Association of osteoporotic fracture with smoking, alcohol consumption, tea consumption and exercise among Chinese nonagenarians/centenarians

OBJECTIVE

To observe the association of osteoporotic fracture with habits of smoking, alcohol consumption, tea consumption and exercise among very old people.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A cross-sectional study conducted in Dujiangyan Sichuan China.

PARTICIPANTS

703 unrelated Chinese nonagenarians and centenarians (67.76% women, mean age 93.48 years) resident in Dujiangyan.

MEASUREMENTS

Medical history of osteoporosis and the statement of fracture and habits (current and former) of smoking, alcohol consumption, tea consumption and exercise were collected.

RESULTS

In women, subjects with current or former habit of alcohol consumption had significantly higher prevalence osteoporotic fracture than those without this habit; but subjects with former habit of exercise had significantly lower prevalence osteoporotic fracture than those without this habit. However, in men, there was no significant difference in prevalence of these habits between subjects with and without osteoporotic fracture. After adjust for age, gender, sleep habits educational levels, religion habits and temperament, we found that former habit of alcohol consumption had a significant odds ratio (OR=2.473 95% CI (1.074, 5.526)) for osteoporotic fracture.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, among nonagenarians and centenarians, among habits (current and former) of smoking, alcohol consumption, tea consumption and exercise, there seems to be significant association of osteoporotic fracture only with current or former habits of alcohol consumption, former habit of exercise. The habit of alcohol consumption might be associated with a greater risk of osteoporotic fracture, but the former habit of exercise might be associated with a lower risk of osteoporotic fracture.

Note: Diagnosing femtosecond laser-solid interactions with monochromatic Kα imager and x-ray pinhole camera

An x-ray pinhole camera and a monochromatic K(α) imager are used to measure the interactions of intense femtosecond laser pulses with Cu foil targets. The two diagnostics give different features in the spot size and the laser energy scaling, which are resulted from different physical processes. Under our experimental conditions, the K(α) emission is mainly excited by the fast electrons transporting inside the cold bulk target. In contrast, the x-ray pinhole signals are dominated by the broadband thermal x-ray emission from the hot plasma at the front target surface.

High-grade prostate cancer with favorable results in the modern era

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Background: Historically, patients with high-grade prostate cancer have the worst outcomes. With the advent of prostate- specific antigen (PSA) screening, diagnosing prostate cancer no longer depends on palpation of a bulky mass on digital rectal exam and prostate cancers are found at an earlier stage. Our aim is to determine the outcome of a modern cohort of high grade patients with the available treatment options.

Methods: We reviewed the STVHS Tumor Registry and identified those patients diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2002 and 2008 capturing those patients with Gleason score >7 on biopsy. Details including all recorded PSA values, biopsy and surgical pathology results, primary, neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment, as well as response to treatment were recorded and analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimates, log-rank test, and multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results: We identified 297 patients with Gleason 8–10 cancer with a median follow up of 35 months. Initial treatment was surgery in 136, radiation in 52, and androgen ablation in 110; one patient has both surgery and androgen ablation. Five and 10 year biochemical-free survival (BFS), metastasis-free survival, and overall survival are shown in the Table . Overall, 5 year biochemical failure-free survival was 50% and metastasis free survival was 89%, resulting in an overall survival of 77%.

Conclusions: Historically, patients with a Gleason score of 8–10 have done very poorly. However, in the modern era, regardless of the initial treatment, the outcome is not as dire. Possible reasons are less bulky tumors or other facets of stage migration. While there is room for improvement, we should not have a nihilistic impression of how these patients will respond to treatment.

