BACKGROUND In recent decades, young men in some industrialized areas have reportedly experienced a decrease in semen quality. OBJECTIVE We examined effects of perinatal dioxin exposure on sperm quality and reproductive hormones. METHODS We investigated sperm quality and hormone concentrations in 39 sons (mean age, 22.5 years) born between 1977 and 1984 to mothers exposed to dioxin after the...

A retrospective analysis of sixty one prospective donors who visited the cryobank in person from August 1999 to December 2001 was done. The study evaluated the acceptance rate of prospective semen donors and semen characteristics in order to assess the fertility potential of the supposedly normal population of young men. The outcome of the various screening processes--history taking, infection ...

Increasing the knowledge of the semen characteristics in the alpaca will contribute to understanding one of the many factors that affect the poor fertility rate in this species. Ten adult male alpacas, 2.6-10 years of age, average weight 64.7 +/- 4.7 kg were used. The animals were distributed randomly into two groups of five each and submitted alternatively to two semen collections, using an ar...

Semen analysis results from over 750 fathers in the USA demonstrated marked differences in the quality of semen from men at different locations and of different ethnic groups. Another paper failed to demonstrate any effects of moderate alcohol consumption during the week before provision of an ejaculate on semen quality and few on serum hormones, of over 8300 men in Europe and the USA. While th...

This study aimed to identify motile sperm subpopulations in extended boar semen and to observe the presumptive seasonal variation in their distribution. Data from 4837 boar ejaculates collected over a two-year period were analyzed in terms of kinematic parameters by Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA). Individual sperm data were used to determine subgroups of motile sperm within the ejacula...

Boar semen is typically collected, diluted and cooled for AI use over numerous days, or frozen immediately after shipping to capable laboratories. The storage temperature and pH of the diluted, cooled boar semen could influence the fertility of boar sperm. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of pH and storage temperature on fresh and frozen-thawed boar sperm motili...

Despite worldwide anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette smoking prevalence is increasing in the third-world countries. It is now regarded as the most important public health issue. Here, we study the current smoking situation and investigate the impact of cigarette smoking on semen quality and hormonal levels among adult people. Furthermore, we suggest various strategies to reduce smoking consumpti...

When adhered to consistently, ART can reduce the HIV viral load in an individual’s blood, semen, vaginal fluid and rectal fluid to such a low level that blood tests can’t detect it.1 This is described as an 'undetectable' viral load or viral suppression. In these circumstances, as long as someone’s viral load remains undetectable, their health will not be affected by HIV and they cannot transmi...

Background: Studies suggest that global semen quality is declining, but the debate remains open owing to geographic variation. Objectives: To evaluate temporal trends of sperm parameters – namely concentration, motility and total motile sperm count – in sperm donated during the period 1995–2009. methods: In a retrospective longitudinal cohort study we analyzed the sperm count and motility of 21...

Phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis (PLFH) predicts that male secondary sexual traits reveal honest information about male fertilization ability. However, PLFH has rarely been studied in humans. The aim of the present study was to test PLFH in humans and to investigate whether potential ability to select fertile partners is independent of sex or cultural background. We found that on the contr...