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Recently, infertility has become one of the most important endemic conditions, affecting approximately 15–20 % of couples worldwide. Among others, the careerist lifestyle, the increasing maternal age and the parallel increment in the aneuploidy rate of embryos play a crucial role in this phenomenon. In this study, embryological parameters and pregnancy outcomes were investigated in IVF cycles using either sequential embryo culture or a single step culture system. By sequential media, oocytes/embryos are needlessly exposed to the potentially negative effects of light exposure, temperature decrement and altered oxygen tension. In comparison with sequential media, single step media induced 1.28, 1.21 and 1.21-fold increments in implantation, biochemical pregnancy and clinical pregnancy rates, respectively. Pregnancy outcomes showed strong maternal age-dependency, so the difference between the two investigated culture systems was equalized by the increasing maternal ages (35–44 years) and the supposed incidence of embryo aneuploidy. Nevertheless, the significant enlargements in the outcomes of the younger ages (25–34) induced by the single step cultures suggest that, beside the resultant maternal aneuploidy, aneuploidy (reduced pregnancy rates) may evolve from exposure to the mentioned environmental stress factors.

According to some estimates, at least 70% of feedstuffs and finished feeds are contaminated with one or more mycotoxins and, due to its significant prevalence, both animals and humans are highly likely to be exposed to these toxins. In addition to health risks, they also cause economic issues. From a healthcare point of view, zearalenone (ZEA) and its derivatives have been shown to exert many negative effects. Specifically, ZEA has hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, intestinal toxicity, reproductive toxicity and endocrine disruption effects. Of these effects, male reproductive deterioration and processes that lead to this have been reviewed in this study. Papers are reviewed that demonstrate estrogenic effects of ZEA due to its analogy to estradiol and how these effects may influence male reproductive cells such as spermatozoa, Sertoli cells and Leydig cells. Data that employ epigenetic effects of ZEA are also discussed. We discuss literature data demonstrating that reactive oxygen species formation in ZEA-exposed cells plays a crucial role in diminished spermatogenesis; reduced sperm motility, viability and mitochondrial membrane potential; altered intracellular antioxidant enzyme activities; and increased rates of apoptosis and DNA fragmentation; thereby resulting in reduced pregnancy.

According to some statistics, absolute asthenozoospermia affects every 1 in 5000 men. Although this incidence rate does not appear to be too high, it is extremely important to address the phenomenon because it can drastically reduce the chances of pregnancy, even with assisted reproduction. The biggest problem with absolute asthenozoospermia is that it is difficult to distinguish between live and dead sperm cells, and fertilization with non-viable spermatozoa may contribute to the failure of an assisted reproduction cycle. Nowadays, DNA fragmentation (DF) is a crucial parameter of semen analysis, and in this paper, we provide evidence of the correlation between DF and vitality. For this purpose, the main semen parameters were investigated by a CASA system (concentration, motility, progressive motility, vitality and DF). In the necrozoospermic group (vitality < 58%), all the measured parameters showed significant differences compared to normal vitality. Concentration (30.1 M mL−1 vs. 13.6 M mL−1), motility (31.9% vs. 18.3%), and progressive motility (24.3% vs. 12.7%) were significantly decreased, while DF was significantly increased (17.4% vs. 23.7%). Based on the connection between vitality decrement and DF increment, DF lowering methods, such as magnetic-activated cell sorting, have been hypothesized as novel methods for the elimination of dead spermatozoa.

