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Study Question: Does the gonadotropin (GN) starting dose and the addition of clomiphene citrate (CC) during the early follicular phase influence oocyte yield in poor responders undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF treatment?Summary Answer: The number of retrieved oocytes was similar regardless of the starting dose of GN (150 versus 450 IU) with or without the addition of CC (100 mg from Day 3 to 7 versus placebo).What Is Known Already: ART in poor responders is a challenge for patients and clinicians. So far, randomised controlled studies addressing interventions have shown that neither the GN dose nor the addition of oral medication has any significant effect on the clinical outcome of ART in poor responders. There is limited knowledge about the effect of GN starting dose in combination with CC during the early follicular phase of ovarian stimulation on ovarian response markers and ART outcome.Study Design, Size, Duration: This single-centre randomised double-blinded clinical trial was conducted from August 2013 until November 2017. Using the Bologna criteria, 220 of 2288 patients (9.6%) were identified as poor responders and 114 eligible participants underwent ovarian stimulation in a GnRH-antagonist protocol for ART.Participants/materials, Setting, Methods: The participants were equally randomised to one of four treatment arms: Group A (n = 28) received 100 mg CC (Day 3-7) and a starting dose of 450 IU HMG, Group B (n = 29) received 100 mg CC and a starting dose of 150 IU HMG, Group C (n = 30) received placebo and a starting dose of 450 IU HMG and Group D (n = 27) received placebo and a starting dose of 150 IU HMG. Serum levels of FSH, LH, estradiol and progesterone were measured on Day 1 and 5 and on the day of ovulation induction. Available embryos were cultured up to the blastocyst stage and were always transferred in the same cycle. The primary outcome was the number of oocytes collected after ovarian stimulation. Other outcome measures were response to ovarian stimulation, embryo development and obstetrical outcome.Main Results and the Role Of Chance: All study participants (n = 114) fulfilled at least two of the Bologna criteria for poor responders. Median age of the study population was 38.5 years. There were 109 patients who underwent oocyte retrieval. The number of oocytes retrieved was similar among the groups (±SD; 95% confidence intervals); A: 2.85 (±0.48; 2.04-3.98), B: 4.32 (±0.59; 3.31-5.64); C: 3.33 (±0.52; 2.45-4.54); D: 3.22 (±0.51; 2.36-4.41); P overall = 0.246. However, ovarian stimulation with 150 IU plus CC resulted in a higher number of blastocysts compared to ovarian stimulation with 450 IU plus CC (±SD; 95% confidence intervals); A: 0.83 (±0.15; 0.58-1.2), B: 1.77 (±0.21; 1.42-2.22); P overall = 0.006. Mean FSH serum levels were lower in the groups with a starting dose of 150 IU. Adding CC did not affect mean serum FSH levels. There were no differences in estradiol concentrations among the groups. Endometrial thickness was lower in the groups receiving CC. The overall live birth rate (LBR) was 12.3%, and the cumulative LBR was 14.7%.Limitations, Reasons For Caution: The trial was powered to detect differences in neither the number of blastocysts nor the LBR, which would be the preferable primary outcome of interventional trials in ART.Wider Implications Of the Findings: We found that ovarian stimulation with 150 IU gonadotrophin in combination with 100 mg CC produced more blastocysts. The effect of adding CC to GN on LBR in poor responders remains to be proven in randomised trials. High GN doses (450 IU) resulted in high FSH serum levels but increased neither the estradiol levels nor the number of retrieved oocytes, implying that granulosa cell function is not improved by high FSH serum levels. Lower starting doses of GN lead to a reduction of costs of medication. The small but significant difference in blastocyst formation and the lower FSH levels in the treatment groups receiving less GN may be an indication of better oocyte quality with higher developmental competence.Study Funding/competing Interest(s): The costs for the HMG used for ovarian stimulation were provided by IBSA Switzerland. The study was also supported by the Repronatal Foundation, Basel, Switzerland. The authors declare no conflict of interest.Trial Registration Number: NCT01577472.Trial Registration Date: 13 April 2012.Date Of First Patient’s Enrolment: August 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review presents the results of a conference on ikat textiles organized in the context of the exhibition Striking Patterns: Global Traces in Local Ikat Fashion at the Museum der Kulturen Basel, Switzerland (October 2016 to March 2017). Academics and professional experts, some of them working for NGOs, debated often neglected potentialities as well as the future of contemporary ikat design and other intricately patterned handwoven textiles: the significance of new patterns; intellectual property rights; and educational encouragement. The general focus lay on the controversially perceived innovation of textile patterns in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. We will here present the main arguments of the discussion and our own suggestions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The ability to remember, recognize and reconstruct places is a key component of episodic autobiographical memory. In this respect, place forms an essential basis for the unfolding of experiences in memory and imagination. The autobiographical memory is seen to contribute to a sense of self and place identity. The aim of this study was to concertedly analyze paintings, autobiographical narrations and places of birth and life of clients under treatment at a psychiatric clinic in Switzerland who were manifesting psychiatric disorders, e.g. depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, substance dependence, and dementia. Each client exhibited distinctive attitudes and approaches towards life characterized by unique personal mental constructs for living in given places of time episodes that worked towards shaping the development of their identities as well as the development of their health. For these clients, place and time function together to leave a mark, a trajectory, that can hinder or help the resolution of a psychiatric condition. Based on six representative cases, we illustrate how each painting, each biographical narration and each interview reveals deeper structures of individual perception, emotions, feelings, coping strategies, and capacities to reflect and identify with place-time trajectories. Based on this analysis, a place-time-identity model has been developed, which emphasizes the importance of narration, the structure of personality, and emotional experiences in the development of the 'relay station' of episodic autobiographical memory, self and autonoetic consciousness: these three elements are not only connected through their embeddedness in time, but also through their embeddedness in place. In this context, place provides an external fundus of memory, capable of supporting humans in healthy recollection and remembering. The process of placing appears to contribute to the creation of self-esteem and identity. This