Sperm counts in enzymatically liquefied cervical mucus: quantitative validation using donor cervical mucus

The post-coital test evaluates the penetration of spermatozoa into cervical mucus; it relies on subjective meaurements and therefore lacks precision. Enzymatic liquefaction of cervical mucus allows sperm concentration to be measured in post-coital test samples, but the reliability of such measurements is not known. Donor cervical mucus was used as a model to test the accuracy and sensitivity of sperm quantification in liquefied cervical mucus. Donor cervical mucus was dissolved by enzymatic treatments in the presence of known numbers of spermatozoa and the recovery of sperm cells was assessed after liquefaction of the samples. Enzymatic treatment of cervical mucus with a combination of bromelin and glycosidases resulted in reliable and fast liquefaction of the samples. The accuracy of sperm concentration measurements was 89±10% (mean±SD, n=50), and the sensitivity limits were 1×106 and 0.2×106 spermatozoa/ml for quantitative concentration measurement and qualitative sperm detection respectively. This study demonstrates that liquefaction of cervical mucus by combined protease and glycosidases allows accurate and sensitive determination of sperm concentration in the sample. Therefore we believe that valuable data can be obtained for sperm concentration and total sperm counts in post-coital tests, that should help to improve the reliability of the post-coital tes

Quantitative post-coital test: sperm counts in cervical mucus after enzymatic liquefaction

The post-coital test involves direct microscopic examination of sperm number and motility in cervical mucus. The results depend on the quality of the mucus and the distribution of spermatozoa within the sample. To progress from such qualitative data to quantitative measurements of the spermatozoa present in post-coital mucus, we have developed methods to measure sperm concentrations in enzymatically liquefied post-coital cervical mucus. The mucus score and sperm motility were measured prior to mucus liquefaction, and, together with sperm concentration, they allowed the calculation of the total number of motile spermatozoa present. A combination of bromelin and glycosidases proved to be more efficient in achieving reliable mucus liquefaction than treatment with bromelin alone, and was used to liquefy a series of 36 post-coital test samples. Total sperm numbers ranged between 19×103 and 16.8×106. Of the samples, 75% contained<3×106 spermatozoa, and 39% contained <1×106 spermatozoa. Sperm motility was very high in these samples, except for a distinct subset of samples (19%) in which the total sperm motility was markedly decreased (<20%). The measurement of sperm concentration in liquefied cervical mucus will help to determine normal values for the post-coital test, and to estimate the number of motile spermatozoa reaching the upper female genital trac

Impacto da urbanização nas cheias urbanas

O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é o de desenvolver instrumentos que auxiliem o planejamento da ocupação do solo de uma bacia urbana, levando em consideração seus efeitos sobre a macro-drenagem, com a finalidade de evitar os problemas crescentes de deterioração da qualidade de vida devido às enchentes. Especificamente: a) se caracterizou a urbanização, através de relações entre parâmetros hidrológicos e de planejamento urbano; b) se aprimorou o modelo IPH IV para a quantificação do impacto da urbanização sobre o escoamento, através da incorporação de técnicas de sensoriamento remoto e geoprocessamento; c) se avaliou um caso particular: o impacto da urbanização na bacia do arroio Dilúvio em Porto Alegre-RS. A pesquisa fornece subsídios para que engenheiros, arquitetos, urbanistas e outros profissionais e entidades ligadas ao planejamento do crescimento urbano possam estabelecer critérios e/ou medidas preventivas para condicionar o processo de ocupação e expansão das cidades de forma harmônica com a capacidade do sistema de macro-drenagem. Mais uma contribuição significativa desta pesquisa, são os procedimentos propostos para a aquisição de dados sobre a cobertura e uso do solo da bacia a partir da tecnologia espacial. O sucesso desses procedimentos não se manifestou apenas na precisão, baixo custo e rapidez para se obterem as informações, mas também pela possibilidade que a tecnologia de sensoriamento remoto oferece para acompanhar a dinâmica da paisagem urbana. Finalmente, com relação à urbanização da bacia do arroio Dilúvio foi evidenciada uma situação crítica. Se os índices máximos de urbanização fixados pela legislação vigente fossem atingidos, a macrodrenagem da bacia não teria capacidade suficiente para escoar os excessos superficiais. Ainda que significativas as contribuições desta pesquisa para a hidrologia urbana, muitos avaliações deixaram de ser feitas, principalmente pela falta de dados hidrológicos. Assim o aprimoramento de qualquer técnica ou avaliação no âmbito da uma bacia urbana, está na dependência de se monitorarem bacias com estas características.This work presents some tools oriented to help the planning of land use in urban basins, following a major drainage network approach. This aims to prevent the increasing decay of life quality caused by urban floods. The main issues are: a) establishing relationships between hydrological parameters and urbanization characteristics; b) by introducing remote sensing and GIS tools, a new, improved version of the IPH4 model was developed, oriented to quantify the impact of urbanization over runoff; e) a case study, the Arroio Diluvio basin, in Porto Alegre, RS. The results obtained are useful as guidelines for engineers, architects, urbanists and other persons or institutions, so they can establish rules and/or take preventive measures, ensuring that the urbanization process will be compatible with the major drainage network capacity. One of the most interesting achievements are the techniques proposed for land use and soil cover data acquisition, using satellite imagery. These tools are not only accurate, cheap and quick, but they are also capable to follow the dynamics of urban landscapes. A critical situation was detected in the Diluvio basin. If the maximum urbanization allowed by law were attained, the discharge would overflow the channel capacity. Even though many useful results were achieved, in some cases a more complete analysis was not possible, because of the lack of hydrological data. The improvement or development of criteria and tools depends on adequate measurements, carried along with the urbanization process

