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Sheep is an important livestock in the world providing meat, milk and wool for human beings. With increasing human population, the worldwide needs of production of sheep have elevated. To meet the needs, the assistant reproductive technology including ovine in vitro embryo production (ovine IVP) is urgently required to enhance the effective production of sheep in the world. To learn the status of ovine IVP, we collected some publications related to ovine IVP through PubMed and analyzed the progress in ovine IVP made in the last five years (2012–2017). We made comparisons of these data and found that the recent advances in ovine IVP has been made slowly comparable to that of ovine IVP two decades ago. Therefore, we suggested two strategies or approaches to tackle the main problems in ovine IVP and expect that the efficiency of ovine IVP could be improved significantly when the approaches would be implemented. Keywords: Embryos, IVF, IVM, IVP, Oocyte, Sheep

This paper presents the employment of a DPA attack on the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standardized AES (advance encryption standard) protocol for key retrieval and prevention. Towards key retrieval, we applied the DPA attack on AES to obtain a 128-bit secret key by measuring the power traces of the computations involved in the algorithm. In resistance to the DPA attack, we proposed a countermeasure, or a new modified masking scheme, comprising (i) Boolean and (ii) multiplicative masking, for linear and non-linear operations of AES, respectively. Furthermore, we improved the complexity involved in Boolean masking by introducing Rebecca’s approximation. Moreover, we provide a novel solution to tackle the zero mask problem in multiplicative masking. To evaluate the power traces, we propose our custom correlation technique, which results in a decrease in the calculation time. The synthesis results for original implementation (without countermeasure) and inclusion of countermeasure are given on a Zynq 7020 FPGA (Artix-7 device). It takes 424 FPGA slices when implemented without considering the countermeasure, whereas 714 slices are required to implement AES with the inclusion of the proposed countermeasure. Consequently, the implementation results provide the acceptability of this work for area-constrained applications that require prevention against DPA attacks.

Detailed geological field mapping of the area located to the southwest of Gebel Akheider, south-central part of the Cairo-Suez District (Egypt), was carried out to identify the geometry, structural style, and evolution of the normal fault systems in the study area. The present structural geometry of the study area is of Miocene age and is the result of the propagation, kinematic interaction, and eventual linkage of extensional fault segments. Eight mapped relay ramps formed between synthetic non-overlapping and overlapping normal faults. Fault displacement profiles showing variation in displacement along strike revealed steep displacement gradients and local displacement minima at the locations of these relay ramps. Conjugate normal faults in the area also showed signs of kinematic interaction. Fault displacement profiles revealed complimentary displacement distribution between interacting overlapping conjugate faults. In competent rock units (Middle Eocene limestone), this interaction resulted in the formation of horsts and grabens relay zones, while in incompetent rock units (Middle Miocene soft marl and sandy limestone), this interaction resulted in a series of en echelon plunging anticlines and synclines (accommodation folds). Several transfer faults marked by points of local displacement minima were also identified, forming a distinctive zigzag pattern in map view that is characteristic of the Cairo-Suez District. Curved fault traces represent another form of fault linkage in the study area. Fault displacement profiles indicated two different growth mechanisms, either as the result of bilateral growth of two along-strike faults, or the intersection of previously isolated and differently oriented fault segments.

While exploration activities are flourishing in both the offshore Nile Delta Basin and the Levant Basin, Herodotus Basin remains unexplored. The study of the complex tectonic evolution of this basin is mainly hindered by large water depths, insufficient and poor seismic imaging, as well as the scarcity of well penetrations. The present study offers a new insight into the tectonic history of the eastern margin of Herodotus Basin through detailed structural study of the Rosetta Fault. Detailed structural mapping of Rosetta Fault using 3D seismic and borehole data reveals its complicated deformation history. Together with other NE-SW oriented faults in the Levant Basin and the northern Egypt onshore area, Rosetta Fault experienced different phases of slip at different times including normal slip due to extensional deformation at Triassic to early Cretaceous times and reverse slip at Late Cretaceous to Tortonian times due to the convergence of Eurasia and Afro-Arabia. Contrary to the findings of some plate tectonic models, which consider NE-SW drift of Afro-Arabia and Eurasia, the present study suggests that the direction of Mesozoic extension in Herodotus Basin (as well as the Levant Basin and the northern onshore areas of Egypt) was NW-SE based on the orientations of Mesozoic active faults. Rosetta Fault also shows deformation by sinistral transtension at Messinian and Holocene times intervened by Plio-Pleistocene normal slip. When the Rosetta Fault was affected by normal slip and transtensional deformation at Messinian to Holocene times, the Herodotus Basin lying to the NW of it was affected by NW-SE shortening associated with the Hellenic subduction. The obvious contrast in the deformation style of Rosetta Fault and the Herodotus Basin is attributed to the irregular shape of the convergent plate boundary extending from south Cyprus to SE Crete.

