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Much of our basic understanding of cognitive and social processes in infancy relies on measures of looking time, and specifically on infants’ visual preference for a novel or familiar stimulus. However, despite being the foundation of many behavioral tasks in infant research, the determinants of infants’ visual preferences are poorly understood, and differences in the expression of preferences can be difficult to interpret. In this large-scale study, we test predictions from the Hunter and Ames model of infants' visual preferences. We investigate the effects of three factors predicted by this model to determine infants’ preference for novel versus familiar stimuli: age, stimulus familiarity, and stimulus complexity. Drawing from a large and diverse sample of infant participants (N = XX), this study will provide crucial empirical evidence for a robust and generalizable model of infant visual preferences, leading to a more solid theoretical foundation for understanding the mechanisms that underlie infants’ responses in common behavioral paradigms. Moreover, our findings will guide future studies that rely on infants' visual preferences to measure cognitive and social processes.

PURPOSE: Sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) testing was recently added to the sixth edition of the World Health Organization laboratory manual for the examination and processing of human semen. Many conditions and risk factors have been associated with elevated SDF; therefore, it is important to identify the population of infertile men who might benefit from this test. The purpose of this study was to investigate global practices related to indications for SDF testing, compare the relevant professional society guideline recommendations, and provide expert recommendations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinicians managing male infertility were invited to take part in a global online survey on SDF clinical practices. This was conducted following the CHERRIES checklist criteria. The responses were compared to professional society guideline recommendations related to SDF and the appropriate available evidence. Expert recommendations on indications for SDF testing were then formulated, and the Delphi method was used to reach consensus. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 436 experts from 55 countries. Almost 75% of respondents test for SDF in all or some men with unexplained or idiopathic infertility, 39% order it routinely in the work-up of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), and 62.2% investigate SDF in smokers. While 47% of reproductive urologists test SDF to support the decision for varicocele repair surgery when conventional semen parameters are normal, significantly fewer general urologists (23%; p=0.008) do the same. Nearly 70% would assess SDF before assisted reproductive technologies (ART), either always or for certain conditions. Recurrent ART failure is a common indication for SDF testing. Very few society recommendations were found regarding SDF testing. CONCLUSIONS: This article presents the largest global survey on the indications for SDF testing in infertile men, and demonstrates diverse practices. Furthermore, it highlights the paucity of professional society guideline recommendations. Expert recommendations are proposed to help guide clinicians.

Sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) is implicated in male infertility and adverse reproductive outcomes. With the publication of many studies regarding the etiologies and contributors to SDF, as well as the effects of SDF, guidelines are necessary to aid clinicians in the application of SDF for male fertility evaluation. Two recent clinical practice guidelines were published by Agarwal et al and Esteves et al. In this article, we have evaluated and compared both guidelines. We have found fairly similar recommendations between the two guidelines and have also highlighted the differences between them. Finally, we have summarized and combined the best practice recommendations from both guidelines. Copyright © 2022 Korean Society for Sexual Medicine and Andrology

Purpose: This study aimed to measure the amount of change in the mandibular angle, intergonial width, and ramus angulation due to intersegmental interference and changes in condyle position after mandibular bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy (BSSRO) in patients with mandibular prognathism and to evaluate the correlation between them. Materials and methods: A total of 32 patients who underwent mandibular setback using the BSSRO of the mandible to manage skeletal prognathism during the years 2018 to 2020 at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Pusan National University were followed both clinically and with cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) for at least one year. Those who were also treated with genioplasty or other orthognathic surgery were excluded from the study. The mandibular angle (gonial angle: Ar–Go–Me), intergonial width (Go–Go), and total angle (sum of left and right proximal segmental angle) were recorded. Changes in the ramus were compared and analyzed before surgery (T1), immediately after surgery (T2), and one year following surgery (T3). Results: The mandibular angle increased by an average of 0.14 degrees immediately after surgery (T2–T1) and increased by 0.97 degrees at 12 months postoperatively (T3–T2). No correlation was observed with the amount of change in each group relative to the amount of mandibular setback. The mandibular width decreased by 0.01 mm on average immediately after surgery (T2–T1), and by 4.2 mm on average at 12 months after surgery (T3–T2). The angle of the mesial fragment of the mandible increased by 1.04 degrees immediately after surgery (T2–T1), compared to the preoperative state. It decreased by 0.86 degrees at 12 months postoperatively (T3–T2). Conclusion: The increase in the mandibular angle from immediately after surgery to 12 months after BSSRO reflects the counterclockwise rotational tendency to prevent opening restriction when intentionally selecting the condylar position. The decrease in the intergonial width immediately after surgery is thought to be due to the effect of internal trimming to minimize the bone interference between the outer surface of the distal bone fragment and the inner surface of the mesial fragment, and the decrease 1 year after surgery can be considered to be due to bone remodeling. Interosseous interference during mandibular setback osteotomy does not necessarily cause an increase in the width of the mandibular angle after surgery.

