OBJECTIVES To provide information of semen quality among normal young Japanese men and indicate the frequency of reduced semen quality. DESIGN Cross-sectional, coordinated studies of Japanese young men included from university areas. The men had to be 18-24 years, and both the man and his mother had to be born in Japan. Background information was obtained from questionnaires. Standardised and...

BACKGROUND There are no studies relating the apoptotic marker caspase-3 in human sperm to different degrees of abnormal sperm concentration, morphology and rapid progressive motility. METHODS Semen from 67 males with abnormal semen analyses (n = 61) and normozoospermia (n = 6) were used. In each case, sperm from the neat semen (semen fraction) and after gradient centrifugation and swim-up (sw...

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the quality of semen has deteriorated during the last decade. Laboratory records containing semen analysis results were reviewed. The records, arranged according to date of birth, are kept in shelves. Every fifth record for analyses performed between 1985 and 1995, and only those of men in infertile relationships, were included. The data were abs...

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 ...

A natural disaster leading to accumulation of environmental contaminants may have substantial effects on the male reproductive system. Our aim was to compare and assess semen parameters in a normospermic population residing in the Southern Louisiana, USA area pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina. We retrospectively evaluated semen analyses data (n = 3452) of 1855 patients who attended the Tulane Uni...

We previously reported reduced sperm concentration and motility in fertile men in a U.S. agrarian area (Columbia, MO) relative to men from U.S. urban centers (Minneapolis, MN; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY). In the present study we address the hypothesis that pesticides currently used in agriculture in the Midwest contributed to these differences in semen quality. We selected men in whom all se...

BACKGROUND Semen quality is taken as a surrogate measure of male fecundity in clinical andrology, male fertility, reproductive toxicology, epidemiology and pregnancy risk assessments. Reference intervals for values of semen parameters from a fertile population could provide data from which prognosis of fertility or diagnosis of infertility can be extrapolated. METHODS Semen samples from over ...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy rates with cooled equine semen can be unsatisfactory and show great variation. Information about first cycle pregnancy rates and pregnancy rates per cycle are often lacking from publicly available records. This retrospective cohort study was performed to evaluate the fertility of the Norwegian Coldblooded trotter. The aim of the study was to compare the breeding results aft...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether there is an association between abnormal semen parameters and occupational exposures to organic solvents, metals, and pesticides. DESIGN Case-control study using three case groups based on different cutoff values for semen parameters and one standard reference group. SETTING University Hospital Utrecht and University Hospital Rotterdam, the Netherlands. PATI...

background: we investigated the effects of carbamazepine (cbz) on semen parameters in men with newly diagnosed epilepsy, by performing semen analysis before starting any antiepileptic drugs, and then after starting cbz, to determine the role and effects of cbz in creating abnormalities in sperm analysis in these patients. methods: in this prospective study, eight male patients 20-40 years of ag...