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This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess and compare the outcomes between cumulative live birth of patients with and without PGT-A and also between prior unsuccessful IVF cycles and PGT-A cycles among patients who experienced IVF but without live birth delivery, and to clarify the effective usage of PGT-A as an in vitro fertilization (IVF) add-on.A total of 2113 females undergoing IVF with at least one blastocyst were reviewed. Patients in the PGT-A and non-PGT-A groups were further categorized into first-time IVF and prior unsuccessful IVF groups (previous IVF experience but without live birth delivery).In the PGT-A group, there were additional oocyte retrieval cycles, fewer transfer cycles per patient, higher clinical pregnancy rates per embryo transfer, and lower miscarriage rates per clinical pregnancy as compared to the non-PGT-A group, all showing significant differences. However, the first-time IVF group with PGT-A had a significantly longer duration from the first oocyte retrieval to the first live birth delivery (LBD) and a significantly lower LBD rate per patient than the non-PGT-A group. The cumulative probability for a first LBD with PGT-A was inferior in the first-time IVF group for women 35 years, marginally superior in the prior unsuccessful IVF group of women aged 38-40 years, and similar for other groups.PGT-A should not be recommended to all patients; however, if the first IVF treatment failed, PGT-A may reduce the patient's burden regardless of age.

IEC 61850 series specifies various elements of the power utility automation systems such as logical nodes defined as functional units, which must be chosen and woven by system engineers to meet user requirements. For a uniform usage of IEC 61850 in multiple utilities, the authors have developed functional specifications for monitoring and control in electrical power substation. This paper focuses on an IED testing system that allows automatic testing based on the functional specifications. The functional requirements for the testing system are clarified as the first step to construct the testing system. In addition, a conceptual design that meets the functional requirements is proposed by employing off-the-shelf tools, which leads to reduction in cost and lead time. The proposed testing system allows to evaluate a system composed of IEDs rather than a single IED.

SUMMARY More and more dispersed power sources will be introduced to achieve a low-carbon society. However, many problems may occur as a result of excessive introduction in the current power system. For example, delays or failures of fault detection may occur due to a decline in protective relay sensitivity. This paper proposes a new system of protective relays for distribution lines using section switches with sensors to solve the problem. In addition, experimental results on the proposed system composed of Intelligent Electronic Devices based on IEC 61850 are presented.

All electric utilities in Japan currently operate distribution automation systems (DASs) that employ proprietary communication protocols and technologies. The construction and maintenance of such systems are expected to be more effective if common protocols and technologies are shared by multiple utilities. Recent breakthroughs in information and communication technologies and international standards named IEC 61850 for power utility automation provide an opportunity to establish common specifications for all systems in said utilities. This paper analyzes the gap between logical nodes defined in IEC 61850 and two types of DASs from functional and data perspectives as the first step to apply IEC 61850 to DASs. The results identify some settings and control functions are not modeled in IEC 61850, although most supervisory and measurement items are supported. This paper also considers how to extend logical nodes for the unsupported functions to fill the gap. These extensions could help ensure DASs are effectively constructed and maintained based on IEC 61850.

Power equipment can be maintained more cost effectively by planning based upon their condition. To estimate the condition of a plant, a number of sensors can be used to measure data such as temperature and pressure, which are then collected by means of an information system along with processes and storage. For this purpose, maintenance staff must install software into the information system each time a sensor is installed; the greater the number of such tasks, the less efficient the maintenance. This paper proposes a method to facilitate the installation of software and thus reduce the burden on maintenance staff. The method proposed manages information with respect to software classes, creates instances from the classes according to sensor detection, and activates them based upon related instance states. Results using an experimental system show that the method works as we expected and also seems to be scalable. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

IEC 61850 is a series of international standards for various aspects of substation automation systems (SASs) including functional elements named logical nodes (LNs). Currently, intelligent electronic device (IED) vendors individually select LNs to build their own IEDs, so it is difficult to construct a SAS in a multivendor environment. One solution is to create functional specifications that can be commonly adopted by multiple electric utilities in a country or region. This paper focuses on volt-var control (VVC) and proposes specifications for implementing the VVC functions commonly for multiple electric utilities. It explains two types of VVC systems and their functions, and proposes policies to design mapping the functions to LNs. It also depicts and considers the mapping results obtained according to the policies, and confirms their effects and feasibility.

