A fuel cell was used to enrich a microbial consortium generating electricity, using organic wastewater as the fuel. Within 30 days of enrichment the maximum current of 0.2 mA was generated with a ...resistance of 1 komega. Current generation was coupled to a fall in chemical oxygen demand from over 1,700 mg l-1 down to 50 mg l-1. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis showed a different microbial population in the enriched electrode from that in the sludge used as the inoculum. Electron microscopic observation showed a biofilm on the electrode surface and microbial clumps. Nanobacteria-like particles were present on the biofilm surface. Metabolic inhibitors and electron acceptors inhibited the current generation. 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis showed a diverse bacterial population in the enrichment culture. These findings demonstrate that an electricity-generating microbial consortium can be enriched using a fuel cell and that the electrochemical activity is a form of anaerobic electron transfer.
Dengue shock syndrome (DSS) is a potentially critical and life-threatening concern, especially in children of tropical countries. The serum cortisol levels in severe DSS or later stages of DSS are ...limited references. We prospectively studied an association between of serum cortisol as well as interleukin levels and the severity of DSS in pediatric patients. A prospective cross-sectional study of 35 consecutive DSS cases (3 months to 16 years old) admitted to our institution from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020 was conducted. Serum cortisol, IL-6, and IL-10 were measured at T0 (shock recognition) and T12 (12 hours after T0); their values were presented as median and interquartile ranges (25%-75%). Severe DSS included patients with impalpable pulses or systolic blood pressure < 70 mmHg, recurrent shock, and prolonged shock. In contrast, non-severe DSS presented circulatory failure without any features of severe DSS. A total of 8 (22.8%) severe DSS patients expressed the cortisol (T0) significantly lower compared to the non-severe DSS group (7.3 μg/dl versus 14.3 μg/dl, p=0.008). In severe DSS, there was a minimal change in cortisol levels between T0 and T12 (7.3 μg/dl and 4.7 μg/dl p>0.05), whereas the decrease is significant in their counterparts (14.3 μg/dl to 5.6 μg/dl, p<0.005). Additionally, there were moderate correlations between IL-6 (T0), IL-10 (T0), IL-10 (T12) and total fluid requirement (Spearman's rho = 0.47, 0.4, and 0.36, respectively; p<0.05). Our study demonstrated that adrenal dysfunction was present in patients with severe and non-severe DSS, as noted by cortisol level at T12. In addition, IL-6 and IL-10 levels are correlated with the total fluid requirement, which is a marker of DSS severity. Further studies could reveal how adrenal dysfunction in pediatric patients with DSS can affect outcomes and the potential roles of interleukin levels in fluid management strategy.
The simple 3-3-1 model that contains the minimal lepton and minimal scalar contents is studied in detail. The impact of the inert scalars (i.e., the extra fundamental fields that provide realistic ...dark matter candidates) on the model is discussed. All the interactions of the model are derived, in which the standard model ones are identified. We constrain the standard model–like Higgs particle at the LHC. We search for the new particles including the inert ones, which contribute to the Bs−B¯s mixing, the rare Bs→μ+μ− decay, the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity violation, as well as produce the dilepton, dijet, diboson, diphoton, and monojet final states at the LHC.
The flipped trinification, a framework for unifying the 3−3−1 and left-right symmetries, has recently been proposed in order to solve profound questions, the weak parity violation and the number of ...families, besides the implication for neutrino mass generation and dark matter stability. In this work, we argue that this gauge completion naturally provides flavor-changing neutral currents in both quark and lepton sectors. The quark flavor changing happens at the tree level due to the nonuniversal couplings of ZL,R′, while the lepton flavor changing l→l′γ starts from the one-loop level, which is significantly contributed by the new charged currents of YL,R that couple ordinary leptons to exotic leptons. These effects disappear in the minimal left-right model but are present in the framework characterizing a flipped trinification symmetry.
We performed whole transcriptome analysis of osteosarcoma bone samples. Initially, we
sequenced total RNA from 36 fresh-frozen samples (18 tumoral bone samples and 18
non-tumoral paired samples) ...matching in pairs for each osteosarcoma patient. We also
performed independent gene expression analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples
to verify the RNAseq results. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples allowed us to
analyze the effect of chemotherapy. Data were analyzed with DESeq2, edgeR and Reactome
packages of R. We found 5365 genes expressed differentially between the normal bone and
osteosarcoma tissues with an FDR below 0.05, of which 3399 genes were upregulated and 1966
were downregulated. Among those genes, BTNL9, MMP14, ABCA10, ACACB, COL11A1, and PKM2 were
expressed differentially with the highest significance between tumor and normal bone.
