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Infertility due to ovarian maldescent is extremely rare and diagnosis can be challenging in the absence of uterine anomalies. We present a case of infertility due to bilateral ovarian maldescent with normal uterine anatomy who conceived after in vitro fertilization and did not require removal of the ovaries. A 19-year-old woman presented with primary infertility. After three failed cycles of ovulation induction/intrauterine insemination and one failed cycle of fresh embryo transfer, the patient underwent laparoscopy, which showed bilateral ovaries above the pelvic brim. The patient conceived after second in vitro fertilization and delivered at 34 weeks. Accurate diagnosis of ovarian maldescent in a patient of unexplained infertility and normal uterus is crucial for successful follicular aspiration and infertility treatment. It is important to counsel patients about the benign nature of this rare entity and future fertility.

The present study investigated the relationship between complexity of pretend play, initiation of pretense activities, and mental state utterances used during play. Children 3 to 4 years of age were videotaped while engaging in pretend play with a parent. The videotapes were coded according to mental state utterances (i.e. desire, emotion, cognitive, and modulations of assertion), and pretend play complexity (i.e. interaction with parent, object use, theme, and role transformation). Children who initiated the pretend activities exhibited more complex play behaviours than those whose parents initiated the activities. Children's increased use of cognitive mental state terms was related to increased pretend play complexity, while parents' increased use of cognitive terms was related to decreased levels of complexity. The results provide support for using a guided participation approach to interacting with preschool children to enhance independence and complexity in play. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Assess fertility preservation (FP) measures chosen by patients newly diagnosed with malignancy and their outcomes.Reproductive-age patients referred for FP underwent counseling and elected cryopreservation vs. no treatment. Outcome measures included ovarian stimulation, FP choice, oocytes/zygotes retrieved/cryopreserved and pregnancy outcome.From 2005 to 2012, 136 patients were counseled with 124 electing treatment: 83 oocyte-only, 21 oocyte + zygote and 20 zygote-only cryopreservation. Age, partnership and financial status factored into FP choice. Treatment was completed in 12 ± 2 days with 14 ± 11 metaphase-II oocytes harvested and cryopreserved/cycle. Eight patients returned to attempt pregnancy; three succeeded.Our data demonstrate that oocyte and/or zygote banking are feasible FP options for women with malignancy; given the choice, the majority elected oocyte cryopreservation, highlighting desire for reproductive autonomy. Continued growth and research, combined with interdisciplinary communication, will ensure that appropriate candidates are offered FP and the potential for future parenthood, an important quality-of-life marker for survivors.

Kuhn and Pease (p. 279, this issue) provide evidence for a change in learning as a result of increasing executive control during later childhood. Although the ability to inhibit information that biases answers in a reasoning task may account for their findings, the opportunity to gain specific experiences and engage different strategies in approaching the problem merits further consideration. Exploration of the influence on learning of all of these factors should be undertaken in future research.

To determine if Aneuploidy Risk Classification Models are predictive of euploidy/aneuploidy amongst IVF facilities.We retrospectively applied key time lapse imaging events of embryos (Campbell et al.[5, 6]) to stratify embryos into 3 groups: low, medium and high risk of aneuploidy. The actual ploidy results (from array comparative genomic hybridization) were compared with expectations [5, 6]. Sources of variability in morphokinetic parameters were determined using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).The model failed to segregate euploid embryos from aneuploid embryos cultured at our facility. Further analysis indicated that the variability of embryos among patients was too great to allow selection of euploid embryos based on simple morphokinetic thresholds. Clinical selection of embryos based on morphokinetics alone is unlikely to identify euploid embryos accurately for transfer or yield higher rates of live delivery.The use of non-invasive morphokinetics is unlikely to discriminate aneuploid from euploid embryos. Further, it does not approach the accuracy of preimplantation genetic screening with array comparative genomic hybridization.

The environmental consciousness of customers as well as legislative regulations force producers to consider the product end of life within the product design. Consequently, additional design aspects are leading to the need for specific support tools, which enable design for disassembly and recycling. The approach presented shows a computer-based methodology for a product structure analysis regarding the determination of economically optimal end-of-life strategies for technical goods. Based on a product model, a model of end-of-life processes and a simulation of disassembly, the economically optimal end-of-life strategy of a complex product is calculated. Owing to the huge number of disassembly options of complex products, some methodical approaches for the reduction of computation efforts have been developed. Further approaches for the detection of improvement potentials regarding the product end-of-life behaviour consider the product structure, the joining technique and the material compatibility. The different aspects are analysed and compared with the modelled end-of-life processes using special characteristic values. The methodologies developed have been implemented in a software tool that contains the respective input interface, performs the computations and displays models and results mainly in a graphical manner.

