Tuberculosis (TB) is responsible for nearly 1.4 million deaths globally every year and continues to remain a serious threat to human health. The problem is further complicated by the growing incidence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), emphasizing the need for the development of new drugs against this disease. Phagosomal maturation arrest is an import...

Vertebrate oocytes are maintained in meiotic arrest for prolonged periods of time before undergoing oocyte maturation in preparation for fertilization. Cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling plays a crucial role in maintaining meiotic arrest, which is released by a species-specific hormonal signal. Evidence in both frog and mouse argues that meiotic arrest is maintained by a constitutively active G-protei...

Maturation arrest of human oocytes may occur at various stages of the cell cycle. A total failure of human oocytes to complete meiosis is rarely observed during assisted conception cycles. We describe here a case series of infertile couples for whom all oocytes repeatedly failed to mature during IVF/ICSI. Eight couples, all presenting with unexplained infertility, underwent controlled ovarian s...

OBJECTIVE To examine whether in vitro differentiation of germ cells from men with maturation arrest is improved by augmenting FSH and T concentrations above the values effective in samples from men with normal spermatogenesis. DESIGN Prospective, controlled in vitro study. SETTING Private assisted reproduction centers and a university department. PATIENT(S) Men with meiotic or postmeiotic...

Background: Recent studies demonstrated the multifactorial and chronic nature of male infertility, including mutations of some known spermatogenesis-related genes. The H2B family, member W (H2B.W) gene is one of the testis specific histone variant genes that encodes a sperm telomere-binding protein, required for reorganization and integration of sperm chromosomes. The objective of the present s...

Maturation (M-phase) promoting factor (MPF) plays a pivotal role in oocytes during their maturation. This review concentrates on its function at three important time-points. First, its activation during meiotic progression from prophase I arrest at germinal vesicle breakdown. Second, its role during the transition from meiosis I to meiosis II, a defining feature of meiosis involving segregation...

For human IVF, the patient's ovaries are hormonally stimulated to ensure the collection of fully matured oocytes that are at the metaphase II stage. Only these oocytes can be successfully fertilized either when mixed with sperm or after ICSI. Nevertheless, in some cases immature or maturing oocytes are recovered from follicles. Surprisingly, sometimes these oocytes do not complete maturation wh...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to assess the treatment outcome after varicocele repair in azoospermic men and to correlate this outcome with the testicular histology patterns. METHODS Medical records of 15 azoospermic men who underwent testis biopsy and microsurgical repair of clinical varicocele between July 1999 and November 2000 were reviewed. All patients had at least two semen ...

Experimental studies in laboratory animals have shown that successful conception can be achieved by fertilizing oocytes with immature male germ cells. This gave rise to the concept that immature germ cells recovered from the testes of azoospermic men with maturation arrest may be used for assisted reproduction. However, in contrast to using germ cells recovered from healthy animals, clinical ap...