During the recent two decades, a remarkable drop in fertility rates has been noticed almost all over the world. A series of studies have showed that environmental factors had the primary role causing the observed adverse trends in the male reproductive health problems. Especially chlorinated hydrocarbons, for instance polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and pesticides, could mimic or antagonize the effects of steroid hormones, like estrogens and androgens and possibly interfering with male reproductive capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe a patient with uterine rupture in the subsequent pregnancy after hysteroscopic resection of a uterine septum.
Design: Case report.
Setting: University hospital.
Some epidemiological studies suggested the occurrence of an alteration in the male reproductive function in the past 50 years, particularly a decrease in the sperm count and quality, an increase in the malformations frequency of the reproductive apparatus (cryptorchidism and hypospadias) and of testicular cancers. Especially according the laboratory animals studies, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) have been suspected to play a crucial and deleterious role in the alteration of human fertility. For this reason, we measured adipose tissue concentrations of PCDDs/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs in 23 fertile and 22 infertile men living in Ankara, Turkey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile the correlation between the CAG repeat length of the androgen receptor (AR) gene and idiopathic male infertility is still unclear, ethnic background of the population studied may play an important role in this association. The objective of this study was to determine whether changes in the CAG repeat length are associated with spermatogenic defects in Turkish infertile men. Reproductive hormone concentrations and the CAG repeat length in exon 1 of the AR gene in 47 idiopathic infertile men and 32 fertile controls were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull Environ Contam Toxicol
January 2003