The interaction of copper with PECVD silicon oxynitride films was investigated by different analytical and electrical methods. Using AES-depth profiling and RBS measurements, no copper diffusion in films investigated was observed after applying a thermal stress of 450°C for 1 h. However, copper migration was detected after applying thermal and electrical stress simultaneously (BTS). C-V and I-V measurements before and after different BTS-conditions were performed on MIS-structures with coppe dots. The shift of the C-V curves resulting from copper migration decreases with an increasing N/O-ratio of SiO x N y films, demonstrating the better barrier properties of silicon nitride compared to silicon oxide. Additionally, the time to failure (TTF) was studied as a function of thermal and electrical stresses. Again, SiN x -samples achieved the highest TTF-values. The polarity dependence of the leakage current suggests a Cu ion drift transport mechanism.

The interaction of copper with PECVD silicon oxynitride films were investigated by different analytical and electrical methods. Using AES-depth profiling and RBS measurements, no copper diffusion in films investigated was observed after applying a thermal stress of 450°C for 1 h. However, copper migration was detected after applying thermal and electrical stress simultaneously (BTS). C-V and I-V measurements before and after different BTS-conditions were performed on MIS-structures. Additionally, the time to breakdown was studied as a function of thermal and electrical stresses. From the resulting arrhenius plots the activation energies for the lowest electric fields applied were determined to be 1.85 eV for SiN and 1.3 eV for SiO. The polarity dependence of leakage current for both materials studied suggests a Cu ion drift transport mechanism. From all materials investigated, silicon nitride showed the best barrier behaviour against copper interaction.

Studies on pretense mental state understanding in young children have produced inconsistent findings. These findings could potentially emerge from the confounding influences of action manipulation or the failure to examine possible influences on individual children’s performances. To address these issues, we created a task in which 68 3- and 4-year-olds viewed two actors, side by side, on a monitor. Children were told that one actor was knowledgeable about a specific animal, whereas the other actor was not. The actors performed identical movements that were either related or unrelated to the animal they were mimicking or engaged in different behaviors contradictory to their knowledge. Saliency of action was also manipulated by presenting either dynamic images or a paused frame of the actors’ behavior (i.e., the static condition). Children performed similarly on the dynamic and static conditions. Children selected the knowledgeable actor more often in the unrelated and related trials but were not as successful at selecting the knowledgeable actor when the actor’s knowledge contradicted the actor’s behavior. Therefore, by 3 years of age, some children may understand that pretend play involves mental representations and appreciate that the mind influences a pretender’s behavior. To investigate the observed individual differences, we also examined children and parents as they engaged in reading and pretense activities prior to data collection. The frequency of parents’ cognitive mental state utterances strongly predicted performance on the mental state task. Individual differences in performance as a result of parental language and executive functioning abilities are discussed.

Using67Zn Mossbauer absorption and emission spectroscopy, we have investigated the electronic structure at the A and B sites in the normal spinels (Zn)[Al2]O4, (Zn)[Fe2]O4 and (Zn)[Ga2]O4. Within each system, the center shift Sc at the A site is more positive. In all systems investigated, the electric field gradientV u at the B site is negative. The values for SC andV U scale with oxygen nearest-neighbour distance to Zn. In the Fe spinel, a transferred magnetic hyperfine field is observed at the Zn site below the antiferromagnetic ordering temperatureT N=10 K. For a more detailed discussion of the chemical bond, we have performed ab initio Hartree-Fock cluster calculations for the Al and Fe spinels. Our experimental and theoretical results show that all hyperfine parameters are essentially determined by covalency effects. Our data on the Ga spinel raise the question of a partially inverse structure.

57Fe and119Sn Mossbauer measurements have been carried out on powder samples of three differently substituted M-type barium hexaferrites. By57Fe Mossbauer measurements in an external magnetic field applied parallel to the γ-ray direction, we found a canted spin structure for all samples. Furthermore, we detected a strong preference of the Sn4+ ions for the 4f2 sites. From57Fe Mossbauer measurements aboveT N, we conclude that the substitution does not influence the 2b sites. The analysis of the magnetically split119Sn Mossbauer spectra at room temperature in the case of the Co-Sn and Zn-Sn substituted samples shows a strong difference between the two. The spectra were interpreted due to the different surroundings of the Sn4+ ions.