– In this paper, we propose IP-based computer network architecture for communications of facility maintenance information. This architecture enables realization of overlay network on the IP network to control the communications. We also examined a feasibility of the architecture with an experiment system. The result shows that the feasibility of the architecture is confirmed. Keywords : Facility maintenance, IP network, Network control, Network management 1. Introduction It is necessary for Japanese electric companies to operate electric apparatus until limit of their performance and life and maintain them with a broad view all over power system. Technologies for condition-based maintenance (CBM) are being researched and developed. It is expected various sensors are allocated in substations and power plants and sensor information is collected across wide area to check electric apparatus, repair them and formulate a maintenance plan in the future. It is effective to realize facility maintenance networks to collect and deliver the information with proof and stability for long time and utilize the information by compiling data in accordance with their usage. The networks are also required to be adaptive to plugging sensors in and out in accordance with secular variation of electric apparatus and collect and deliver their information. Japanese electric companies already have built wide area IP networks to transfer information for their business supporting systems. It is effective for utilizing their existing IP networks as foundation of the facility maintenance networks, which realizes facility maintenance systems. The IP networks enclose information for other application systems including business support systems. Controlling the communications for each application systems has activity on assuring the quality of the communications. It is required for satisfying requirement of the facility maintenance network to build communication control functions for the network. Therefore, Section 2 illustrates the outlines and problems of existing technologies to satisfy the requirements for the facility maintenance network. Section 3 follows by proposing architecture to control communications for facility maintenance information. Section 4, we also examined feasibility of the architecture with an experiment system and the result shows that the feasibility of the architecture is confirmed, before concluding in Section 5.

This paper proposes and evaluates an evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm, called EVOLT, which heuristically optimizes quality of service (QoS) parameters in communication networks. EVOLT uses a population of individuals, each of which represents a set of QoS parameters, and evolves the individuals via genetic operators such as crossover, mutation and selection for satisfying given QoS requirements. For evaluating EVOLT in real-world settings that have high-dimensional parameter and optimization objective spaces, this paper focuses on QoS optimization in safety-critical communication networks for electric power utilities. Simulation results show that EVOLT outperforms a well-known existing evolutionary algorithm for multiobjective optimization and efficiently obtains quality QoS parameters with acceptable computational costs. Moreover, EVOLT visualizes obtained QoS parameters in a self-organizing map in order to aid network administrators to intuitively understand the QoS parameters and the tradeoffs among optimization objectives.

SCADA systems in water reclamation centers have been constructed based on hardware and software that each manufacturer produced according to their design. Even though this approach used to be effective to realize real-time and reliable execution, it is an obstacle to cost reduction about system construction and maintenance. A promising solution to address the problem is to set specifications that can be used commonly. In terms of software, information model approach has been adopted in SCADA systems in other field, such as telecommunications and power systems. An information model is a piece of software specification that describes a physical or logical object to be monitored. In this paper, we propose information models for operations of water reclamation centers, which have not ever existed. In addition, we show the feasibility of the information model in terms of common use and processing performance.

Generators and power storages for communication facilities for emergency use could get involved in realizing smart grids. Standard protocols of OpenADR 2.0b and IEC 61850 are used for communication to ensure the interoperability of smart grid. XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) has promise to be applied to the transport layer of both of the standard protocols. In this paper, the authors examine the construction of a common communication platform based on XMPP.

