OBJECTIVE To compare the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (including HIV) and of high-risk sexual behaviour in the following three groups: primary infertile relationships, secondary infertile relationships and fertile relationships. Primary infertility is here defined as never having conceived before, secondary infertility as infertility subsequent to having conceived at lea...

Individuals born with low birth weight (LBW) risk cardiometabolic complications later in life. However the impact of LBW on general health status and male reproductive function has been scantly analysed. We investigated the clinical and seminal impact of different birth weights (BW) in white-European men presenting for primary couple's infertility. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data fro...

Among infertile men, a diagnosis of unilateral varicocele is made in 90% of varicocele cases and bilateral in the remaining varicocele cases. However, there are reports of under-diagnosis of bilateral varicocele among infertile men and that its prevalence is greater than 10%. In this prospective study, we aimed to examine the differentially expressed proteins (DEP) extracted from spermatozoa ce...

The aim of the study was to examine the relationships between concentrations of zinc in blood and seminal plasma and sperm quality among infertile and fertile men. One hundred seven male (infertile group) partners of couples who were undergoing investigation for infertility with no known cause for the infertility and 103 men (fertile group) whose wives were pregnant at the time of the study wer...

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is fundamental for Sertoli cell function stimulating spermatogenesis and follicular growth by a specific receptor (FSHR). This work aimed to investigate the occurrence of Asn and Ser FSHR gene variants and its relationship with seminal anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) among normozoospermic and infertile oligoasthenozoospermic (OAT) males. Eighty-two Caucasian male...

BACKGROUND The sperm chromatin of fertile men retains a small number of nucleosomes that are enriched at developmental gene promoters and imprinted gene loci. This unique chromatin packaging at certain gene promoters provides these genomic loci the ability to convey instructive epigenetic information to the zygote, potentially expanding the role and significance of the sperm epigenome in embryo...

BACKGROUND Chromosomal abnormalities and Y chromosome microdeletions are regarded as two most frequent genetic causes associated with failure of spermatogenesis in the Caucasian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS To investigate the distribution of genetic defects in the Romanian population with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia, karyotype analysis by G-banding was carried out in 850 idiopa...

Background: Excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the semen is believed to affect fertility in men. Morphologically abnormal sperms and their relation to seminal oxidative stress in infertile and subfertile men are not clear. Objective: To correlate various sperm morphological defects with seminal oxidative stress in infertile and subfertile men. Materials and Methods: The study included 25 p...