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Preeclampsia (PE) affects 5-7% of all pregnancies in the U.S and it is characterized by new onset hypertension in association with progesterone deficiency, elevated natural killer (NK) cells and inflammatory cytokines. Despite being a leading cause of maternal death and perinatal morbidity, the mechanisms responsible for the pathogenesis of PE are unclear. Progesterone is crucial for establishing and maintaining pregnancy and it exerts immune modulatory effects by the lymphocyte-derived protein progesterone induced blocking factor (PIBF). Its immunological effects include inhibition of natural killer (NK) cell activity and can regulate the proinflammatory balance. PIBF has been shown to act through IL-4/TH2, which are reduced during PE and increased during normal pregnancy, however the role of PIBF deficiency in PE pathology is not well examined. Thus, this study was designed to test the hypothesis that PIBF blockade stimulates cytolytic NK cells to cause the symptoms of PE during pregnancy. Rabbit anti-PIBF IgG (0.25, low dose-LD or 0.50 mg/mL, high dose-HD) was administered intraperitoneal on gestation day 15 to normal pregnant Sprague Dawley (NP) rats and on day 18 carotid catheters were inserted and on GD 19 blood pressure and samples were collected. MAP in NP rats (n=7) was 99± 3 mmHg, which increased to 116± 2 in NP+ anti-PIBF LD (n =10) and 113±4 in NP+ anti-PIBF HD (n=4), p

Designs with blocks of size two have numerous applications. In experimental situations where observation loss is common, it is im- portant for a design to be robust against breakdown. For designs with one treatment factor and a single blocking factor, with blocks of size two, conditions for connectivity and robustness are obtained using combinatorial arguments and results from graph theory. Lower bounds are given for the breakdown number in terms of design pa- rameters. For designs with equal or near equal treatment replication, the concepts of treatment and block partitions, and of linking blocks, are used to obtain information on the number of blocks required to guarantee various levels of robustness. The results provide guidance for construction of designs with good robustness properties. Robustness conditions are also established for row column designs in which one of the blocking factors involves blocks of size two. Such designs are particularly relevant for microarray experiments, where the high risk of observation loss makes robustness important. Dis- connectivity in row column designs can be classified as three types. Techniques are given to assess design robustness according to each type, leading to lower bounds for the breakdown number. Guidance is given for robust design construction. Cyclic designs and interwoven loop designs are shown to have good robustness properties.

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of 2 feeding systems and 5 breeding groups on the growth performance, biometric features, and stomach morphology of feedlot goat kids. The experiment utilized gender as a randomized blocking factor in a 5 × 2 factorial scheme. The study goats were from the Alpine, Anglo-Nubian, 1/2 Boer x Alpine, 3/4 Boer x Alpine, and 7/8 Boer x Alpine breeds. Half of the goats were fed an experimental diet, whereas the other half were given the same diet supplemented with 1.5 L milk daily. The kids were slaughtered after they attained 30 kg body weight. The 1/2 Boer x Alpine goats showed superior growth performance because they exhibiting considerable heterosis. These animals are especially easy to use given that there is no need to maintain cross-bred females (½ Boer x Alpine e ¾ Boer x Alpine) in the flock. Using milk in the feed the animals does not adversely affect growth performance or biometric features. Moreover, it helps to reduce the total weight of the stomach and leads to a 51.39% savings on feed. Dietary supplementation of milk in goat feed is recommended so long as there is excess milk available on the property.

In multi-tower heliostat fields, although heliostats are capable of aiming at different receivers during the day, due to different orientations, neighboring heliostats might affect shading and blocking efficiency of each other reciprocally. In the proposed method of this paper, considering the mentioned effects and based on a group decision-making approach, each heliostat chooses the best receiver thus ensuring the highest possible instantaneous efficiency of the field. As a case study, this method is applied for the optimal design of a multi-tower field. Then, the field performance is simulated in a case where heliostats make decisions individually without considering the interactions. Finally, these results are compared with separated single tower fields' energy performance. Results of the case study show that, due to the high dependency on shading and blocking factor, the annual efficiency of the multi-tower field without considering the interactions is only slightly higher than the two separated single tower fields. However, using the proposed method, the optical performance of the multi-tower field improves and the annual efficiency of 54.58% is reachable, which is 0.21% higher than the case without considering the interactions and 0.26% higher than the separated single tower fields.

An approach to estimating the blocking factor impact on feasibility of software applications in real-time systems on multi-core processors is described. An option for compound blocking to occur is demonstrated for the priority inheritance protocol as well as for other known protocols for access to shared resources. A method to estimate the impact of chained blocking on feasibility of particular application tasks and the application as a whole is described. A method to estimate the blocking factor value for systems with compound and chained blocking on multi-core processors is presented.

