University of Groningen
Diminished ovarian reserve and adverse reproductive outcomes
de Carvalho Honorato, Talita
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Publication date: 2017
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de Carvalho Honorato, T. (2017). Diminished ovarian reserve and adverse reproductive outcomes: Epidemiologic studies on their association. University of Groningen.
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Acknowledgments
This thesis is the result of support, collaboration, commitment and hard work of various people. Each and every person I have met along the way, worked or lived with contributed to the completion of this work. I strongly believe that relations among people and equal opportunities are tools to achieve significant goals in life. Therefore, I also strongly refute the concept of “self-made man” or “self-made woman”. That being said, I have to truly thank all the people below.
Henk: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to enter your research group. I will always remember when I was an exchange student at the clinical psychosocial and epidemiological (CPE) master program and I had to prepare a seminar about Down syndrome in one of the courses in which you were the lecturer. After that I emailed you asking about the possibility to do research in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. You took me seriously and took a lot of consideration for my request. For that I am truly grateful! Thank you for considering that I had potential to be your student and to do scientific work!
Annemieke: You are an inspiration for me. When I “grow up”, I want to be like you! I am truly happy I have female professors guiding me! You have checked everything so meticulously and dedicated so much of your precious time and worked along with me on weekends or over hours due to short deadlines- such a perfect supervision of this work! I also enjoyed very much all the very inspiring talks we were able to have during off-work hours. Those are lessons worth for life, way beyond the scope of science. Thank you!
Maaike: I never forget the smile in your face and the beautiful sparkle in your eyes when we first met. I recall thinking: “why is she so enthusiastic?” I do not have a theory for this yet. But after all these years working together I confirmed the first impression that you are indeed always enthusiastic, and you are also very astute in your work and quite sharp! And you do everything so softly. All your corrections to this thesis, arrangements and suggestions were always so gentle and well thought! And whenever there were hard issues to overcome, I always found fair judgments and reasonable conclusions from you. You were the point of balance of this thesis! The voice of reason, and a sweet one! Thank you!
Jolande: You have contributed enormously to my growth as a critical thinker. All your feedbacks and requests were always very challenging and the comments put me to think very hard about the conduct of the studies, about the choices of analysis and
style for presenting the results. And those were the moments in which I learned a little bit more and grew as someone who looks for answers. In the very beginning of the project you told me: “It’s not about publishing, but about learning how to develop scientific work”. I tried to follow your wise words and I put all my efforts to learn the best way to investigate significant matters and provide clear answers to those in need. Thank you very much!
Marike: It is such a pity you were not involved in our group at an earlier stage! I really love your straightforward style! You were so direct on your recommendations, and that was essential for me to keep up the speed at the end of the project! Clear and fast guidance- it was exactly the imput I needed in the end phase of the studies. Thank you for being comprehensive and dedicating even some of your weekends to this project!
All the co-authors from Amsterdam, Utrecht and Copenhagen- thank you for the all the contributions to this work! Sandra van den Belt, Floor van Leeuwen, Thea Mooij, Nils Lambalk, Frank Broekmans, Anja Pinborg, Anna-Karina Henningsen and Øjvind Lidegaard- thank you all for valuable data supply (obviously essential!), thank you for providing all extra information and documents needed and thank you for your active contributions, feedback and comments in the studies! And an additional thanks to the ALSPAC committee in the UK for all their support for the execution of the studies.
I would like to thank the reading and assessment committee of this thesis, Prof. dr. C.M.A. van Ravenswaaij-Arts, prof dr. J.J.H.M Erwich and Prof. dr. M.J. Eijkemans for taking the time to read and evaluate this work. Many thanks to the staff of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology for helping me with every little (or big) issue- Janny Abels and Diana Woltinge. Also my thanks to Joyce Fongers and Desiree Jansen, who were involved in the selection of students for the CPE master program and helped me in the process to come to Groningen.
My special thanks for all the women who are participants in the studies included in this thesis- Dutch, Danish and English women. No work can be done without participants, therefore acknowledgments have to be properly given to you! Dank u wel! Mage tak! Thank you very much! Although the studies in this thesis included mainly European women, I hope that the clinical implications of this work can be extended and useful to all women. My hypothesis is that most of the results are indeed applicable for all women, once a correction for social economic status is made. But this is a topic for further research.
I would also like to thank my work colleagues and the ones I shared a room with, for a longer or shorter period- Ingrid, Kim, Maartje, Claudia, Florine, Marco, Anne, Violeta, Matty, Lotte, Fenne and Stere! Thank you for the pleasant coexistence in such a tiny room for so many people. I think in the first year of my Phd I was more relaxed and I could interact more with everyone, but the final year was really stressful and I interacted less and mainly worked. But I really loved our thee breaks, when we would be able to chitchat about life and love, about work, about future plans and dreams. Those were magical moments when we discussed baby names and dreamed about last authorship in papers! I wish the best to all of you- a lot of success in your personal and professional life! I wish you hot sunny summers, peaceful winters, nice coffee for hard working days, nice thee and cake in the autumn and of course flowers in spring! And all the other little things in life that makes us happy, like the cups of thee we shared in long working afternoons in our tiny room, at the UMCG.
