Aneuploidy in human eggs: contributions of the meiotic spindle

Human eggs frequently contain an incorrect number of chromosomes, a condition termed aneuploidy. Aneuploidy affects ∼10–25% of eggs in women in their early 30s, and more than 50% of eggs from women over 40. Most aneuploid eggs cannot develop to term upon fertilization, making aneuploidy in eggs a leading cause of miscarriages and infertility. The cellular origins of aneuploidy in human eggs are incompletely understood. Aneuploidy arises from chromosome segregation errors during the two meiotic divisions of the oocyte, the progenitor cell of the egg. Chromosome segregation is driven by a microtubule spindle, which captures and separates the paired chromosomes during meiosis I, and sister chromatids during meiosis II. Recent studies reveal that defects in the organization of the acentrosomal meiotic spindle contribute to human egg aneuploidy. The microtubules of the human oocyte spindle are very frequently incorrectly attached to meiotic kinetochores, the multi-protein complexes on chromosomes to which microtubules bind. Multiple features of human oocyte spindles favour incorrect attachments. These include spindle instability and many age-related changes in chromosome and kinetochore architecture. Here, we review how the unusual spindle assembly mechanism in human oocytes contributes to the remarkably high levels of aneuploidy in young human eggs, and how age-related changes in chromosome and kinetochore architecture cause aneuploidy levels to rise even higher as women approach their forties

Relapsing bronchiolitis obliterans organising pneumonia and chronic sarcoidosis in an atopic asthmatic patient

Asthma is thought to be a Th2 disease while sarcoidosis is considered a Th1 granulomatous disorder. Organising pneumonia is a histologic pattern of lung injury. When it has no recognisable cause it is defined as cryptogenic organising pneumonia. We herein report the case of a patient with recurrent and steroid sensitive organising pneumonia associated with chronic sarcoidosis in an atopic, moderate persistent asthmatic patient. Each disease has been documented with transbronchial biopsies and recurrence of organising pneumonia was suggested by clinical features and by follow up HRCT which shows distinctive signs even in associated disease. Steroids are the mainstay of therapy for these disorders and especially for the consolidated processes typical of organising pneumonia but prognostic indices for relapse and progression are lacking

An Interactive Narrative Platform for Story Understanding Experiments

Interactive Narratives are systems that use automated narrative generation techniques to create multiple story variants which can be shown to an audience, as virtual narratives, using cinematic staging techniques. The focus of previous research has included aspects such as the quality of automatically generated narratives and the way in which audiences respond to them. However in this work we have developed a mechanism for control of interactive narratives that supports their use in experiments to assess story understanding. This is implemented in our demonstration system, which features two parts: an interface that allows high-level specification of criteria for story understanding experiments; and a participant interface in which virtual narratives, conforming to the experimental design, are presented as 3D visualizations. The virtual narrative is based on a pre-existing children’s story, and features a cast of virtual characters

Multimodal agent interfaces and system architectures for health and fitness companions

Multimodal conversational spoken dialogues using physical and virtual agents provide a potential interface to motivate and support users in the domain of health and fitness. In this paper we present how such multimodal conversational Companions can be implemented to support their owners in various pervasive and mobile settings. In particular, we focus on different forms of multimodality and system architectures for such interfaces

Playing in or out of character: User role differences in the experience of Interactive Storytelling

Interactive storytelling (IS) is a promising new entertainment technology synthesizing preauthored narrative with dynamic user interaction. Existing IS prototypes employ different modes to involve users in a story, ranging from individual avatar control to comprehensive control over the virtual environment. The current experiment tested whether different player modes (exerting local vs. global influence) yield different user experiences (e.g., senses of immersion vs. control). A within-subject design involved 34 participants playing the cinematic IS drama "Emo Emma

Adenocarcinoma classification: patterns and prognosis

Lung cancer is the most frequent human malignancy and the principal cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Adenocarcinoma is now the main histologic type, accounting for almost half of all the cases. The 2015 World Health Organization has adopted the classification recently developed by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, American Thoracic Society, and European Respiratory Society. This new adenocarcinoma classification has incorporated up-to-date advances in radiological, molecular and oncological knowledge, providing univocal diagnostic criteria and terminology. For resection specimens, new entities have been defined such as adenocarcinoma in situ and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma to designate adenocarcinomas, mostly nonmucinous and ≤ 3 cm in size, with either pure lepidic growth or predominant lepidic growth with ≤ 5 mm invasion, respectively. For invasive adenocarcinoma, the new classification has introduced histological subtyping according to the predominant pattern of growth of the neoplastic cells: lepidic (formerly non mucinous brochioloalveolar adenocarcinoma), acinar, papillary, micropapillary, and solid. Of note, micropapillary pattern is a brand new histologic subtype. In addition, four variants of invasive adenocarcinoma are recognized, namely invasive mucinous (formerly mucinous brochioloalveolar adenocarcinoma), colloid, fetal, and enteric. Importantly, three variants that were considered in the previous classification have been eliminated, specifically mucinous cystadenocarcinoma, signet ring cell, and clear cell adenocarcinoma. This review presents the changes introduced by the current histological classification of lung adenocarcinoma and its prognostic implications

Design of mechanical properties of poly(butylene-adipate-terephthalate) reinforced with Zein-TiO2 complex

The aim of this work was to realize and mechanically characterize composites based on poly(butyleneadipate-terephthalate) (PBAT) filled with micrometric particles of zein-TiO2 complex (ZTC) at different concentrations. Specimens model 1BA were obtained by injection molding and subjected to a uniaxial tensile test (UTT). The addition of the ZTC proved to have a reinforcing effect on the matrix, an increase in both Young’s modulus (E) and yield stress (σy) being observed. The mechanical properties were modeled applying Kerner’s and Pukánszky’s models, obtaining a good correspondence between theoretical experimental values and good matrix-filler interfacial interaction, respectively. Microscopical analysis revealed a good dispersion of the filler within the matrix

Epidemiology and management of interstitial lung disease in ANCA-associated vasculitis

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a group of systemic vasculitides that predominantly affect small vessels, including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA). Pulmonary involvement is frequently observed in AAV patients, with various possible phenotypes in the different diseases. In the last years, among the possible types of lung involvement, a growing interest has been addressed to the interstitial lung disease (ILD). Prevalence of ILD is higher in MPA than in GPA; in fact, ILD has been reported in up to 45% of MPA patients and in 23% of GPA. Anti-MPO antibodies are the main ANCA subtype associated to ILD, in about 46-71% of cases, while anti-PR3 antibodies are reported in 0-29% of patients. High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) frequently detects interstitial lung abnormalities in AAV, up to 66% of patients with MPA, even if with an unclear clinical relevance, specifically in asymptomatic patients. Ground glass opacities, mainly consistent with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH), are the most frequent finding in MPA patients, but reticulations, interlobular septal thickening and honeycombing are also reported. ILD significantly affects quality of life and survival, with mortality increased 2 to 4 times, particularly higher in MPA patients with pulmonary fibrosis. Currently, immunosuppressive therapy is considered also as a possible treatment of ILD. However, a careful evaluation of progression and severity of lung involvement, should guide the treatment decision in the single patient. In this review, we discuss the available evidence on clinical features, diagnostic work-up, prognosis and management of AAV-ILD