Earlier data suggest a relationship between PIBF concentrations and the outcome of pregnancy. The aim of the study was to compare serum and urine concentrations of PIBF in women with successful pregnancy after IVF with those of women without pregnancy after IVF procedure, and to evaluate the potential relation between PIBF and the outcome of pregnancy. Urine and serum were collected from 120 women, undergoing IVF. 87.5% of patients had primary infertility. 69.2% faced female causes of infertility: 10.8% tubal cause, 11.7% ovulation disorder, and 46.7% other causes of infertility. 30.8% of patients had male factor of infertility. Among non-pregnant women (42) mean concentrations of PIBF in urine and serum were significantly lower (15.8 ng/mL; 148.4 ng/mL) than in women with positive beta HCG value (78) (19.1 ng/mL; 225.9 ng/mL). In 49 patients pregnancy terminated with a term delivery, in 10 patients with pretem delivery, while in 19 patients the pregnancy terminated with a miscarriage. PIBF concentrations in urine (13.9 ± 2.8 ng/mL) and serum (124.6 ± 46.7 ng/mL) samples of women with miscarriage were significantly lower of those with preterm delivery (180.6 ± 54.4 ng/mL; 18.1 ± 4.4 ng/mL) and of those with term delivery (20.4 ± 8.5 ng/mL; 208.7 ± 114.3 ng/mL). Successful pregnancy after IVF procedure is predictable by measuring of urine and serum PIBF concentrations and could be important for predicting of early implantation and pregnancy outcome after IVF procedure and maybe to protect the risk pregnancy.

Preeclampsia (PE) is characterized by new onset hypertension in association with elevated natural killer (NK) cells and inflammatory cytokines which are likely culprits for decreased fetal weight during PE pregnancies. Progesterone induced blocking factor (PIBF) increases during normal pregnancy and has been shown to decrease inflammation and cytolytic NK cells, both of which are increased during PE. Currently, there is no effective treatment for PE except for early delivery of the fetal placental unit, making PE the leading cause for premature births worldwide. We have previously shown that progesterone supplementation with 17-OHPC improves inflammation, fetal weight and blood pressure in the preclinical RUPP rat model of PE. However the mechanism where by progesterone improves the pathophysiology of PE has never been determined. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that PIBF reduces inflammation while improving hypertension in response to placental ischemia. To test this hypothesis, PIBF (2.0 μg/mL) was administered intraperitoneally on gestation day 15 to RUPP or normal pregnant (NP) rats and on day 18 carotid catheters were inserted and on GD 19 blood pressure and samples were collected. MAP in NP rats (n=9) was 101 + 3 and 110 + 3 in NP+PIBF (n=5), 122 + 2 in RUPP rats (n=7), which improved to 110 + 3 mmHg in RUPP+PIBF (n=9), p+ 0.1 g in NP, 2.5 + 0.1 in NP+PIBF, 1.9 + 0.1 in RUPP and improved to 2.2 + 0.1 in RUPP+PIBF. Neither placental weight nor litter size was affected by PIBF. Fetal reabsorption was lower in RUPP+PIBF compared to RUPP rats. Total placental NK cells were 31 + 9 in NP (n=4), 31 + 5 in NP+PIBF (n=4), 42 + 8 in RUPP rats (n=4) and reduced to 26 + 2 in RUPP+PIBF (n=6). Placental cytolytic NK cells were 0.8 + 0.1 in NP, 0.2 + 0.1 in NP+PIBF, and 1.4 + 0.1 in RUPP rats, which decreased to 0.4+0.1 in RUPP+PIBF. CD4 + T cells were decreased from 21 + 6 in RUPP rats (n=4) to 8 + 2 gate in RUPP+PIBF (n=7). Collectively, our findings demonstrate that PIBF, a produce to progesterone receptor stimulation by progesterone, could be a mechanism to improve fetal growth restriction, inflammation as indicated by CD4+ T cells and cytolytic NK cells while normalizing blood pressure in response to placental ischemia during pregnancy.

Background: Progesterone-induced blocking factor, which is released from maternal lymphocytes during pregnancy mediates the immune effect of progesterone. According to new reports, it is suggested that proliferating cells, such as human trophoblasts, mesenchymal stem cells, and malignant tumors, can excrete progesterone-induced blocking factor at high ratio to escape from maternal immunity. It is shown in recent studies that progesterone-induced blocking factor is overexpressed in many malignant tumors such as breast, cervical, lymphoma, and leukemia. There are no data about progesterone-induced blocking factor expression in ovarian cancer cells. Hence, it is aimed to determine the progesterone-induced blocking factor expression levels in epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods: The study which was a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in a University Hospital. Twenty tissue specimens of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and 20 tissue specimens of patients with healthy ovary were included in the study. Primary rabbit polyclonal anti- progesterone-induced blocking factor antibody was used to incubate the sections at a ratio of 1:300. Results: When the tissue sections were compared based on immunostaining with progesterone-induced blocking factor, we detected high stromal progesterone-induced blocking factor expression in the epithelial ovarian cancer group as check against to the normal ovarian group (P = .007). Similarly, we found high glandular progesterone-induced blocking factor expression in the epithelial ovarian cancer group as check against to the normal ovarian group (P < .001). Conclusion: Proving the existence of progesterone-induced blocking factor expression in epithelial ovarian cancer cells may lead new visions or new studies for epithelial ovarian cancer immunotherapy. As a result, epithelial ovarian cancer cells have greater levels of expression of progesterone-induced blocking factor protein than normal ovarian tissue according to immunohistochemistry. Further research is needed to understand the clinical importance of this finding, to learn outcomes of high levels of progesterone-induced blocking factor, and to investigate its underlying mechanisms.

