Introduction According to the estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), the reproductive ill health accounts for 33% of the total disease burden in women as compared to 12.3% for men. Despite this significant figure, in many South Asian countries the magnitude of reproductive morbidity has not been adequately defined. Maternal health event provides enough time to take requisite precauti...

Genetic maps provide a critical link between genes and phenotypes and are essential tools in the search for the genetic basis of variation in reproductive traits. Genes coding for hormones, growth factors, receptors, binding proteins, transcription factors and enzymes that influence the development and function of the reproductive axis have been assigned to genetic maps of ruminants and locatio...

Approximately 40-50 β-defensins are predominantly expressed in the male reproductive system of mammals. This selective expression raises the question as to the roles of these molecules in innate immunity and fertility in the male reproductive tract. Rat β-defensin 22 is an epididymis-specific β-defensin expressed in segments 12-14 of the epididymis. This protein contains both β-defensin and lec...

There is still some uncertainty with regard to the reliability of the genetic correlations between measurements of testes and epididymis and reproduction. The aim of this review is to examine testicular and epididymal morphometric characteristics as indicators of reproductive ability of farm animals. Morphometric analysis of the testes of any species or breed is necessary in assessing and estim...

Introduction Reproductive performance has greater impact on beef economic returns than does either growth rate or product quality (Trenkle and Wilham, 1977). In most cow-calf operations, females still conceive via the natural breeding bull (Godfrey and Lunstra, 1989). Thus the reproductive capabilities of bulls are of paramount importance. These capabilities are largely influenced by one or mor...

Ultraviolet solar radiation is a well-known environmental health risk factor and the use of sun lotions is encouraged to achieve protection mainly from skin cancer. Sun lotions are cosmetic commercial products that combine active and inactive ingredients and many of these are associated with health problems, including allergic reactions and endocrine disorders. This review focuses on their abil...

BACKGROUND Kallmann syndrome (Kal S) is an isolated form of hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism in combination with a defect in smell sensation. Depending on the genetic form of the disease, a number of non-reproductive, non-olfactory abnormalities may also be existent. In the present report, we describe a male with Kal S associated with hearing loss, and the successful treatment of his sexual and r...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND People have the right to make choices regarding their own sexuality, as far as they respect the rights of others. The knowledge of those rights is critical to youth's ability to protect themselves from unwanted reproductive outcomes. Reproductive health targeted Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved without improving access to reproductive health. This study...

In a variable yet predictable world, organisms may use environmental cues to make adaptive adjustments to their phenotype. Such phenotypic flexibility is expected commonly to evolve in life history traits, which are closely tied to Darwinian fitness. Yet adaptive life history flexibility remains poorly documented. Here we introduce the collembolan Folsomia candida, a soil-dweller, parthenogenet...

Multiple mating by females establishes the opportunity for postcopulatory sexual selection favoring males whose sperm is preferentially employed in fertilizations. Here we use natural variation in a wild population of Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the genetic basis of sperm competitive ability. Approximately 101 chromosome 2 substitution lines were scored for components of sperm compet...