Effects of triton X-100 pretreatment of lyophilized and frozen-thawed ram sperm on preimplantation embryo developmental competence.

In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of destruction of lyophilized and frozen-thawed ram sperm plasma and acrosomal membrane on development of embryos produced by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Semen samples were divided into two groups for lyophilization (L) and freezing (F). For the removal of the plasma membrane, L and F groups were incubated with Triton X-100 (LTX-100 and FTX-100, respectively). Integrities of the plasma membrane, acrosome and chromatin structure were evaluated. Oocytes were injected with these sperm groups. Although no plasma membrane and acrosome integrities of the L (0.0%) group were detected, the plasma membrane integrity of the F group (69.4%) was significantly higher than the FTX-100 group (23.6%) (p < 0.05). The acrosome integrity of the FTX-100 group (3.80%) was significantly lower than the F group (55.6%) (p < 0.05). The chromatin integrities of L and F groups were higher than the Triton X-100 treated groups (p < 0.05). ICSIs with L, LTX-100, F and FTX-100 sperm were produced similar cleavage and blastocyst rates. In conclusion, data presented here confirm that ram spermatozoa can effectively be lyophilized and injected into oocytes for initiation of embryonic development and Triton X-100 pretreatment is not necessary while using lyophilized and frozen semen.

1,3,4-Thiadiazole and 1,2,4-triazole-5-thione derivatives bearing 2-pentyl-5-phenyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazole-3-one ring: Synthesis, molecular docking, urease inhibition, and crystal structure.

Two series of 1,3,4-thiadiazole (40a-o) and 1,2,4-triazole-5-thione (41a-l) derivatives bearing a 2-pentyl-5-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-one ring were synthesized and then studied for their urease inhibitory activities using thiourea as a standard drug. Among the two groups, the first group (40a-o) did not show good activity while the second group (41a-l) showed excellent activity. Compound 41j (1091.24 ± 14.02 µM) of the second series of compounds showed lower activity than thiourea, while the remaining 11 compounds (41a-i, k, and l) showed better activity than thiourea (183.92 ± 13.14 µM). Among the 11 compounds, 41b (15.96 ± 2.28 µM) having the 3-F group on the phenyl ring showed the highest inhibitory activity. Urease kinetic studies of 41b, which is the most active compound, determined it to have an un-competitive inhibition potential. Moreover, in silico analysis against urease from jack bean with 27 new heterocyclic compounds and the reference molecule was carried out to see the necessary interactions responsible for urease activity. The docking calculations of all compounds supported stronger binding to the receptor than the reference molecule, with high inhibition constants. In addition, compound 40m was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. X-ray analysis reveals that the structures of the compound 40m crystallize in the monoclinic P21/c space group with the cell parameters: a = 10.2155(9) Å, b = 22.1709(18) Å, c = 21.4858(17) Å, ß = 99.677(8)°, V = 4797.0(7) Å3 . X-ray diffraction analyses were also performed to gain insights into the role of weak intermolecular interactions and C-H…X (halogen) interactions in compound 40m that influence the crystal packing.

SDN Based End-to-End Inter-Domain Routing Mechanism for Mobility Management and Its Evaluation.

Nowadays, due to the widespread usage of mobile devices and wireless network technologies, we can use various ICT services almost anytime, anywhere even if we are changing our location at that moment. Therefore, mobility management technology have been attracting attention. This technology is to keep communication alive even when a mobile node (MN), which is communicating with the server or some nodes, moves to another network domain. Software Defined Networking (SDN) is used for mobility management to realize effective intra-domain routing that optimizes routes when an MN moves inside an SDN domain. However, many of the approaches mainly focus on intra-domain routing and it is difficult to optimize inter-domain route. In this paper, we focus on this routing optimization problem and propose an SDN based end-to-end routing mechanism specified for mobility management. The proposed routing mechanism can optimize an end-to-end route based on various parameters such as bandwidth, number of domains, and flow operations for mobility after an MN has moved across SDN domains. We carried out some simulational experimentations to evaluate the effect of proposal. It is shown that the proposed routing mechanism can reduce communication delay and enhance network performance. Thus, the proposed routing mechanism can realize effective ICT services.