A total of 2,575 beef heifers (BW = 568 ± 28.1 lb; 258 ± 12.7 kg) at high-risk of developing bovine respiratory disease (BRD) were enrolled in a randomized complete-block design study at a commercial feedlot to evaluate the effect of 3 vaccine programs on health, growth performance, and carcass characteristics. Dates of arrival to the feedyard served as the blocking factor and 10, 3-pen blocks were enrolled in the study (n = 10 replications per vaccine program). Chute- order randomization was used during arrival processing to assign heifers to 1 of 3 vaccine programs that differed by vaccine products or timing of the pentavalent modified-live viral vaccination: 1) Pyramid® 5 and Presponse® SQ during arrival processing (PRE), 2) Titanium® 5 and Nuplura® PH during arrival processing (TNA), and 3) Nuplura® PH during arrival processing with Titanium® 5 delayed until 28 days- on-feed (TND). No booster vaccinations were administered. Overall mortality, BRD morbidity, and BRD treatment success risks did not differ among the vaccine programs (P>0.13). There were numerically fewer mortalities attributable to acute interstitial pneumonia in TNA heifers than the TND and PRE heifers (probability of difference = 0.99 and 1.00, respectively). Mortality attributable to BRD did not differ between vaccine programs (probability of difference < 0.48). Endotoxin concentrations were measured in the Mannheimia haemolytica vaccines, and were lower in Nuplura® PH than Presponse® SQ. An arrival vaccine program implementing Titanium® 5 and Nuplura® PH had similar efficacy on BRD- related health outcomes as vaccinating with Pyramid® 5 and Presponse® SQ. Delaying a pentavalent viral vaccine until 28 days-on-feed did not affect health or growth-performance outcomes in this study., The Bovine Practitioner, Vol. 52, No. 2 (2018 Summer)

Objective: To determine the role of progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) in women with threatened abortion. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The blood serum of two groups, the first one was women with normal gestation of  20 weeks, and the second one was those with imminent abortion in Prof. Dr. R.D. Kandou Hospital, and Subcenter Hospital in Manado, was collected. Samples were processed with PIBF ELISA-kit. Results: PIBF serum value of women in normal gestation  20 weeks is (47.15323.830)ng/ml and threatened abortion is (11.540 4.892) ng/ml, with p value = 0.000. Conclusion: PIBF serum value of women with threatened abortion is significantly lower compared to women of normal gestation  20 weeks. This study showed that PIBF has an important role in maintaining pregnancy and can be used as a biologic marker of a pathologic process in pregnancy.Keywords: early pregnancy, pregnancy immunology, progesteroneinducedblocking factor, threatened abortion

This article highlights the evolution of Islamic civilization starting from its glory during the classical period until its collapse in modern times. This article also discusses radicalism as a part of inhibiting factors of the development of Islamic civilization in the modern era. Radicalism is a model of understanding which tends to be destructive. This model of understanding has been a fertile ground of the emergence of rigid and normative theological understanding. Hostile attitude of the followers of radicalism often trap them into combat actions of others, even to the extent of murder, especially to the Western people. Such radical attitude has been also manifested in the form of destruction of public facilities. This destructive action has led to the devastation of civilization, which has been built by a nation. The conditions of a number of Arab-Muslim countries, which have not been free from prolonged internal warfare, prove that radicalism is an obvious blocking factor in the development of Islamic civilization in the modern era.Keywords: radicalism, blocking factor, Islamic civilization.

This study investigated the variation in growth/no growth boundaries of 188 Escherichia coli strains. Experiments were conducted in Luria–Bertani media under 36 combinations of lactic acid (LA) (0 and 25 mM), pH (3.8, 3.9, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 for 0 mM LA and 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8 for 25 mM LA) and temperature (20, 25 and 30 °C). After 3 days of incubation, growth was monitored through optical density measurements. For each strain, a so-called purposeful selection approach was used to fit a logistic regression model that adequately predicted the likelihood for growth. Further, to assess the growth/no growth variability for all the strains at once, a generalized linear mixed model was fitted to the data. Strain was fitted as a fixed factor and replicate as a random blocking factor. E. coli O157:H7 strain ATCC 43888 was used as reference strain allowing a comparison with the other strains. Out of the 188 strains tested, 140 strains (∼75%) presented a significantly higher probability of growth under low pH conditions than the O157:H7 strain ATCC 43888, whereas 20 strains (∼11%) showed a significantly lower probability of growth under high pH conditions. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Variability in growth/no growth boundaries of 188 different Escherichia coli strains reveals that approximately 75 % have a higher growth probability under low pH conditions than E. coli O157:H7 strain ATCC 43888 journaltitle: Food Microbiology articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2014.06.024 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. ispartof: Food Microbiology vol:45 issue:Pt B pages:222-230 ispartof: location:FRANCE, Paris status: published

