The effect of conditioned medium (CM) or microvesicles (MVs), secreted by multicellular spheroids of oviductal cells, and the involvement of some microRNAs (miRNAs) were investigated in canine oocyte maturation. To generate CM, spheroids were cultured for 3 days. MVs were obtained by ultracentrifugation of CM at 100,000 and measured for size and concentration by NanoSight instrument. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were matured at 38.5°C with 5% CO and 5% of O in synthetic oviductal fluid (SOF) in biphasic systems: for 24 h, with 5.0 μg/mL of LH and for other 48 h with 10% oestrous bitch serum. SOF was used as control (CTR) or supplemented with 10% CM or 25-50-75-100-150 × 10 MVs/mL labeled with PKH-26. Results show that multicellular aggregates secreted shedding vesicles. By fluorescence microscopy, the incorporation of labeled MVs was visible only at 72 h in oocyte cytoplasm. These MVs had a positive effect ( < 0.05) on maturation rate (MII) at the concentration of 75 and 100 × 10 MVs/mL compared to CM and CTR (20.34% and 21.82% vs 9.09% and 8.66% respectively). The concentration of 150 × 10 MVs/mL provided only 9.26% of MII. The expression of three specific miRNAs (miR-30b, miR-375 and miR-503) was studied. The lower rate of MII with the higher concentration of MVs is possibly due to the high level of miR-375. In conclusion, the oviductal MVs could be involved in cellular trafficking during oocyte maturation and their possible use could facilitate the exploitment of canine reproductive biotechnologies.

Polyethylene terephthalate is a thermoplastic polymer with a wide range of uses, including synthetic fibres and containers for beverages and other liquids. Recycling plastics reduces the amount of energy and natural resources needed to create virgin plastics. Polyethylene terephthalate containers and bottles are collected and then broken down into small flakes used to produce new products such as textile fibres. Thermo-mechanical degradation may happen during the recycling process and presence of contaminants affects the final product characteristics. Two kinds of recycled polyethylene terephthalate fibres were used for fabrics production: post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate fibres and a blend of post-consumer and post-industrial polyethylene terephthalate fibres. Focusing on knitted and flat-woven textile structures, main mechanical properties of the fabrics were assessed by various tests, like tensile strength test and wear resistance test. A comparative study with the current production of virgin polyethylene terephthalate fabrics was useful to evaluate high standards accordance for automotive field. Both knitted and flat-woven recycled polyethylene terephthalate fabrics had excellent performance after mechanical tests. Post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate fabrics had the best results, especially after wear resistance test. These results allow an evaluation of their applications.

We present excellent performance and reliability characteristics of a Silicon nanocrystal (Si-nc) 4 Mb NOR Flash array (90nm technology node). Main original technological improvements are a cylindrical symmetry of the 1-Transistor bitcell, which significantly increases the coupling ratio (particularly critical in Si-nc memories), and the use of an optimized ONO control dielectric, which prevents from parasitic charge trapping during cycling. Results shown here in terms of memory performance, high temperature reliability, endurance and disturbs are, at our knowledge, outstanding compared to literature state-of-theart and demonstrate the high potential of this technology for embedded memory applications.

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