[Table: see text]

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Effect of prepulse on fast electron lateral transport at the target surface irradiated by intense femtosecond laser pulses

The effects of preplasma on lateral fast electron transport at front target surface, irradiated by ultraintense (>10(18) W/cm2) laser pulses, are investigated by Kα imaging technique. A large annular Kα halo with a diameter of ∼560 μm surrounding a central spot is observed. A specially designed steplike target is used to identify the possible mechanisms. It is believed that the halos are mainly generated by the lateral diffusion of fast electrons due to the electrostatic and magnetic fields in the preplasma. This is illustrated by simulated electron trajectories using a numerical model.

Oocyte source and hormonal stimulation for in vitro fertilization using sexed spermatozoa in cattle

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of in vitro embryo production in cattle utilizing sexed sperm from two bulls and oocytes recovered by OPU. Twenty donor animals were employed in eight OPU replicates: the first four OPU trials were conducted on animals without hormone treatment, and the last four were run on the same animals, following FSH subcutaneous and intramuscular administration. A higher rate of blastocyst development was recorded in stimulated, as compared to nonstimulated animals, (25.2% versus 12.8%, P = .001). Ocytes derived from slaughterhouse (SH) ovaries were also fertilized with sperm from the same bulls. Overall, non-sexed sperm used with oocytes derived from SH ovaries was significantly more efficient for blastocyst development than was sexed sperm with these same SH derived oocytes and sexed sperm with stimulated donor oocytes (39.8% versus 25.0% and 25.2%, P = .001). In conclusion, the use of sexed sperm with OPU-derived oocytes resulted in a significantly higher blastocyst development when donors were hormonally stimulated; furthermore, the level of efficiency achieved was comparable to that attained when the same sexed sperm was tested on oocytes derived from SH ovaries.

169 EMBRYO TRANSFER OF SEXED/VITRIFIED IVF EMBRYOS IN CATTLE: PREGNANCY COMPARISON AFTER SINGLE AND DOUBLE TRANSFERS

Advancement in sperm sorting technology combined with vitrification of in vitro produced bovine embryos will promote cattle breeding and production. The objective of this study was to evaluate pregnancy and embryo loss after embryo transfer (ET) of sexed/vitrified embryos with one bilaterally (double transfer, 2 embryos) v. ipsilaterally (single transfer, 1 embryo) into the recipient. Bovine oocytes collected from slaughterhouse ovaries or ovum pickup were matured for 20-22 h, then subjected to IVF using Brackett and Oliphant BO procedures with sorted X-sperm, and cultured with our standard culture system. Expanded blastocysts with tight compaction of the inner cell mass (quality 1) were selected on Day 7 for cryopreservation via liquid nitrogen surface vitrification (LNSV; Xu et al. 2006 J. Dairy Sci. 89, 2510-2518). Embryo transfer was performed for 3 replicates in Navasota, Texas, in April 2009. Prior to ET, embryos were warmed and subsequently washed several times in warming, dehydration solution and base medium. Some of sexed/vitrified embryos were cultured for 3 days post-warming to determine the survivability. The treatments were as follows: (1) vitrified-single transfers, 1 embryo was transferred into the horn ipsilateral to CL; (2) vitrified-double transfers, 1 embryo was transferred into each uterine horn by nonsurgical transfer; and (3) fresh-single, 1 fresh embryo was transferred into the horn ipsilateral to CL (control) to a synchronous recipient on Day 7. Pregnancy was determined by ultrasound monitoring on Day 35, and palpation per rectum on Day 75 after transfer. The pregnancy data were analyzed by General Linear Model analysis (SPSS 11.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The survival rate of vitrified IVF embryos reached to as high as 97.6% (n = 42) 2 h post-warming, and hatching rate was 85.7% after 3 days culture in vitro. The data (Table 1) showed that there was no difference in Day 35 pregnancy rate among vitrified-double, vitrified-single, and fresh ET control groups. However, on Day 75 post-ET, there was a significantly higher fetal loss found in the vitrified-double transfer group (41.1%) compared to those of vitrified-single transfers (16.6%) and fresh-single group (11.9%) (P < 0.05). The pregnancy rate on Day 75 of 51.4% achieved with vitrified-single transfers was comparable to the 43.3% achieved with the fresh-single control transfers but was significantly higher than the 31.1% of the vitrified-double transfer group. This study demonstrated that double embryo transfers can aggravate high fetal loss and/or abortion when sexed IVF embryos are transferred, and ET with 1 sexed/vitrified embryo per recipient is sufficient to establish satisfactory pregnancy, comparable to that achieved with fresh embryos. Table 1.Pregnancy and fetal loss of sexed/vitrified bovine IVF embryos following single and double transfers Supported by USDA/CSREES-SBIR: 2006-03069 Phase II to F. Du.

