Fertility - Infertility

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Fertility and Infertility

Risk Factors

NEWS:

Antidepressants 'may harm sperm' “Drugs taken by millions of men to alleviate depression may affect their fertility, say US scientists. A small number of healthy men given the antidepressant paroxetine for four weeks had far higher levels of sperm with damaged DNA. “

Being too fat 'can damage sperm' “Obese men have poorer quality sperm, perhaps because too much fat around their testicles causes them to heat up, scientists have suggested. University of Aberdeen researchers looked at the sperm of over 2,000 men in couples having problems conceiving. The heaviest men had a higher proportion of abnormal sperm, as well as other problems. The scientists told a European fertility conference losing weight probably boosted fertility. “

Cell phones can affect sperm quality, researcher says “Keeping a cell phone on talk mode in a pocket can decrease sperm quality, according to new research from the Cleveland Clinic.”

Coffee 'worsens poor fertility' “Drinking too much coffee can lower the odds of a woman with fertility problems getting pregnant, a study suggests. Dutch researchers followed 9,000 women who had received IVF to see if they fell pregnant naturally. Around one in seven did, but drinking more than four cups of coffee a day cut chances of conceiving by around 26%. Experts said the findings, presented to a European conference, only applied to women with poor fertility who wanted to maximise their chances of pregnancy. “

Diabetes Linked To Male Infertility; Excess Sugars In The Body Have Direct Effect On Sperm Quality

Fertility problems may be partially inherited “Young men whose parents had difficulty conceiving are likely to have relatively poor sperm quality, a new study shows -- offering evidence that fertility problems are at least partly inherited in some cases. The study, of 311 Danish men ages 18 to 21, found that those whose parents took longer than one year to conceive tended to have a lower sperm count and fewer normal-looking sperm. The findings are consistent with the notion that fertility problems have at least some heritable causes, lead researcher Dr. Cecilia H. Ramlau-Hansen told Reuters Health. “

Low Folate Levels May Harm Sperm: Prospective dads might want to up their intake of the nutrient, study suggests “The benefits of folate for women in preventing birth defects are well known, but new research suggests the nutrient also boosts sperm health. Men with relatively low levels of folate had increased risks for sperm containing either too few or too many chromosomes, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. These types of deficiencies can cause birth defects and miscarriages, the experts noted. Folate is one of the B vitamins and is found in leafy green vegetables, fruit and beans, chickpeas and lentils. By law, breads and grains sold in the United States are also now specially fortified with added folate to help ward off birth defects.“

Low Sperm Count May Be Associated With Prenatal Testosterone Excess

Male Infertility: Changing Conceptions

Male Painters Exposed To Fertility Damaging Chemicals “Men working as painters and decorators who are exposed to glycol ethers are more likely to have poor semen quality, according to research carried out by scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester. ... Glycol ethers are widely used in many products including water-based paints - a product used by many painters and decorators.”

Men Who Smoke Prone to Impotence: The greater the number of cigarettes smoked, the greater the risk, studies find “If heart disease, stroke and certain cancers haven't been reason enough for men to quit smoking, consider this: The habit also increases the risk of erectile dysfunction. In fact, emerging research shows that men with a pack-a-day habit are almost 40 percent more likely to struggle with erectile dysfunction than men who don't smoke. "Smoking delivers nicotine and other vasoconstrictors that close down the blood vessels" of the penis, explained Dr. Jack Mydlo, chairman of urology at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital in Philadelphia.“

Obese men have worse sperm quality than leaner men “Obese men are more than three times as likely to have low sperm counts compared with their normal-weight peers, a study out this month in the journal Fertility and Sterility shows. The heaviest men were also at triple the risk of having a low count of progressively motile sperm -- sperm that swim forward in a straight line, Dr. Ahmad O. Hammoud of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and colleagues found.”

Soy Linked to Low Sperm Count “Eating half a serving of soy food a day lowers sperm concentrations and may play a role in male infertility, particularly in obese men, Harvard University researchers report. The reason for this relationship between soy and sperm count isn't clear. However, researchers speculate that soy increases estrogen activity, which may have a negative affect on sperm production and also interfere with other hormonal signals. "There have been a lot of interest in estrogen and isoflavones in particular and a potential relationship to fertility and other reproductive disorders," said lead researcher Dr. Jorge Chavarro, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Research in animals has shown that isoflavones and estrogen can have a potentially negative affect on reproduction, including decreased fertility, Chavarro said. However, there is very little evidence of how these findings apply to humans, he said. … "When patients are overweight, the fat tissue converts male hormones to more female hormones," Sadeghi-Nejad said. "So, it is possible that the combination of this estrogenic source [soy] and the extra internal estrogen that is caused by the conversion of androgen to estrogen through the fat has a more deleterious effect in that group of patients." “

ARTICLES:

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

A pilot study associating urinary concentrations of phthalate metabolites and semen quality. (Syst Biol Reprod Med. 2008) “Results suggest that ambient phthalate metabolite concentrations may adversely affect human semen quality.”

