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Sperm head vacuolization affects clinical outcome in ICSI cycle. A proposal of a cut-off value.
No full textOBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the relationship between sperm nuclear vacuoles and sperm morphology and to investigate the influence of the rate of spermatozoa with head vacuolization (SVR) in a seminal sample on the clinical outcomes in couples undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
MATERIALS:
26 patients undergoing infertility investigations were included and were divided in two groups according to an SVR ≤ 20,28 % (Group A) or > 20,28 % (Group B), and were investigated to verify the influence of SVR on the fertilization rate, embryo quality, pregnancy and implantation rates.
RESULTS:
Abnormal spermatozoa with nuclear vacuoles were significantly higher (p < 0.001) than the percentage of normal spermatozoa with nuclear vacuoles. Patients in group A had a percentage of abnormal sperm with nuclear vacuole significantly lower compared to group B (p < 0,001), but there was no difference in the percentage of normal sperm with nuclear vacuoles. Fertilization rates and the number of top quality embryos did not differ between the two groups. The pregnancy and implantation rates were significantly higher in Group A compared to Group B (respectively p < 0,05 and p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS:
For the first time, we propose a cut off value in the proportion of sperms with nuclear vacuolization on the total of sperm in seminal samples, and demonstrate a relationship between SNV and clinical outcomes after ICSI. The SNV rate could be introduced as an easy diagnostic evaluation prior to perform an ICSI cycle
Lower sperm DNA fragmentation after r-FSH administration in functional hypogonadotropic hypogonadism
Full text linkAbstract
PURPOSE:
An observational clinical and molecular study was designed to evaluate the effects of the administration of recombinant human FSH on sperm DNA fragmentation in men with a non-classical form of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia.
METHODS:
In the study were included 53 men with a non-classical form of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. In all patients, sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP) in situ DNA nick end-labelling (TUNEL) assay, was evaluated before starting the treatment with 150 IU of recombinant human FSH, given three times a week for at least 3 months. Patients' semen analysis and DNA fragmentation index were re-evaluated after the 3-month treatment period.
RESULTS:
After recombinant human FSH therapy, we did not find any differences in terms of sperm count, motility and morphology. The average DNA fragmentation index was significantly reduced (21.15 vs 15.2, p 15 %), while no significant variation occurred in the patients with DFI values ≤15 %.
CONCLUSIONS:
Recombinant human FSH administration improves sperm DNA integrity in hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia men with DNA fragmentation index value >15 %
A large catabolic plasmid carries the genes for the dehalogenation of 4-chlorobenzoate in arthrobacter ramosus FG1
No full textHPV infection in male partners of infertile couples seems to not affect seminal parameters
No full text[P-057] HPV infection in male partners of infertile couples seems to not affect seminal parameters
A.M. Brucculeri1, G. Ruvolo1, L. Giovannelli2, R. Schillaci3, E. Cittadini1, G. Scaravelli4, A. Perino3. 1Centro di Biologia della Riproduzione, Centro di Biologia della Riproduzione, Palermo, Italy; 2University of Palermo, Dipartimento di Scienze per la Promozione della Salute, Palermo, Italy; 3University of Palermo, Dipartimento Materno Infantile, Palermo, Italy; 4Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy
Introduction: Human papilloma viruses (HPV) are agents of the most common sexually transmitted disease. This small DNA viruses induce epithelial cell proliferation and high risk HPV types have been associated with cancers of the anogenital mucosa in men and women.
Since it was demonstrated the presence of the virus in semen (Rintala M.A. et al., 2004), there is a growing interest on impact of HPV infection on male fertility and reproductive function. While data from recent studies suggest a possible role of HPV as a cause of miscarriage in couples undergoing assisted reproduction techniques cycles (Perino A. et al. 2011), the effect of infection on semen parameters is still a controversial topic. Some authors reported that seminal HPV infection was associated with reduced sperm motility (Lai Y.M. et al. 2007; Foresta C. et al. 2010) while other authors did not find any effects on sperm quality (Rintala M.A. et al., 2004).
The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of human papillomavirus on semen quality parameters in patients who attended our fertility clinic.
Matherial and Methods: A cohort of 316 male partner of couple undergoing IVF/ICSI were investigated for HPV infection and seminal samples were collected to evaluate semen parameters according to WHO (2010) manual. The presence of HPV DNA was researched by the combined use of two HPV assays, namely, the INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping kit (Innogenetics N.V., Ghent, Belgium), based on the combined use of SPF10 PCR and LiPA hybridisation (Kleter, 1999); and a highly sensitive nested PCR assay, with the PGMY09/11 and GP05 + /GP06 + primer pairs, followed by direct sequencing of PCR products for HPV genotyping (Giovannelli, 2004). HPV types were considered as low-risk (LR)- or high-risk (HR) oncogenic types, according to two recently published classifications of HPV types (Munoz, 2003; de Villiers, 2004). Statistical analysis of data was performed by Chi Square test using Pearson's Product Moment Coefficient and a p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: No statistically significant difference was found in sperm parameters in HPV-infected and in non-infected semen samples. Mean number of sperm ( ± SD) was 29.8 × 106/mL ( ± 24.9), and 25.9 × 106/mL ( ± 25.8), respectively, in HPV positive and HPV negative men. HPV-infected and non-infected semen samples had similar rapid/slow progressive motility (mean ± SD) (35.2% ± 19 vs 28.4 ± 20.3) and non progressive motility (18.5 ± 11.01 vs 20.6 ± 13.2). We found no relationship between HPV infection and sperm normal morphology (60% in negative HPV patients and 62.3% in HPV positive ones).
Conclusion: According to data from Rintala et al., our results suggest that HPV infection causes no clinically significant alteration of semen parameters.
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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