Early haemodynamic changes in cerebral blood flow after cardiac resychronisation therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) has emerged as a new treatment strategy for a subgroup of patients with heart failure. In this study, we aimed to evaluate acute effects of CRT on cerebral blood flow. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-two (six female and 16 male) patients (mean age 60.8±5.3 years) with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy were enrolled in the study. Blood flow in the common carotid artery (CCA), internal carotid artery (ICA), and vertebral arteries (VA) was evaluated by Colour Doppler ultrasound. All measurements were performed at a constant heart rate of 90beats/min for excluding the influence of variant heart rates. RESULTS: Flow velocities, flow volume, resistivity and pulsatility indices which were correlated with cardiac output (CO) significantly increased after CRT. The only parameter affecting the change in mean velocity and flow volume in VA was the change in the CO (ß=1.1, p=0.02 and ß=1.2, p=0.04, respectively). The change in peak systolic velocity after CRT in VA and the change in mean velocity and volume in ICA were affected by the change in the CO (ß=1.2, p=0.007; ß=0.8, p=0.08 and ß=0.6, p=0.03, respectively). The change in total cerebral blood flow was also affected by the change in CO (ß=1.3, p=0.003). CONCLUSION: CRT increases the carotid and vertebral artery blood flow velocities, flow volumes and therefore improves cerebral blood flow. This improvement in the cerebral blood flow after CRT is largely due to the increase in the cardiac output.

(E)-(2,5-Difluoro-benz-yl)[(2-eth-oxy-naphthalen-1-yl)methyl-idene]amine.

In the title mol-ecule, C20H17F2NO, which adopts an E conformation with respect to the imine C=N double bond, the mean planes of the naphthalene ring system and the difluoro-phenyl ring form a dihedral angle of 85.82 (7)°. An intra-molecular C-H⋯N hydrogen bond occurs. In the crystal, weak C-H⋯F hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into zigzag chains along [010].

8-{(E)-[(4-Chloro-phen-yl)imino]-meth-yl}-1,1,7,7-tetra-methyl-1,2,3,5,6,7-hexa-hydro-pyrido[3,2,1-ij]quinolin-9-ol.

The title Schiff base, C23H27ClN2O adopts the phenol-imine tautomeric form, with an intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bond, which generates an S(6) ring motif. Three C atoms of the heterocyclic moiety of the hexa-hydro-pyrido-quinoline unit, as well as the two methyl groups bonded to one of these C atoms, are disordered over two set of sites, with anoccupancy ratio of 0.740 (4):0.260 (4).

(E)-4-Methyl-N-[(5-nitro-thio-phen-2-yl)methyl-idene]aniline.

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(12)H(10)N(2)O(2)S, the benzene and the 2-nitro-thio-phene rings make a dihedral angle of 7.47 (12)°. The dihedral angle between the nitro group and the attached ring is 1.9 (6)°.

(E)-3-[(2-Methyl-4-nitro-phen-yl)imino-meth-yl]-1-benzothio-phene.

In the title conpound, C(16)H(12)N(2)O(2)S, the 1-benzothio-phene residue and the substituted benzene ring are oriented at a dihedral angle of 53.36 (6)°. The mol-ecular conformation features a short C-H⋯N contact. There are no significant inter-molecular contacts.

(Z)-2-[(E)-2-(1-Benzothio-phen-3-yl-methyl-idene)hydrazin-1-yl-idene]-1,2-diphenyl-ethanone.

The title compound, C(23)H(16)N(2)OS, is not planar, the phenyl ring of the benzoyl group making a dihedral of 77.61 (7)° with the benzothio-phene system ring. The benzothio-phene system and the remaining phenyl ring make an angle of 12.71 (13)°. The conformation around the imine functions is E for the C=N bond towards the benzothio-phene system and Z for the C=N bond towards the benzoyl group. The packing of the mol-ecules shows C-H⋯π inter-actions. A weak intramolecular C-H⋯N bond also occurs.

5-Diethyl-amino-2-[(E)-(2,4-dimeth-oxy-phen-yl)imino-meth-yl]phenol.

The title Schiff base, C(19)H(24)N(2)O(3), exists in the crystal structure in the phenol-imine tautomeric form with an intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bond. The planes of the aromatic rings form a dihedral angle of 36.8 (8)°. The crystal packing is characterized by C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking inter-actions [centroid-centroid distance = 3.478 (4)Å].

(E)-N-(1-Benzothio-phen-3-yl-methyl-idene)-2,6-dimethyl-aniline.

