BIOCHEMISTRY Retraction for “Somatic hypermutation maintains antibody thermodynamic stability during affinity maturation,” by Feng Wang, Shiladitya Sen, Yong Zhang, Insha Ahmad, Xueyong Zhu, Ian A. Wilson, Vaughn V. Smider, Thomas J. Magliery, and Peter G. Schultz, which was first published February 25, 2013; 10.1073/ pnas.1301810110 (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110:4261–4266). The undersigned autho...

The McArthur Basin of the North Australian Craton is one very few places on Earth where extensive hydrocarbons are preserved that were generated from Mesoproterozoic source rocks, prior to development multicellular life. It is, however, unclear precisely when these rocks matured, and if this occurred as a singular event or multiple phases. In study, we present new apatite fission track data com...

  Background & Aim: Considering that antioxidants are known as effective free radicals scavenger, it may be able to improve the in vitro oocyte maturation and the fetal quality. This study was designed to determine the effect of Gundelia tournefortii leaves (GTE) hydro-alcoholic extract as a source of antioxidant on in vitro oocyte maturation. Experimental: Germinal vasicle (GV) were...

Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is a sphingolipid metabolite that can block apoptosis by counteracting the proapoptotic effects of ceramide. Experiments were performed to evaluate whether S1P blocks the disruption in oocyte developmental competence caused by heat shock. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were placed in maturation medium and cultured at 38.5 or 41 degrees C for the first 12 h of matu...

Various pathological stimuli such as radiation, environmental toxicants, oxidative stress, and heat shock can initiate apoptosis in mammalian oocytes. Experiments were performed to examine whether apoptosis mediated by group II caspases is the cause for disruption of oocyte function by heat shock applied during maturation in cattle. Bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured at 38.5, ...

The cross-talk between oocyte and somatic cells plays a crucial role in the regulation of follicular development and oocyte maturation. As a result, granulosa cell apoptosis causes follicular atresia. In this study, sheep granulosa cells were cultured under thermal stress to induce apoptosis, and melatonin (MT) was examined to evaluate its potential effects on heat-induced granulosa cell injury...

rate of in vitro maturation of oocytes is one of the challenges of assisted reproductive techniques. in this study we investigated the effects of supplementation of cysteamine on the rate of in vitro maturation of oocytes in two different media. germinal vesicle oocytes were collected from mouse ovary and cultured in two media (tcm199 and meme) with 0, 50, 100, 200, 500 µm/ml cysteamine. number...