To determine whether semen quality in Slovenians has changed over 14 years (1983–96), we analysed retrospectively the semen of 2343 healthy men with a normal spermiogram, who were partners of women ...with tubal infertility included in the IVF‐ET programme. Age at semen collection, duration of sexual abstinence, semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, percentage of spermatozoa with progressive motility, and normal morphology were determined. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the changes in sperm characteristics according to the year of semen collection, year of the man's birth and the duration of sexual abstinence. Semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm count and total sperm motility did not change between 1983 and 1996, whereas between 1988 and 1996 rapid progressive sperm motility decreased by 0.95% per year (p < 0.0001). Semen volume, sperm concentration, and sperm count increased with duration of sexual abstinence. After adjustment for the year of semen collection and duration of sexual abstinence, multiple regression analysis showed that sperm concentration decreased by 0.67% per each successive year of birth (p = 0.03). Thus the sperm concentration decreased from 87.6 × 106/mL in men born in the 1940s to 77.3 × 106/mL in those born between 1956 and 1960. After 1960, sperm concentration was found to increase. In 2343 healthy men, no decline in semen quality, except in rapid progressive motility, was observed in the study period. Lower sperm concentration was found among men born between 1950 and 1960. This could be related to worse socio‐economic status, stress or negative environmental factors in this time period.
Elastase-inhibitor complex was assessed by immunoassay in the seminal plasma of 312 men attending the outpatient infertility clinic. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, ...elastase at the cut-off value of > or =290 ng/ml was shown to be efficient (sensitivity 79.5%, specificity 74.4%) in the detection of genital tract inflammation as defined by leukocytospermia (>1x106 leukocytes/ml). The prevalence of increased elastase in 292 infertile men was significantly higher (34%) as compared with that (5%) observed in 20 fertile men (P = 0.02). Moreover, high elastase concentration (> or =290 ng/ml) was observed in 66 of the 264 men (25%) without leukocytospermia. A significant positive correlation was found between elastase concentration and patient age (r = 0.202, P < 0.0001) and the number of leukocytes (r = 0.330, P < 0.0001). A negative correlation was found between elastase concentration and semen volume (r = -0.146, P = 0.01) and the percentage of spermatozoa with single-stranded DNA (r = -0.194, P = 0.024), but there was no correlation between elastase and sperm reactive oxygen species production. A higher seminal elastase concentration was significantly associated with tubal damage in female partners (P < 0.001). After norfloxacine antibiotic therapy, decrease in elastase concentration was observed in 15 (25%) of the 60 treated patients. Tubal damage in the partner negatively affected the response to antibiotic therapy. In conclusion, granulocyte elastase is a reliable screening test for silent genital tract inflammation of the couple. The elastase-inhibitor complex may have a protective effect in reducing sperm DNA denaturation.
Insulin resistance is a common characteristic of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who are known to differ in their in-vitro fertilization outcomes compared to non-PCOS patients. As insulin ...resistance can be found in a considerable proportion of normal individuals, we assessed its contribution to ovarian responsiveness and fertilization rate. 26 non-PCOS patients undergoing IVF for the first time were investigated. Insulin resistance was evaluated by using a euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp technique. According to multiple regression analysis insulin sensitivity, expressed as insulin stimulated glucose disposal rate, during euglycemic clamp (r = -0.81, p < 0.05 and r = -0.89; p < 0.01) and basal estradiol level (r = -0.54; p < 0.05 and r = -0.56; p < 0.05) appeared significant negative predictors of the number of fertilized oocytes and embryos, respectively. Furthermore, basal glucose level appeared independently as a significant positive predictor of the number of fertilized oocytes and the number of embryos. (r = 0.90; p < 0.01 and r = 0.96; p < 0.01 respectively). We conclude that blood glucose concentration and insulin resistance respectively are independent predictors of IVF outcome.
The growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) axis seems to play an important role in ovarian responsiveness. Recently IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) serum concentrations have been ...reported to be a good marker of GH/IGF-I axis activity. In view of this finding, we measured IGFBP-3 serum concentrations in 29 women undergoing in-vitro fertilization. We found a significant correlation among IGFBP-3 serum concentrations and markers of ovarian stimulation including efficacy index, serum oestradiol concentrations and the number of follicles on the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) administration. The results of our study add additional evidence to the importance of the GH/IGF-I system in regulating ovarian responsiveness to gonadotrophin stimulation.
Spine-based coordinate system Vrtovec, T.; Likar, B.; Pernus, F.
2005 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology 27th Annual Conference,
2005, Letnik:
2005
Conference Proceeding, Journal Article
Traditional techniques for analyzing tortuous anatomical structures (e.g. arteries, colon, spine) in the coordinate system of the 3D image generally do not provide sufficient or qualitative enough ...diagnostic information, because planar cross-sections do not follow curved paths along the structures. To overcome this shortcoming, images in the coordinate system of the structure must be created. We propose a transformation from standard image-based to a novel spine-based coordinate system. The origin and axes of the proposed spine-based coordinate system are determined on the curve that represents the vertebral column, and the rotation of the vertebrae around the spine curve, both of which are described by polynomial models. The optimal polynomial parameters are obtained in an image analysis based optimization framework. The method has been evaluated on five CT spine images
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