Background: Cigarette smoke contains many oxidants and may alter the human reproduction by inducing oxidative stress (OS) in both active and passive smokers. This study was designed to evaluation the effect of environment tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure on oxidative stress in follicular follicle and assisted reproduction outcomes. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was carried out on 236 i...

Although assisted dying has been most commonly presented within a medicalised framework, the notion of de-medicalisation is employed in this paper to suggest that there are emerging models of assisted dying in which some medical aspects assumed to be an integral part of the phenomenon are both challenged and diminished. The paper considers cases where relatives have facilitated a loved one's as...

Drying is one of the widely used methods of food preservation and it is a sensitive food processing operation due to undesirable changes in the quality of dried product. In this study the effect of osmotic dyhedration and ultrasound pretreatment prior to convective drying on quality properties of apple slices was investigated. Apple slices were pretreated by osmotic dehydration in two concentra...

In this investigation, the material removal rate, tool wear rate and surface integrity obtained by EDM, ultrasonic vibrations assisted EDM and magnetic field assisted EDM were studied and compared with together to show the quality of the effects of applying each of ultrasonic vibrations to tool and magnetic field around gap distance of EDM process on material removal rate, tool wear rate, and s...

According to the independence, accuracy and controllability of the driving/braking torque of the distributed drive electric vehicle, a control strategy of differential drive assisted steering was designed. Firstly, the assisted curve under different speed and steering wheel torque was developed and the differential torques were distributed to the right and left front wheels. Then the steering r...

endonasal endoscopic laser-assisted dacryocystorhinostomy has many advantages over conventional external dacryocystorhinostomy. this technique avoids a cutaneous scar and causes less surgical trauma and bleeding than that seen in conventional lacrimal surgery. a total of 20 endoscopic laser-assisted dacryocystorhinostomy in 16 patients were performed between 1998 and 1999. the procedure was suc...

pyramiding genes related to grain quality and resistance through marker assisted selection (mas) is an important approach in rice breeding programs. marker-assisted selection can be used for monitoring the presence or absence of these genes in breeding populations and can be combined with conventional breeding approaches. this study is a part of cultivar development program in iran through inte...

BACKGROUND In 1994 the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that in exceptional instances, physician-assisted suicide might be justifiable for patients with unbearable mental suffering but no physical illness. We studied physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in psychiatric practice in the Netherlands. METHODS In 1996, we sent questionnaires to 673 Dutch psychiatrists - about half of all such special...

Author contributions: SFW Neggers: initiated project, designed MR data acquisition, acquired human data, developed analysis pipeline, analyzed data, created figures, wrote manuscript BB Zandbelt: analyzed data, created figures, assisted in writing manuscript MS Schall: acquired macaque data, animal handling and preparation, assisted in data analysis, 3 assisted in writing manuscript 4 JD Schall...

background: in the majority of countries, active direct euthanasia is a forbidden way of the deprivation of the patients’ life, while its passive form is commonly accepted. this distinction between active and passive euthanasia has no justification, viewed through the prism of morality and ethics. therefore, we focused on attention on the moral and ethical implications of the aforementioned med...