Methods Clinical Records of 17 children (16 girls and 1 boy) were retrospectively analyzed over a period of 24 months (Mar 2012 to Mar 2014). All children satisfied the criteria for precocity based on clinical features, radiological assessment and GnRHa stimulation test. All 16 girls had idiopathic precocious puberty and the only boy had hypothalamic hamartoma. The mean age of presentation was ...

OBJECTIVE The present study was designed to determine the effect of the freeze-thawing procedure, computer controlled rate freezing and duration for six months, on human sperm chromatin (assessed by acridine orange test), vitality, motility, and morphology. DESIGN Experimental study MATERIAL AND METHOD Twenty semen samples were obtained from patients attending the infertility unit. The seme...

Previous work from our laboratory indicated that gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) increases human sperm-zona pellucida binding. Here we present evidence that GnRH antagonists inhibit sperm-zona pellucida binding in humans. Motile spermatozoa (10(7) cells/ml) were incubated in modified Tyrode's medium at 37 degrees C, in 5% CO(2) in air. After 4.5 h, aliquots of spermatozoa were treated wi...

Interspecific comparative studies have shown that, in most taxa, postcopulatory sexual selection (PCSS) in the form of sperm competition drives the evolution of longer and faster swimming sperm. Work on passserine birds has revealed that PCSS also reduces variation in sperm size between males at the intraspecific level. However, the influence of PCSS upon intra-male sperm size diversity is poor...

BACKGROUND The presence of anti-sperm antibodies (ASA) in males can reduce fecundity. However, it has been shown that there is a diversity of ASA bound to the sperm surface. This study was performed to investigate the inhibitory effects on fertilization by ASA in males. METHODS ASA were detected using the direct-immunobead test (D-IBT) in 509 semen samples. In some cases, the direct-sperm imm...

BACKGROUND Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been demonstrated in the sperm of a large percentage of sexually active males and is associated with an impairment of sperm parameters, with a particular negative impact on sperm motility, suggesting a possible role in male infertility. Conventional sperm selection techniques have a low efficiency in removing HPV. METHODS Evaluation of sperm...

We consider maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of mean and covariance structure models when data are missing. Expectation maximization (EM), generalized expectation maximization (GEM), Fletcher-Powell, and Fisherscoring algorithms are described for parameter estimation. It is shown how the machinery within a software that handles the complete data problem can be utilized to implement each algor...

This prospectively designed study was aimed at comparing the results of two different treatment protocols in 29 infertile couples with proven male immunological infertility, i.e. a positive (>50%) mixed antiglobulin reaction (MAR) test (IgG and/or IgA). In the first protocol (group I, n = 14) couples were treated with ovarian stimulation/ intrauterine insemination (IUI), followed by in-vitro fe...

PURPOSE Compliance with post-vasectomy semen analysis could be improved with the availability of a simple, rapid and accurate home test. SpermCheck Vasectomy, a highly sensitive lateral flow immunochromatographic diagnostic device, was designed to detect extreme oligospermia or azoospermia in men after vasectomy. We report the results of clinical and consumer testing of SpermCheck. MATERIALS ...