Search results for "fertility"
showing 10 items of 629 documents
Soil Quality as Affected by Intensive Versus Conservative Agricultural Managements
2017
Soils, the earth’s skin, are at the intersection of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. The persistence of life on our planet depends on the maintenance of soils as they constitute the biological engines of earth. Human population has increased exponentially in recent decades, along with the demand for food, materials, and energy, which have caused a shift from low-yield and subsistence agriculture to a more productive, high-cost, and intensive agriculture. However, soils are very fragile ecosystems and require centuries for their development, thus within the human timescale they are not renewable resources. Modern and intensive agriculture implies serious concern about…
Nitrogen losses in vineyards under different types of soil groundcover. A field runoff simulator approach in central Spain
2017
The soils of Mediterranean vineyards are usually managed with continuous tillage, resulting in bare soil, low infiltration and high soil erosion rates. Soil nutrients, such as nitrogen, could be lost dissolved in the runoff, causing a decrease in soil fertility on such degraded soils and producing eutrophication downstream. The influences of groundcover on the soil erosion processes and sediment yields in Mediterranean vineyards have been widely addressed. However, the runoff process itself, excluding the effect of raindrop impacts, has barely been studied. Thus, a field runoff simulator was built to assess runoff and nutrient losses under different soil management strategies in Central Spa…
Agriculture and grazing environments
2019
Abstract The increase in world population increases the pressure on soil resources and triggers land degradation. Agricultural and grazing environments are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to this process. Degradation affects importantly soil fertility. Millions of hectares are affected and soil productivity is endangered. This decreases soil ability to provide ecosystem services in quantity and quality. Managers and decision-makers should be open to adopt environmentally-friendly practices and contribute to land degradation neutrality. This chapter focuses on the problems induced by some of the most common soil degradation processes caused by in agriculture and grazing activities. Rev…
NineTeen Complex-subunit Salsa is required for efficient splicing of a subset of introns and dorsal-ventral patterning
2020
© 2020 Rathore et al. This article is distributed exclusively by the RNASociety for the first 12 months after the full-issue publication date (see http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After 12 months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
A segmented regression model for event history data: an application to the fertility patterns in Italy
2009
We propose a segmented discrete-time model for the analysis of event history data in demographic research. Through a unified regression framework, the model provides estimates of the effects of explanatory variables and jointly accommodates flexibly non-proportional differences via segmented relationships. The main appeal relies on ready availability of parameters, changepoints, and slopes, which may provide meaningful and intuitive information on the topic. Furthermore, specific linear constraints on the slopes may also be set to investigate particular patterns. We investigate the intervals between cohabitation and first childbirth and from first to second childbirth using individual data …
Suburban Fertility and Metropolitan Cycles: Insights from European Cities
2021
Being largely diversified along the urban–rural gradient, fertility gaps have demonstrated to fuel metropolitan expansion, contributing to natural population growth and social change. In this direction, population dynamics and economic transformations have continuously shaped urban cycles in Europe. Assuming suburban fertility to be a relevant engine of metropolitan growth, the present study investigates and discusses the intrinsic relationship between fertility transitions and urban expansion, focusing on European metropolitan regions. An average crude birth rate referring to the last decade (2013–2018) was estimated from official statistics at 671 Functional Urban Areas (FUAs, Eurostat Ur…
Soil Erosion Induced by the Introduction of New Pasture Species in a Faxinal Farm of Southern Brazil
2018
The faxinal management system is an endangered agro-silvopastoral system which forms part of the local traditional management in the Paraná federal state (Brazil). Significant changes in land management since the 1970s caused farmers to look for alternatives to increase the productivity of their farms. The introduction of new pasture species is causing land degradation problems, of which soil erosion is the most important challenge. Therefore, in this study, we assessed the environmental consequences of introducing exotic pasture species, such as Brachiaria decumbens. To achieve this goal, ten erosion plots were installed with exotic and native pastures (Paspalum notatum Flügg&e…
Effect of thyroid function on assisted reproduction outcomes in euthyroid infertile women: A single center retrospective data analysis and a systemat…
2022
BackgroundThe influence of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) on gestational outcomes have been studied and checked whether differing TSH levels are relevant on human reproduction outcomes. International guidelines recommend TSH values <2.5 mIU/L in women trying to conceive, since values above this level are related to a higher frequency of adverse reproductive outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate whether TSH values correlate with different gestational outcomes in euthyroid infertile women without autoimmune thyroid disease.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted involving 256 women who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. The participants were divided into tw…
"Lights and Shades" of Fertility Preservation in Transgender Men Patients: A Clinical and Pathological Review
2023
Fertility preservation (FP) is becoming a critical issue in transgender men who desire biological offspring in the future. The prevalence of transgender individuals in the United States is increasing, and as a result, the demand for gender-affirming surgeries (GAS) and associated FP techniques is rising. Despite the growing demand, there is currently no personalized approach to FP for transgender men, and the available techniques have limitations that require further investigation. In the present review we carefully examine the existing literature on this topic to highlight the shortcomings of current methods and areas where additional research is needed to advance the field. Hormonal thera…
Protease-mediated processing of Argonaute proteins controls small RNA association
2020
SummarySmall RNA pathways defend the germlines of animals against selfish genetic elements and help to maintain genomic integrity. At the same time, their activity needs to be well-controlled to prevent silencing of ‘self’ genes. Here, we reveal a proteolytic mechanism that controls endogenous small interfering (22G) RNA activity in the Caenorhabditis elegans germline to protect genome integrity and maintain fertility. We find that WAGO-1 and WAGO-3 Argonaute (Ago) proteins are matured through proteolytic processing of their unusually proline-rich N-termini. In the absence of DPF-3, a P-granule-localized N-terminal dipeptidase orthologous to mammalian DPP8/9, processing fails, causing a cha…