81 THE EFFECT OF FOLLICULAR AND OVIDUCT OOCYTES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF RABBIT NUCLEAR TRANSFERRED EMBRYOS IN VITRO

This study was designed to examine the effect of rabbit oocytes collected from oviducts v. follicles on the developmental potential of nuclear transplant (NT) embryos. Rabbit oocytes were flushed from the oviducts (oviduct oocytes) or collected from the ovarian Graafian follicles(follicular oocytes) of superovulated does at 12 h post-hCG injection (hpi). Cumulus cells were then removed from the oocytes by incubation in 0.5% hyaluronidase and pipetting. Oocyte enucleation was conducted in TCM-199 +10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and confirmed under fluorescent microscopy. Skin fibroblasts from an adult rabbit were prepared and cultured to passage 8 to 10 before use as nuclear donors. A donor cell with a diameter of approximately 15 to 19 μm was transferred into the perivitelline space of an enucleated oocyte and subsequently fused with the recipient oocyte by applying 3 direct current pulses at 3.2 kV cm-1 for 20 μs per pulse. Fused oocytes were activated by the same electrical stimulation described above, and then cultured in TCM-199 + 10% FBS containing 2.0 mM 6-DMAP and 5 μg mL-1 cycloheximide for 1 h. Cloned embryos were cultured in 2.5% FBS B2 medium in 5% CO2 and 95% humidified air at 38.5°C for 3 d. Embryo development to cleavage (2- to 4-cell), 8-cell, and morula/blastocyst (Mor/BL) stages was evaluated. The data were analyzed by the General Linear Model procedure (SPSS 11.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).The total number of oocytes collected per animal was 27.6 ± 1.3, with 47.8% from oviducts, and 52.2% from follicles. The percentage of oviduct oocytes that showed the first polar body was 98.3% (n = 150) at the time of collection, whereas follicular oocytes only had 54.8% at collection (n = 93), but it reached 92.4% when immature follicular oocytes were cultured for 3 h in vitro. The enucleation rates were similar between the follicular (82.7%) and the oviduct (79.1%) groups. Table 1 shows that a significantly higher fusion rate was found in follicular oocytes compared with that in the oviduct group (90.8 v. 63.4%; P < 0.05). There was no difference in the cleavage rate and Mor/BL development between the 2 groups, although the 8-cell(78.4 v. 63.9%; P = 0.11) and the overall efficiencies (30.6% v. 17.9%; P = 0.14) appeared higher in the follicular group. These results demonstrated that rabbit follicular oocytes at 12 hpi have potential equivalent or maybe better (fusion) than that with oviduct oocytes for promoting the preimplantational development of NT embryos. Table 1.The effect of follicular and oviduct oocytes on the development of rabbit NT embryos Supported by NIH1R43 RR023774-01A1 and 5R44HL091605-03.