Progesterone plays an important role in maintaining pregnancy. The success of pregnancy depends on the balance of immune response between the mother and the fetus. Progesterone regulates the immunological response through progesteroneinduced blocking factor (PIBF) which is synthesized by lymphocytes. Progesterone-induced blocking factor inhibits the production of arachidonic acid, reduced NK cell activity, and modulates the cytokine balance by increasing interleukin-10 (IL-10) level that is produced by Th2. This study aims to determine the roles of natural progesterone administration on PIBF and IL-10 levels and the increase in gestational length. This is an experimental research with pre- and post-test design. Subjects were pregnant women who met the criteria (n = 22). The treatment was done for 7 days. Progesteroneinduced blocking factor and IL-10 levels were measured before and after the administration of natural progesterone and the length of gestation were noted. The study was conducted at Dr Hasan Sadikin Hospital within July to December 2013. Results showed that after the administration of natural progesterone, there were increases on PIBF (p = 0.039) and IL-10 levels (p = 0.031). A positive correlation was noted between PIBF and IL-10 levels (r = 0.549; Spearman rank correlation test). There was also positive correlation between PIBF serum level (moderate strength correlation) and the length of gestation (r = 0.428; Point biserial correlation test). Progesterone-induced blocking factor serum level had more influence on the prolongation of the pregnancy compared to IL-10 level (OR: 1.016, 95% CI: 1.001 to 1.03; p = 0.033). Increased levels of PIBF and IL-10 after the administration of natural progesterone on the impending preterm delivery may prolong the gestation. Progesterone-induced blocking factor serum level have more dominant role in prolongation of gestation compared to IL-10. How to cite this article Thipasary Y, Effendi JS, Anwar AD. The Role of Natural Progesterone Administration on the Levels of Progesterone-induced Blocking Factor, Interleukin-10 and the Prolongation of Gestational Length in Impending Preterm Delivery. J South Asian Feder Obst Gynae 2015;7(3):118-125.

The behavior of immunologically castrated barrows (IC; with Improvest; Zoetis, Parsippany, NJ) was compared with that of intact males (IM), physically castrated barrows (PC), and gilts (G). The study used 160 commercial crossbred pigs in a randomized complete block design (blocking factor was start date of study) and was performed over an 8-wk period from 16 wk of age (67.2 ± 2.50 kg BW) to a final BW of 126.5 ± 6.05 kg. The first Improvest dose was given to IC at the start of the study (d 0), and the second dose was given 28 d later. Pigs were housed in single-gender groups of 4 and had ad libitum access to feed and water. General, aggressive, and sexual behaviors were observed over a 12-h period from 0600 to 1800 h by the same trained investigators on d -1 (d prior to first dose), 13, 27 (day prior to second dose), 34, 41, and 55 of study (end of test). General behaviors (number of pigs lying, sitting, standing, at feeder, and at drinker) were recorded every 10 min in all pens (10 pens/gender), and aggressive (bites, head butts, and fights) and sexual (mounts) behaviors were recorded continuously over the 12-h period on a subsample of 4 pens/gender. There was no difference (0.05) between the genders for lying, sitting, or drinker-related behavior. For the 4-wk period prior to second dose, a greater percentage of PC and G were at the feeder (0.05) than IC or IM (8.0%, 7.4%, 10.2%, and 9.3% for IC, IM, PC, and G, respectively; SEM = 0.44). However, after the second dose, the percentage of pigs at the feeder was similar (0.05) for IC, PC, and G and was greater (0.05) for those genders than IM (10.1%, 7.1%, 10.0%, and 8.8%, respectively; SEM = 0.50). Prior to the second dose, the incidence of aggressive behaviors was generally greater for IC and IM compared with PC and G; however, after the second dose, the incidence of aggressive behaviors was similar for IC and PC and lower (0.05) for those genders than for IM. The frequency of mounts for IC was greater (0.05) than for PC before (25.5, 27.3, 2.5, and 1.5 total mounts/pen, respectively; SEM = 4.37) but not after (0.05; 3.3, 33.3, 0.25, and 0.25 total mounts/pen, respectively; SEM = 1.15) the second dose. These results suggest that prior to the second Improvest dose, the behavior of IC was similar to that of IM and transitioned to become more similar to the behavior of PC after the second dose.

© 2017 Taylor & Francis. Many industrial experiments involve some factors that are hard to change. In this situation, experimenters often choose to perform an experiment with restricted randomization, such as a split-plot or a strip-plot experiment. In this article, we discuss the analysis of an experiment concerning the adhesion between steel tire cords and rubber. Besides an ordinal response, the experiment also involves one hard-to-change factor. Therefore, the experimenters performed a split-plot experiment. An additional complication of the experiment is that there is also a blocking factor. A proper analysis of the experiment requires the inclusion of random effects in the model to account for its split-plot nature and its blocked nature. The need for random effects and the ordinal response necessitate the use of a mixed cumulative logit model. ispartof: Quality Engineering vol:29 issue:4 pages:553-562 status: published

The objective was to determine the effect of forage quality on apparent total tract digestibility and ruminal fermentation in cattle versus sheep. Five yearling English crossbred (Hereford × Angus) steers (440.4 ± 35.6 kg of initial BW) and 5 yearling whiteface (Rambouillet × Columbia × Debouillet) wethers (44.4 ± 4.6 kg of initial BW), each fitted with a ruminal cannula, were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 forage sources within ruminant specie, and the study was conducted over 3 periods. For forage source, both animal and period served as the blocking factor with all forage sources represented once within each animal and all forage sources represented at least once within each period. The treatment structure was arranged in a 2 × 3 factorial with ruminant species (2) and forage source (3) as the factors. Forage sources were 1) alfalfa hay (Medicago sativa; 17.5% CP and 34.1% NDF, DM basis), 2) warm-season grass hay mix (Bothriochloa ischaemum and Cynodon dactylon; 7.3% CP and 74.7% NDF, DM basis), and 3) lovegrass hay (Eragrostis curvula; 2.5% CP and 81.9% NDF, DM basis). As a percent of BW, steers and wethers consumed similar (P ≤ 0.06) amounts of forage, and intake was more influenced by forage quality (P < 0.001) than ruminant species (P = 0.35). When expressed per unit of metabolic BW, cattle consumed more (P < 0.001) DM, NDF, and N than sheep. Apparent total tract digestibility was similar among steers and wethers when alfalfa or grass hay was fed, but decreased to a greater extent in wethers when low-quality lovegrass hay was fed (ruminant species × diet interaction, P ≤ 0.01). Rate (%/h) of ruminal NDF disappearance was greater (P = 0.02) for alfalfa and grass hay than lovegrass, but was not influenced (P = 0.12) by ruminant species. In addition, ruminal DM fill was influenced more (P < 0.01) by forage than by ruminant species (P = 0.07). Steers and wethers had greater (P < 0.01) DM fill from grass hay and lovegrass hay than alfalfa before and 5 h after feeding. Ruminal VFA were generally not influenced (P ≥ 0.06) by ruminant specie. Results suggest that apparent total tract digestibilities are more similar among ruminant species when moderate- to high-quality forages are evaluated. However, sheep are not an adequate model for cattle when low-quality forages are compared because cattle digest low-quality forages to a greater extent than sheep. Expressing digestibility as digestible intake per unit of BW allows for a wider range of forage qualities to be compared when substituting sheep for cattle.

