1,721,010 research outputs found
Should HCV discordant couples with a seropositive male partner be treated with assisted reproduction techniques (ART)?
No full textObjective: The debate on HCV discordant couples requiring assisted reproduction is still open today, and specific guidelines have not yet been established on whether or not physicians should treat HCV discordant couples who require ART. We studied the results of our reproductive assistance with sperm washing in HCV discordant couples, all treated in a single center, including the serological status of mothers and babies, and the outcome of the pregnancies. Study design: Prospective study conducted between January 2008 and December 2010 in our Reproductive Center in Sacco Hospital, University of Milan. Thirty-five HCV serodiscordant infertile couples with an HCV viremic positive male partner were enrolled. All of them completed the immuno-virological and fertility triage, and were treated according to our clinical protocols. Results: Forty-seven superovulation and IUI and 38 second-level ART procedures are reported. The pregnancy rates for IUI and ICSI are similar to those reported by the Italian ART register. All the 85 sperm samples were treated with sperm washing technique to reduce HCV in semen and the possible risk of transmission. We did not observe any preterm delivery or negative perinatal outcome. No mothers or babies are infected by HCV. Conclusion: This is the biggest prospective study conducted in a single center involving HCV discordant infertile couples in an ART program. Although sexual transmission of HCV is very low, in subfertile or infertile couples sperm washing should be used to treat HCV positive semen before ART. We suggest that it is not necessary to perform nested PCR to detect HCV RNA in the final swim-up. Since the presence of HCV in semen implies a possible risk of nosocomial contamination, safety regulations must be strictly applied in assisted reproduction laboratories
HCV-RNA detection in different fractions of HCV/HIV-1 co-infected men by nested PCR
No full textNON DISPONIBIL
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
Should HCV chronic infection impairer male fertility?
No full textBACKGROUD:
It is estimated that about 3% of world population is affected by HCV virus. Most of affected male is during reproductive age. The sexual way of infection is doubtful even now. It is estimated that HCV RNA is presented in semen in 11% - 31.6% of cases.
HCV RNA has been found in semen plasma and in not-spermatic cells, but not in sperm before and after swim-up.
Aim of our study is to evaluate the HCV patients’ semen parameters compared to WHO 2010 semen parameters.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
It is an observational study that include 58 patients following by our Fertility Center located in Luigi Sacco Hospital, in Milan, during 2010 to 2015. This patients’ group was affected by HCV chronic infection, nobody had hepatitis B, HIV or genital infections.
All semen analysis was performed by the same biologist and in the same laboratory, after 3-5 days of sexual abstinence.
RESULTS:
Population’s study characteristics are described in the table 1.
Patients 58
Age 43±6
Virus values 4810174
(range 1020-36091104)
Way of infectious
Unknown 58 (100%)
TABLE 1
Table 2 shows results of comparison between patients HVC RNA positive and WHO fertile reference group.
HCV male group presents median semen parameters significant lower than median semen parameters according to WHO 2010 values.
About 50% of HCV patients have morphology’ and motility’s values below the fifth percentile of WHO reference values.
Semen parameters HCV
patients
(n=58) Lower limit parameter WHO Population
WHO Patients (%)
Outside reference WHO parameter
P value
Volume (ml) 2,5
(0,5-6)
1,5 3,7 34,5 <0,05
Sperm concentration (106/ml) 24,5
(0-123)
15 73 27,6 <0,05
Total sperm count
(106) 54,5
(0-297,5)
39 255 32,8 <0,05
Progressive
Motility 34(0-60)
32 55 48,3 <0,05
Normal
Morphology (%) 5 (1-27)
4 15 50 <0,05
TABLE 2
CONCLUSION:
Our study provides evidence that all semen parameters of HVC-positive men are impaired comparing to WHO 2010 reference values and therefore a possible altered fertility in this group.
Oxidative stress as a host response to HCV core protein and reactive oxidative species produced could damage sperm DNA and alter sperm quality.
Concluding our Fertility center strongly suggests reproductive counselling in all couples with HCV male partner who desire a pregnancy
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