To my dear congress companions Sandra and Derk: Thank you for the lovely time, talks, dinners and support in one of the most important moments of my PhD track! I keep that super cute windmill close to my heart- thank you!
To the CPE girls and two boys: Yina, Annelene, Ymkje Anna, Margriet, Fleur, Sofie and the guys Azmeraw and Chris. I was so lucky to meet all of you from the very beginning of my “Dutch phase”. It was such a beautiful phase of my life and you are all part of it! Because of our tied connections, I felt secure to continue my PhD in Groningen. It felt like a place I belonged in! Some of you are already away ( and some very far away indeed) from the point where we all met, but I had to thank you for all the nice time we had together! Thank you for all the nice cooking nights and dinners, nights out in the typical Groninger student style, movie sessions, board games nights, trips, record breaking hiking excursions (25 km!) and walks in the nature! Thank you for the memories!
To my previous work colleagues who left Groningen and who I miss a lot! Claudia: You are my kind of human being! You know it- I already told you how I admire you. Sweet and strong woman; always available to help! Thank you for your concern, always! And Maartje: you were always such a good listener and you brought so much good vibrations to the work environment. For sure your Canadian colleagues are getting to enjoy your good humour! Thank you for the positivity! Tamara: the Latin America side of the force! All the best to this new phase in Canada!
Violeta: When we first met, as 1st year PhD students, I could not avoid falling for
your natural charm and pleasant manners. You are definitely on the list of beautiful and positive human beings , that is, you bring joy to the ones around you. And how could I feel differently? “Talitinha bonitinha!”you said many times while entering the office, returning from your lab! And that is how you have brightened up my days at work! It was like you were a nice cup of coffee, giving me the energy I needed for the hard working days! How can I thank you for that? You are enlightened Violeta, with huge inner glow. We didn’t need a window after all. Thank you for everything! Ви благодарам!
Marcin: my dear companion! You have been by my side from the very beginning of this project. You have always been attentive to my scientific monologues; critical when necessary and also a great supporter of my ideas. You followed each and every step and showed genuine interest in the topic up to the point in which you were able to make complex jokes about oocytes! It has been extremely important to listen to your opinion because I trust your judgment. In so many times you’ve pushed me up from my frustrations and in so many others you offered me a better angle of the reality and an optimistic perspective! Thank you! You will always have my gratitude! And you know the drill: count on me, always.
To pan Michał and pani Maria Rzeszewicz: You had your arms open to me from the very first time we met! I am sometimes worried that I will never be able to give in return to all that you have given me. A warm loving home, the feeling of being taken care of, the feeling of being welcomed and loved! I don’t know why you are so good to me, but I am thankful from the bottom of my heart! From you I learn that kindness does not need a reason. Dziękuję Wam bardzo.
To my family:
Sempre me dói pensar nos motivos que me trouxeram até aqui hoje. A ideia inicial era simplesmente um ano fora do hospital, fora do país, para superar o luto da partida da mamãe. Mas a vida me surpreendeu com suas surpresas e aqui eu ainda estou. Nunca fez parte dos meus planos viver longe da minha família e mais uma vez vou evocar a palavra “dor” para expressar todos os momentos em que eu estou ausente. Começo a me desculpar pelos mais novos- queridos sobrinhos- Lucca, Alexandre e Maria Helô, meus irmãos Juninho, René e Miguel- amos vocês e saudades de assuntar, sair pra correr, e Mônica, obrigada por insistir nos áudios, por perguntar se eu estava viva e pelas vibrações enviadas com carinho. Para meus queridos tios Fábio ( mais conhecido como tio Té) e Lia- olho pra vocês e vejo minha mãe viva! Obrigada pelo amor eu recebi de vocês mesmo antes de eu me lembrar.
Um agradecimento especial para Rose Meire e Thomas- obrigada por me abrigarem em um momento tão delicado da minha vida. Junto à vocês eu tive paz. Para meu avô- Cornélio, pilar da família, ser humano maior- tudo o que eu faço é para viver tudo o que você me ensinou pelo exemplo. Pai: Obrigada por tudo o que você fez por mim. Todo o meu equilíbrio provem de tudo o que você me ensinou sobre humildade, espiritualidade e disciplina. Te amo muito e sinto saudades imensas. Mãe: não há ninguém no mundo que eu ame mais do que você. Saudades
