Back to the basics of ovarian aging: A population-based study on longitudinal anti-Müllerian hormone decline

Background: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is currently used as an ovarian reserve marker for individualized fertility counseling, but very little is known of individual AMH decline in women. This study assessed whether the decline trajectory of AMH is uniform for all women, and whether baseline age-specific AMH levels remain consistently high or low during this trajectory. Methods: A total of 3326 female participants from the population-based Doetinchem Cohort Study were followed with five visits over a 20-year period. Baseline age was 40±10years with a range of 20-59 years. AMH was measured in 12,929 stored plasma samples using the picoAMH assay (AnshLabs). Decline trajectories of AMH were studied with both chronological age and reproductive age, i.e., time to menopause. Multivariable linear mixed effects models characterized the individual AMH decline trajectories. Results: The overall rate of AMH decline accelerated after 40years of age. Mixed models with varying age-specific AMH levels and decline rates provided the significantly best fit to the data, indicating that the fall in AMH levels over time does not follow a fixed pattern for individual women. AMH levels remained consistent along individual trajectories of age, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.87. The ICC of 0.32 for AMH trajectories with time to menopause expressed the large variation in AMH levels at a given time before the menopause. The differences between low and high age-specific AMH levels remained distinguishable, but became increasingly smaller with increasing chronological and reproductive age. Conclusions: This is the first study to characterize individual AMH decline over a long time period and broad age range. The varying AMH decline rates do not support the premise of a uniform AMH decline trajectory. Although age-specific AMH levels remain consistently high or low with increasing age, the converging trajectories and variance of AMH levels at a given time before menopause shed doubt on the added value of AMH to represent individualized reproductive age

The potential of virus-induced gene silencing for speeding up functional characterization of plant genes

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has been shown to be of great potential in plant reverse genetics. Advantages of VIGS over other approaches, such as T-DNA or transposon tagging, include the circumvention of plant transformation, methodological simplicity and robustness, and speedy results. These features make VIGS an attractive alternative instrument in functional genomics, even in a high throughput fashion. The system is already well established in Nicotiana benthamiana; however, efforts are being made to improve VIGS in other species, including monocots. Current research is focussed on unravelling the mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene silencing and VIGS, as well as on finding novel viral vectors in order to broaden the host species spectrum. We examined how VIGS has been used to assess gene functions in plants, including molecular mechanisms involved in the process, available methodological elements, such as vectors and inoculation procedures, and we looked for examples in which the system has been applied successfully to characterize gene function in plants

S-band sige phase and amplitude control MMIC

This paper presents very recent achievements in the Silicon implementation of phase and amplitude control for active electronically steered arrays. The IC combines 6-bit amplitude control with more than 20 dB amplitude range, including control logic and series-to-parallel converters. The IC is a step forward in lowering active array cost and presents a small IC area with a high phase accuracy and dynamic range. © 2006 EuMA

The potential of virus-induced gene silencing for speeding up functional characterization of plant genes

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has been shown to be of great potential in plant reverse genetics. Advantages of VIGS over other approaches, such as T-DNA or transposon tagging, include the circumvention of plant transformation, methodological simplicity and robustness, and speedy results. These features make VIGS an attractive alternative instrument in functional genomics, even in a high throughput fashion. The system is already well established in Nicotiana benthamiana; however, efforts are being made to improve VIGS in other species, including monocots. Current research is focussed on unravelling the mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene silencing and VIGS, as well as on finding novel viral vectors in order to broaden the host species spectrum. We examined how VIGS has been used to assess gene functions in plants, including molecular mechanisms involved in the process, available methodological elements, such as vectors and inoculation procedures, and we looked for examples in which the system has been applied successfully to characterize gene function in plants

Waterbeweging en menging in het zuidelijke gedeelte van de Noordzee: Eindverslag MLTP-4