The postural sway patterns of newly standing infants were compared under two conditions: standing while holding a toy and standing while not holding a toy. Infants exhibited a lower magnitude of postural sway and more complex sway patterns when holding the toy. These changes suggest that infants adapt postural sway in a manner that facilitates visually fixating on and stabilizing the toy in their hand. When simply standing, infants exhibited postural sway patterns that appeared to be more exploratory in nature. Exploratory sway patterns may allow infants to learn the affordances of their new standing posture. These results demonstrate that newly standing infants are capable of task-dependent postural control.

Obesity has progressively become a global epidemic that constitutes one of the biggest current health problems worldwide. Pregnancy is a risk factor for excessive weight gain. Factors that may predict development of obesity in later life mainly include gestational weight gain, pre-pregnancy nutritional status, age, parity and race. Change in lifestyle factors, such as eating habits, enrollment in physical activity, smoking and duration of lactation, in addition to the above factors, may also contribute to the development of obesity but are still not fully understood. Women who retain more body weight after pregnancy have, in general, larger pregnancy body weight gain, higher pre-pregnancy body mass index, marked weight changes in previous pregnancies, lactate slightly less and stop smoking during pregnancy to a larger extent. In addition, irregular eating habits and decreased leisure time activity after delivery influence postpartum weight retention. Taking into consideration the epidemic of obesity, with all its adverse long-term consequences, there is an increasing need to promote counseling before, during and after pregnancy on the role of diet and physical activity in reproductive health.

Advances in cancer treatment have allowed women to live longer, fuller lives. However, gonadotoxic therapies used to effect cancer ‘cures' often significantly impair a woman's reproductive potential. Thus, in accordance with improved survival rates, there is an increase in demand for fertility preservation. Initially, fertility preservation was limited to embryo cryopreservation; therefore, the number of patients enrolling was relatively low. Recently, substantial improvements have increased available options, specifically oocyte cryopreservation, thereby expanding and altering the make-up of the patient population undergoing treatment for fertility preservation. Patient diversity requires the treating physician(s) to be cognizant of issues specific to cancer type and stage. Furthermore, patients often have comorbidities which must be attended to and addressed. Although not all patients will be candidates for, or will elect to pursue, fertility preservation, all should receive counselling regarding their options. This practice will ensure that the reproductive rights of those patients facing impending sterility are maintained. Here, fertility preservation protocols, practices and special considerations, categorized by most frequently encountered cancer types, are reviewed to guide reproductive endocrinologists in the management of fertility preservation in such patients. The formation of a multidisciplinary patient-structured team will ensure a successful, yet safe, fertility-preservation outcome. Advances in cancer treatment have allowed women to live longer, fuller lives. However, therapies used to treat cancer often significantly impair a woman's future ability to have children by damaging her eggs or removing key reproductive organs. Given that women are now often living well beyond their cancer diagnosis and treatment, there is an increased interest in preserving reproductive potential. Thus, the field of fertility preservation has been developed and continues to grow. Initially, fertility preservation was limited to freezing embryos formed by combining an egg with spermatozoa. One drawback of this approach is that it requires both female and male contributions. Recently, substantial improvements have expanded the available options, including freezing unfertilized eggs, affording female patients fertility preservation without a requisite male partner or donor. Cancer patients vary widely, requiring the treating physician(s) to be cognizant of issues specific to individual cancer types and extent of disease. Furthermore, cancer patients often have co-existing medical conditions which must be attended to and addressed. Although not all patients will be candidates for, or elect to pursue, fertility preservation, all should receive counselling regarding their options. This will ensure that the reproductive rights of cancer patients facing impending sterility are maintained. Here, we review fertility preservation protocols, practices and special considerations, categorized by the most commonly encountered cancer types, to guide physicians in the management of fertility preservation in such patients. We advocate the formation of a multidisciplinary patient-structured team to ensure a successful and safe fertility-preservation outcome.

This Mossbauer study is concerned with the formation mechanism of hexaferrites (n=6) and of monoferrites (n=1) in the systems (1) BaCO3+nFe2O3, (2) SrCO3+nFe2O3 and (3) 0.5BaCO3+0.5SrCO3+nFe2O3.