Human seminal plasma inhibits brain nitric oxide synthase activity

Nitric oxide is a chemical messenger which functions as a neurotransmitter or as a cytotoxic agent. Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) has been isolated from various mammalian reproductive tissues* The presence or absence of NOS in spermatozoa has not yet been reported. We therefore tested human and marine spermatozoa for NOS activity by measuring the conversion of argmine to citmlline. No activity was found either in human or in murine spermatozoa. Human native semen and human seminal plasma exerted an inhibition on brain NOS activity, as assayed on rat brain cytosolic fractions. This inhibitory effect was dependent on the amount of protein present in the human seminal plasma. No inhibitory effect was observed when homogenates of washed spermatozoa were tested. The human seminal plasma did not affect the Michaelis constant (Km) of NOS for L-arginine (endogenous NOS substrate) whereas the maximal velocity (Vmax) was reduced, suggesting that it contains a non-competitive inhibitor of brain NOS. This inhibitory component was virtually insensitive to heat; a 10 min treatment to 95°C only slightly reduced its ability to inhibit brain NOS. The physiological relevance of our observations remains to be elucidated. Human seminal plasma may exert an inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis on cells other than spermatozoa or on cells from the male or female genital tract, modulating directly or indirectly (via modulation of reactive oxygen species formation) the functional state of the spermatozo

Chromatin packaging and morphology in ejaculated human spermatozoa: evidence of hidden anomalies in normal spermatozoa

This study aimed to investigate the association between anomalies in sperm chromatin packaging, morphology and fertilization in patients undergoing routine in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or subzonal insemination (SUZI). Sperm chromatin packaging was assessed using chromomycin A3 (CMA3), a fluorochrome specific for guanine-cytosine rich sequences of DNA. One hundred to 150 sperm cells were assessed in 55 patients to compare sperm chromatin packaging and morphology to fertilization after IVF or SUZI. When the morphology and CMA3 fluorescence of individual spermatozoa was assessed, >75% of the macrocephalic sperm fluoresced in all patients. In contrast a mean of 37% of the spermatozoa with normal morphology fluoresced in IVF patients compared with 58% of the normal spermatozoa in male factor patients treated by SUZI. SUZI patients displaying a high fluorescence (>70%) in their spermatozoa also had a significantly lower fertilization rate. Lower packaging quality in morphologically normal spermatozoa may represent a major limiting factor in the fertilizing ability of male factor patients. This study confirms that a high percentage of CMA3 positivity is present in certain forms of male factor infertility and that such a test may be used to distinguish separate populations in morphologically normal spermatozo

Intrauterine insemination: evaluation of the results according to the woman's age, sperm quality, total sperm count per insemination and life table analysis

We report on 332 infertile couples who underwent 1115 cycles of intrauterine insemination (IUI) with washed husband's semen. The indication for IUI was an abnormal post-coital test due to either a male or cervical infertility factor. The mean number of IUI cycles per patient was 3.4, the overall pregnancy rate 18, 7%, and the pregnancy rate per cycle 5.6%. The cumulative pregnancy rate calculated by life table analysis showed that 16.0% of pregnancies occurred in the first three treatment cycles, while the cumulative pregnancy rate was 26.9% by the sixth cycle. The outcome of the therapy was adversely affected if the woman's age was >39 years and/or total motile sperm count per insemination was <1X106. No pregnancy occurred in women older than 44 years or in cases with a total motile sperm count before semen preparation of <1X10

E-learning for research capacity strengthening in sexual and reproductive health: the experience of the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research and the Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization

Abstract: Technological advancement has resulted in the increasing use of e-learning and online education, initially in high-income countries and increasingly in low- and middle-income countries. Background: In 2010, the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and partner institutions, developed an online postgraduate course “From Research to Practice: Training Course in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research”. This course takes advantage of the advancing Internet technology to provide training opportunities to health professionals mostly from low- and middle-income countries whose access to quality education is constrained by time, financial resources, or both. Case presentation: To assess the outcomes of the course, an evaluation was conducted by sending a self-administered questionnaire to graduates of the 2010–2012 programme. The objectives were to determine if the graduates had applied the knowledge gained from the course to their work and whether they had implemented their research project developed during the course. The evaluation also appraised the number of graduates who participated in the design or implementation of a new research project since the course concluded and whether the course had contributed to advancement in their careers. A total of 175 of 219 course graduates answered the questionnaire. The evaluation revealed that the majority of respondents (98%) had utilized the knowledge acquired, with nearly half of them (47%) having published a scientific paper as author or co-author. About a third of respondents (39%) had implemented their course research project and about three quarters of them (74%) have been involved in the design or implementation of a research project after completing the course. Over three quarters (81%) of respondents opined that the course had contributed to their career advancement and almost half of them (46%) had a career promotion as a direct or indirect benefit of the course. Conclusion: We surmise that the course positively impacted the participants’ knowledge and understanding of sexual and reproductive health, which they applied in their professional work, as well as strengthened their research capacity. Success factors for the e-learning programme include tailor-made content to meet participants’ needs, flexibility of access, and ongoing engagement/personal interactivity with course coaches

Sexuality, partner relations and contraceptive practice after termination of pregnancy

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of termination of pregnancy (TOP) on women's sexual well-being, the couple and contraceptive practice. In a prospective qualitative and quantitative study, 103 women undergoing induced abortion by vacuum aspiration were interviewed before the abortion and 6 months later. The interview was performed by means of a questionnaire including open and closed questions, and two psychological tests (Locke-Wallace and Horowitz). After TOP, the majority of women did not report changes in their sexual behavior and satisfaction. Eighteen per cent of women reported a decrease in sexual desire and 17% reported orgasmic disorders. About one-third of women described psychosomatic symptoms, but a minority were traumatized by the event. Ninety-eight per cent of the women were informed about, and had practiced, contraception in the past; 69% had actually used some kind of contraception during the menstrual cycle that had resulted in pregnancy (31% had had unprotected intercourse). Six months later, 83% practiced contraception, and only 17% did not. Fourteen out of 84 couples separated after TOP (one in six). Six months after TOP, the large majority of women interviewed seemed able to cope with TOP. A minority presented some persisting sexual dysfunction and/or some psychosomatic symptoms. [Authors]]]> Abortion, Induced ; Contraception Behavior ; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological ; Sexual Partners ; Sexuality ; Stress, Psychological oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_37502 2022-05-07T01:15:20Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_37502 Accès aux soins pour tous en Suisse: une réalité? Duc, J.-L. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2003 AJP/PJA, pp. 539-544 oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_37503 2022-05-07T01:15:20Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_37503 Après le rejet de la deuxième révision de la LAMal par le Conseil national et le changement intervenu à la tête du Département fédéral de l'intérieur. Duc, J.-L. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2003 AJP/PJA, pp. 631-640 oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_37504 2022-05-07T01:15:20Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_37504 Prévoyance professionnelle - Examen de deux situations particulières. Duc, J.-L. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2003 SZS, pp. 339 ss oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_375046944AC9 2022-05-07T01:15:20Z openaire documents urnserval <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_375046944AC9 Do sensation seeking and aggression traits moderate the association between peer influence and alcohol outcomes among young Swiss men? info:doi:10.1080/16066359.2017.1310847 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1080/16066359.2017.1310847 Grazioli, Véronique S. Gmel, Gerhard Mohler-Kuo, Meichun Daeppen, Jean-Bernard Bertholet, Nicolas Studer, Joseph info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2018-01-02 Addiction Research &amp; Theory, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 52-62 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1606-6359 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1476-7392 <![CDATA[Peer influence is a strong predictor of drinking behaviors, yet not all young adults respond to its influence in the same way. This study aimed to identify young adults who are more vulnerable to peer influence by prospectively examining whether sensation seeking and aggression traits moderate the associations between peer influence and alcohol use and related consequences among young male drinkers. Participants (N=4,624 participants) were young Swiss men from the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors. Measures of peer influence (i.e. descriptive norms and peer pressure to engage in misconduct), sensation seeking, aggression and alcohol use and related consequences were used from the baseline and 15-month follow-up assessments. Findings indicated that neither sensation seeking nor aggression significantly moderated the associations between peer influence and alcohol-related consequences. However, they revealed that sensation seeking and aggression had a moderating effect on the association between peer influence and total drinks per year, such that this association was overall stronger among participants scoring lower on personality traits. These findings suggest that young male drinkers with low scores on sensation seeking and aggression may benefit from stand-alone selective interventions targeting peer influence, whereas those scoring higher on these personality traits may rather benefit from programs that include interventions targeting both peer influence and personality risk factors of drinking behaviors