Onderzoek is verricht naar verspreidingsmodellen en de gebruikte technieken achter deze modellen. Bij aanvang van de MLTP-periode bestonden er reeds verspreidingsmodellen. Deze modellen vertoonden echter tekortkomingen. De voornaamste daarvan waren: 1)het summiere gebruik van snelheidsgegevens, 2)de sterk vereenvoundige geometrie. Op geen van beide punten is een belangrijke verbetering mogelijk zonder ook het andere punt aan te pakken. De integratie van deze beide elementen in het geheel van de simulatie, diende dus, wat het einddoel van de thematiek betreft, het uitgangspunt te zijn. Wat de waterbeweging betreft ligt het zwaartepunt bij de reststromen, daar de getijbeweging onderwerp van studie was in de thematiek. Verder zijn de getijstromen en vooral de snelheidsgegevens uit modellen die (mede) het getij berekenen van zodanig groot belang voor de verspreidingsprocessen en de modellering daarvan, dat afzonderlijk aandacht wordt besteed aan waterbewegingsmodellen die mede of in hoofdzaak gericht zijn op getijberekening. Tenslotte is er aandacht besteed aan de verspreidingsverschijnselen en de verspreidingsmodellen, welke laatste het einddoel vormen van de thematiek. Als belangrijkste aanbevelingen komen naar voren: 1. Het bevorderen van een versnelling van de bouw van programmatuur voor een verspreidingsmodel op basis van deeltjessimulatie, met inbegrip van de wederzijdse aanpassing van de toeleverende bewegingsmodellen (getijmodellen, stormvloedmodellen) enerzijds en verspreidingsmodel anderzijds. In verband met de "voeding" van het bovenbedoelde model en eventuele andere transportmodellen moet er rekening gehouden worden met: - Voortzetting van het onderzoek naar het reststroomveld en de mogelijkheden van wiskundige modellering daarvan, i.h.b. van de niet-meteo-komponenten. - Voltooiing van het op initiatief van MLTP-4 (zie Texel 1974) gestarte project Numerieke Diepteschematisatie. 2. Vergelijkend onderzoek, vooral uit het oogpunt van rekentijden, kosten en doelmatigheid, van deeltjessimulatie en eindige differentie- of eindige elementenmethoden voor het oplossen van transportproblemen in kombinatie met interakties (met name chemische reakties).MLTP-

S-Band AlGaN/GaN Power Amplifier MMIC with over 20 Watt Output Power

This paper presents the design of an S-band HPA MMIC in AlGaN/GaN CPW technology for radar TR-module application. The trade-offs of using an MMIC solution versus discrete power devices are discussed. The MMIC shows a maximum output power of 38 Watt at 37% Power Added Efficiency at 3.1 GHz. An output power of more than 20 Watt has been simulated from 2.5 to 3.7 GHz. The robustness against high output VSWR values up to 4:1 has been checked and simulations show a maximum drain-gate voltage of around 60 V

Canopy studies on ethylene-insensitive tobacco identify ethylene as a novel element in blue light and plant-plant signaling.

Plants growing at high densities express shade avoidance traits as a response to the presence of neighbours. Enhanced shoot elongation is one of the best researched shade avoidance components and increases light capture in dense stands. We show here that also leaf movements, leading to a more vertical leaf orientation (hyponasty), may be crucial in the early phase of competition. The initiation of shade avoidance responses is classically attributed to the action of phytochrome photoreceptors that sense red:far-red (R:FR) ratios in light reflected by neighbours, but also other signals may be involved. It was recently shown that ethylene-insensitive, transgenic (Tetr) tobacco plants, which are insensitive to the gaseous plant hormone ethylene, have reduced shade avoidance responses to neighbours. Here, we report that this is not related to a reduced response to low R:FR ratio, but that Tetr tobacco plants are unresponsive to a reduced photon fluence rate of blue light, which normally suppresses growth inhibition in wild-type (WT) plants. In addition to these light signals, ethylene levels in the canopy atmosphere increased to concentrations that could induce shade avoidance responses in WT plants. Together, these data show that neighbour detection signals other than the R:FR ratio are more important than previously anticipated and argue for a particularly important role for ethylene in determining plant responses to neighbours