Conventional and resonance scintillation technique is used to study some Ga x Sn y Fe3−x−y O4 spinels. The better resolution of the Mossbauer spectroscopy with a resonance scintillation detector makes the observation of the fine structure in theP(H) distribution possible.P(H) is computed from the spectra by means of decomposition and stepped deconvolution methods. A qualitative interpretation of theP(H) is proposed on the basis of a polynomial model.

First we studied the kinetics of the formation of Ba monoferrite by means of Mossbauer spectroscopy. The most important result is the considerable portion of hexaferrite existing after treatment of the starting materials between 800 and 900°C, caused by a higher rate of diffusion of the Ba2+ ions in comparison to the Fe3+ ions. Second we report susceptibility measurements recorded in a temperature range of 4.3 K to 280 K and Mossbauer spectra at room temperature and at 4.2 K without and in the presence of an applied magnetic field of 6 T. The experimental data demonstrate that the magnetic behaviour of Ba monoferrite deviates to some extent from a simple antiferromagnetic.

Etude des structures magnetiques de BaFe 12 O 19 et de BaCo 0.8 Ti 0.8 Fe 10.4 O 19 par spectroscopie Mossbauer de Fe 57 . Analyse de la variation du spectre Mossbauer avec la temperature et le champ magnetique applique. Interpretation des resultats en termes d'inversion du spin du reseau, du a l'influence des ions Co 2+

Bone cells form a wired network within the extracellular bone matrix. To analyse this complex 3D structure, we employed a confocal fluorescence imaging procedure to visualize live bone cells within their native surrounding. By means of newly developed image processing software, the "Image-Equalizer", we aimed to enhanced the contrast and eliminize artefacts in such a way that cell bodies as well as fine interconnecting processes were visible.

To prove the reliability of DVS-BCB (Benzocyclobutene) as an interlevel-dielectric in copper-metallization-systems we investigated the extreme low copper drift rate in this spin-on-polymer. BTS-Sequences (B_ias-T_emperature S_tress) were applied to accelerate the copper drift in the polymer. Using experimentally obtained data, an equation was created to compute the copper drift rate in the DVS-BCB as a function of the applied voltage and the temperature of the polymer. The copper drift rate in the DVS-BCB, Metal-Insulator-Substrat-structures (MIS) were determined by Capacitance-Voltage-measurements (CV). The results obtained by this method are supported by a Secondary ion Mass Spectroscopy-analysis (SIMS). A linear relationship between the logarithmic copper drift rate as a function of the applied voltage and the temperature of the polymer was determined. The experimental data used to establish the equation of the drift rate covers temperatures and electrical conditions used in integrated circuits under operation.

Accessing medical images everywhere and everytime on mobile hardware is very important for both routine diagnostic and research. Therefore, we developed an application for mobile devices, which are increasingly present like pencils.

OBJECTIVE: To examine a morphokinetic approach to predicting ploidy in blastocysts by examining each of the individual morphokinetic parameters (MPs) and its utility in distinguishing euploid from aneuploid blastocysts. DESIGN: Retrospective Analysis of Morphokinetic and PGS Data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Embryos cultured in the Embryoscope were retrospectively analyzed for MPs relative to the time of syngamy. Trophectoderm biopsy was performed and blastocysts were vitrified. Trophectoderm biopsies were analyzed using 24 chromosome array comparative genomic hybridization. MPs for each embryo were analyzed with reference to ploidy. The area under the curve (AUC) for the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine whether MPs provided the ability to identify the embryo’s ploidy. We focused on the two MPs (time to blastocele formation, and time to full blastocyst) used by Campbell et al. (2013) to distinguish euploid from aneuploid embryos. RESULTS: 103 embryos from 20 patients were examined. All of the 16 MPs determined in our embryos were examined using ROC curves. Most parameters, including those identified (Campbell et al., 2013) had ROCs with AUCs less than 0.6, indicating that these parameters provide poor discrimination of euploid fromaneuploid embryos. Only oneMP, the duration of compaction (DOC), had an AUC for its ROC curve that exceeded 0.6. Using a threshold value of 12.3 hours, we split the embryos into two groups, one with an incidence of euploidy of 55% (28/51) and the other with an incidence of euploidy of 25% (13/51). Use of Campbell’s criteria provided no significant enrichment over the observed incidence of euploidy in unselected embryos. CONCLUSION: The failure of Campbell’s MPs to have significant ROCs suggest that they are not universally applicable for segregating euploid from aneuploid embryos. The observation that DOC provided a significant enrichment for euploid embryos in our facility, but did not provide any enrichment in the Campbell lab (despite being considered) provides evidence that this MP is also not universal. We conclude that there is no universal MP, at present, to distinguish the ploidy of embryos. It remains unclear why MPs can yield significant, yet small, enrichment of euploidy in some facilities but are incapable of providing enrichment in other facilities.