Prior residence by a species can affect subsequent community assembly. However, previous studies insulated their focal communities from additional sources of variation, and the role of resident species in the context of environmental heterogeneity is rarely considered. If environmental and resident species effects act independently, then each should be broadly predictable, and their contribution to community assembly should be quantifiable in relation to each other. Alternatively, if effects interact, their combination may explain more of the differences in com munities than the additive influence of each alone. We estimated the effects of a common, early-colonising resident (the encrusting bryozoan Hippopodina iririkiensis) on community assembly relative to substrate orientation. Some species showed complex responses in association with orientation, with positive responses in one orientation, negative in the other. Variation in orientation explained the majority of variation in overall community assembly. Variation among the panels holding replicates of our resident species, a blocking factor in the analysis, permitted us to consider small-scale spatial variation. Abundances responded to resident species effects but interacted with spatial variation: the impact of the resident species on community assembly varied with orientation and space. Functional groups showed similarly idiosyncratic responses to the prior resident. Overall, we found that resident species effects were weak relative to the effects of environmental variation on community assembly. Furthermore, those resident species effects that we did detect were inconsistent across environments, suggesting that this species has little predictable influence on community assembly. Environmental variation may be an important contributor and requires more widespread consideration to better understand how resident species effects act in nature.

The influence of fertilization on disease severity is unknown in most forest pathosystems. Fertilization treatments were randomly applied to 0.01 ha plots centered on individual dominant or co-dominant Douglas-fir trees in ten Douglas-fir stands from coastal Oregon to the foothills of the Oregon Cascade Range, USA. This region is affected by Swiss needle cast, caused by the fungal pathogen Phaeocryptopus gaeumannii. Selected stands represented a range of Swiss needle cast disease severity, and 10 replications of each fertilization treatment were applied in each stand. The six treatments included nitrogen (urea), calcium as lime (calcium carbonate), calcium as calcium chloride, phosphorus (monosodium phosphate), a site-specific blend (Kinsey) and an unfertilized control. Fertilization took place from February–April 2007, and single branches were collected from treated trees for disease severity assessment of foliage in May 2010. Disease severity of 1- and 2-year-old needles was evaluated by counting the frequency of infected needles and the density of P. gaeumannii fruiting bodies (pseudothecia) on a random subset of needles from each tree and needle age class. Fertilization treatment effects on infection index (mean fruiting body density) were tested by mixed-effects models that accounted for site as a blocking factor. Treatment effects on infection index at each of the study locations were also tested by ten separate ANOVAs. Across and within sites, fertilization treatment did not significantly affect infection index of 1- or 2-year old needles (p > 0.05). Small differences in mean fruiting body density (⩽3%) between fertilization and control treatments across sites were not statistically significant, nor are they believed to be biologically or economically significant. Decisions regarding fertilization should be based on site-specific attributes, such as soil chemistry. There is no evidence that fertilization directly ameliorates or exacerbates Swiss needle cast severity in western Oregon.

Objective: Progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) may be the mediator of the pregnancy maintenance effects of progesterone. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential value of measuring the maternal serum concentration of PIBF at 11–13 weeks’ gestation in the prediction of spontaneous early preterm delivery. Method: The maternal serum concentration of PIBF at 11–13 weeks was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 25 singleton pregnancies which subsequently delivered spontaneously before 34 weeks, and 75 controls who delivered at or after 37 weeks. The values in the 2 groups were compared by the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The median maternal serum concentration of PIBF in women who subsequently delivered before 34 weeks (157.5, interquartile range 99.5–208.8 ng/ml) was not significantly different from the control group delivering at term (167.5, interquartile range 105.0–212.0 ng/ml; p = 0.519). Conclusions: In women who have a spontaneous early preterm delivery, the maternal serum levels of PIBF are not altered at 11–13 weeks of gestation.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of time of rumen fluid collection relative to feeding on gas production kinetics for in vitro rumen fermentation. Three ruminally cannulated Holstein heifers were rumen fluid donors. Feed was removed from heifers 12 h prior to feeding, rumen fluid was collected from each heifer before feeding (0 h), and at 2, 4, and 6 h after feeding, repeated on three separate incubation days. Buffered rumen fluid (100 mL) was incubated in 250-mL bottles containing 1.4 g of dried TMR, in duplicate for each heifer at each collection time. All bottles were incubated for 24 h at 39°C and constant agitation (60 rpm), and capped with monitors to capture temperature and pressure every 15 min (RF1, Ankom Technology, Macedon, NY). At the end of incubation, final pH was recorded. Gas data were fit with nonlinear regression comparison of fit in GraphPad Prism 7 to find best fit regression. The formula with best fit was as follows: y = Vm(1 − (e(−Kd(x − lag)))), where y is gas produced at time X (mmol), Vm is the asymptotic gas production (mmol), Kd indicates the fractional rate of gas production (mmol/h), X is time (h), and lag refers to the lag time before the start of fermentation (h) as indicated by positive gas production (R2 = 0.98). Data were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX of SAS, with donor as the experimental unit and day as the random blocking factor; significance is defined as P ≤ 0.05. Time of rumen fluid collection significantly affected gas production kinetics (lag P = 0.01, VmP = 0.03, KdP