157 AGGREGATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF RABBIT CLONED EMBRYOS WITH ZYGOTIC, TETRAPLOID, AND PARTHENOGENETIC EMBRYO IN VITRO

The rabbit compared to other domestic animals, such as cattle and sheep, was a relatively more difficult species to clone. One of the major reasons may be attributed to the low cell number in cloned embryo before implantation. This study was designed to aggregate 2 nuclear transfer (NT) embryos and one with a different origin, determine their developmental potential in vitro, and finally examine the cell number of aggregated embryos. NT was performed with our standard procedure using in vivo derived oocytes and donor cells from adult skin fibroblasts. Zygotes (ZY) were collected from does at 18 h post-hCG and mating. Parthenogenetic (PA) embryos were generated from oocytes with activation protocol, whereas tetraploid embryos (4N) were prepared by fusing fertilized embryos at 2-celled stage into 1-celled stage by electrical pulse. All of the embryos were cultured for 20-24 h into 4-/8-celled stage prior to aggregation. Zona pellucida was then removed and 2 NT embryos were aggregated with 1 embryo originated from ZY, PA, and 4N groups in a depressed droplet containing culture medium. Aggregated embryos were cultured for another 48 h (total 3 days, initiation of activation = Day 0) before being fixed for cell counting. Both single embryo from NT, ZY, PA, and 4N and 3 embryo aggregates (3X) from the same category were used as controls for NT aggregation. The results of 3-day embryo culture in vitro showed that the development of aggregated embryos to blastocyst (BL) stage was 2 NT + ZY, 68.6% (n = 35); 2 NT + 4N, 91.7% (n = 36); and 2 NT+PA, 37.5% (n = 24), whereas 3X aggregates developed to BL at a rate of ZY, 100% (n = 24); 4N, 100% (n = 19); and PA, 100% (n = 14). The BL rates of single embryo control developed into early BL were ZY, 100% (n = 34) and 4N, 93% (n = 36); however, NT and PA developed slower, only 45.4% NT (n = 187) and 79.2% PA (n = 72) to compacted morula/early BL stage. Cell counting data (Table 1) showed that there was no difference in cell number per embryo between NT and PA, whereas ZY and 4N possessed significantly higher cell number than NT and PA (128-162 v. 52-61, P < 0.05) for single embryo category. In the 3X aggregation group, significantly higher cell number per aggregated embryo was found in ZY and 4N compared to that in PA (549-564 v. 196, P < 0.05). More importantly, there was significantly higher cell number found in 2 NT + 4N embryo than that in single 4N (293 v. 162, P < 0.05). This result demonstrated that 2 cloned embryos had propagated and incorporated into 1 tetraploid embryo during pre-implantational development. The next step is to study how NT embryos successfully interact within the aggregated embryo during further development and differentiation, in order to increase the birth rate of clones. Table 1.The cell number of aggragated rabbit embryos between NT and other embryos of different origin after 3 days of culture in vitro Supported by NIH 5R44HL091605-03.

98 EIGHT-CELL STAGE DELINEATES CRYOTOLERANCE OF VITRIFIED RABBIT EMBRYOS

A number of groups have successfully vitrified rabbit embryos at morula or blastocyst (BL) stage. For earlier stages (1- to 8-celled), however, there are very limited studies and the results are generally unsatisfactory. In this study, we examined the survival and developmental competence of rabbit embryos vitrified at different preimplantational stages. Sexually matured female New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits were superovulated with our standard protocols, followed by mating with NZW males. At 18h post-hCG treatment, viable fertilized embryos were collected and cultured in 2.5% FBS B2 medium (Laboratories CCD, Paris, France) in 5% CO2 with humidified air at 38.5°C. A total of 691 rabbit embryos at pronuclear, 2-celled, 4-celled, 8-celled, and morula/early blastocyst (BL; Day 3) stages were vitrified by the open pulled straw (OPS) method in HEPES buffered TCM-199 medium containing 20% fetal calf serum, ethylene glycol, and dimethyl sulfoxide. After stored in liquid nitrogen for at least 1 month, embryos were sequentially warmed, rehydrated, and washed before culture in B2 culture medium. Survival and developmental rates were analyzed by general linear model analysis (SPSS 11.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Embryos vitrified at 8-celled stage or beyond showed greater survival, and expanded BL and hatching rates than those at pronuclear, 2-celled and 4-celled embryos (Table 1). In particular, the expanded and hatched BL rates were significantly higher in the 8-celled group than those in 4-celled group, suggesting that the 8-celled is the threshold stage to tolerate the vitrification procedure in rabbit embryos. In addition, the rates of expanded and hatched blastocysts in morula/BL group were still significantly higher than those in the 8-celled group. Our results may provide the proper timing of cryopreserving fertilized, transgenic, and/or cloned rabbit embryos at early stages for biomedical research. Table 1.Survival and developmental competence of rabbit embryos vitrified at different stages after thawing This study was supported by NIH1R43 RR023774-01A1 and 5R44HL091605-03.

