An overview is given on selected cost-drivers within an assisted reproduction technology (ART) laboratory, such as procedural costs; sperm preparations; laboratory supplies including embryo culture media and cryopreservation. Depending on the nature of an ART unit, i.e. private vs. public/tertiary, the structure of the unit will differ with regards to costs, services offered, and general patien...

The new version of the 6F Envoy guiding catheter, with its enlarged inner diameter of 0.070 inch, is capable of simultaneously accommodating both a 0.014-inch microcatheter and a balloon microcatheter for balloon-assisted coiling (BAC). We report our experience using this guiding catheter for access in BAC in 48 patients. The guiding catheter allowed for easy manipulations of 2 microcatheters, ...

BACKGROUND Over multiple years, the didactic concept of "peer-assisted learning" (PAL) has proved to be valuable for medical education. Particularly in the field of the nowadays widely established Skills-Labs, the assignment of student tutors is both popular and effective. The aim of the underlying study is to assess the current status of PAL programs within German medical faculties' Skills-Lab...

Assisted reproduction techniques (ART), in particular in-vitro fertilization and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, are the most advanced forms of infertility treatment. They involve numerous counseling, medical, surgical and laboratory-based steps. At each step various problems and complications could be encountered that challenge even the most experienced ART practitioners. Moreover, patients...

We present broadband antireflective silicon (Si) nanostructures with hydrophobicity using a spin-coated Ag ink and by subsequent metal-assisted chemical etching (MaCE). Improved understanding of MaCE, by conducting parametric studies on optical properties, reveals a design guideline to achieve considerably low solar-weighted reflectance (SWR) in the desired wavelength ranges. The resulting Si n...

Assisted reproduction techniques (ART), in particular in-vitro fertilization and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, are the most advanced forms of infertility treatment. They involve numerous counseling, medical, surgical and laboratory-based steps. At each step various problems and complications could be encountered that challenge even the most experienced ART practitioners. Moreover, patients...

Reverse engineering takes the facts we know about a device or a process and reasons backwards to infer the principles underlying the structure-function relations. The goal of this review is to apply this approach to a well-studied hormone-controlled behavior, namely the reproductive stance of female rodents, lordosis. We first provide a brief overview on the considerable amount of progress in t...

Life history (LH) theory provides an evolutionary theoretical framework for understanding individual differences in maturation, mating, reproduction, parenting, and social interaction. However, the psychometric assessment of human life history has been largely limited to generalized self-reports. Using template matching, this article examines the relationship between personality differences ass...

Rhizoma Atractylodes macrocephala polysaccharides (RAMP) have been reported to have a variety of important biological activities. In this study, an ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction (UAEE) was employed to obtain the highest extraction yield and strongest antioxidant activity of RAMP and optimized by a multi-response optimization process. A three-level four-factor Box-Behnken design (BBD)...