Experiencing male infertility: A review of the qualitative research literature

This article examines the qualitative research literature that exists in relation to men’s experiences of male infertility. Since men have often been marginalized in the realm of reproduction, including academic research on infertility, it is important to focus on any qualitative research that gives voices to male perspectives and concerns. Given the distress documented by studies of infertile women, we focus in particular on the emotive responses and lived experiences of men in relation to infertility. In this article then, we present an analysis of the core themes across 19 qualitative articles, which include “infertility as crisis”; “emoting infertility- men as “being strong”’ “infertility as a source of stigma”; and the “desire for fatherhood.” In light of these insights, we identify key areas for future research and development including men’s emotional responses to infertility, how men seek support for infertility, the intersection between masculinity and infertility, the relationship between the desire to father and infertility, and the outcomes of infertility for men in terms of other aspects of their lives. We suggest that such research would facilitate making the experiences of men more central within our understandings of infertility within a field that has primarily been female focused

Prediction of lethal and synthetically lethal knock-outs in regulatory networks

The complex interactions involved in regulation of a cell's function are captured by its interaction graph. More often than not, detailed knowledge about enhancing or suppressive regulatory influences and cooperative effects is lacking and merely the presence or absence of directed interactions is known. Here we investigate to which extent such reduced information allows to forecast the effect of a knock-out or a combination of knock-outs. Specifically we ask in how far the lethality of eliminating nodes may be predicted by their network centrality, such as degree and betweenness, without knowing the function of the system. The function is taken as the ability to reproduce a fixed point under a discrete Boolean dynamics. We investigate two types of stochastically generated networks: fully random networks and structures grown with a mechanism of node duplication and subsequent divergence of interactions. On all networks we find that the out-degree is a good predictor of the lethality of a single node knock-out. For knock-outs of node pairs, the fraction of successors shared between the two knocked-out nodes (out-overlap) is a good predictor of synthetic lethality. Out-degree and out-overlap are locally defined and computationally simple centrality measures that provide a predictive power close to the optimal predictor.Comment: published version, 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables; supplement at http://www.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/publications/supplements/11-01

Response to Rituximab after Failure of Cyclophosphamide in the Induction Treatment in a Patient with cANCA-associated Vasculitis and Pachymeningitis: a Case Report

A 36-year-old male patient who originally presented with recurrent inflammations in the mastoid, otitis media and peripheral facial paralysis was diagnosed with sterile pachymeningitis, associated with high titres of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (cANCA) directed against proteinase 3 (PR3). Induction therapy with oral prednisolone 1 mg/kg body weight and cyclophosphamide (CYC) 750 mg/m 2 i.v. every 4 weeks was initiated. Due to side effects, increasing arthralgias and progressive meningitis after 5 doses of CYC, treatment was changed to rituximab (RTX), one cycle comprising two administrations of 1000 mg RTX i.v. two weeks apart, repeated every 6 months. After the very first cycle of RTX, we confirmed subjective improvement of the patient’s fitness as well as radiologic response. Methotrexate (MTX) was added to ease arthralgias. Painful bleeding ulcerations on finger tips were successfully treated with 22 iloprost infusions. Up to date, we have administered 7 cycles of RTX and achieved complete remission of the cANCA-associated vasculitis. After the induction therapy, maintenance treatment with MTX or rituximab will be performed for at least 18–24 months.We can demonstrate a complete remission with the use of RTX in a patient with cANCA-associated vasculitis and sterile pachymeningitis who failed to respond to the induction treatment with CYC. RTX has been well tolerated.

Finite volume corrections to the electromagnetic current of the nucleon

We compute corrections to both the isovector anomalous magnetic moment and the isovector electromagnetic current of the nucleon to $O(p^3)$ in the framework of covariant two-flavor Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory. We then apply these corrections to lattice data for the anomalous magnetic moment from the LHPC, RBC & UKQCD and QCDSF collaborations

Sociological Cocoons: Organizations for the Transformation of Identity

A paper presented by David R. Rudy and Arthur L. Greil at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in the winter of 1980 on the rise of new religions

Conversion to the World View of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Refinement of Conversion Theory

Most empirical studies of the conversion process have focused on individuals who have come to espouse the world view of a deviant religious denomination or sect. Using observational data our research analyzes the conversion process by which individuals come to identify with the ideology propounded by Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). A.A. provides prospective alcoholics with both a solution to drinking problems and an overarching world view with which to reinterpret their past experience. The A.A. conversion process can be divided into six phases: hitting bottom, first stepping, making a commitment, accepting your problem, telling your story, and doing Twelfth Step work. Each of these phases is described in detail. Similarities and differences are noted between the observed A.A. conversion process and the model generally described in the sociological literature on religious conversion. Our analysis indicates certain weaknesses in the process-model explanation of conversion and points to the necessity of taking into account organizational context and situational variables

Solid Freeform Fabrication of Ceramic Parts from Filler Loaded Preceramic Polymers

Manufacturing of ceramic parts was achieved by selective laser treatment of a preceramic polymer (polysiloxane) loaded with ceramic filler powder (alumina). Thin layers of polymer/filler powder mixture were sequentially cured with a CO2-laser (λ=10.6 µm) thereby generating the geometrical shape of the part. Subsequently, the cured thermoset part was annealed in nitrogen atmosphere at 600 to 1000 °C to convert the compact into a Si-OC/Al2O3 micro-composite material. Dimensional changes upon pyrolysis (∆l/l0 ≈ 3 %) can be controlled by adjusting the polymer-to-filler ratio and the heat treatment conditions. The new process is called Selective Laser Curing (SLC).Financial support of Fonds der Chemischen Industrie and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is gratefully acknowledged.Mechanical Engineerin

Response to Rituximab after Failure of Cyclophosphamide in the Induction Treatment in a Patient with cANCA-associated Vasculitis and Pachymeningitis: a Case Report

A 36-year-old male patient who originally presented with recurrent inflammations in the mastoid, otitis media and peripheral facial paralysis was diagnosed with sterile pachymeningitis, associated with high titres of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (cANCA) directed against proteinase 3 (PR3). Induction therapy with oral prednisolone 1 mg/kg body weight and cyclophosphamide (CYC) 750 mg/m 2 i.v. every 4 weeks was initiated. Due to side effects, increasing arthralgias and progressive meningitis after 5 doses of CYC, treatment was changed to rituximab (RTX), one cycle comprising two administrations of 1000 mg RTX i.v. two weeks apart, repeated every 6 months. After the very first cycle of RTX, we confirmed subjective improvement of the patient’s fitness as well as radiologic response. Methotrexate (MTX) was added to ease arthralgias. Painful bleeding ulcerations on finger tips were successfully treated with 22 iloprost infusions. Up to date, we have administered 7 cycles of RTX and achieved complete remission of the cANCA-associated vasculitis. After the induction therapy, maintenance treatment with MTX or rituximab will be performed for at least 18–24 months.We can demonstrate a complete remission with the use of RTX in a patient with cANCA-associated vasculitis and sterile pachymeningitis who failed to respond to the induction treatment with CYC. RTX has been well tolerated