Functional annotation with the reactome identified significant changes in the pathways
related to the extracellular matrix degradation and collagen biosynthesis. It was
suggested that chemotherapy may induce the modification of ECM with important collagen
biosynthesis. Taken together, our results indicate that changes in the degradation of
extracellular matrix seem to be an important mechanism of osteosarcoma and efficient
chemotherapy induces the genes related to bone formation.
Impact statement
Osteosarcoma is a rare disease but it is of interest to many scientists all over the
world because the current standard treatment still has poor results. We sequenced total
RNA from 36 fresh-frozen paired samples (18 tumoral bone samples and 18 non-tumoral
paired samples) from osteosarcoma patients. We found that differences in the gene
expressions between the normal and affected bones reflected the changes in the
regulation of the degradation of collagen and extracellular matrix. We believe that
these findings contribute to the understanding of OS and suggest ideas for further
studies.
Does the addition of oral dydrogesterone to vaginal progesterone as luteal phase support improve pregnancy outcomes during frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles compared with vaginal progesterone ...alone?
Luteal phase support with oral dydrogesterone added to vaginal progesterone had a higher live birth rate and lower miscarriage rate compared with vaginal progesterone alone.
Progesterone is an important hormone that triggers secretory transformation of the endometrium to allow implantation of the embryo. During IVF, exogenous progesterone is administered for luteal phase support. However, there is wide inter-individual variation in absorption of progesterone via the vaginal wall. Oral dydrogesterone is effective and well tolerated when used to provide luteal phase support after fresh embryo transfer. However, there are currently no data on the effectiveness of luteal phase support with the combination of dydrogesterone with vaginal micronized progesterone compared with vaginal micronized progesterone after FET.
Prospective cohort study conducted at an academic infertility center in Vietnam from 26 June 2019 to 30 March 2020.
We studied 1364 women undergoing IVF with FET. Luteal support was started when endometrial thickness reached ≥8 mm. The luteal support regimen was either vaginal micronized progesterone 400 mg twice daily plus oral dydrogesterone 10 mg twice daily (second part of the study) or vaginal micronized progesterone 400 mg twice daily (first 4 months of the study). In women with a positive pregnancy test, the appropriate luteal phase support regimen was continued until 7 weeks' gestation. The primary endpoint was live birth after the first FET of the started cycle, with miscarriage <12 weeks as one of the secondary endpoints.
The vaginal progesterone + dydrogesterone group and vaginal progesterone groups included 732 and 632 participants, respectively. Live birth rates were 46.3% versus 41.3%, respectively (rate ratio RR 1.12, 95% CI 0.99-1.27, P = 0.06; multivariate analysis RR 1.30 (95% CI 1.01-1.68), P = 0.042), with a statistically significant lower rate of miscarriage at <12 weeks in the progesterone + dydrogesterone versus progesterone group (3.4% versus 6.6%; RR 0.51, 95% CI 0.32-0.83; P = 0.009). Birth weight of both singletons (2971.0 ± 628.4 versus 3118.8 ± 559.2 g; P = 0.004) and twins (2175.5 ± 494.8 versus 2494.2 ± 584.7; P = 0.002) was significantly lower in the progesterone plus dydrogesterone versus progesterone group.
The main limitations of the study were the open-label design and the non-randomized nature of the sequential administration of study treatments. However, our systematic comparison of the two strategies was able to be performed much more rapidly than a conventional randomized controlled trial. In addition, the single ethnicity population limits external generalizability.
Our findings study suggest a role for oral dydrogesterone in addition to vaginal progesterone as luteal phase support in FET cycles to reduce the miscarriage rate and improve the live birth rate. Carefully planned prospective cohort studies with limited bias could be used as an alternative to randomized controlled clinical trials to inform clinical practice.
This study received no external funding. LNV has received speaker and conference fees from Merck, grant, speaker and conference fees from Merck Sharpe and Dohme, and speaker, conference and scientific board fees from Ferring; TMH has received speaker fees from Merck, Merck Sharp and Dohme, and Ferring; R.J.N. has received scientific board fees from Ferring and receives grant funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia; BWM has acted as a paid consultant to Merck, ObsEva and Guerbet, and is the recipient of grant money from an NHMRC Investigator Grant.
NCT0399876.
