sodium-ethylxanthate and Infertility

The observations in recent years that gonadotropin-releasing hormone ( pyroGlu1 -His2-Trp3- Ser4 -Tyr5- Gly6 -Leu7-Arg8-Pro9- G ly10NH2 [GnRH]) has considerable clinical efficacy as a contraceptive, an ovulation-inducing agent, and a drug that is useful in the therapy of a number of diseases are owed in no small part to advances that have been made in the basic molecular biology and physiology of this peptide. It is reasonable then that this symposium should be broken down into three separate yet integrated areas: 1) the molecular and cellular biology of GnRH, 2) the physiology of GnRH, and 3) the clinical efficacy of this compound. A number of recent advances have helped the progress of work in all three of these areas. The observation that substitution of a D-amino acid in the sixth amino acid position leads to considerable metabolic stability and reduced degradation of releasing hormone analogs has been especially useful. In addition, the observation that the further derivatization of such substituted compounds by deletion of the 10th amino acid and addition of an ethylamide group to Pro9 has resulted in compounds with a markedly increased ability to bind to the receptor. These compounds have been useful clinically and have allowed development of radioligand assays to be used in animal studies and in vitro. The availability of a large number of agonists and antagonists has allowed formulation of molecular models for GnRH and resulted in development of clinically useful compounds. In a short paper of this nature we cannot hope to provide an encyclopedic review; rather we hope to provide an overview and offer references to the literature for those who wish a more in-depth treatment.

Topics: Aging; Androgens; Animals; Calcium; Cells, Cultured; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Estrogens; Feedback; Female; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; Humans; Hypothalamus; Infertility; Insulin; Luteinizing Hormone; Macromolecular Substances; Male; Ovary; Pituitary Gland; Progestins; Rats; Receptors, Cell Surface; Receptors, LHRH; Reproduction; Sex; Testis

Multicellular Eukaryotes use a broad spectrum of sexual reproduction strategies, ranging from simultaneous hermaphroditism to complete dioecy (separate sexes). The evolutionary pathway from hermaphroditism to dioecy involves the spread of sterility alleles that eliminate female or male reproductive functions, producing unisexual individuals. Classical theory predicts that evolutionary transitions to dioecy are feasible when female and male sex functions genetically trade off with one another (allocation to sex functions is sexually antagonistic) and rates of self-fertilization and inbreeding depression are high within the ancestral hermaphrodite population. We show that genetic linkage between sterility alleles and loci under sexually antagonistic selection significantly alters these classical predictions. We identify three specific consequences of linkage for the evolution of dimorphic sexual systems. First, linkage broadens conditions for the invasion of unisexual sterility alleles, facilitating transitions to sexual systems that are intermediate between hermaphroditism and dioecy (androdioecy and gynodioecy). Second, linkage elevates the equilibrium frequencies of unisexual individuals within androdioecious and gynodioecious populations, which promotes subsequent transitions to full dioecy. Third, linkage dampens the role of inbreeding during transitions to androdioecy and gynodioecy, making these transitions feasible in outbred populations. We discuss implications of these results for the evolution of dimorphic reproductive systems and sex chromosomes.

Topics: Alleles; Biological Evolution; Infertility; Models, Biological; Sex; Sex Characteristics

Topics: Female; Fertility; Genital Diseases, Female; Greek World; Gynecology; History, Ancient; Humans; Infertility; Male; Manuscripts, Medical as Topic; Materia Medica; Sex

