The overall objective of this work was to describe whether supplementing fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) during in vitro maturation (IVM) affects cumulus and oocyte maturation and subsequent embryonic development. Supplementing 0.5, 5 or 50 ng/ml FGF2 to cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) increased the percentage of oocytes with extruded polar bodies after IVM. Supplementing FGF2 during COC matu...

BACKGROUND Dialogue between the oocyte and cumulus cells is essential for oocyte maturation. A prospective laboratory research project was designed to evaluate transcription of specific genes in cumulus cells harvested before intracytoplasmic sperm injection from pre-ovulatory follicles, according to individual oocyte nuclear maturity and developmental competence. Genes were chosen because thei...

Breast density descriptors were estimated from ultrasound tomography (UST) and digital mammogram (DM) images of 46 anthropomorphic software breast phantoms. Each phantom simulated a 450 ml or 700 ml breast with volumetric percent density (PD) values between 10% and 50%. The UST based volumetric breast density (VBD) estimates were calculated by thresholding the reconstructed UST images. Percent ...

Pig oocytes in different maturational stages--germinal vesicle (GV), metaphase I (MI) and metaphase II (MII)--were cultured in vitro with [3H]-fucose. The incorporation of the precursor was followed by LM or EM autoradiography on air-dried preparations and on semithin or thin sections. The cumulus cells connected with the oocytes at the GV stage were intensely labelled, while the labelling of t...

BACKGROUND Human sperm chemotaxis to pre-ovulatory follicular fluid is well established in vitro. However, it is not known whether the female's oocyte-cumulus complex secretes sperm chemoattractants subsequent to ovulation (for enabling sperm chemotaxis within the Fallopian tube) and, if so, which of these cell types--the oocyte or the cumulus oophorus--is the physiological origin of the secret...

A gestão de recursos e políticas públicas tem sido um grande desafio para os gestores públicos brasileiros. Logo, o tema da governança pública tornou-se assunto proeminente nos últimos anos na administração brasileira. Neste cenário, estão inclusas as Universidades Públicas Federais, que são instituições federais ensino superior sujeitas a prestar contas tanto à sociedade, como aos órgãos contr...

This study identifies the precursor signals of convective initiation within sequences of 1-km-resolution visible (VIS) and 4–8-km infrared (IR) imagery from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) instrument. Convective initiation (CI) is defined for this study as the first detection of Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) reflectivities 35 dBZ produced by conv...

Abstract This article deals with the communication of Brazilian Courts Accounts and Prosecution Services on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, since opening their accounts. The study innovates in discussion about democratic controls over public administration so-called “digital democracy,” focusing institutional Services, showing that controllers also need to be concerned tran...

Background: Cryopreservation of oocytes, which is an interesting procedure to conserve female gametes, is an essential part of reproductive biotechnology. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of cumulus cells on survival,in vitro maturation,fertilization and subsequent developmental capacity of mouse germinal vesicle stage oocytes during vitrification. Materials and...