psycho-geographical place-life-time approach is contrasted to phenomenological place-space-time theories of Husserl, Heidegger, Bachelard, and Sloterdijk. Highlights • Episodic autobiographical memory connects through embeddedness in time and place. • Memories of place influence the formation of early and subsequent identity. • Place and time are parts of the self: 'placelessness' changes the self-concept. • Fault lines of personality and socio-cultural aspects determine our life paths. • Neuroscience, phenomenology and time geography enable place identity understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to remember, recognize and reconstruct places is a key component of episodic autobiographical memory. In this respect, place forms an essential basis for the unfolding of experiences in memory and imagination. The autobiographical memory is seen to contribute to a sense of self and place identity. The aim of this study was to concertedly analyze paintings, autobiographical narrations and places of birth and life of clients under treatment at a psychiatric clinic in Switzerland who were manifesting psychiatric disorders, e.g. depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, substance dependence, and dementia. Each client exhibited distinctive attitudes and approaches towards life characterized by unique personal mental constructs for living in given places of time episodes that worked towards shaping the development of their identities as well as the development of their health. For these clients, place and time function together to leave a mark, a trajectory, that can hinder or help the resolution of a psychiatric condition. Based on six representative cases, we illustrate how each painting, each biographical narration and each interview reveals deeper structures of individual perception, emotions, feelings, coping strategies, and capacities to reflect and identify with place-time trajectories. Based on this analysis, a place-time-identity model has been developed, which emphasizes the importance of narration, the structure of personality, and emotional experiences in the development of the 'relay station' of episodic autobiographical memory, self and autonoetic consciousness: these three elements are not only connected through their embeddedness in time, but also through their embeddedness in place. In this context, place provides an external fundus of memory, capable of supporting humans in healthy recollection and remembering. The process of placing appears to contribute to the creation of self-esteem and identity. This psycho-geographical place-life-time approach is contrasted to phenomenological place-space-time theories of Husserl, Heidegger, Bachelard, and Sloterdijk. • Episodic autobiographical memory connects through embeddedness in time and place. • Memories of place influence the formation of early and subsequent identity. • Place and time are parts of the self: 'placelessness' changes the self-concept. • Fault lines of personality and socio-cultural aspects determine our life paths. • Neuroscience, phenomenology and time geography enable place identity understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at an example of how classical antiquity was used by a nineteenth-century Swiss painter and explores the national dimension of one of his works. Through an examination of the painting, L es R omains passant sous le joug, its Swiss artist Charles Gleyre and his commission from the canton of Vaud, it will elaborate an example of how a classical legend was transformed in an artistic representation of the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] An increasing number of women delay childbirth to an age where they are less fertile. [•] Even with ART chances for pregnancy in women ⩾40years are strongly reduced. [•] An increasing probability for miscarriage further hampers successful pregnancy in women ⩾40years. [•] Primate and rodent models help to investigate pathophysiology and to develop new options for the treatment of reproductive senescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe, assisted reproductive technology (ART) is monitored in national registers but the definitions used and the recorded data vary from one register to another. In order to provide the stakeholders in this field with the most useful information and avoid an intolerable administrative burden for individual clinics, it is important to agree what constitutes core data for national registers. To do this, experts from 24 European countries met in March 2007 in Lausanne under the auspices of the Fondation pour l'Andrologie, la Biologie et l'Endocrinologie de la Reproduction (FABER) to discuss what constitutes core data for national assisted reproductive technology (ART) registers. Delegates concluded that only mainstream, non-experimental techniques should be included. Surrogate endpoints should be avoided. Data should be clearly defined and quantifiable, relevant to a majority of stakeholders and include factors of major ethical concerns and safety data. Data should not be recorded if they could be more appropriately collected through linkage with other national registers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses a survey of companies with art collections in German-speaking countries—Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Drawing on the data collected in the survey, he highlights the differences between two groups of curators currently responsible for corporate art collections, the "new professionals" and the "management administrators." First, organizational changes in corporations that occurred during the "founding boom" of the 1990s had a significant effect on the roles of corporate art managers, introducing the art-educated "new professional" into the process, which before then had been controlled by the corporate-trained "management administrators." Second, the nature, content, and styles of current corporate art collections reflect specific "corporate cultures." Third, the "new professional" corporate art curators purchase contemporary art for their collections at art fairs, a reality that has significant impact on the art market. The author concludes with an analysis of the relationship between these new professional corporate collectors and the contemporary art market by highlighting significant changes in pre- and post-1990 corporate art collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the famous painter Adolf Wölfli. Wölfli was born in Bowil, Switzerland, in 1864. Abandoned by his alcoholic father and orphaned in his ninth year by the death of his unstable mother, Wölfli was shunted about from one rural foster family to another, often physically and emotionally abused, until at 16 he became an itinerant farm worker. In 1895 for sexual assault on a very young girl,Wölfli was declared to be insane and was hospitalized, where he remained until his death in 1930. Profoundly psychotic, often violent, Wölfli was diagnosed as schizophrenic and was held in solitary confinement for several years. In 1904, when his acute psychosis had to some degree subsided, he began spontaneously and for the first time to draw, initially in pencil, later in colored pencils. Wölfli's drawings quickly engaged the attention of the hospital staff and became famous painter.