (otprilike 60 m). Ovo je područje proizvodnog prostora na prednjem dijelu imalo portikat okrenut prema jugozapadu, za koji se pretpostavlja da je gledao na otvoreni prostor. Na drugoj su strani otkriveni i drugi prostori (njih pet ili šest te još jedan manji prostor), koji su također bili pomoćni prostori, a koji se jednim dijelom mogu povezati sa slijedećom fazom gradnje. Kod svih spomenutih građevinskih struktura jedino su temelji sačuvani, za razliku od barem dvaju prostora koji s njima graniče i koji se nalaze na sjeveru te kod kojih su pronađeni tragovi podova, u jednom slučaju podne pločice od terakote, u drugom pod od opeke, kao i tragovi sustava za grijanje s hipokaustom. Za razliku od prethodnih iskapanja, tijekom kojih je pronađen malen broj nalaza koji se mogu datirati kako u fazu izgradnje tako i u fazu kada je sklop bio napušten, novija istraživanja polučila su nalaze koji daju važne kronološke podatke vezane uz život i kraj života sklopa

New incentives for businesses to train their employees are needed for economic recovery from COVID-19

COVID-19 has prompted changes in consumer spending patterns, business practices and working arrangements, many of which are likely to persist beyond the crisis with implications for the demand for certain occupations or skills. To date, workers in low paid occupations and sectors, and those that are younger, have suffered the most in the labour market, threatening to widen inequalities and damage social mobility into the future

The stable set polytope of claw-free graphs with stability number at least four. I. Fuzzy antihat graphs are W-perfect

Abstract Fuzzy antihat graphs are graphs obtained as 2-clique-bond compositions of fuzzy line graphs with three different types of three-cliqued graphs. By the decomposition theorem of Chudnovsky and Seymour [2] , fuzzy antihat graphs form a large subclass of claw-free, not quasi-line graphs with stability number at least four and with no 1-joins. A graph is W -perfect if its stable set polytope is described by: nonnegativity, rank, and lifted 5-wheel inequalities. By exploiting the polyhedral properties of the 2-clique-bond composition, we prove that fuzzy antihat graphs are W -perfect and we move a crucial step towards the solution of the longstanding open question of finding an explicit linear description of the stable set polytope of claw-free graphs

Development of a rapid LC-MS/MS Method for the determination of emerging fusarium mycotoxins enniatins and beauvericin in human biological fluids

A novel method for the simultaneous determination of enniatins A, A1, B and B1 and beauvericin, both in human urine and plasma samples, was developed and validated. The method consisted of a simple and easy pretreatment, specific for each matrix, followed by solid phase extraction (SPE) and detection by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with an electrospray ion source. The optimized SPE method was performed on graphitized carbon black cartridges after suitable dilution of the extracts, which allowed high mycotoxin absolute recoveries (76%-103%) and the removal of the major interferences from the matrix. The method was extensively evaluated for plasma and urine samples separately, providing satisfactory results in terms of linearity (R² of 0.991-0.999), process efficiency (>81%), trueness (recoveries between 85% and 120%), intra-day precision (relative standard deviation, RSD < 18%), inter-day precision (RSD < 21%) and method quantification limits (ranging between 20 ng·L(-)¹ and 40 ng·L(-)¹ in plasma and between 5 ng·L(-)¹ and 20 ng·L(-)¹ in urine). Finally, the highly sensitive validated method was applied to some urine and plasma samples from different donors

Naturaleza del cambio en la concepción pedagógica del proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje en el marco del EEES. Una experiencia para el análisis

La pertenencia al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior implica introducir cambios profundos en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Todas las Instituciones Universitarias deberán plantear sus propuestas formativas en términos de perfiles formativos, competencias y resultados de aprendizaje. En este artículo, al margen de reflexionar sobre la naturaleza y significado de estos términos, se presenta a modo de ejemplificación una propuesta de guía para evaluar el Trabajo de Final de Grado.Belonging to the European Higher Education Area involves introducing profound changes in the Teaching-learning procedures. All the universities should propose their formative proposals in terms of formative profiles, competencies and learning outputs. In this article, beside reflecting on the nature and the meaning of these terms, a proposal of a evaluation guide to evaluate the final degree assignment is presented

Navigating Cultural Chasms: Exploring and Unlocking the Cultural POV of Text-To-Image Models

Text-To-Image (TTI) models, such as DALL-E and StableDiffusion, have demonstrated remarkable prompt-based image generation capabilities. Multilingual encoders may have a substantial impact on the cultural agency of these models, as language is a conduit of culture. In this study, we explore the cultural perception embedded in TTI models by characterizing culture across three hierarchical tiers: cultural dimensions, cultural domains, and cultural concepts. Based on this ontology, we derive prompt templates to unlock the cultural knowledge in TTI models, and propose a comprehensive suite of evaluation techniques, including intrinsic evaluations using the CLIP space, extrinsic evaluations with a Visual-Question-Answer (VQA) model and human assessments, to evaluate the cultural content of TTI-generated images. To bolster our research, we introduce the CulText2I dataset, derived from four diverse TTI models and spanning ten languages. Our experiments provide insights regarding Do, What, Which and How research questions about the nature of cultural encoding in TTI models, paving the way for cross-cultural applications of these models