This study aims to determine the relative contribution of oocyte and/or sperm dysfunction to the reduction of fertilization rates in vitro in cases of minor endometriosis and prolonged unexplained infertility. The results of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment with ovarian stimulation have been compared between couples with the above conditions and women with tubal infertility (as control fo...

In pigs, the efficiency of embryo production after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is still low because of frequent failure of normal fertilization, which involves formation of two polar bodies and two pronuclei. To clarify the reasons for this, we hypothesized that ICSI does not properly trigger sperm-induced fertilization events, especially intracellular Ca2+ signaling, also known as ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether sperm selection by hyaluronic acid (HA) binding could improve fertilization rate and embryo quality in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. Two hundred nineteen oocytes obtained from eighteen women were injected with either HA-bound (n = 107) or conventionally selected spermatozoa (n = 112) in a randomized way. All of the participa...

Male infertility can be treated by surgical procedures (e.g., varicocelectomy) or by administration of drugs if causal factors (e.g., seminal tract infections) are detected. In more severe cases, methods of assisted fertilization often have to be applied, but even these have only a limited success rate. Recent studies have demonstrated that disturbances of sperm DNA integrity (determined by the...

Abstract Background Polymorphism A1298C of the methylenetetrahydrofolate-reductase (MTHFR) gene has been implicated in spontaneous abortion. In this study, we determined the allele and genotype frequencies of this polymorphism in recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) and implantation failure after in vitro fertilization (IVF). Materials and Methods We performed a case–control study on 60 wom...

The effect of nitrogen fertilization on root length (RL) distribution of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was investigated. The study was conducted in Prague-Ruzyne on clay loam Chernozemic soil in the years 1996–2003. Two (N0, N1) and three (N0, N1, N2) treatments, unfertilized (N0), fertilized with 100 kg (N1) and 200 kg N/ha (N2) were studied in 1996–2000 and 2001–2003, respectively. Nitr...

background: sulfatase 1 ( sulf1 ) function is to remove the 6-o-sulphate group from heparan sulfate. this action changes the binding sites of extracellular growth factors. sulf1 expression has been reported to be changed in angiogenesis. we hypothesized that single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) of sulf1 would impact clinicopathologic characteristics. objective: study of sulf1 gene polymorphis...