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This work reports the detailed Raman scattering analysis of Cu-poor Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) electrodeposited solar cells using different excitation wavelengths. The systematic assessment of cells fabricated with Cu-poor absorbers that were synthesized with different Cu contents has allowed identifying the existence of a quasi-resonant excitation of a Raman peak characteristic of an Ordered Vacancy Compound (OVC) secondary phase when using a 785 nm excitation wavelength. The enhanced sensitivity of the spectra measured with these conditions to the presence of the OVC phase provides with a suitable tool for the non destructive assessment on the occurrence of this Cu-poor secondary phase in the surface region of the CIGS absorbers from measurements performed on finished cells. The correlation between the Raman scattering data and the optoelectronic parameters of the devices shows the existence of an optimum OVC content range leading to devices with highest open circuit voltage and efficiency. These data provide with a clear experimental evidence on the impact of the OVC phases on the device efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Nondestructive chemical quantitative analysis of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 by photoluminescence. [•] Extension to nondestructive Ga depth profile assessment with confocal measurements. [•] Correlation with Raman scattering microcrystalline and phase assessment. [•] Demonstration of methodologies for monitoring of advanced CIGS PV technologies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study aimed to evaluate the post-warming in vitro viability of intact porcine zygotes vitrified using the superfine open pulled-straw (SOPS) method and to investigate whether cryotolerance is increased by lipid polarisation before vitrification. In vivo-derived zygotes (n = 317) were either untreated before SOPS vitrification or subjected to one of the following pre-treatments: (1) centrifugation (20 min, 15 000g) or (2) equilibration in high-osmolality medium (6 min, 400 mOsm kg-1) followed by centrifugation. Vitrified-warmed and non-vitrified fresh zygotes were cultured in vitro for 120 h. There were no differences in the blastocyst formation rates between the vitrification groups (from 35.4 ± 5.3% to 48.2 ± 5.6%), but fresh zygotes exhibited higher (P < 0.001) blastocyst formation rates (87.5 ± 5.3%) than did vitrified-warmed zygotes. The total blastocyst cell number was similar among all groups (from 34.9 ± 2.8 to 44.1 ± 2.8). In conclusion, SOPS vitrification is a promising method for the cryopreservation of untreated in vivo-derived porcine zygotes. Neither lipid polarisation by centrifugation nor exposure to a high-osmolality medium followed by centrifugation affected the post-warming in vitro viability of zygotes. Our study also demonstrated that the donor is an important factor in determining the success of vitrification for in vivo-derived porcine zygotes. Effective cryopreservation of porcine zygotes could be important for cloning programs. This study aimed to evaluate the survival of intact in vivo-derived zygotes vitrified using the superfine open pulled-straw (SOPS) method, and to investigate whether cryotolerance is increased through lipid polarisation by centrifugation or by a high-osmolality medium. These pre-treatments did not improve embryo vitrification ability. Untreated in vivo-derived porcine zygotes were successfully vitrified using the SOPS method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contents The objective of this study was to optimize protocols for the cryopreservation of sex-sorted boar spermatozoa. In the experiment 1, we evaluated the effects of a standard boar sperm cryopreservation procedure (3% final glycerol concentration) on the in vitro characteristics of sex-sorted sperm frozen at low sperm concentrations (20 × 106 sperm/ml; S20 group). Non-sorted spermatozoa frozen at 1000 × 106 (C1000 group) and 20 × 106 (C20 group) sperm/ml were used as the freezing control groups. In experiment 2, the effects of different final glycerol concentrations (0.16%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0% and 3.0%) on post-thaw quality of the S20 and C20 groups were evaluated. In both experiments, the samples were evaluated prior to freezing (5°C) and at 30, 90 and 150 min after thawing. Experiment 