Ovulation has been described as an inflammatory event, characterized by an influx of leukocytes into the ovulatory follicle and changes in the expression of immune factors in both the theca and granulosa tissue layers. Since information on this process is limited in cattle, our objective was to elucidate the contribution of the immune system to dominant follicle luteinization, ovulation and corpus luteum formation in cattle. Beef heifers (n=50) were oestrous synchronized, slaughtered and ovarian follicular or luteal tissue collected during a 96h window around ovulation. Follicular fluid cytokine concentration, temporal immune cell infiltration and inflammatory status were determined by Luminex multiplex analysis, immunohistochemistry and quantitative real time PCR-analysis, respectively, in pre- and peri-ovulatory follicular tissues. The concentrations of CXCL10 and VEGF-A were highest in pre-ovulatory follicular fluid samples. The pre and peri -ovulatory follicles play host to a broad repertoire of immune cells, including T-cells, granulocytes and monocytes. Dendritic cells were the most abundant cells in ovulatory follicular and luteal -tissue at all times. The mRNA expression of candidate genes associated with inflammation was highest in pre- and peri-ovulatory tissue, whereas tissue growth and modelling factors were highest in the post-ovulatory follicular and early luteal tissue. In conclusion, ovulation in cattle is characterized by the presence of neutrophils, macrophages and dendritic cells in the ovulatory follicle, reflected in compartmentalized cytokine and growth factor expression. These findings indicate a tightly regulated sterile inflammatory response to the LH surge in the ovulatory follicle which is rapidly resolved during early corpus luteum formation.

The Global Land and Marine Observations Database aims to produce a comprehensive land-based meteorological data archive and inventory. This requires the compilation of available information on data from land-based meteorological stations from all known available in situ meteorological data repositories/sources at multiple timescales (e.g. sub-daily, daily, and monthly). During this process the service team members have identified that many of the data sources contain stations with incorrect location coordinates. These stations cannot be included in the processing to be served via the Copernicus Climate Change Service until the issues are satisfactorily resolved. Many of these stations are in regions of the world where a sparsity of climate data currently exists, such as Southeast Asia and South America. As such, resolving these issues would provide important additional climate data, but this is a very labour-intensive task. Therefore, we have developed the Geo-locate projectthat enrols the help of undergraduate geography students at Maynooth University, Ireland -to resolve some of the landbased station geolocation issues. To date, we have run two Geo-locate projects: the first in the 2017/2018 academic year and the second in the 2018/2019 academic year. Both iterations have been very successful with 1926 of the 2168 total candidate stations ostensibly resolved, which equates to an 88 % success rate. At the same time, students have gained critical skills that helped to meet the expected pedagogical outcomes of the second-year curriculum, while producing a lasting scientific legacy. We asked the class of 2018/2019 to reflect critically upon the outcomes, and we present the results herein; these results provide important feedback on what students felt that they gained from their participation and how we may improve the experience and learning outcomes in future. We will be continuing to run Geo-locate projects over the next few years. We encourage other organizations to investigate the potential for engaging university students to help resolve similar data issues while enriching the student experience and aiding in the delivery of learning outcomes. This paper provides details of the project, and all supporting information such as project guidelines and templates to enable other organizations to instigate similar programmes.