Loss of enteric neurons accompanied by decreased expression of GDNF and PI3K/Akt pathway in diabetic rats

To investigate the enteric neuropathy in diabetic rats and the role of glia cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its signalling pathway PI3K/Akt in regulating enteric neurons survival. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into normal control group, diabetic groups (rats with diabetes for 4, 8 and 12 weeks respectively). Proximal and distal colon specimens were obtained from each rat. Phosphoinositol-3-kinase signalling pathway was analysed by Akt phosphorylation. Protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5) used as a pan-neuronal marker. The expressions of GDNF, phospho-Akt (p-Akt), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) neurons, cholinergic [choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) stained] neurons and total neurons were measured by immunohistochemical streptavidin-biotin complex (SABC) methods, Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction methods for each specimen. (i) Expression of GDNF was significantly decreased in diabetes 8 and 12 weeks group compared with the control group in both proximal (P < 0.01) and distal (P < 0.01) colon. The change of GDNF expression was greater in the 12 weeks group than that in the 8 weeks group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the 4 weeks group and the control group in expression of GDNF (P > 0.05). (ii) The change trend of Akt phosphorylation was the same with GDNF. (iii) The numbers of nNOS, CHAT neurons and total neurons in proximal and distal colon were decreased significantly during the course of diabetes (P < 0.05). Diabetes can significantly induce enteric neuropathy. This change may be mediated, in partly, via a reduction of GDNF and its main downstream signalling pathway PI3K/Akt, which is a survival signal for enteric neurons.

Growth of long range forward-backward multiplicity correlations with centrality in Au + Au collisions at square root of sNN = 200 GeV

Forward-backward multiplicity correlation strengths have been measured with the STAR detector for Au + Au and p + p collisions at square root of s(NN) = 200 GeV. Strong short- and long-range correlations (LRC) are seen in central Au + Au collisions. The magnitude of these correlations decrease with decreasing centrality until only short-range correlations are observed in peripheral Au + Au collisions. Both the dual parton model (DPM) and the color glass condensate (CGC) predict the existence of the long-range correlations. In the DPM, the fluctuation in the number of elementary (parton) inelastic collisions produces the LRC. In the CGC, longitudinal color flux tubes generate the LRC. The data are in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the DPM and indicate the presence of multiple parton interactions.

Beneficial effect of young oocytes for rabbit somatic cell nuclear transfer

This study was designed to examine the effect of the age of rabbit oocytes on the developmental potential of cloned embryos. The metaphase II oocytes used for nuclear transfer (NT) were collected at 10, 12, 14, and 16 h post-hCG injection (hpi). The total number of oocytes collected per donor (21.4-23.7) at 12 to 16 hpi was similar, but significantly higher than that collected at 10 hpi (16.2). Additionally, a significant improvement in blastocyst development was achieved with embryos generated by electrically mediated cell fusion (56.0%), compared to those from nuclear injection (13.1 %) (Experiment 1). Markedly higher blastocyst development (45.8-54.5%) was also achieved with oocytes collected at 10-12 hpi than from those collected 14-16 hpi (8.3-14.3%) (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, the blastocyst rates of NT embryos derived from oocytes harvested 12 hpi (39.2-42.8 %) were significantly higher than from those collected at 16 hpi (6.8-8.4 %) (p < 0.05), regardless of the donor cell age. Kinase activity assays showed variable changes of activity in rabbit oocytes over the period of 10-16 hpi; however, there was no correlation with preimplantational development (blastocyst rate vs. MPF, R = 0.326; blastocyst rate vs. MAPK, R = -0.131). Embryo transfer of NT embryos utilizing 12 hpi oocytes resulted in one full-term but stillborn, and one live cloned rabbit; thus, an efficiency of 1.7 % (n = 117) (Experiment 4). These results demonstrated that NT utilizing relatively young rabbit oocytes, harvested at 10-12 h after hCG injection, was beneficial for the development of NT embryos.