1 indicated that freezing sperm at low concentrations decreased (p < 0.05) the total motility (TM) and progressive motility (PM) at 90 and 150 min after thawing regardless of whether the sperm were sorted or not. However, the sperm membrane integrity was not affected at any evaluation step. Inexperiment 2, significant effects on the TM and PM because of increased glycerol concentrations in the S20 and C20 groups were observed only at 90 and 150 min after thawing. The samples frozen in 3% glycerol showed lower (p < 0.05) TM and PM values when compared to those frozen in the presence of 0.5% and 1% glycerol. In both experiments, non-sorted control samples displayed higher percentages of spermatozoa with damaged DNA than sorted spermatozoa. In conclusion, the optimization of cryopreservation conditions by decreasing the glycerol concentrations can improve post-thaw motility of sex-sorted spermatozoa frozen at low concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contents The present study was designed to evaluate three different in vitro fertilization (IVF) systems: a straw-IVF system with 10 min of coincubation, a straw-IVF system with 6-h coincubation and the microdrop-IVF system with 6-h coincubation (the traditional IVF system used routinely in most of IVF laboratories) in an attempt to reduce polyspermic penetration ( Experiment 1 ). When the straw-IVF system was tested in combination with two coincubation times, the use of 10 min of coincubation significantly increased (p < 0.001) the penetration rate and the efficiency of fertilization (67.7 ± 6.4% vs 31.9 ± 6.5% and 41.5 ± 2.5% vs 17.6 ± 2.5% for 10 min and 6 h, respectively), while there were no significant differences in the incidence of monospermy between both systems (64.3 ± 5.1% and 67.7 ± 3.4%, for 10 min and 6 h, respectively). The penetration rate in the 6-h microdrop-IVF system was higher (93.8 ± 3.6%; p < 0.001) compared with the 10-min straw-IVF system (67.7 ± 6.4%), however, monospermy was severely reduced (25.0 ± 4.3% vs 67.7 ± 3.4%, for the 6-h microdrop-IVF system and 10-min straw-IVF system, respectively). The efficiency of the IVF showed similar values between microdrop and 6-h straw-IVF systems, but efficiency was significantly improved (p < 0.05) when the 10-min straw-IVF system was used. Experiment 2 was designed to compare porcine in vitro embryo production in two IVF systems, the 6-h microdrop-IVF system (1000 sperm per oocyte) and 10-min straw-IVF system (30 000 sperm per oocyte). The blastocyst formation rates tended (p = 0.06) to be higher when the 10-min straw-IVF system was used compared with the 6-h microdrop-IVF system. In addition, the number of total cells per blastocyst increased significantly (p < 0.05) in the 10-min straw-IVF system. These results showed that the 10-min straw-IVF system is an effective way to decrease polyspermic penetration, and improve the efficiency of fertilization and the quality of blastocysts in terms of cell number per embryo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness, in terms of viability and quality post‐warming, when vitrifying in vitro‐produced (IVP) pig blastocysts with either a modified Cryotop (n = 161; 20 blastocysts/device) or the conventional Superfine Open Pulled Straw (SOPS; n=160; 5‐6 blastocysts/device systems. Blastocyst viability, morphology, and apoptosis parameters were evaluated after 24 h of in vitro culture. The Cryotop system yields better results in terms of higher embryo viability and total cell numbers (p <.05) and lower apoptosis (p <.05) parameters than the SOPS procedure, defining a high effectiveness to simultaneously vitrify 20 pig IVP blastocysts at one time, thus increasing the yield of IVP blastocysts readily available for embryo transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To investigate the expression and source of chemokines in minor salivary gland biopsies (MSGs) in patients with Sjogren's syndrome (SS). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contents Unilateral enlargement of left testicle and scrotum was detected in an 8-year-old West Highland White Terrier. The histopathological diagnosis after surgery was a seminoma (SEM) tumour, and a diagnosis of metastatic foci was also detected in vaginal tunic and scrotum. Two months later, new metastatic SEM foci in the skin were diagnosed. Twenty-two months after the initial orchiectomy new multiple cutaneous nodules and a swelling of periesophageal structures were observed. Finally, the necropsy revealed multiple malignant metastatic SEM focus. To the author's knowledge, this is the first description of a canine SEM with unusual widespread metastasis on the base of tongue, soft palate, trachea and pericardium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the effects of different concentrations (1, 10, 25, 50, and 100 µM) of the antioxidant N-(2-mercaptopropionyl)-glycine (NMPG), during the culture of in vitro-fertilized porcine oocytes. While the highest concentrations of NMPG (50 and 100 µM) were toxic to the developing embryos during the first two days of culture, 25 µM NMPG achieved cleavage rates that were similar to those achieved by the control but did not sustain blastocyst production by Day 7 of culture. Compared to the control culture medium, the culture medium supplemented with 10 µM NMPG increased (P < 0.05) the rates of blastocyst formation, decreased (P < 0.05) the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen substances, and downregulated (P < 0.05) the expression of the oxidative stress related gene GPX1. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that supplementation of porcine embryo culture medium with 10 µM NMPG can attenuate oxidative stress and increase the yield of in vitro production of blastocysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to design a chemically defined medium for the vitrification of in vitroproduced porcine blastocysts avoiding the use of serum or serum components. Cumulus–oocyte complexes were matured in vitroin NCSU-23 for 44h and were inseminated with frozen–thawed spermatozoa. Presumptive zygotes were cultured for 16h to assess in vitrofertilization (IVF) parameters (N=200) or for 6 days (N=600) in order to obtain blastocysts. For chemically delipidation, 10μM forskolin was added to the culture medium on Day 5 of in vitroculture. On Day 2, embryos were evaluated for cleavage rate. On Day 6, embryos were assessed for blastocyst formation; only those blastocysts showing excellent morphological appearance were selected for vitrification. Blastocysts were vitrified using as basic medium TCM-199 HEPES supplemented with 20% of newborn calf serum (NBCS; n=65), with 0.1% of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA; n=64) or without additives (WA; n=65). The OPS-vitrification and warming were performed as described by (Sanchez-Osorio et al.2010 Theriogenology 73, 300–308) using 16% of Etylenglycol and 16% of dimetyl sulfoxide as final concentrations of cryoprotectants. Vitrified blastocysts were warmed and cultured in vitrofor 24h to assess their viability. Blastocysts that totally reformed their blastocoel cavity showing a normal or excellent morphology were considered viable. In addition, after in vitroculture vitrified-warmed viable embryos were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS medium and stained with Hoechst 33342 in order to assess the total number of cells. Data were analysed by using the MIXED procedure of SPSS. The threshold for significance was set at P<0.05. Results are expressed as least squares means±SEM. The maturation, penetration, and monospermy rates were 98.5±1.2%, 85.3±3.6%, and 48.8±5%, respectively. The efficiency of IVF (defined as the ratio of monospermic oocytes to the total number of inseminated oocytes) was 41.0±4.9%. The values of cleavage rate at Day 2 and blastocysts formation rate were 67.8±1.4% and 37.3±1.6%, respectively. After vitrification and warming, similar survival rates were observed for NBCS (33.8±5.9) PVA (40.6±6.0), and WA (30.8±5.9) groups. No significant differences were found for the total number of cells (ranged from 35.4±6.8 to 50.8±8.3) among vitrification groups. In conclusion, in vitroderived porcine blastocysts can be vitrified in the absence of serum and serum components. Furthermore, PVA is a suitable substitute for serum in vitrification solutions with no detrimental effect on the viability of in vitroproduced pig blastocysts. This study was supported by the Seneca foundation of Murcia (GERM 04543/07). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were, first to investigate the effect of minimum essential medium (MEM) vitamins (VITs) during IVM of porcine oocytes on in vitroembryo production of porcine embryos and second, to determine if the addition of VITs during IVM and the chemical delipidation with forskolin improve the vitrification ability of in vitro-derived porcine blastocysts. COCs were divided in two groups and matured in NCSU-23 for 44 h with 0.05% VITs (V group) or without VITs (NV group). Matured oocytes were inseminated with frozen-thawed spermatozoa. Presumptive zygotes were cultured for 16 h to assess IVF parameters (N= 767) or for 6 days (N= 2858) to evaluate the in vitroembryo development (Day 0 = day of IVF). On Day 5, some embryos from NV and V groups were cultured for 24 h with 10 μM forskolin (NVF and VF groups). The remaining embryos were cultured without forskolin (NVNF and VNF groups). On Day 6, embryos from the four experimental groups were assessed for blastocysts formation and some blastocysts (N= 414) were vitrified using superfine open pulled straws (SOPS). Vitrified blastocysts were warmed (one-step dilution method) and cultured for 24 h to assess their viability. Blastocysts with totally or partially reformed blastocoel cavity and normal or excellent morphology were considered viable. Five replicates of a 2 × 2 factorial design were conducted. Data was analyzed with the MIXED procedure. The threshold for significance was set at P< 0.05. Results are expressed as least squares means ± SEM. No differences were observed in the maturation of COCs treated with VITs (92.7 ± 1.3%) and non-treated COCs (94.3 ± 1.3%). The NV and V maturation groups showed similar penetration (83.0 ± 3% and 82.6 ± 3%, respectively) and monospermy (48.9 ± 6%, and 48.3 ± 6%, respectively) rates. The rate of monosermic oocytes related to the total of analyzed oocytes was similar for NV (38.1 ± 3.7%) and V (38.4 ± 3.7%) groups. The values of cleavage rate on Day 2 were similar for NV (66.7 ± 1.5%) and V (69.6 ± 1.6%) embryos. The addition of VITs to IVM medium improved (P< 0.01) up to 10 points the blastocysts formation rate, but the addition of forskolin at Day 5 did not affect this parameter. The V group showed a higher (P< 0.01) blastocysts rate (45.1 ± 2.5%) than the NV group (38.4 ± 2.3%).The addition of VITs did not affect the survival of in vitro-derived blastocysts after SOPS-vitrification on Day 6. However, the blastocysts cultured for 24 h with forskolin showed higher (P< 0.05) viability (44.0 ± 7.9%) after vitrification and warming than those embryos cultured without forskolin (34.1 ± 7.8%). In conclusion, the addition of MEM vitamins to IVM medium improves the blastocysts formation rate and the chemical delipidation with forskolin improve the cryosurvival of SOPS-vitrified porcine in vitro-derived blastocysts. This study was supported by the Seneca foundation of Murcia (GERM 04543/07), MICINN (AGL2009-12091 and RC-2007), and CARM (2I05SU0012). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hoechst 33342 (H342) in combination with ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is frequently used to assist the enucleation of porcine oocytes in somatic cell nuclear transfer programs. This work evaluated the effects of H342 (5 μg/mL for 12 min) staining and/or exposure to UV irradiation on fertilisability and developmental capacity of porcine oocytes matured in vitro. In Experiment 1, a total of 1388 mature oocytes were distributed in the following groups: Group 1: oocytes without treatment (Control), Group 2: oocytes stained with H342, Group 3: oocytes stained with H342 and UV irradiated for 30 sec, and Group 4: oocytes UV irradiated for 30 sec. Oocytes from each group were exposed to thawed spermatozoa and cultured for 18 h to assess fertilization parameters or for 7 d to evaluate embryo development. Sperm penetration (P < 0.001) and monospermy (P < 0.04) were lower in oocytes exposed to H342/UV (80.7 ± 4.5% and 30.7 ± 5.4%, respectively) than in oocytes from the control group (94.9 ± 4.3 and 50.0 ± 4.9, respectively). The oocytes exposed to H342/UV showed lower (P < 0.001) cleavage (49.8 ± 2.9%) and blastocyst (7.7 ± 2.9%) rates than oocytes from the other groups (range: 73.8 ± 2.9% to 77.7 ± 2.9% and 22.3 ± 2.9% to 30.9 ± 3.0%, respectively). Experiment 2 was designed to evaluate the effect of shorter UV irradiation (5 sec). A total of 1835 mature oocytes were separated into the same groups as those of Experiment 1. The fertilization parameters and the cleavage rates were not influenced by the different treatments. However, the oocytes exposed to H342 and UV irradiation for 5 sec showed a lower (P < 0.02) rate of blastocyst formation (15.2 ± 4.5%) than the oocytes from other groups (range: 26.1 ± 4.5% to 