WOS: 000438926500008, PubMed ID: 29980595, BACKGROUND: To describe the baseline characteristics of patients with heart failure and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction enrolled in the PARAGON-HF trial (Prospective Comparison of Angiotensin Receptor Neprilysin Inhibitor With Angiotensin Receptor Blocker Global Outcomes in HFpEF) comparing sacubitril/valsartan to valsartan in reducing morbidity and mortality. METHODS AND RESULTS: We report key demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings, and baseline therapies, of 4822 patients randomized in PARAGON-HF, grouped by factors that influence criteria for study inclusion. We further compared baseline characteristics of patients enrolled in PARAGON-HF with those patients enrolled in other recent trials of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Among patients enrolled from various regions (16% Asia-Pacific, 37% Central Europe, 7% Latin America, 12% North America, 28% Western Europe), the mean age of patients enrolled in PARAGON-HF was 72.7 +/- 8.4 years, 52% of patients were female, and mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 57.5%, similar to other trials of HFpEF. Most patients were in New York Heart Association class II, and 38% had >= 1 hospitalizations for heart failure within the previous 9 months. Diabetes mellitus (43%) and chronic kidney disease (47%) were more prevalent than in previous trials of HFpEF. Many patients were prescribed angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (85%), beta-blockers (80%), calcium channel blockers (36%), and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (24%). As specified in the protocol, virtually all patients were on diuretics, had elevated plasma concentrations of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (median, 911 pg/mL; interquartile range, 464-1610), and structural heart disease. CONCLUSIONS: PARAGON-HF represents a contemporary group of patients with HFpEF with similar age and sex distribution compared with prior HFpEF trials but higher prevalence of comorbidities. These findings provide insights into the impact of inclusion criteria on, and regional variation in, HFpEF patient characteristics., Novartis, The PARAGON-HF trial is funded by Novartis.

This work presents an Elliptic-curve Point Multiplication (ECP) architecture with a focus on low latency and low area for radio-frequency-identification (RFID) applications over GF(2163). To achieve low latency, we have reduced the clock cycles by using: (i) three-shift buffers in the datapath to load Elliptic-curve parameters as well as an initial point, (ii) the identical size of input/output interfaces in all building blocks of the architecture. The low area is preserved by using the same hardware resources of squaring and multiplication for inversion computation. Finally, an efficient controller is used to control the inferred logic. The proposed ECP architecture is modeled in Verilog and the synthesis results are given on three different 7-series FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) devices, i.e., Kintex-7, Artix-7, and Virtex-7. The performance of the architecture is provided with the integration of a schoolbook multiplier (implemented with two different logic styles, i.e., combinational and sequential). On Kintex-7, the combinational implementation style of a schoolbook multiplier results in power-optimized, i.e., 161 μW, values with an expense of (i) hardware resources, i.e., 3561 look-up-tables and 1527 flip-flops, (ii) clock frequency, i.e., 227 MHz, and (iii) latency, i.e., 11.57 μs. On the same Kintex-7 device, the sequential implementation style of a schoolbook multiplier provides, (i) 2.88 μs latency, (ii) 1786 look-up-tables and 1855 flip-flops, (iii) 647 μW power, and (iv) 909 MHz clock frequency. Therefore, the reported area, latency and power results make the proposed ECP architecture well-suited for RFID applications.