Child adoption in the face of reproduction gone awry continues to remain an under researched aspect of contemporary Indian reality. This paper seeks to unpack some of the critical cultural issues underscoring the deep-seated reluctance towards adoption. Drawing on a larger multi-sited research project examining the experience of infertility and assisted conception in India, the paper sheds light on the state of current adoption practices in India. Thus, when faced with infertility, couples in this research emerged as favouring secret gamete donation as a means of bypassing infertility rather than the option of adoption. Invoking the concept of systematic misrecognition, the paper situates the modalities of salvaging infertility, either through medically assisted conception or adoption, as structuring infertile people's quest for children. The paper relates the perceived stigma associated with infertility treatment and adoption with the inclusion of a "third party" that fractures the culturally conceptualized boundaries of family as inextricably tied to the conjugal bond. It is therefore argued that secrecy is born out of a need to obfuscate a "public and visible" violation of a culturally priced ideal that views an intimate connection between the "married body" and the progeny. Adoption continues to remain an undesirable option because the links between an adopted child and the social parent become a public, vocal, and visible admission of infertility that cannot be subsumed, like donated gamete conception, under a conspiracy of silence.

Topics: Adoption; Anthropology, Cultural; Attitude to Health; Confidentiality; Culture; Disclosure; Family; Female; Humans; India; Infertility; Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous; Interviews as Topic; Male; Sex; Social Control, Informal; Sociology, Medical; Taboo; Tissue Donors

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Female; Humans; Infertility; Libido; Male; Middle Aged; Nursing Care; Quality of Life; Sex; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological

Today, it is possible to alter man's biological data, especially by acting on the procreation data. Progress in techniques permitting the development of assisted births (from artificial insemination to test-tube babies, from surrogate mothers to frozen embryos) and in techniques leading to procedures on the genetic make-up itself, is breathtaking. Through an analysis of the various advances in human procreation, the author wonders about the mutation we are experiencing and its impact on the future.

Topics: Attitude; Contraception; Family Planning Services; Female; Fertilization in Vitro; Forecasting; Humans; Infertility; Male; Marriage; Sex

Topics: Cervix Mucus; Female; Humans; Infertility; Male; Retrospective Studies; Semen; Sex; Sperm Count; Sperm Motility

This study presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of the data gathered in the World Fertility Survey (WFS) for the 13 participating countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region. The article begins by examining recent and cumulative fertility, and making an effort to include data other than that of the WFS for purposes of error estimation. The presentation takes the form of short descriptions of recent fertility trends in each country, e.g. Costa Rica experienced a marked decline in the past 20-25 years, although the trend slowed during the mid-1970s, possibly because of some legal problems associated with contraceptive distribution, among other factors. Several other factors are then analyzed, which bear upon the explanation of trends and differentials in fertility. Sections on infecundity and childlessness, infant and child mortality, and sex preferences for offspring are included to make available a wider range of WFS comparative results. Examples of data included in tables are, in Paraguay, of couples desiring boys only, 43% are actually using contraceptives, while 59% of couples desiring girls only are actually using contraceptives. In Haiti, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, where the infant mortality is highest, almost 34% of deaths were of children aged 1-4, while in Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, where mortality has diminished most, only 22% of the deaths are in this group. Socioeconomic determinants of cumulative fertility are probed using a log-linear model. 3 proximate determinants of fertility: age at 1st union; contraceptive use; and lactational infecundity are examined and their contributions to fertility differentials assessed. Finally, the role of socioeconomic factors in determining these intermediate variables is analyzed.

Topics: Americas; Birth Rate; Caribbean Region; Central America; Demography; Developed Countries; Developing Countries; Economics; Fertility; Infant Mortality; Infertility; Lactation; Latin America; North America; Population; Population Dynamics; Research; Sex; Socioeconomic Factors; South America; Statistics as Topic

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived life, marital, and sexual satisfaction of married couples undergoing treatment for infertility. A survey research design was utilized involving the responses of 43 husband-wife pairs. The findings indicated that wives had a significantly lower level of satisfaction with life than their husbands and that there were significant relationships between husband-wife pairs for both marital and sexual satisfaction. In comparison to paired wives, the responses of 17 wives whose husbands chose not to respond to the survey indicated higher levels of dissatisfaction in all three dimensions of life satisfaction. Furthermore, a majority of the scores for this group indicated clinical levels of depression. It was evident that individuals, especially females, undergoing treatment for infertility experienced stress in various areas of their lives. Hence, suggestions are given to assist caregivers in their endeavor to enhance the quality of life for infertile couples.