Objective: To determine whether leiomyoma, adenomyosis and endometrial polyps are associated with changes in uterine cavity matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) and cytokines. Study design: Uterine cavity irrigation was performed in women with leiomyoma, adenomyosis and endometrial polyps, and in women with a normal uterus. MMP-2 and MMP-9 were assayed in the uterine washings by gelatin zymography. For individual subjects, the total MMP level was obtained by adding the semi-quantitative scores of band densities related to gelatinases in the zymograms. Interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) kits. Results: The uterine cavity of patients with leiomyoma, adenomyosis and endometrital polyps had significantly higher MMP scores than controls. Although the mean IL-1β levels were elevated in uteri harboring a pathology compared with the normal uteri, the cytokine was significantly elevated only in the adenomyotic group. Significantly elevated levels of IFN-γ were found in uteri with leiomyoma and endometrial polyps. Uterine washings from leiomyoma and adenomyosis contained significantly elevated mean levels of TGF-β1 compared with controls, while TNF-α was significantly higher only in leiomyoma. When uterine cytokine levels were compared in relation to individual MMP levels a significant relationship was found between TGF-β1 and elevated levels of MMP-9 and total MMPs in leiomyoma. A significant relationship was also found between IL-1β and elevated levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and total MMPs in the endometrial polyp group. Conclusion: The uterine cavity in leiomyoma, adenomyosis and endometrial polyps contains elevated levels of MMPs and cytokines compared with the normal uterus. In some pathologies elevated cytokines are associated with elevated MMPs.

The IEC 61850 series specifies elements of the substation automation system (SAS) such as logical nodes as a functional unit, which must be chosen and woven by a system engineer to meet user requirements. The authors have specified logical nodes to monitor and control transmission lines and switch-gear according to policies that aim to produce an intelligent electronic device (IED) common to multiple utilities. This paper describes two IED prototypes based on the functional specifications and experimental results showing how the IEDs meet requirements from perspectives of functionality and performance. This suggests that the functional specification can be used to implement an IED commonly used by multiple utilities

Background. Adrenomedullin (AM) is a multifunctional peptide involved in a variety of physiological functions, including vasodilatation, growth regulation, and carcinogenesis. To elucidate the possible role of AM in the growth and invasion of uterine cervical carcinoma, the presence and distribution of AM and AM mRNA was examined in the neoplastic changes of squamous epithelium of the uterine cervix. Methods. The expression of AM mRNA by CaSki, a uterine squamous cell carcinoma cell line, was examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The presence and distribution of AM and AM mRNA in sections of normal cervical tissues, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and invasive squamous cell carcinomas were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining with a specific antibody against AM and by in situ RT-PCR, respectively. Results. AM mRNA expression in CaSki cells was demonstrated by RT-PCR. Immunohistochemical staining for AM and in situ RT-PCR revealed that AM and AM mRNA were expressed in invasive squamous carcinoma cells, but not in normal cervical epithelium or in CIN lesions. Abundant expression of AM and AM mRNA was localized in the cytoplasm of carcinoma cells of bulky invasive carcinomas, while in early invasive carcinoma, the expression of AM and AM mRNA was more prominent in stromal cells adjacent to the early invasive carcinoma cells than in the carcinoma cells themselves. Conclusions. Because AM expression was evident only in invasive cervical squamous carcinoma cells and the stromal cells adjacent to early invasive carcinomas, it is likely that AM may play an important role in the growth and invasion of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

OBJECTIVE: Adrenomedullin (AM) has diverse functions and is expressed in a variety of tissues. This study was conducted to investigate the expression of AM in the human ovary and its effect on progesterone production by human granulosa lutein cells. DESIGN AND METHODS: Follicular fluid and blood samples were obtained at the time of oocyte retrieval from patients undergoing in vitro-fertilization cycles. Concentrations of AM in follicular fluid and plasma were measured by RIA. Granulosa cells were isolated from follicular fluid and expression of AM mRNA was examined by RT-PCR. Granulosa lutein cells were cultured in vitro and secretion of AM by those cells was determined by immunoprecipitation followed by PAGE. Immunohistochemical staining with human ovaries was carried out, using a specific antibody to AM. Furthermore, the effect of AM on progesterone production by cultured granulosa lutein cells was studied. RESULTS: Concentrations of AM in follicular fluid collected just before ovulation were significantly higher than those in the plasma (P