by endometrial thickness for any group. Adjusting for lead follicle diameter, women in the unexplained group who became pregnant tended to have thinner endometrial measurements than non-pregnant women from the other groups (p

We investigated the role of alterations of HDM2, the human homologue of murine mdm2, in the tumorigenesis and progression of cutaneous melanoma. A well-characterized cohort of 172 cases representing different points in the spectrum of melanocyte transformation (16 dysplastic nevi, 11 melanomas in situ, 107 invasive primaries, and 38 metastatic lesions), as well as 11 human melanoma cell lines were examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting for HDM2 protein expression, and by either Southern blotting (SB) or fluorescence in situ hybridization for HDM2 gene amplification. HDM2 overexpression, defined as20% tumor cells showing nuclear immunoreactivity, was observed in 1 of 16 (6%) dysplastic nevi, 3 of 11 (27%) melanomas in situ, and 81 of 145 (56%) invasive primary and metastatic melanomas. Comparable frequencies of HDM2 overexpression were observed among invasive primary cases with differing tumor thicknesses as well as among the metastatic cases: 21 of 40 (53%) ator =1.5 mm; 31 of 50 (62%) at 1.6-3.9 mm; 10 of 17 (58%) at4 mm; and 19 of 38 (50%) metastases. HDM2 amplification was observed in 1 of 88 (1%) primary cases using fluorescence in situ hybridization, and in 0 of 12 (0%) metastatic cases that overexpressed HDM2 using SB. Melanoma cell lines expressed HDM2 protein, but there was no evidence of amplification by SB. Our data suggest that HDM2 protein overexpression is common in invasive and metastatic melanoma. Observing HDM2 overexpression in noninvasive melanoma suggests that expression of this oncogene may play an early role in melanocyte transformation. HDM2 amplification occurs infrequently, and other mechanisms that up-regulate HDM2 expression are under investigation.

and outcomes Age (y) (mean) E2 Day of ov trigger (pg/ml) Total no. retrieved eggs Total no. MII eggs had such a prediction based on age alone. Compared with age-based controls, PredictIVF-D showed 75% improved predictive power, ability to discriminate cases with differential prognoses (10% improvement in area-underthe-curve in a receiver operating characteristic analysis), while extending the dynamic range from four discrete, age-based probabilities to a continuous spectrum ranging from 7 to 60%. Table 1 shows the population distribution and error for five different prognostics groups. CONCLUSION(S): Using a validated, multi-center IVF prediction model, we showed that a large portion of patients with prior IVF would receive a significantly different predicted probability compared with agebased counseling, at improved predictive power and discrimination, and reliable accuracy.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of a population of adolescent (AD) and young women with cancer electing to pursue fertility preservation (FP) within our oncofertility program and identify trends in their decisions regarding methods of preservation and disposition of stored reproductive tissues. DESIGN: Retrospective. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified 34 post-pubertal AD and young women between 15-25 y seeking FP at our center prior to undergoing gonadotoxic therapy. RESULTS: The mean age of our cohort was 22 3y. Cancer diagnoses included: 14 hematologic, 8 ovarian, 4 cervical, 3 breast, 3 neurologic, 1 thyroid, and 1 rhabdomyosarcoma. Pts with malignancies related to women’s health represented 44% of the population. 64% of all pts described themselves as single, 27% partnered but not married, and 9% as married/engaged. 82% selected oocyte cryopreservation (OC) alone, 6% both oocyte and embryo cryopreservation (EC), and 12% EC alone as their FP treatment. Single (P 21 opted to donate their tissues for research.

diameters and the E2 secretion in the 10ng/ml GDNF group and 100ng/ml GDNF group were significantly higher than that in the control group and 1ng/ml GDNF group (P 0.05). CONCLUSION: The human preantral follicles in the two-step serum-free fibrin-alginate three-dimensional culture system could maintain good viability. And it can be used as threedimensional culture system for the isolated follicles in vitro culture. 10ng/ml and 100ng/ml GDNF added in vitro culture medium can promote isolated human preantral follicular growth and development, and improve the secreted E2.