STUDY QUESTION
Does luteinizing hormone (LH) supplementation improve live birth rate after in vitro fertilization (IVF) in patients aged ≥35 years receiving a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) ...antagonist protocol?
SUMMARY ANSWER
There was no difference in live birth rate with use of LH during IVF in patients aged ≥35 years undergoing IVF treatment using a GnRH antagonist protocol.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Use of GnRH analogues as part of a controlled ovarian hyperstimulation protocol during IVF treatment cycles decreases the amount of LH available to developing follicles. The role of LH supplementation for improving outcomes in patients undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation as part of assisted reproduction treatments, particularly those involving a GnRH antagonist protocol, is unclear. It has been suggested that higher risk patients (e.g. age ≥35 years, poor ovarian reserve) may benefit from LH supplementation.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
This single-centre, randomized controlled trial was conducted from 1 October 2012 to 30 June 2014. A total of 240 women aged ≥35 years undergoing IVF received ovarian stimulation using a GnRH antagonist protocol, with recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (r-FSH; Gonal-F®) starting from cycle day 2 or 3. GnRH antagonist (Cetrotide®) was administered on Day 5 of r-FSH administration. On Day 6, patients in the LH supplementation group were switched to r-FSH/r-LH (Pergoveris®) 150/75 IU/day. Randomization to study treatments was performed in blocks of 4 via a computer-generated random number list.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
Of the 240 patients randomized to treatment, 120 received r-FSH/r-LH and 120 received r-FSH. Patients were recruited from the IVFAS, An Sinh Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Live birth rate did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) between r-FSH/r-LH and r-FSH recipients (16.7 versus 17.5%; between-group difference 0.8, 95% confidence interval CI −9.5, 11.2). In addition, there were no significant differences between the r-FSH/r-LH and r-FSH groups with respect to the number of oocytes retrieved, implantation rate, miscarriage rate and clinical pregnancy rate.
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
The open-label design could have introduced bias, and the relatively small sample size may have allowed detection of only the most common adverse events. In addition, the study was likely to be underpowered based on differences between the response rate assumptions used in the sample size calculation and the actual response rate during the study.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
The results of this study found no additional benefit from adding LH supplementation to ovarian stimulation with a GnRH antagonist protocol in women aged ≥35 years, and add to the body of evidence in this area. However, findings across studies are still inconsistent and additional research is needed before any clear recommendations for clinical practice can be made.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS
This study was supported by the Research Center for Genetics and Reproductive Health, School of Medicine, Vietnam National University HCMC. The authors state that they have no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
The trial was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02244866).
•Mn7O8SiO4 with the braunite used as an anode material for Li-ion batteries.•Long flat plateaus at 0.6 V and capacity up to 800 mAh.g−1 on first discharge.•Mn3+/Mn2+ redox couple confirmed by XRD, ...XPS, and EIS results during cycling.
In this work, a novel low cost anode manganese silicate was synthesized from the reaction between MnO2 and SiO2 at 600 °C in an argon atmosphere. XRD patterns revealed that the material has a braunite-like structure (Mn7O8SiO4). The complexed mechanism of lithium storage revealed by electrochemical characterization (cyclic voltammetry, charge-discharge testing) and structural examination (ex-situ XPS, ex-situ XRD). The first discharge capacity up to 800 mAh.g−1 and a reversible capacity of 450 mAh.g−1 was obtained. The preliminary results offered a new promising lithium storage anode material with a low cost and friendly environment, even though further work essentially requires to enhance its low capacity retention issue (only 33% of initial capacity retained after 100 cycles).
Nine isolates of Canine parvovirus (CPV) were obtained from Vietnamese dogs and cats. One canine isolate showed a unique antigenic property which indicates a novel antigenic variant of CPV-2b when ...examined with hemagglutination inhibition tests using our monoclonal antibodies, 21C3 and 19D7, which were recently developed. This isolate had an amino acid substitution of residue 426, Asp to Glu, and the same substitution has recently been found in CPV from Italian dogs. This study first showed that such substitution caused an antigenic difference demonstrable by monoclonal antibodies and that a similar evolution may have occurred in CPV in Vietnam.
Public education institutions lie at the center of the education system. However, little is known about how ready students in public and private colleges are when it comes to technology adoption and ...usage. This study investigates this by analyzing 640 college students in Vietnam. Our findings show that overall technology readiness and technology-related traits are main predictors of technology adoption and usage. Public college students are less ready for technology but more likely to adopt technology than private college students. This study provides useful insights into the vital role of youths in contributing to economic development in the digital era.
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