Summary In order to elucidate the role of EGF in human placental development, effects of EGF on the proliferation and endocrine function of trophoblast cells were investigated. Explants of trophoblastic tissues obtained from 4–5 week or 6–12 week placentae were, respectively, cultured with or without EGF, in the presence or absence of triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) in a serum-free condition. The proliferative activity was examined by immunocytochemical staining with an antibody to the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), while the endocrine function was assessed by the ability to secrete hCG and hPL. In 4–5 week placentae, EGF and EGF receptor were localized in cytotrophoblast (C-cell) and EGF augmented the proliferation of C-cell without affecting the ability to secrete hCG and hPL. By contrast, in 6–12 week placentae, EGF and EGF receptor were localized in syncytiotrophoblast (S-cell) and EGF stimulated the secretion of hCG and hPL without affecting the proliferation of C-cell. In situ hybridization with c-erb B probe revealed that c-erb B mRNA is expressed in the S-cell after 6 weeks gestation. Column chromatography of the serum-free media obtained by 5-day culture of early placental tissues resulted in the elution of immunoreactive EGF. The addition of T3 (10 −8 mol/l) resulted in increased secretion of immunoreactive EGF by placental explants. These findings suggest that EGF acts as an autocrine factor in regulating early placental growth and function in synergy with thyroid hormone.

We studied the expression of mRNA encoding the alpha- and beta-subunits of marmoset chorionic gonadotrophin (mCG) in implantation stage blastocysts and in a trophoblastic cell line derived from such blastocysts. In this investigation in situ hybridization was carried out using digoxygenin-labelled riboprobes to localize the subunit transcripts. The trophoblastic cell line, known to secrete bioactive mCG, was used as a positive control. Marmoset uterine embryos were cultured to hatched blastocysts and following growth on Matrigel or plastic were processed for in situ hybridization at developmental stages ranging from 13-15 days post-conception. In serial sections mCG-beta mRNA was detected mainly in polar trophoblast. The mRNA for mCG-alpha was expressed more uniformly in polar and mural trophoblast. Transcripts for the beta-subunit were not expressed, or present as weak signals, in the inner cell mass (ICM) and endoderm. However, low levels of mRNA for mCG-alpha were detected in the ICM and visceral endoderm. We have concluded that mRNA for mCG-beta was primarily localized to patches of syncytiotrophoblast at the embryonic pole and sparsely distributed in mural trophoblast, while the transcripts for mCG-alpha were distributed more uniformly in differentiating cytotrophoblast and syncytium, and at much lower levels in ICM and early endoderm.

To realize smart grid technologies such as load control, load leveling and demand response and solve problems caused by connecting many DERs to a distribution network, a distribution automation system (DAS) and energy management system (EMS) are respectively essential components. The communication of these systems has generally been handled by proprietary or vendor-specific protocols to date. Conversely, in intra- and inter-substation communication, the IEC 61850 has started to gain acceptance in supervisory control communication, due to its interoperability supporting multi-vendor environments. If the IEC 61850 can be applied to communications in DAS and EMS, this is expected to reduce the maintenance and equipment costs of each system. To do so, we must first evaluate the applicability of the IEC 61850 from the perspective of Logical Nodes (LN) and Data Objects (DO), which are data models defined in IEC 61850. This paper focuses on the DAS and building EMS (BEMS) and provides the evolution. We choose BEMSs because we expect many EMSs to be installed in homes or buildings in the near future and anticipate that building energy management functions will include home energy management functions. This evaluation result shows that most data items appearing on such communications can be represented as standard LNs and DOs but several data items cannot be easily represented as the same.

Previous studies have shown that human placental trophoblast is the site of the reception of thyroid hormone and epidermal growth factor (EGF) and that cellular levels of thyroid hormone receptor and EGF receptor are notably higher in early placenta than those in term placenta. On the other hand, it is now evident that a close similarity exists between thyroid hormone receptor and erb A protein and between EGF receptor and erb B protein. In the present study, we have therefore analyzed staged human placentas by Northern blot and In situ hybridization with c-erb A and c-erb B cDNA probes.In situ hybridization revealed that c-erb B mRNA is localized in the syncytiotrophoblast, consistent with our previous results, which showed the cytological localization of EGF receptor in developing human placenta. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that placental RNA contains c-erb A transcripts of 5.7-kb and c-erb B transcripts of 10.0-kb and 5.6-kb and that the amounts of the c-erb A and c-erb B transcripts vary remarkably during the course of gestation, being most abundant in early placenta, more abundant in midterm placenta, and least abundant in term placenta. It is therefore likely that the increased expression of c-erb A and c-erb B gene in early placental cells indicates an increase in cellular levels of thyroid hormone receptor and EGF receptor in early placental trophoblasts. These findings suggest an important role for the c-erb A and c-erb B oncogenes in the induction of trophoblast proliferation and differentiation in early gestation.