RationaleThe Marshall Islands implemented ambitious population-based screening programs for latent and active tuberculosis in 2017 and 2018. These interventions’ long-term effects remain to be estimated.ObjectivesTo predict the long-term impact of the previous interventions and identify strategies to drive tuberculosis towards elimination.MethodsWe built a transmission model of tuberculosis informed by local data to capture the epidemic’s historical dynamics. We used the model to project the future epidemic trajectory following the screening interventions, as well as considering a counterfactual scenario with no intervention. We also simulated future scenarios including periodic interventions similar to those previously implemented, to assess the feasibility of reaching the End TB Strategy targets and tuberculosis pre-elimination.Measurements and Main ResultsThe 2017-2018 screening activities were estimated to have reduced tuberculosis incidence and mortality by more than one third in 2020, and are predicted to achieve the End TB Strategy milestone of 50% incidence reduction by 2025 compared to 2015. Interventions had a considerably greater impact when individuals were also screened for latent infection than active case finding alone. Such combined programs implemented at the national level could achieve tuberculosis pre-elimination by 2035 if repeated every two years, and around 2045 if repeated every five years.ConclusionsWe predict that it is possible to achieve tuberculosis pre-elimination by 2035 in the Marshall Islands through periodic repetition of the same ambitious interventions as those previously implemented. Including latent infection testing in active screening activities will be a critical pillar for achieving these ambitious goals.

Background/Objectives: Until now, there have been many studies on the postoperative stability of orthognathic patients treated with traditional fixed orthodontic appliances. Recently, the use of clear aligners as orthodontic appliances has increased in orthodontic treatment for aesthetic and patient convenience. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate the stability and characteristics of patients undergoing orthognathic surgery using clear aligners. Patients and methods: This study was performed on patients who underwent orthognathic surgery by one surgeon at Pusan National University Dental Hospital from April 2017 to August 2021. A comparative study was conducted on five patients treated with clear aligners during orthodontic treatment and ten patients treated with traditional fixed appliances as a control group. Postoperative skeletal changes and recurrence were evaluated by cone beam computed tomography and lateral cephalometric radiographs taken two days postoperatively and six months postoperatively. Several measurement variables were used to confirm the presence or absence of recurrence, preoperative and postoperative orthodontic treatment period, and the number of extracted teeth. Results: Postoperative stability for six months after surgery was not significantly different between the clear aligner group and the traditional fixed appliance group. The preoperative orthodontic treatment period was also shorter in the clear aligner group, and the number of extracted premolar teeth and impacted teeth were also fewer in the clear aligner group, but there was no significant difference. Conclusions: Orthodontic treatment using clear aligners continues to develop, and it is believed that there is no limit to what can be accomplished during orthodontic surgery accompanied by clear aligners.

Product matching in e-commerce is an area that faces more and more challenges with growth in the e-commerce marketplace as well as variation in the quality of data available online for each product. Product matching for e-commerce provides competitive possibilities for vendors and flexibility for customers by identifying identical products from different sources. Traditional methods in product matching are often conducted through rule-based methods and methods tackling the issue through machine learning usually do so through unimodal systems. Moreover, existing methods would tackle the issue through product identifiers which are not always unified for each product. This thesis provides multimodal approaches through product name, description, and image to the problem area of product matching that outperforms unimodal approaches. Three multimodal approaches were taken, one unsupervised and two supervised. The unsupervised approach uses straight-forward embedding space to nearest neighbor search that provides better results than unimodal approaches. One of the supervised multimodal approaches uses Siamese network on the embedding space which outperforms the unsupervised multi- modal approach. Finally, the last supervised approach instead tackles the issue by exploiting distance differences in each modality through logistic regression and a decision system that provided the best results. Produktmatchning inom e-handel är ett område som möter fler och fler utmaningar med hänsyn till den tillväxt som e-handelsmarknaden undergått och fortfarande undergår samt variation i kvaliteten på den data som finns tillgänglig online för varje produkt. Produktmatchning inom e-handel är ett område som ger konkurrenskraftiga möjligheter för leverantörer och flexibilitet för kunder genom att identifiera identiska produkter från olika källor. Traditionella metoder för produktmatchning genomfördes oftast genom regelbaserade metoder och metoder som utnyttjar maskininlärning gör det vanligtvis genom unimodala system. Dessutom utnyttjar mestadels av befintliga metoder produktidentifierare som inte alltid är enhetliga för varje produkt mellan olika källor. Denna studie ger istället förslag till multimodala tillvägagångssätt som istället använder sig av produktnamn, produktbeskrivning och produktbild för produktmatchnings-problem vilket ger bättre resultat än unimodala metoder. Tre multimodala tillvägagångssätt togs, en unsupervised och två supervised. Den unsupervised metoden använder embeddings vektorerna rakt av för att göra en nearest neighborsökning vilket gav bättre resultat än unimodala tillvägagångssätt. Ena supervised multimodal tillvägagångssätten använder siamesiska nätverk på embedding utrymmet vilket gav resultat som överträffade den unsupervised multimodala tillvägagångssättet. Slutligen tar den sista supervised metoden istället avståndsskillnader i varje modalitet genom logistisk regression och ett beslutssystem som gav bästa resultaten.

Retrograde ejaculation (RE) is a condition defined as the backward flow of the semen during ejaculation, and when present can result in male infertility. RE may be partial or complete, resulting in either low seminal volume or complete absence of the ejaculate (dry ejaculate). RE can result from anatomic, neurological or pharmacological conditions. The treatment approaches outlined are determined by the cause. Alkalinizing urinary pH with oral medications or by adding sperm wash media into the bladder prior to ejaculation may preserve the viability of the sperm. This article provides a step-by-step guide to diagnose RE and the optimal techniques to retrieve sperm. Copyright © 2021 Korean Society for Sexual Medicine and Andrology