Forests growing on former agricultural land often have reduced frequencies of many native forest herbs compared with forests that were never cleared for agriculture. A leading explanation for this pattern is thatmany forest herbs are dispersal limited, but environmental conditionsmay also hinder colonization. We examined the response of six forest herb taxa (Arisaema triphyllum, Cimicifuga race...

background: determination of oocyte and embryo quality are one of the most important goals in ivf. anti-mullerian hormone (amh) is secreted by the ovarian granulosa cells into blood flow and follicular fluid. follicular fluid anti-mullerian hormone level is probably a marker of activity of granulose cells. objective: to evaluate whether high level of follicular fluid anti-mullerian hormone leve...

background: determination of oocyte fertilization and embryo quality are one of the most important purposes in art cycles. follicular fluid provides an important microenvironment for development of oocytes and some biochemical characteristics of the follicular fluid, such as pregnancy-associated plasma protein-a (papp-a), may play an important role in prediction of success rate of art. objectiv...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of sperm defect severity and the type of azoospermia on the outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). MATERIALS AND METHODS This study included 313 ICSI cycles that were divided into two major groups according to the source of spermatozoa used for ICSI: 1) Ejaculated (group 1; n = 220) and 2) Testicular/Epididymal (group 2; n = 93). Group 1 was subd...

Maize grain yield varies highly with water availability as well as with fertilization and relevant agricultural management practices. With a 311-A optimized saturation design, field experiments were conducted between 2006 and 2009 to examine the yield response of spring maize (Zhengdan 958, Zea mays L) to irrigation (I), nitrogen fertilization (total nitrogen, urea-46% nitrogen,) and phosphorus...

BACKGROUND The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is home to the vast grassland in China. The QTP grassland ecosystem has been seriously degraded by human land use practices and climate change. Fertilization is used in this region to increase vegetation yields for grazers. The impact of long-term fertilization on plant and microbial communities has been studied extensively. However, the influence of s...

How nitrogen (N) deposition impacts ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal communities has been little studied in deciduous forests or across spatial scales. Here, it was tested whether N addition decreases species richness and shifts species composition across spatial scales in temperate deciduous oak forests. Combined molecular (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), sequencing) and...

BACKGROUND The postharvest quality and shelf life of spinach are greatly influenced by cultural practices. Reduced spinach shelf life is a common quandary in the Salinas Valley, California, where current agronomic practices depend on high nitrogen (N) rates. This study aimed to describe the postharvest fracture properties of spinach leaves in relation to N fertilization, leaf age and spinach cu...