Study question Does CultActive© improve reproductive outcomes of ICSI cycles in cases of low fertilization rate and normal fertilization rate? Summary answer The application of CultActive© after ICSI improves fertilization rates only in clinical indication of fertilization failure. What is known already Oocyte activation deficiency is attributed in the majority of cases to fertilization failure in ICSI cycles, and these can be corrected by increasing initial levels of calcium (Ca2+) using assisted oocyte activation techniques (AOA), such as the use of Ca2+ ionophores. These agents enhance intracellular calcium release and increase the membrane permeability facilitating the influx of extracellular Ca2+, which initiates the activation cascade. Previous results suggest that Ca2+ ionophore treatment can increase the live birth rate after failed ICSI cycles in couples with poor fertilization rates, embryo developmental arrest, and also increase the number of good quality embryos. Study design, size, duration This was a retrospective observational study. There were 30 patients included and the first group consisted of 30 ICSI cycles, 231 oocytes and 56 embryos (without AOA). The second group consisted of the same patients (n = 30) with 30 ICSI cycles using AOA, 219 oocytes and 47 embryos. Subgroups were defined according to clinical indications (normal fertilization rate group: ≥ 65 % and low fertilization rate group: <65% ). All data was collected from January-December 2022. Participants/materials, setting, methods 450 oocytes were assessed in the study. 231 oocytes belonged to the pre-AOA and 219 belonged to the AOA. The oocytes were exposed for 15 minutes after ICSI in a solution containing the Ca2+ ionophore A23187, CultActive© (Gynemed, Germany). Fertilization, good quality blastocyst formation and pregnancy rate were analyzed.Good quality blastocyst were defined as ≥ 3BB. Statistical significance was analyzed using the Paired Student T test (p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant). Main results and the role of chance The cohort of patients with normal fertilization rate (without clinical indications),was not significantly different. The AOA treatment gave a fertilization rate of 61% compared to 71% of the control cycles (p = 0.1398). There was no increase in the number of good quality blastocysts formation when the study group was compared to the control (p = 0.1660). In the cohort of patients with an indication of low fertilization, a significantly higher fertilization rate was recorded compared to the control (51% and 37%, respectively p = 0.0238). There were no significant difference in the quantity of good quality blastocysts compared with the control (p = 0.3328). Regardless of normal or low fertilization rates there was no significant difference in pregnancy rate when CultActive© was used in treatment (p > 0.05). Limitations, reasons for caution There are limitations in our study. First, the retrospective design and limited study population are major limitations. The data should be interpreted cautiously in the subgroup analyses due to potential bias, specifically the small population in the group without clinical indication. Wider implications of the findings AOA was only beneficial for couples with poor fertilization. Embryo quality and pregnancy rate did not improve with CultActiveive©. External variation was minimized by using the same patients in each cohort. This suggests AOA should not be used without clinical indication or for poor embryo quality/blastulation rate. Trial registration number not applicable

No abstract

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The Global Land and Marine Observations Database aims to produce a comprehensive land based meteorological data archive and inventory. This requires the compilation of available land-based station meteorological data information from all known available in-situ meteorological data repositories/sources at multiple timescales (e.g. sub-daily, daily and monthly). During this process the service team members have identified that many of the data sources contained stations with incorrect location coordinates. These stations cannot be included in the processing to be served via the Copernicus Climate Change Service until the issues are satisfactorily resolved. Many of these stations are located in regions of the world where a sparsity of climate data currently exists, such as Southeast Asia and South America. As such, resolving these issues would provide important additional climate data, but this is a very labour-intensive task. Therefore, we have developed the Geo-locate project enrolling the help of undergraduate Geography students at Maynooth University, Ireland, to resolve some of the land-based station geolocation issues. We have successfully run two Geo-locate projects, the first in the second semester of the 2017/18 academic year and the second in the 2018/19 academic year. Both iterations to date have been very successful with 1926 out of 2168 total candidate stations ostensibly resolved, which equates to an 88 % success rate. At the same time, students gained critical skills helping to meet the expected pedagogical outcomes of the second-year curriculum, while producing a lasting scientific legacy. We asked the class of 2018/19 to reflect critically upon the outcomes and present the results herein which provide important feedback on what students felt that they gained from their participation and how we may improve the experience and learning outcomes in future. We will be continuing to run Geo-locate projects over the next few years. Due to the success of the Geo-locate project we encourage other organisations to investigate the potential for engaging university students to help resolve similar data issues while enriching the student experience and aiding the delivery of learning outcomes. This paper provides details of the project, and all supporting information such as project guidelines and templates to enable this. </p>