30.7 ± 4.5%). In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the combination of H342 staining with UV irradiation has a clear deleterious effect on the developmental ability of oocytes, with the effects being more intense with increased exposure to UV irradiation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The cytokine platelet factor 4 (PF4) enhances differentiation and cell viability of different stem cells lines in vitro. This study investigated whether PF4 addition to customary pig embryo semi-defined culture media can improve their developmental outcome (Experiment 1) and ultimately replace the need for bovine serum albumin (BSA, Experiment 2). Experiment 1 added PF4 (100–1000 ng/mL, 0 = control) to NCSU-23 with 0.4 mg/mL BSA culturing 3430 presumptive zygotes. Experiment 2 added PF4 (100–1000 ng/mL, 0 = Control-PVA) to a BSA-free medium (NCSU-23 with 0.3 mg/mL PVA) culturing 3820 presumptive zygotes. Zygote culture in NCSU-23 with 0.4 mg/mL BSA was used as overall control. All groups of Experiment 1 displayed similar rates of day 2-cleavage (range: 65.0 ± 10.9 to 70.0 ± 5.8%); of day 7-blastocyst rates (range: 46.6 ± 10.0 to 56.4 ± 8.2%) and of total day 7-blastocyst efficiency (range: 32.3 ± 8.3 to 37.2 ± 7.3%). Addition of PF4 did not affect total cell numbers of day 7 blastocysts (range: 44.1 ± 23.2 to 50.5 ± 26.4). In Experiment 2, PF4 accelerated embryo development, increasing (P < 0.01) blastocyst yield compared to 0-PF4, and blastocyst formation by day 5 adding PF4 100–500 ng/mL (range: 29.9 ± 7.8 to 31.8 ± 5.5%; P < 0.05) compared with BSA-control (17.2 ± 8.2%) and PF4 1000 ng/mL (15.5 ± 7.9%); showing similar blastocyst rates (range: 42.0 ± 11.5 to 49.3 ± 10.0%), total efficiency (28.0 ± 8.2 to 32.3 ± 7.1%) total cell numbers (range: 42.6 ± 19.3 to 45.7 ± 23.9) as BSA-controls. In conclusion, although PF4 did not show additive improvement under usual semi-defined, BSA-supplemented embryo media, it successfully replaced BSA sustaining porcine blastocyst production in chemically defined conditions. • Porcine embryo culture media are usually supplanted with BSA. • BSA entails potential risks of disease transmission. • We successfully replaced BSA with platelet factor 4 in porcine embryo culture medium. • In addition, platelet factor 4 accelerated in vitro embryo development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient system to collect large numbers of vital zygotes is a pre-requisite for application of zygote genome-editing technology, including development of efficient models for xenotransplantation using pigs. Owing to the sub-optimal in vitro production of zygotes in pigs, efficient collection of in vivo developed zygotes is required. Timing of ovulation is a key factor to sustain efficiency since the interval between pronuclear formation and the first division is very short in pigs. The weaning-to-estrus interval can, due to its inverse relation with length of estrus and time of ovulation, interfere with ovulation and make it asynchronous, which reduces the probability of obtaining zygotes. This retrospective study compared the effects of three weaning-to-estrus intervals of 3, 4 or 5 days on zygote collection efficiency in a total of 17 trials over a 3-year period including 223 sows. Donor sows in groups of 10–15 animals were super-ovulated with eCG 24 h after weaning and those in estrus at 48–72 h post-eCG were immediately treated with hCG, followed by insemination 6 and 24 h thereafter. Collected structures during laparotomy on Day 2 (Day 0: onset of estrus) were morphologically evaluated and only those with a single cell and two visible polar bodies were considered as zygotes. Zygotes were injected with CRISPR-Cas9 editor mixture and cultured for 6 days to evaluate their developmental ability against non-injected control zygotes. Of all recovered structures (N = 5,468), 67.4%, 30.8% and 1.8% were zygotes, 2-cell embryos and oocytes-degenerated embryos, respectively. The different weaning-to-estrus intervals did not affect either the percentages of collected zygotes (range: 64.1%–70.0%) or the percentages of sows with zygotes at collection time (range: 69.0%–73.3%). The weaning-to-estrus intervals did not affect the in vitro developmental ability of zygotes. After 24 h of culture, 78.1 ± 2.0% and 95.1 ± 0.6 (P < 0.05) of injected (N = 2,345) and non-injected (N = 335) zygotes, respectively, developed to 2-to-4-cell embryo stage. The