Paddy rice Parboiling is a major processing operation in rice processing. In this study, the effects of steeping temperature and time on the parboiling efficiency and the milling quality of the parboiled paddy rice was determined in the department of agricultural and bio-environmental engineering department was evaluated. During the investigation, the experiment was considered as a 4×3×3 factorial design, with four levels of steeping temperature (60, 65, 70 and 75°C), three levels of steeping time (2, 3 and 4 hours) and three replications in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with steeping time as the blocking factor in order to determine the parboiling efficiency of the machine and milling quality of the parboiled rice grains. The optimum parboiling efficiency of 99.7% and corresponding milling quality of 98.5% was obtained at 70°C steeping temperature and 3hours steeping time. The data obtained was statically analyzed using SPSS 21.0 software and the result of the analysis shows that the steeping temperature and time has a significant effect on the parboiling efficiency of the machine and the milling quality of the rice grains at 5% confidence level.

We compared value recovery of a modified treelength (MTL) logging system that measures product diameter and length using a Waratah 626 harvester head to that of a treelength (TL) system that estimates dimensions. A field test compared the actual value cut to the maximum potential value suggested by the log bucking optimization program Assessment of Value by Individual Stems (AVIS) for 25 felled trees on each of three sites for two loggers. One half of each site was harvested with a TL crew and the other half with a MTL crew. ANOVA on individual stems using site as a blocking factor showed significant differences between TL and MTL, with TL recovering 80.3% and MTL recovering 73.7% of total value after downgrades.

Problem The objective of this study was to compare serum concentrations of progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF), anti-inflammatory (IL-10), and pro-inflammatory (IL-6, TNFα, and IFNγ) cytokines of women with threatened pre-term delivery, with those of women with normal pregnancy and to evaluate the impact of PIBF on the outcome of pregnancy. Method of study A prospective study was conducted on a sample of 30 women with threatened pre-term delivery (study group) and 20 healthy pregnant women (control group) between the 24th and 37th gestational weeks. Serum PIBF, anti-inflammatory (IL-10), and pro-inflammatory (IL-6, TNFα, and IFNγ) cytokine concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Thirteen of 30 patients (43.3%) with symptoms of threatened pre-term delivery, and one of 20 patients (5%) in the control group delivered before the 37th week of gestation. Mean PIBF concentrations in serum samples of patients with threatened pre-term delivery were significantly lower than in those of healthy pregnant women (171.12 ± 162.06 ng/mL versus 272.85 ± 114.87 ng/mL; P

Precipitation of myelin basic protein by sera from MS patients and controls was studied. The experiments with whole sera revealed a higher frequency of the positive gel-precipitation among MS (32.5%) than among controls (11.5%). β-lipoproteins isolated from all MS and control sera were demonstrated to link to myelin basic protein giving rise to a single precipitation line in the immunoelectrophoretic system. The lipoprotein pattern of MS sera was quantitatively and qualitatively identical to that of control sera. The results suggest the occurrence of a precipitation blocking factor in the entire sera.

In a breach-of-containment nuclear reactor accident, the near-field exposure is primarily through inhalation of radioiodine. Thyroid blockade by oral potassium iodide (KI) is a practical and effective protective measure for the general public in such an emergency. The retention functions incorporating the thyroid blocking effects by KI have been derived using a standard three-compartment model of iodine metabolism. This allows more accurate estimation of the thyroid dose by calculating the blocking factor.

The serum of a 12-year-old boy with CID, reconstituted by a bone marrow graft from an HL–A identical sibling, was studied for the presence of blocking and cytotoxic antibodies. After grafting, the patient's serum inhibited the response of autologous and of normal lymphocytes in the MLC. A non-HL–A lymphocytotoxic antibody was detected at the time severe GVHR. It reacted with lymphocytes from the patient's father, mother, sisters, and with 70 % of unrelated allogeneic lymphocytes. It was not reactive with the donor lymphocytes, suggesting that it was formed against a non-HL–A antigen present on the recipient tissues but absent on the donor cells. Prolonged bone-marrow allograft tolerance may depend upon active inhibition mediated by a humoral factor.