Small intestinal stromal tumors acccount for approximately 35% of all gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Gastrointestinal bleeding is considered as one of the main clinical symptoms for SISTs. Capsule endoscopy has brought revolution in small bowel diagnostics, as it is considered the best method of visualisation of the entire small intestine. Besides, it is well tolerated by patients and is accompanied by a low number of complications. It is also indicated as the first diagnostic method in gastrointestinal bleeding of obscure origin, following negative upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. Case report: 2 patients (a male and a female, aged 58 and 69, respectively) presented with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding have been examined by capsule endoscopy after negative upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. Videorecords have been assessed in both cases by two independent experts. The capsule reached the Bauchin-valve in both cases during the 8 hours of the testing time and the entire small bowel was clearly visible. – Based on the capsule endoscopic images, for one of the two cases a tumor has been reported as the background of the small intestinal bleeding. In the other case we could mark the location of the bleeding, while we were unable to ascertain the type of the actively bleeding lesion during the test. In order to determine the accurate bleeding source double-balloon enteroscopy was performed in the second case. After surgery the histological and immunhistochemical tests have justified the presence of spindle cell GISTs. Taking into consideration the Fletcher-classification, for the tumor size and the mitotic index, both cases can be classified as a GIST of low malignant potencial. Conclusions: An early diagnosis and application of a definitive therapy become possible by using capsule endoscopy, therefore the chance of survival of the patients might be increased.

Supporting real-time data transport in highly dynamic conditions, which arise in wireless and mobile ad hoc networks is challenging. The significant variations in link bandwidth and latency undermine the quality of real-time applications by introducing congestion and delay jitters. For such applications data is only useful before its lifetime expires. In this paper we investigate a staleness-aware mechanism for realtime multimedia flows, where the system can decide if the respective frame is eligible or not for transmission, namely, if it can be entirely transmitted before its lifetime expires. A mathematical model and analysis is presented, where the partial and complete frame discarding staleness-aware techniques are compared. Then the Burst Transfer Eligibility Decision (BTED) mechanism, a concrete staleness-aware solution for WPANs is introduced. In order to have a deeper understanding of staleness-aware mechanisms, simulation analysis is also presented. We show that complete frame discarding presents better results than the partial rejection in terms of several performance metrics.

Scatternet formation is one of the most important issues of emerging Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). Numerous papers pointed out that the performance of a WPAN highly depends on the scatternet structure; however, for next generation WPANs (IEEE 802.15.3 and 802.15.4) the issue of scatternet formation is not discussed in the literature so far. This paper presents the techniques, constraints and effects of scatternet formation. First, the theoretically based problem is formulated in Integer Linear Programming (ILP) framework. Two heuristic methods are proposed for high-rate WPANs (802.15.3), which can be extended for low-rate WPANs (802.15.4) as well. The constructed networks are analyzed based on two metrics: (1) total network load, (2) amount of piconets. We show that network performance highly depends on the used algorithm: the network load can be reduced by up to 30% by using a proper scatternet formation algorithm. Furthermore, the scatternet can be optimized depending on the actual network traffic and individual objectives..

Human ovarian follicular fluids and sera obtained from women pre-treated for in vitro fertilization (IVF) were investigated by capillary zone electrophoresis. Comparison of the matching physiological liquids showed substantial differences in the electrophoretic patterns. Significant decrease in the α1- and γ-fractions of follicular fluids of every woman were observed, whereas other fractions of the samples did not show such alterations. Since follicular fluid is a product of both, secretion by granulosa cells and diffusion from the theca capillaries, we can assume that the forced production of follicular fluid upon hormone stimulation (with gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and corionic gonadotroph hormone (hCG)) may play role in the uneven presence of the proteins.

The diagnostic value of estriol determinations in high-risk pregnancies is frequently discussed in the literature. Estriol levels of urine and serum samples of 48 asymptomatic pregnant women were analyzed using direct radioimmunoassay. A correlation was found (r = 0.5997) between urine and serum samples, nevertheless the correlation was stronger (r = 0.8278) if 4 cases with extreme deviation were omitted. In these cases the serum estriol levels were high and the urine estriol levels were low. The outcome of the pregnancies was without any complication. Our observations suggest that determination of unconjugated serum estriol levels is more reliable in the monitoring of high-risk pregnancies, since they do not depend on renal and hepatic functions.