We developed a SCADA server as a prototype to evaluate the applicability of IEC 61850 for the operation of large-scale photovoltaic (PV) generation systems. IEC 61850 and Web-service technology (IEC 61400-25-4) are applied to the data model and the server communication protocol. We also developed a test client for the conformance test, which was then executed. The result showed that the server conformed to IEC 61850 on the data model and protocol. Therefore, the applicability of IEC 61850 to the operation of a large-scale photovoltaic (PV) generation system is confirmed.

We are developing a next-generation power grid in the low-carbon era, which operates and controls demandside equipment as well as that on the power generation and transmission sides. For these operations and controls, a computer unit, called a customer gateway in this paper, exchanges data with devices in customer premises and those in this grid. To ensure interoperability for communications with the customer gateway, a standard protocol such as IEC 62056 could be applied. The applicability of the latter for the customer gateway, however, remains to be ascertained. We specify the requirements for customer gateway communications in this paper. In addition, we show performance results measured using an experimental system with IEC 62056. Based on the requirements and results, we argue that IEC 62056 has no problem with respect to the transfer of data in bulk. In terms of latency, we must develop some methods to shorten the elapsed time and thus fulfill the requirements.

This paper studies an evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm, called EVOLT, which heuristically optimizes QoS (quality of service) in communication networks for electric power utilities. EVOLT uses a population of individuals, each of which represents a set of QoS parameters, and evolves them via genetic operators such as crossover and mutation for satisfying given QoS requirements. Simulation results show that EVOLT outperforms a well-known existing evolutionary algorithm for multiobjective optimization and efficiently obtains quality QoS parameters with acceptable computational costs.

We are studying a future distribution system that solves the problems caused by connection of numerous distributed generators. A SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system for this distribution system should be economical, flexible and reliable as well as executing a real–time process. In this paper, we propose a SCADA system using mobile agents in order to make it flexible. In addition, we show two types of communication protocols that make agent migration more fault-tolerant. We have carried out experiments in which the SCADA system executes ground fault protection within the required time. These results indicate that the SCADA system based on our proposed technologies, should be able to fulfill the requirement for real–time processing.

A key software engineering challenge in autonomic computing is the complexity of administrating operational policies of applications. In order to address this challenge, this chapter proposes and evaluates a new development environment, called iNetLab, which is designed to improve the productivity of designing, maintaining, and tuning operational policies in autonomic network applications. iNetLab consists of (1) a set of visual modeling languages specialized to define operational policies in network applications, (2) a set of supporting facilities for those modeling languages, and (3) tools estimates the performance of a network application with its operational policy under development. The proposed visual modeling languages and their supporting facilities can simplify and semi-automate the process to design and maintain operational policies by allowing application administrators (i.e., non-programmers) to graphically deal with operational policies in an intuitive manner. The proposed performance estimation tools leverage the performance history of each network application (i.e., pairs of an operational policy and a performance result obtained in the past) and approximate the application’s performance without deploying and running it actually. This simplifies the process to tune operational policies against desirable performance requirements and contributes to shorten the time to develop autonomic applications.

During pregnancy, a wide variety of proteins are produced by both the placenta and the fetus. While many of these proteins are identical to those produced by normal adult tissues, some are unique to either the placenta or the fetus. It is known that cancers produce placental or fetal proteins. Some of these proteins which can be detected in the serum or urine are used as tumor markers. The most well known tumor marker of placental origin is human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Fetus specific proteins that are used as tumor markers include alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). It should be noted, however, that these placental or fetal proteins are expressed in a small quantity by normal tissues. For instance, hCG is transcribed in the pituitary at a very low level, but still detectable by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and other sensitive methods.1 CEA is known to be expressed in normal colorectal membrane.2 Therefore, caution must be exercised in interpreting the data when these proteins are used as tumor markers.