BACKGROUND The analysis of sperm DNA fragmentation has become a new marker to predict male infertility, and many techniques have been developed. The sperm Comet assay offers the possibility of differentiating single- and double-stranded DNA (ssDNA and dsDNA) breaks, which could have different effects on fertility. The objective of this study was to perform a descriptive characterization of diff...

The ubiquitin-proteasome system catalyzes the degradation of intracellular proteins. Although ubiquitination of proteins determines their stabilities, there is growing evidence that proteasome function is also regulated. We report the functional characterization of a conserved proteasomal regulatory complex. We identified DmPI31 as a binding partner of the F box protein Nutcracker, a component ...

Marine invertebrates exhibit both chemokinesis and chemotaxis phenomena, induced in most cases by the release of water-borne peptides or pheromones. In mollusks, several peptides released during egg-laying improve both male attraction and mating. Unlike other cephalopods, Octopus vulgaris adopts an indirect internal fertilization strategy. We here report on the identification and characterizati...

We show that the norm graph constructed in [13] with n vertices about 1 2n 2−1/t edges, which contains no copy of Kt,(t−1)!+1, does not contain a copy of Kt+1,(t−1)!−1.

In this paper we investigate the closure ~-* under substitution-composition of a family of graphs ~,, defined by a set Lr of forbidden configurations. We first prove that ~-* can be defined by a set L~* of forbidden subgraphs. Next, using a counterexample we show that ~* is not necessarily a finite set, even when .~ is finite. We then give a sufficient condition for ~* to be finite and a simple...

Logical structures for modeling agents’ reasoning about unawareness are presented where it can hold simultaneously that: (i) agents’ beliefs about whether they are fully aware need not be veracious with partitional information; and (ii) the agent is fully aware if and only if she is aware of a fixed domain of formulae. In light of (ii), all states are deemed “possible”. Semantics operate in two...

We characterise t-perfect plane triangulations by forbidden induced subgraphs. As a consequence, we obtain that a plane triangulation is h-perfect if and only if it is perfect.

A circle graph is the intersection graph of a family of chords on a circle. There is no known characterization of circle graphs by forbidden induced subgraphs that do not involve the notions of local equivalence or pivoting operations. We characterize circle graphs by a list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph belongs to one of the following classes: linear domino graphs, P4-t...

In this note, we prove that all 2× 2 monotone grid classes are finitely based, i.e., defined by a finite collection of minimal forbidden permutations. This follows from a slightly more general result about certain 2× 2 having two monotone cells in the same row.

Abstract Background Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) in the testis are crucial for transferring genetic information to next generation. Successful transplantation of SSCs infertile men is an advanced therapeutic application reproductive biology research. Methods In this experimental research, both vitro and vivo characterization undifferentiated differentiated were performed by morphology—immun...