Summary The objective of this study was to evaluate the protein requirements for hand-rearing Blue-fronted Amazon parrots (Amazona aestiva). Forty hatchlings were fed semi-purified diets containing one of four (as-fed basis) protein levels: 13%, 18%, 23% and 28%. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design with the initial weight of the nestling as the blocking factor and 10 parrots per protein level. Regression analysis was used to determine relationships between protein level and biometric measurements. The data indicated that 13% crude protein supported nestling growth with 18% being the minimum tested level required for maximum development. The optimal protein concentration for maximum weight gain was 24.4% (p = 0.08; r2 = 0.25), tail length 23.7% (p = 0.09; r2 = 0.19), wing length 23.0% (p = 0.07; r2 = 0.17), tarsus length 21.3% (p = 0.06; r2 = 0.10) and tarsus width 21.4% (p = 0.07; r2 = 0.09). Tarsus measurements were larger in males (p

The loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies, known as recurrent miscarriage (RM), affects approximately 1 % of couples. Aetiology can be varied but in up to 50 % of the cases the cause remains unexplained. Progestogen supplementation has been used for more than half a century for the treatment of recurrent miscarriage in different doses and routes of administration. Progesterone activity is mediated via specific progesterone receptors, and is considered crucial for the development of an endometrial environment suitable for implantation. Progesterone regulates endometrial receptivity, and induces uterine quiescence. In addition, the immunomodulatory properties of progesterone, controlled by progesterone induced blocking factor (PIBF), seem to be also important for the maintenance of early pregnancy. In women with RM there may be a degree of immunological intolerance, progesterone may benefit these women by altering the immune response to the embryo. Despite favourable meta-analyses on the use of progestogens in RM, the evidence is not considered to be solid and data from ongoing research are awaited.

This paper focuses on a method to determine the swelling pressure of polymeric hydrogels. The method is based on determining the swelling pressure at a defined volume of swelling that is smaller than the volume the gel can attain by free swelling to equlibrium. Data for one type of polymer particles made from weakly cross-linked and partly neutralized poly(acrylic acid) are presented for swelling in deionized water. For polymer volume fractions (φP) in the range of 0.05−0.30, swelling pressures in the range of 0.25−4.31 MPa were obtained. The kinetic data are discussed with a combined diffusion−relaxation model for low and medium polymer volume fractions. A novel model is presented for higher polymer volume fractions. The mechanism of the gel-blocking effect that is evident in this φP range is explained and considered in the novel model, in the form of a blocking factor. The results obtained may be used for the design of improved sealing concepts that are based on “super absorbing polymers”.

Randomized block experimental designs have been widely used in agricultural and industrial research for many decades. Usually they are more powerful, have higher external validity, are less subject to bias, and produce more reproducible results than the completely randomized designs typically used in research involving laboratory animals. Reproducibility can be further increased by using time as a blocking factor. These benefits can be achieved at no extra cost. A small experiment investigating the effect of an antioxidant on the activity of a liver enzyme in four inbred mouse strains, which had two replications (blocks) separated by a period of two months, illustrates this approach. The widespread failure to use these designs more widely in research involving laboratory animals has probably led to a substantial waste of animals, money, and scientific resources and slowed down the development of new treatments for human and animal diseases.

The objective of this study was to analyze the maternal serum concentration of progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) with regard to the prediction and the interval between sampling and the onset of preterm birth. A prospective study was conducted on a sample of 37 women with threatened pre-term birth and 41 healthy pregnant women between the 24th and 28th gestational weeks. Out of 37 patients with threatened preterm birth 11 delivered pre-term and three groups of patients were formed: the preterm delivery group, patients with threatened preterm delivery, and healthy pregnant women. In samples that were taken within 5 days before labor started (6/11, 54.5%), PIBF concentrations were significantly lower than in those obtained more than 5 days before labor (5/11, 45.5%; the mean interval between sampling and the onset of labor was 4.1 ± 1.8 days). Multiple regression analysis of the individual contributions of each observed parameter for preterm delivery demonstrated the significant contribution of a lack of PIBF to preterm birth (p = 0.002). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of PIBF for the prediction of preterm birth of women with symptoms of pre-term delivery. The PIBF demonstrated an excellent diagnostic value in the prediction of preterm birth with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.956 (95% CI = 0.884-0.989; p0.0001). Our data suggest that pregnancy termination can be predicted by lower than normal pregnancy PIBF values within 5 days before labor and can contribute to the diagnosis of preterm birth.

We generalize the formulas of spontaneous fission half-lives of even–even nuclei in their ground state to both the case of odd nuclei and the case of fission isomers [Phys. Rev. C 71 (2005) 014309]. The spontaneous fission half-lives of odd– A nuclei and of odd–odd nuclei in the ground state are calculated by Swiatecki's formula, by its generalized form, and by a new formula where the blocking effect of unpaired nucleon on the half-lives has been taken into account with different mechanisms. By introducing a blocking factor or a generalized seniority in the formulas of the half-lives of even–even nuclei, we can reasonably reproduce the experimental fission half-lives of odd– A nuclei and of odd–odd nuclei with the same parameters used in ground state of even–even nuclei. For spontaneous fission of the isomers in transuranium nuclei the new formula can be simplified into a three-parameter formula and the isomeric half-lives can be well reproduced by the formula. The new formula of the isomeric half-lives is as good as Metag's formula of fission isomers. The half-lives of isomers from these formulas are very accurate and therefore these formulas can give reliable predictions for half-lives of new isomers of neighboring nuclei.