Topics: Adult; Depression; Female; Humans; Infertility; Male; Marriage; Middle Aged; Personal Satisfaction; Sex; Sex Factors; Social Support; Stress, Psychological

Topics: Adult; Female; Humans; Infertility; Male; Sex; Sperm Count

Topics: Body Image; Counseling; Female; Humans; Infertility; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Neoplasms; Sex; Sex Education; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological

Topics: Abortion, Spontaneous; Female; Humans; Infertility; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Pregnancy; Sex; Sex Education; Sexual Behavior; Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Every aspect of the phenotype of the daughterless (2-41.5) maternal effect mutation was found to be strongly temperature sensitive. Above 22 degrees, da/da mothers produced no daughters; however female progeny did survive the da maternal effect if the last 60 hours of oogenesis and the first three hours of embryonic development took place at 18 degrees. The females which survived under these conditions displayed morphological abnormalities in a variety of adult cuticular structures, characterisitc of cell death during development. In contrast, their male siblings were morphologically normal. Upon prolonged exposure to 29 degrees, da/da females became sterile but continued to lay eggs. Some sexually mosaic progeny from da/da mothers survived even at 25 degrees, but the distribution and development of the female tissue in these mosaics were abnormal. It is suggested that there are multiple functions of the da+ gene during oogenesis, one of which may be required specifically for the subsequent survival of female cells throughout the embryo. In addition to and distinct from its effect during oogenesis, the da mutation acted in both sexes of progeny as a recessive temperature-sensitive lethal mutation with a TSP during the first half of embryonic development.

Topics: Animals; Crosses, Genetic; Drosophila melanogaster; Embryo, Nonmammalian; Female; Genes, Lethal; Genes, Recessive; Infertility; Male; Morphogenesis; Mosaicism; Mutation; Phenotype; Sex; Sex Ratio; Temperature

Topics: Coitus; Female; Genitalia; Germany; History, Medieval; Humans; Infertility; Italy; Male; Physiology; Reproduction; Science; Sex; Spermatozoa

Canadian society and social norms are generally pronatalist, proparental. The perceived meanings of parenthood and the nature of parents in Canadian society are compared with the perceived meanings of childlessness and the nature of childlessness. Having children is considered to be so-called "natural" behavior. Parents' masculinity and feminity are proven by their childbearing. Parenthood is also considered to be the meaning of marriage. Even Zero Population Growth members advocate 2-child rather than childless families.

Topics: Culture; Divorce; Female; Happiness; Humans; Infertility; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Marriage; Mental Health; Morals; Parents; Personality; Religion and Psychology; Role; Sex; Sexual Behavior; Social Adjustment; Social Behavior; Social Conformity

Topics: Community Health Services; Female; Genital Diseases, Female; Genital Diseases, Male; Humans; Infertility; Male; Sex; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological; Ukraine

Topics: Adult; Animals; Biological Assay; Female; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Humans; Infertility; Male; Menopause; Middle Aged; Rats; Sex

Topics: Adrenal Cortex Hormones; Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital; Adrenogenital Syndrome; Cholesterol; Enzymes; Female; Hydrocortisone; Hypersensitivity; Infertility; Infertility, Male; Metabolism; Pre-Eclampsia; Pregnancy; Sex; Urine

Topics: Animals; Humans; Infertility; Ruminants; Sex; Twins

Topics: Female; Feminization; Humans; Infertility; Male; Sex; Syndrome; Virilism

Topics: Animals; Cause of Death; Death; Genetic Phenomena; Heredity; Infertility; Psychomotor Agitation; Sex

Topics: Animals; Infertility; Male; Peromyscus; Sex

Topics: Fertility; Heredity; Humans; Infertility; Male; Sex; Sex Ratio; Spermatozoa

Topics: Female; Humans; Infertility; Sex; Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological; Spouses