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INTRODUCTION: The therapeutic needs of women with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), coupled with the increasing application of acupuncture in improving ovarian function, have highlighted the need to verify the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for DOR. This study aims to provide high-quality evidence by evaluating both ovarian reserve and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) outcomes. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A large-scale, multicentre, randomised controlled trial will be carried out across seven hospitals in China. 400 women with DOR will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to an acupuncture group or a sham acupuncture group. Acupuncture or sham acupuncture will consist of 36 sessions per participant over 12 weeks. The primary outcome will be the change in antral follicle count (AFC) at week 12 from baseline. Secondary outcomes are AFC at week 24, the serum levels of basal follicle-stimulating hormone and anti-Mullerian hormone at weeks 12 and 24, the scores of the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale at weeks 12 and 24, clinical pregnancy rate, and IVF embryo transfer related outcomes. Any adverse events during treatment will be documented. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by all the participating institutions. Written informed consent will be obtained prior to participant enrolment. The results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed publications. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2200062295 PROTOCOL VERSION: V2.0-20220317.

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Terapia por Acupuntura , Fertilización In Vitro , Reserva Ovárica , Ensayos Clínicos Controlados Aleatorios como Asunto , Humanos , Femenino , Terapia por Acupuntura/métodos , Fertilización In Vitro/métodos , Adulto , Embarazo , Estudios Multicéntricos como Asunto , Índice de Embarazo , China , Infertilidad Femenina/terapia , Transferencia de Embrión/métodos , Resultado del Tratamiento , Hormona Folículo Estimulante/sangre , Hormona Antimülleriana/sangre , Folículo Ovárico

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Background: To identify novel gene combinations and to develop an early diagnostic model for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) through the integration of artificial neural networks (ANN) and random forest (RF) methods. Methods: We retrieved and processed gene expression datasets for PCOS from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differential expression analysis of genes (DEGs) within the training set was performed using the "limma" R package. Enrichment analyses on DEGs using gene ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and immune cell infiltration. The identification of critical genes from DEGs was then performed using random forests, followed by the developing of new diagnostic models for PCOS using artificial neural networks. Results: We identified 130 up-regulated genes and 132 down-regulated genes in PCOS compared to normal samples. Gene Ontology analysis revealed significant enrichment in myofibrils and highlighted crucial biological functions related to myofilament sliding, myofibril, and actin-binding. Compared with normal tissues, the types of immune cells expressed in PCOS samples are different. A random forest algorithm identified 10 significant genes proposed as potential PCOS-specific biomarkers. Using these genes, an artificial neural network diagnostic model accurately distinguished PCOS from normal samples. The diagnostic model underwent validation using the independent validation set, and the resulting area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values was consistent with the anticipated outcomes. Conclusion: Utilizing unique gene combinations, this research created a diagnostic model by merging random forest techniques with artificial neural networks. The AUC indicated a notably superior performance of the diagnostic model.

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The mixed-valent spinel LiV2O4 is known as the first oxide heavy-fermion system. There is a general consensus that a subtle interplay of charge, spin, and orbital degrees of freedom of correlated electrons plays a crucial role in the enhancement of quasi-particle mass, but the specific mechanism has remained yet elusive. A charge-ordering (CO) instability of V3+ and V4+ ions that is geometrically frustrated by the V pyrochlore sublattice from forming a long-range CO down to T = 0 K has been proposed as a prime candidate for the mechanism. Here, we uncover the hidden CO instability by applying epitaxial strain on single-crystalline LiV2O4 thin films. We find a crystallization of heavy fermions in a LiV2O4 film on MgO, where a charge-ordered insulator comprising of a stack of V3+ and V4+ layers along [001], the historical Verwey-type ordering, is stabilized by the in-plane tensile and out-of-plane compressive strains from the substrate. Our discovery of the [001] Verwey-type CO, together with previous realizations of a distinct [111] CO, evidence the close proximity of the heavy-fermion state to degenerate CO states mirroring the geometrical frustration of the V pyrochlore lattice, which supports the CO instability scenario for the mechanism behind the heavy-fermion formation.

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Topotactic transformations between related crystal structures are a powerful emerging route for the synthesis of novel quantum materials. Whereas most such "soft chemistry" experiments have been carried out on polycrystalline powders or thin films, the topotactic modification of single crystals, the gold standard for physical property measurements on quantum materials, has been studied only sparsely. Here, we report the topotactic reduction of La1−xCaxNiO3 single crystals to La1−xCaxNiO2+δ using CaH2 as the reducing agent. The transformation from the three-dimensional perovskite to the quasi­two-dimensional infinite-layer phase was thoroughly characterized by x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, magnetometry, and electrical transport measurements. Our work demonstrates that the infinite-layer structure can be realized as a bulk phase in crystals with micrometer-sized single domains. The electronic properties of these specimens resemble those of epitaxial thin films rather than powders with similar compositions.

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Strain engineering of complex oxide heterostructures has provided routes to explore the influence of the local perturbations to the physical properties of the material. Due to the challenge of disentangling intrinsic and extrinsic effects at oxide interfaces, the combined effects of epitaxial strain and charge transfer mechanisms have been rarely studied. Here, we reveal the local charge distribution in manganite slabs by means of high-resolution electron microscopy and spectroscopy via investigating how the strain locally alters the electronic and magnetic properties of La0.5Sr0.5MnO3-La2CuO4 heterostructures. The charge rearrangement results in two different magnetic phases: an interfacial ferromagnetically reduced layer and an enhanced ferromagnetic metallic region away from the interfaces. Further, the magnitude of the charge redistribution can be controlled via epitaxial strain, which further influences the macroscopic physical properties in a way opposed to strain effects reported on single-phase films. Our work highlights the important role played by epitaxial strain in determining the spatial distribution of microscopic charge and spin interactions in manganites and provides a different perspective for engineering interface properties.

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We have used atomic layer-by-layer oxide molecular beam epitaxy to grow epitaxial thin films of [Formula: see text] with x up to 0.5, greatly exceeding the solubility limit of Ca in bulk systems ([Formula: see text]). A comparison of the optical conductivity measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry to prior predictions from dynamical mean-field theory demonstrates that the hole concentration p is approximately equal to x. We find superconductivity with [Formula: see text] of 15 to 20 K up to the highest doping levels and attribute the unusual stability of superconductivity in [Formula: see text] to the nearly identical radii of La and Ca ions, which minimizes the impact of structural disorder. We conclude that careful disorder management can greatly extend the "superconducting dome" in the phase diagram of the cuprates.