Observation of two-source interference in the photoproduction reaction AuAu --> AuAurho0

In ultraperipheral relativistic heavy-ion collisions, a photon from the electromagnetic field of one nucleus can fluctuate to a quark-antiquark pair and scatter from the other nucleus, emerging as a rho{0}. The rho{0} production occurs in two well-separated (median impact parameters of 20 and 40 F for the cases considered here) nuclei, so the system forms a two-source interferometer. At low transverse momenta, the two amplitudes interfere destructively, suppressing rho{0} production. Since the rho{0} decays before the production amplitudes from the two sources can overlap, the two-pion system can only be described with an entangled nonlocal wave function, and is thus an example of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. We observe this suppression in 200 GeV per nucleon-pair gold-gold collisions. The interference is 87%+/-5%(stat.)+/-8%(syst.) of the expected level. This translates into a limit on decoherence due to wave function collapse or other factors of 23% at the 90% confidence level.

Indications of conical emission of charged hadrons at the BNL relativistic heavy ion collider

Three-particle azimuthal correlation measurements with a high transverse momentum trigger particle are reported for pp, d+Au, and Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV by the STAR experiment. Dijet structures are observed in pp, d+Au and peripheral Au+Au collisions. An additional structure is observed in central Au+Au data, signaling conical emission of correlated charged hadrons. The conical emission angle is found to be theta=1.37+/-0.02(stat)-0.07+0.06(syst), independent of p_{ perpendicular}.

220 SYNERGISTIC EFFECT ON EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT BY INCLUSION OF SUPPLEMENTAL EMBRYOS IN AGAR CHIPS

The main scope of this study was to evaluate the likelihood of a helper effect of agar-embedded cleaved embryos on a low number of free embryos at a similar stage of development within the same culture droplet. Such an improved system could be beneficial within ovum pickup/in vitro embryo production (OPU/IVEP) combined protocols whenever a low number of OPU-derived cleaved embryos are produced per donor. Oocytes were recovered from abattoir ovaries, and after in vitro maturation (IVM) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), presumptive zygotes were deprived of cumulus investment and allocated into culture droplets for 24 h. At 48 h from IVF, 4- to 8-cell cleaved embryos were randomly allocated into a control and a treatment group. Control groups consisted of 1, 3, 5, and 10 embryos, respectively, in 50-μL droplets. Treatment groups consisted of 1, 3, and 5 free embryos with the addition of 9, 7, and 5 embryos, respectively, at a similar stage of development embedded in agar chips, so as to reach a total number of 10 cleaved embryos in each culture droplet. Culture was performed for both the control and treatment groups in SOF medium droplets covered with mineral oil, with the supplementation of essential and nonessential amino acids in a controlled gas atmosphere consisting of 5% CO2, 7% O2, and 88% N2 at 39°C. Final embryo output was checked at Day 7 from IVF. When considering only free embryos, the difference in progression to blastocyst development was highly significant between the control and treatment groups: 1) group 1 v. 1 + 9: 6.6 v. 84.3% (P = 0.00000); 2) group 3 v. 3 + 7: 11.1 v. 41.3% (P = 0.00001); 3) group 5 v. 5 + 5: 24.4 v. 42.2% (P = 0.00001). Rate of blastocyst development in the control group containing 10 cleaved embryos was not significantly different from free cleaved embryos in the 3 + 7 (39.2 v. 41.3%, P = 0.71) and 5 + 5 treatment groups (39.2 v. 42.2%, P = 0.54), but was significantly lower when compared with the 1 + 9 treatment group (39.2 v. 84.3%, P = 0.000). For 1, 3, 5, and 10 control group embryos, the numbers of replicates and total cleaved embryos used (n) were 30 (n = 30), 27, (n = 81), 27 (n = 135), and 39 (n = 390), respectively. For the 1 + 9, 3 + 7, and 5 + 5 treatment group embryos, the numbers of replicates and total cleaved embryos used were 32 (n = 32), 29 (n = 87), and 27 (n = 135), respectively. In conclusion, a beneficial effect of agar-embedded embryos on the development of free embryos within the same culture droplet was shown. A striking improvement in late-stage embryo development was particularly evident when considering the 1 v. 1 + 9 control and treatment groups. These results may foster a different strategic approach in in vitro culture to enhance embryo development from highly valuable donors.