A new hybrid methodology for Knowledge Discovery in Serial Measurement (KDSM) and the results of applying it to psychiatry are presented in this paper. In the application domain where serial measurements are repeated and very short (i.e. very few parameters), traditional measuremethods for series analysis are inappropriate. Moreover, some information is non-serial but is closely connected to serial measurements. For this reason, common statistical analysis (time series analysis, multivariate data analysis ...) and artificial intelligence techniques (knowledge based methods, inductive learning) used independently provide often poor results because of the characteristics above and it is necessary a suitable way of analyzing these situations. KDSM is built as an hybrid methodology, specially designed to obtain knowledge from repeated very short serial measurement, in order to overcome the limitations of Artificial Intelligence or Statistics techniques. Novel knowledge about electroconvulsive therapy behavior was obtained once KDSM was applied to this specific domain. Thus, KDSM gives a possible solution to a knowledge problem.

Problem: The therapeutic value of progestogens in threatened abortion is still under debate. In the presence of sufficient progesterone levels during pregnancy, lymphocytes synthesize a mediator [progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF)] that is anti-abortive in mice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dydrogesterone on pregnancy outcome of threatened aborters. Method of study: Twenty-seven threatened aborters were treated for 10 days with dydrogesterone (30-40 mg/day). Sixteen healthy pregnant controls received no treatment. Serum progesterone and estradiol concentrations as well as urine PIBF concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Pregnancy outcomes in dydrogesterone-treated threatened aborters did not statistically differ from those in healthy controls. Serum progesterone concentrations in control patients, but not those in threatened aborters increased as pregnancy progressed. Following dydrogesterone treatment, initially low PIBF concentrations of threatened aborters significantly increased (P = 0,001) to reach the PIBF level found in healthy controls.

To study changes in the expression rate of PIBF by peripheral lymphocytes in healthy pregnant women after administration of mifepristone for non-surgical termination of pregnancy at 5-8 wks of gestation.Patients requesting early social termination of pregnancy, in a 3-month period, were included. A first venous blood sample was taken before oral administration of 600 mg of mifepristone (day 0). A second venous blood sample was taken 2 days later. PIBF on lymphocytes was determined by immunocytochemistry using a PIBF-specific polyclonal antibody.Termination of pregnancy was successful and complete in all cases. In 17 out of 21 patients, the percentage of PIBF positive lymphocytes decreased after anti-progesterone administration. The percentage of PIBF-expressing lymphocytes significantly decreased from 52.8%+/-21.6% (day 0) to 39.8%+/-18.2% by day 2 (p=0.001).These data suggest a strong relationship between early termination of pregnancy induced with mifepristone and disturbances of progesterone-mediated immunosuppression.

Combined-optimal designs (Li and Lin, 2003) are obviously the best choices for the initial designs if we partition the experiment into two parts with equal size to obtain some information about the process, especially for the case not considering the blocking factor. In this paper, the definition of combined-optimal design is extended to the case when blocking factor is significant, and this new class of designs is called blocked combined-optimal designs. Some general results are obtained which relate 2k−pIII initial designs with their complementary designs when Open image in new window, where n=2k−p. By applying these results, we are able to characterize 2k−pIII combined-optimal designs or blocked combined-optimal designs in terms of their complementary designs. It is also proved that both 2k−pIII combined-optimal and blocked combined-optimal designs are not minimum aberration designs when Open image in new window and n−1−k > 2. And some combined-optimal and blocked combined-optimal designs with 16 and 32 runs are constructed for illustration.

Problem: The therapeutic value of progestogens in threatened abortion is still under debate. In the presence of sufficient progesterone levels during pregnancy, lymphocytes synthesize a mediator [progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF)] that is anti-abortive in mice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dydrogesterone on pregnancy outcome of threatened aborters. Method of Study: Twenty-seven threatened aborters were treated for 10 days with dydrogesterone (30–40 mg/day). Sixteen healthy pregnant controls received no treatment. Serum progesterone and estradiol concentrations as well as urine PIBF concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Pregnancy outcomes in dydrogesterone-treated threatened aborters did not statistically differ from those in healthy controls. Serum progesterone concentrations in control patients, but not those in threatened aborters increased as pregnancy progressed. Following dydrogesterone treatment, initially low PIBF concentrations of threatened aborters significantly increased (P = 0.001) to reach the PIBF level found in healthy controls. Conclusions: These data suggest that by inducing PIBF production, dydrogesterone might improve pregnancy success rates in threatened aborters.

Peripheral lymphocytes from healthy pregnant women secrete a mediator protein named the progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) that exerts an immunomodulatory function and contributes to the maintenance of pregnancy in mice. The gene coding for PIBF mRNA has been cloned and sequenced, and now the recombinant human protein is available. The aim of this study was to develop an ELISA test for determining PIBF concentrations in biological samples of pregnant women. We determined urinary PIBF concentrations of 86 healthy nonpregnant individuals and from almost 500 pregnant women by ELISA. During normal pregnancy, the concentration of PIBF continuously increased until the 37th gestational week and was followed by a sharp decrease after the 41st week of gestation. In pathological pregnancies, urinary PIBF levels failed to increase. The onset of labor was predictable on the basis of this test, whether it was term or preterm delivery. In urine of patients with preeclampsia, PIBF concentrations were significantly lower than in normal pregnancy and showed a correlation with the number of symptoms presented. These data, in line with previous in vivo findings, suggest that PIBF production is a characteristic feature of normal pregnancy, and determination of PIBF concentration in urine might be of use for the diagnosis of threatened premature pregnancy termination.