The study gives an account of management control practices in Libya during a period of relative political and economic stability that preceded the 2011 war and regime change. Using a two-level contingency model and survey data, stepped mediation regression first ascertains contingency relationships between organisational variables\ud and management control system (MCS)effectiveness. We also explicitly focus on the mediating role of management accounting information (MAI) in MCS effectiveness. We find that centralisation, formalisation, environmental uncertainty and competitive strategy significantly influence MCS effectiveness. Full mediation is observed in\ud relation to centralisation, whereas partial mediation is detected for formalisation,\ud environmental uncertainty, and competitive strategy. Manufacturing process complexity is not present in first level relationships and further tests only yielded an indirect MAI effect, not mediation in this case. The full vs. partial mediation distinction is not evident in most previous MCS interaction research, nor is the\ud isolation of the indirect effect, and future research needs to explore this with larger\ud samples. This is possibly the first study to develop and apply a multi-level contingency\ud model that explicitly focuses on the mediating role of MAI to empirically examine MCS effectiveness and contributes to the nascent literature on management accounting in emerging economies.

It is known that hybrid rice yields 15–20% over inbred varieties in first generation because of heterosis. However, heterosis is normally broken due to segregation. Applying apomixis produces plants as a clone of mother plant and overcomes the problem of breaking heterosis. In order to fix heterosis in the Egyptian rice Hybrid1, their seeds were mutagenized in 0.2% colchicine for two time periods 24 and 50 h. After colchicine mutagenesis, rice seedlings were grown in the field till maturation and the resulted M1 seeds were sown in season 2 and plants were selected based on yield and homogeneity. Then, seeds were sown to be evaluated in season 3. Pollen fertility test, esterase isozyme analysis, and flow cytometry seed screening were performed to confirm the results of field selection of populations identical to control. Pollen fertility examination was performed on the populations of the third season. Pollens of populations 304, 298, 292, 284, 281, 154 and 149 were found to be completely sterile. However, these plants had high seed set percentage. The flow cytometry screening of the six yield-based identical populations and the control seeds showed that populations 220, 339, 351 and 298 have higher nuclear DNA content (C2) than untreated hybrid (C2 & C3). Results of flow cytometry clearly showed that population 298 has one peak (C2) and its endosperm was formed autonomously without fertilization. Although its pollen grains were sterile, it showed high seed set percentage. This indicates that heterosis was completely fixed by apomixis in this population.

The study area is located within the southern dip province of the Gulf of Suez rift and includes two oil fields, Al Amir and Geyad. This area is located to the west of Gebel El Zeit and covers an area of about 321 km2. The study is based on the analysis of seismic and borehole data. Six Miocene seismic horizons are mapped from Top Zeit down to top Nukhul Formation. The study area is characterized by SW dip direction and is dissected by major NW-SE oriented, rift-parallel faults and some NE-SW oriented cross faults creating the two blocks of Al Amir and Geyad oil fields. The study shows the effect of these faults on the distribution of the clastic reservoir of the Kareem Formation.

Accumulating evidence suggests an association between immune dysfunction and autism disorders in a significant subset of children. In addition, an imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways has been proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of several neurodevelopmental disorders including autism; however, the role of anti-inflammatory molecules IL-27 and CTLA-4 and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-21 and IL-22 has not previously been explored in autistic children. In the current study, we investigated the expression of IL-21, IL-22, IL-27, and CD152 (CTLA-4) following an in-vitro immunological challenge of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from children with autism (AU) or typically-developing children (TD) with phorbol-12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and ionomycin. In our study, cells from children with AU had increased IL-21 and IL-22 and decreased CTLA-4 expression on CD4+ T cells as compared with cells from the TD control. Similarly, AU cells showed decreased IL-27 production by CD14+ cells compared to that of TD control cells. These results were confirmed by real-time PCR and western blot analyses. Our study shows dysregulation of the immune balance in cells from autistic children as depicted by enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokines, 'IL-21/IL-22' and decreased anti-inflammatory molecules, 'IL-27/CTLA-4'. Thus, further study of this immune imbalance in autistic children is warranted in order to facilitate development of biomarkers and therapeutics.