In the title compound, C(17)H(15)NS, the benzothio-phene residue and the substituted benzene ring are oriented at a dihedral angle of 61.99 (7)°. An inter-molecular C-H⋯π inter-action contributes to the stability of the crystal structure.

(E)-3-Chloro-N-[(2-eth-oxy-naphthalen-1-yl)methyl-idene]aniline.

In the title compound, C(19)H(16)ClNO, the dihedral angle between the naphthalene ring system and the chloro-benzene ring is 61.90 (10)° and the C-N-C-C torsion angle is 174.6 (2)°. The mol-ecular structure is stabilized by an intra-molecular C-H⋯N hydrogen bond. The crystal structure features π-π stacking inter-actions [centroid-centroid distances = 3.7325 (17) and 3.8150 (17) Å].

4-Meth-oxy-2-{(E)-[(thio-phen-2-yl)methyl-imino]-meth-yl}phenol.

The title Schiff base, C(13)H(13)NO(2)S, adopts the phenol-imine tautomeric form and reveals an intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bond involving the hy-droxy group and the imino N atom, forming an S(6) ring. The mol-ecule is highly twisted with respect to the central imine group, which is reflected in the dihedral angle of 67.83 (10)° formed by the thienyl and phenol rings. The crystal packing is characterized by weak C-H⋯O and C-H⋯π inter-actions.

P-wave durations in patients experiencing atrial fibrillation during exercise testing.

Augmented sympathoadrenal activity during exercise may contribute to occurrence of various arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation (AF). The prolongation of intraatrial and interatrial conduction times and inhomogeneous propagation of sinus impulses are well-known characteristics of the atrium prone to fibrillate and are evaluated by maximum P-wave duration (P max), P-wave dispersion (PWD). To show the increased P max and PWD values in patients experiencing AF during exercise testing and the role of beta blockade on treatment of exercise-induced AF, 22 of these patients were compared with a control group consisting of 41 patients without AF attacks. P max (p = 0.001) and PWD (p = 0.001) values were significantly higher in patients with AF compared to those without AF. The development of AF during exercise testing was found to be positively correlated with P max (r = 0.87, p < 0.001), PWD (r = 0.83, p = 0.001), and work load (r = 0.34, p = 0.002) and negatively correlated with ejection fraction (r = -0.26, p=0.02). After the treatment with beta-blocking agents for 2 weeks, the decrease in P max and PWD values was accompanied by a much lower prevalence of exercise-induced AF. Consequently, the patients with AF had greater P max and PWD values compared to control subjects, and these simple parameters were well correlated with the occurrence of AF during exercise testing. Furthermore, treatment of these patients with beta blockers would appear to decrease the recurrence of exercise-induced AF and to be associated with a decrease in P-wave durations.

Coagulation, fibrinolytic system activation and endothelial dysfunction in patients with mitral stenosis and sinus rhythm.

Anticoagulation treatment can prevent systemic embolism in patients with mitral stenosis (MS) and atrial fibrillation (AF), but this treatment is under debate if patients are in sinus rhythm. The authors aimed to determine the hemostatic changes in patients with MS and sinus rhythm. Forty-six patients (28 in sinus rhythm and 18 in AF) with mitral stenosis were enrolled in this study. They studied systemic venous fibrinogen, D-dimer, antithrombin-III, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), plasminogen activator inhibitor-I (PAI-I), von Willebrand factor (vWF), and platelet factor 4 (PF 4) in these patients. The patients were first classified according to their rhythm as sinusal and AF, and then according to the presence of left atrial spontaneous echo contrast (LASEC). Fibrinogen, D-dimer, antithrombin-III, vWF, and PF 4 levels were significantly greater in patients with MS and sinus rhythm or atrial fibrillation compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Whether the rhythm was sinus or AF, fibrinogen, D-dimer, antithrombin-III, vWF, and PF 4 levels were significantly higher in patients with LASEC than in the control group (p < 0.05). Only PF 4 was higher in the AF group than in those with sinus rhythm (p < 0.05). As to plasminogen activator and PAI-I levels, only tissue plasminogen activator levels were found to be higher in the AF group than in those with sinus rhythm and the control group (p < 0.05). In patients with mitral stenosis and sinus rhythm, if LASEC is present, coagulation activation, platelet activation, and endothelial dysfunction are similar in patients with AF, and anticoagulation should be considered in these patients.