total efficiency of the system was 64.1 ± 2.2% and 85.8 ± 1.5% (P < 0.05) for injected and non-injected zygotes, respectively. In conclusion, the results indicate that neither the efficiency of collecting in vivo derived porcine zygotes from superovulated sows nor the zygote ability to develop to blastocyst after cytoplasmic genome-editing injection were affected by a weaning-to-estrus interval between 3-to-5 days. • Genome-editing technology requires efficient methods to obtain large numbers of vital zygotes. • We describe a protocol for collecting high-quality porcine zygotes from weaned sows. • Weaning-to estrus intervals between 3 and 5 days did not affect the zygote collection efficiency. • These intervals did not affect the developmental ability of CRISPR-Cas9 injected zygotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short- and medium-term storage of pig embryos has become relevant for commercial application of non-surgical deep uterine embryo transfer (NsDU-ET) in the light of the strict legal and administrative requirements posed by the International Association for Air Transport (IATA) to allow shipment of liquid nitrogen (LN 2) containers and the technical drawbacks when using vitrified embryos. Therefore, this study developed an efficient method for the liquid storage of in vivo -derived porcine blastocysts for a moderate duration (48 h) without controlled CO 2 gassing. We evaluated two storage temperatures (25 °C and 37 °C) and three HEPES-supplemented media: the chemically defined media TL-PVA and NCSU-PVA and the semi-defined medium NCSU-BSA. We observed no differences in survival, hatching rate or final developmental stage between the two temperatures, but storage at 25 °C was more efficient to preserve zona pellucida (ZP) integrity. Blastocysts were successfully stored for 24 h in a chemically defined medium. Yet, only 48 h storage in NCSU-BSA medium supported blastocyst development. Although all storage conditions resulted in an embryonic developmental delay, blastocysts stored in NCSU-BSA at either tested temperature could hatch and attain the same final developmental stage as control blastocysts when cultured under standard conditions after storage. Moreover, blastocysts stored at 25 °C for 48 h in NCSU-BSA medium could produce pregnancies after surgical transfer. In conclusion, porcine blastocysts maintain their viability and developmental potential after storage in the semi-defined medium NCSU-BSA for at least 48 h at 25 °C. • Liquid storage at 25 °C is efficient to preserve the zona pellucida integrity. • Blastocysts keep their viability and developmental potential in NCSU-BSA for 48 h at 25 °C. • Blastocysts stored at 25 °C for 48 h in NCSU-BSA produced pregnancies after surgical transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high incidence of polyspermy is still an unresolved problem for the production of in vitro-produced porcine embryos. In this work, we modified the usual sperm processing sequence for in vitro fertilization (IVF), and the spermatozoa from four boars were frozen directly at a low sperm concentration of 20 × 106 sperm/mL (high pre-freezing sperm dilution group; F20), thawed and processed for IVF in three replicates. Spermatozoa from the same boars frozen at a conventional concentration (1000 × 106 sperm/mL) were used as the control group. The post-thaw sperm quality evaluation demonstrated that despite there being no differences in the percentage of motile spermatozoa between groups, the proportion of live spermatozoa with intact acrosomes was significantly higher in the F20 group than in the control. The in vitro penetration rate was also similar between groups; however, the co-incubation of oocytes with F20 sperm increased monospermy, IVF efficiency, cleavage rate and the efficiency of blastocyst formation compared with the results for oocytes co-incubated with control spermatozoa. These results indicate, for the first time, that a high pre-freezing sperm dilution increases monospermy without affecting penetration rates, thereby increasing blastocyst formation. • High pre-freezing sperm dilution improves monospermy maintaining high penetration rates and decreasing the boar variability. • High pre-freezing sperm dilution in porcine IVF increases blastocyst formation. • High pre-freezing sperm dilution increases percentages of live spermatozoa with intact acrosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]