Basic infertility including polycystic ovary syndrome. (Med Clin North Am. 2008)

Cadmium, Lead, and Other Metals in Relation to Semen Quality: Human Evidence for Molybdenum as a Male Reproductive Toxicant (Environmental Health Perspectives 2008)

Chlamydia trachomatis Infection as a Risk Factor for Infertility among Women in Ghana, West Africa. (Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2008) “The adjusted odds ratios were 2.1 and 2.8, respectively. Our data suggest that previous C. trachomatis infections may contribute to infertility in Ghanaian women.”

Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women with secondary infertility. (Fertil Steril. 2008) “CONCLUSION(S): Prevalence of past chlamydial infection is strongly statistically significant in women with secondary infertility. Current infection was also found statistically significantly in these women. Immunoglobulin G antibody detection is an effective and noninvasive tool for detection of Chlamydia and a more viable option than HSG in a developing country such as India. Screening of women with secondary infertility for C. trachomatis is strongly recommended to allow early therapeutic interventions.”

Chronic bacterial prostatitis (NIH type II): diagnosis, therapy and influence on the fertility status. (Andrologia. 2008)

Clinical relevance of oxidative stress in male factor infertility: an update. (Am J Reprod Immunol. 2008)

Evidence that obesity alters the quality of oocytes and embryos. (Pathophysiology. 2008) “Infertility is more common in overweight and obese women, with reproductive impairments occurring at many levels of the hypothalamic-ovarian-uterine axis. These impairments lead primarily to longer times to conception and decreased pregnancy rates and have resulted in increasing numbers of overweight and obese women seeking assisted reproduction technologies, such as in vitro fertilization or IVF. Even after undertaking IVF procedures obese women have decreased pregnancy rates compared to moderate weight women, suggesting there may be intrinsic differences in the oocytes of these patients.”

[Genetic causes of male infertility] (Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2008) “Klinefelter syndrome, 47, XXY, and microdeletion in AFZ (azoospermia factor) c on the long arm of the Y chromosome are the most common genetic causes of male infertility. Both are present in about 10-15% of males with azoospermia. Other important genetic causes are cystic fibrosis and androgen insensitivity syndrome. Men with azoospermia may become fathers using new reproductive techniques. The infertility may therefore be passed on to the next generation.”

Genital tract infections and infertility. (Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2008)

Human semen quality and sperm DNA damage in relation to urinary metabolites of pyrethroid insecticides. (Hum Reprod. 2008) “CONCLUSIONS We found evidence for reduced semen quality and increased sperm DNA damage in relation to urinary metabolites of pyrethroid insecticides. These findings may be of concern due to increased pyrethroid use and prevalent human exposure.”

Impact of male obesity on infertility: a critical review of the current literature. (Fertil Steril. 2008)

Male Genital Tract Chlamydial Infection: Implications for Pathology and Infertility. (Biol Reprod. 2008)

Motorcycle Exhaust Induces Reproductive Toxicity and Testicular Interleukin-6 in Male Rats. (Toxicol Sci. 2008) “The present findings show that ME causes male reproductive effects and induces testicular IL-6 in rats by mechanisms involving induction of oxidative stress and inhibition of steroidogenesis.”

Oxidative stress and male infertility—a clinical perspective (Human Reproduction Update 2008) “Male factor infertility accounts for up to half of all cases of infertility and affects one man in 20 in the general population (McLachlan and de Kretser, 2001). Evidence now suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated damage to sperm is a significant contributing pathology in 30–80% of cases (Iwasaki and Gagnon, 1992 ; Zini et al., 1993 ; Ochsendorf, 1994; Shekarriz et al., 1995a , b ; Agarwal et al., 2006a ). ROS, defined as including oxygen ions, free radicals and peroxides, cause infertility by two principal mechanisms. First, ROS damage the sperm membrane which in turn reduces the sperm's motility and ability to fuse with the oocyte. Secondly, ROS directly damage sperm DNA, compromising the paternal genomic contribution to the embryo. Despite the common association between compromised sperm quality and oxidative damage, men are rarely screened for oxidative stress nor treated for this condition. Instead they are usually offered ‘mechanical’ treatments such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI) or intrauterine insemination (IUI). This is less than optimal as oxidative damage to sperm DNA is not directly ameliorated by either IVF-ICSI or IUI treatment. In addition, direct treatment of oxidative stress may allow for natural conception, thereby conserving scarce medical resources. This review will provide an overview of who is at risk of oxidative stress, the mechanisms by which oxidative stress produces infertility and the methods available for its diagnosis and treatment.”

PCOS and infertility. (Panminerva Med. 2008)

Sexually transmitted infections: impact on male fertility. (Andrologia. 2008)

Sperm DNA damage in men from infertile couples. (Asian J Androl. 2008)

The impact of pesticides on male fertility. (Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2008)

The Metabolic Syndrome and Male Infertility. (J Androl. 2008)

The role of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in male infertility. (Fertil Steril. 2008)

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