International Journal of Fertility最新文献

Objective: To determine the presence of anti-sperm antibodies in serum, and on spermatozoa, in men with spinal cord injury.

Design: Thirty men whose injury occurred 1 to 18 years ago compared with 30 men with normal semen.

Patients and interventions: Eighteen tetraplegic and 12 paraplegic patients were treated with vibrator or rectal electrostimulation, yielding a total of 25 ejaculates.

Results: Semen analyses (WHO): volume low, with concentration > 100 million/mL in 80%; 8/30 exhibited sperm agglutinating antibodies, but with low titres.

Conclusions: Low titres of serum antibodies and absence of attached IgA antibodies indicate autoimmunity is not the cause of low sperm motility and penetration capacity in these patients.

Objective: To compare efficacy of various methods for characterizing endometriosis and benign ovarian tumors.

Design: Two parallel groups of patients, 54 with endometriotic ovarian cysts and 48 with benign tumors.

Setting: Central clinic.

Patients: Patients referred from all regions over a 5-year period.

Outcome measures: Estrogen Estrogen and progesterone receptor levels of endometrium and endometriotic foci, CA-125 concentration, and estradiol, progesterone, LH, and testosterone blood levels.

Results: LH levels elevated during follicular phase in patients; estradiol levels reduced; receptor levels abnormal in endometriosis, but not in benign ovarian cysts.

Conclusions: Hormone therapy is adequate treatment for endometriotic cysts. CA-125 is not a reliable indicator for differential diagnosis.

Objective: To test trichosanthin--a basic protein from Trichosanthes kirilowii--as abortifacient, and effect on subsequent pregnancy.

Methods: Female mice, on day 1, 2, or 3 of pregnancy, given 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, or 0.25 mg/25 g body wt., intraperitoneally. Animals killed on day 11 for assessment of abortion, or day 4 for examination of embryos. Subsequent pregnancy was tested after 20 days in mice that had aborted completely.

Results: With 0.20-0.25 mg/25 g, 64-80% aborted. At day 4, pre-implantation development was disturbed, many still being morulae (in the oviduct). Subsequent pregnancies and offspring were entirely normal.

Conclusions: Trichosanthin, long used to effect abortion in humans in China, has congruent effects on ICR laboratory mice.

Objective: To find differences in effect on sperm motility of agents that increase intracellular cAMP: manganese ion, methyl-isobutyl-xanthine (MIX), 2-deoxyadenosine, glucose, and Mn-MIX and Mn-glucose.

Design: Nine men with asthenozoospermia vs. fertile donors.

Methods: Sperm was washed in Hepes-buffered saline, motility tested by laser-Doppler technique.

Results: Best activation was obtained with Mn and 2-deoxyadenosine; generally poor response to MIX or glucose.

Conclusions: Usually, poor endogenous stimulation of adenylyl cyclase, and probably not limited energy supply, is the cause of impaired motility.

Objective: Delineation of change in male hormone and gonadotropin levels from age 21 to 85.

Subjects: Healthy married volunteers with one or more children.

Methods: A 5-mL venous blood sample, serum separated within one hour; testosterone measured by direct RIA, FSH and LH by immunoradiometric assay and magnetic separation.

Results: FSH significantly higher from 6th decade, LH from 7th decade; testosterone lower from 6th decade.

Conclusions: Apparently, a rise in FSH and reduction in testosterone precede a rise in LH concentration.

Objective: To determine correlation between hypoosmotic swelling (HOS) test on post-swim-up sperm and results of IVF.

Setting: University clinic IVF program.

Patients and interventions: Sixty-three women, with various infertility factors; Buserelin plus hMG and hCG used for all patients. HOS test performed on original and swim-up samples of husband's semen.

Outcome measures: Fertilization, as shown by two pronuclei and two polar bodies 18 hours post-insemination.

Results: Post-swim-up HOS test had a correlation (r) of .68 (P < .001) with fertilization.

Although estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) has proven highly effective in preventing both the short- and long-term adverse clinical outcomes associated with menopause, it is important to recognize that the pharmacokinetic and metabolic effects of ERT vary with dosage and route of delivery. One of the most promising methods of administering ERT is the transdermal therapeutic system (TTS), or "patch," the efficacy of which is comparable to that of other forms of ERT, but whose unique pharmacokinetic profile may confer several distinct clinical advantages over the oral route. The present article addresses some of the key pharmacokinetic and metabolic differences between these two dosing forms, with particular emphasis on their respective effects on gonadotropins, hemostasis and coagulation, lipid metabolism, hepatobiliary function, and bone. An extensive review of clinical experience accrued over the past decade suggests that transdermal ERT is a viable alternative to oral ERT.

While homologous artificial insemination (AIH) and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) can be viewed as compatible with the teachings of Roman Catholicism and Halakhic Judaism, their permissibility is much more strongly rooted in the latter. Nevertheless, AIH and GIFT cannot be dismissed as unacceptable to Roman Catholics, provided the semen is licitly obtained.

This study compares the results of microsurgical uterine horn anastomosis performed using fibrin glue (FK-1), 8/0 Prolene sutures, or fibrin glue in combination with 8/0 Prolene sutures. Thirty-two rats were divided into three groups. Three results were studied: frequency of adhesion formation in the area of anastomosis, uterine horn patency, and pregnancy rates. Compared with microsurgical sutures, fibrin glue used for the anastomosis of uterine horns in rats results in identical pregnancy and patency rates. Moreover, the formation of adhesions was significantly lower and the duration of surgery was shortened.

The protocol reported decreases the cost and inconvenience of inducing the growth of multiple ovulatory follicles in selected infertility patients. Safety was maintained by treating patients with relatively small amounts of exogenous gonadotropins and using patient response to slowly increase gonadotropin stimulation in subsequent cycles. The pregnancy rate was 26% per cycle. For couples with male factor infertility, it was 20% per cycle. This regimen may be especially suitable for the practitioner with only a few patients requiring this therapy who may not have the capacity to obtain daily estradiol levels.