The glycoprotein leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is produced by the endometrium and is involved in the control of implantation. In women with unexplained infertility reduced uterine concentrations of LIF have been reported. Studies with mice lacking a functional LIF gene have shown that the LIF protein is essential for implantation of the embryo. We have developed a method for screening of gene mutations in the coding region and critical regulatory regions of the LIF gene. Thus we could screen nulligravid infertile women (n = 74), fertile controls (n = 75) and as a second unrelated control group, neurological patients (n = 131) for LIF gene mutations. In infertile women, three heterozygous point mutations have been identified: one in close proximity to the start codon of exon 1 and two mutations in exon 3. These correspond to regions of the LIF protein which are thought to be highly important for interaction with the LIF receptor and thus lead to reduced biological activity of the LIF protein. Only one point mutation/polymorphism in the non-coding region between exon 2 and 3 was found in the control groups. Our results suggest that heterozygosity for a LIF gene mutation could give rise to decreased availability or biological activity of LIF in the uterus and cause implantation failure. Thus the mutations identified in our study could be responsible for infertility in a subgroup of nulligravid women.

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Today’s business environment is governed by changes and challenges, such as the Internet which is also changing our personal and professional lives, our way of thinking, of acting, as well as our daily activities. By using new technologies and the Internet, any company can do business in any corner of the world, and with the help of e-skills any person can relate with anyone, anywhere, and anytime. Moreover, the world is at our fingertips, opening new opportunities and visions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the e-skills and e-activities. Furthermore, the differences between e-skill and e-activity values recorded for Romania, at the EU28 level, and the values for the best-in-class group are analyzed. Through the use of benchmarking, we show that this gap exists, and thus some improvement measures are proposed. Thus, the correlation among three proposed zones (Romania, the average for EU28, and the best-in-class group) is analyzed with the help of simulation and mathematical modeling. The Excel data analysis shows that the correlation and future trends that could take place at the European level, helps the specialists improve skills, overcome risks, make better decisions, reduce costs, and increase performance.

The goal of this research is to identify the economic value of these processes, both as outlined by studies of experts within European institutions and by good practices of multinationals or some initiatives such as the initiative of "The European Institute for Cultural Routes". The methodology used consists of a compared study of literature, European regulations and practical activities conducted within the European Union for valorisation of multilingualism and cultural particularities in the act of IT communication, as culture is the fundamental factor of buying and consumer behaviour. The research has led us to a series of conclusions: • the digital single market within the EU is built as an instrument of economic intelligence by integrating and capitalising multilingualism and multiculturalism; • the networks and the infrastructure developed in the past 20 years in the EU enable users to communicate audio and video in an instant secured system and form a core for most types of business communication; • IT technologies have to take account of cultural differences since markets and consumer behaviour are part of culture; • in addition, linguistic policies in communication have to be inevitably elaborated with accuracy. Large multinational corporations seem to manage use of languages in a flexible manner and they do not exclusively focus on English language; • native speakers of English language neglect learning a second or third foreign language, yet they are underprivileged on the European job market due to their deficiencies in relation to linguistic competencies; • multilingualism is often associated with individual linguistic components

The quality of the educational act represents an imperative of present times. The integration of learning the contents of the disciplines with innovative elements, such as communicational skills in foreign languages and knowledge of different cultures, creates that energising condition which provides an impetus toward self-perfection and actually constitutes motivation. Motivated pupils mean performing pupils who create, in their turn, motivation and satisfaction among teachers. The motivation-satisfaction relation is a biunique one within the framework of the teacher-pupil partnership. In this paper we have researched the sources and the determinants of this binomial which ensures the quality and the progress of the education in a globalised intercultural environment that presents variables with significantly positive and also negative influences which combine with the individual factors of the participants to the didactic act.