203 EFFECT OF FRUCTOSE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOVINE SEXED EMBRYOS IN VITRO

It is important to optimize the condition of culture to promote the development of embryos fertilized by sex-sorted sperm. Fructose is a monosaccharide hexose that can be used as a substrate for glycolysis. Recently, there has been interest in exploring the embryotrophic properties of fructose during bovine embryo culture. The present study was undertaken to ascertain the effect of supplementation of fructose in culture on the development of sexed embryos in vitro. A total of 2310 slaughterhouse dairy oocytes, spread over 3 experimental replicates, were subjected to routine in vitro maturation (IVM) for 22 h. The maturation medium was M-199 with Earl’s salts, L-glutamine, 26.19 mm sodium bicarbonate, and 25 mm HEPES plus 10% fetal bovine serum. Fertilization of IVM oocytes was performed in Brackett and Oliphant’s medium by using frozen and sorted X-sperm from a single bull. Groups of 50 matured oocytes were added to a final volume of 100 μL of fertilization medium, with a final concentration of 0.3 × 106 spermatozoa mL–1. The oocytes were incubated with X-sperm for 6 h in 5% CO2 humidified air at 39°C. Presumptive zygotes were randomly allocated to culture either in a control medium (6 mg mL–1 of BSA CR1aa medium) or with 4.5 mm fructose added to CR1aa culture medium for 7 days in an atmosphere of 5% O2, 5% CO2, and 90% N2 at 39°C. Embryo cleavage, and development to the morulae and blastocyst stages were evaluated on Days 2, 5, and 7 of culture, respectively. Embryos were graded according to International Embryo Transfer Society standards. The total number of blastocysts recorded was the sum of grade C1 and C2 embryos. Data were analyzed by using the General Linear Model (SPSS 11.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). As shown in Table 1, addition of fructose to the culture medium affected neither the rate of cleavage nor subsequent development to the morula stage or total blastocyst development. However, the proportion of C1-grade embryos of the total blastocysts was significantly (P < 0.05) improved. This study suggests that addition of fructose to the culture medium can promote embryo quality and yields that are suitable for embryo transfer. Table 1.Effect of addition of fructose on in vitro development of bovine sexed embryos

System-size independence of directed flow measured at the BNL relativistic heavy-ion collider

We measure directed flow (v_{1}) for charged particles in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 and 62.4 GeV, as a function of pseudorapidity (eta), transverse momentum (p_{t}), and collision centrality, based on data from the STAR experiment. We find that the directed flow depends on the incident energy but, contrary to all available model implementations, not on the size of the colliding system at a given centrality. We extend the validity of the limiting fragmentation concept to v_{1} in different collision systems, and investigate possible explanations for the observed sign change in v_{1}(p_{t}).