We thank Mr Ron Driver of Luton College for statistical advice, and our practice staff for their patience. 1 Johnson G, Roberts D, Brown R, Cox E, Evershed Z, Goutam P, et al. Infertile or childless by choice? A multipractice survey of women aged 35 and 50. BM3 1987;294:804-6. 2 Greenhall E, Vessey M. The prevalence of subfertility: a review of the current confusion and a report oftwo new studi...

Health risk of human exposure to microcystin-leucine arginine (MC-LR) has aroused more and more attention over the past few decades. In the present study, MC-LR was orally administered to female mice at 0, 1, 10 and 40 μg/L for three and six months. We found that chronic exposure to MC-LR at environmental levels could stimulate follicle atresia and lead to decreased developmental follicles, acc...

Current thought in reproductive endocrinology suggests hat endometriosis-associated subfertility may be the result of an adverse influence of activated immunocompetent cells on fertilization and embryo development. Inflammatory ediators such as interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis actor have been implicated in the pathophysiology of this process. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect ...

Background: Cesaraen section (CS) rates have risen rapidly throughout the developed world during the last 20 years and now stand at approximately one birth in five . Many factors have contributed to this rise , including maternal choice, increased maternal age and more liberal use of the procedure for women with previous CS , breech and multiple pregnancy. Cocerns have been expressed about the ...

BACKGROUND A varicocele is an, almost exclusively left-sided, varicosity of the pampiniform plexus of the spermatic cord, forming a tangle of distended blood vessels in the scrotum. Although the concept that varicocele causes male subfertility and therefore varicocelectomy cures male subfertility has been around for almost fifty years now, the mechanisms by which varicocele would affect fertili...