In colonial breeding species, preventive measures to reduce the risks of extra-pair copulations (EPCs) should reflect the actual risk perceived by males (e.g., proximity of neighbors, intrusions into the nest) mainly during the fertile period. In colonial vultures, specific studies examining the preventive measures that minimize the risks of EPCs occurring within the competitive context of colo...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of smoking on sperm vitality, sperm DNA integrity, semen reactive oxygen species, and zinc levels in fertile men. METHODS One-hundred sixty men were investigated. They were divided into 2 equal groups: healthy fertile nonsmokers and healthy fertile smokers. They were subjected to history taking, clinical examination, and semen analysis. In their semen, sperm hyp...

OBJECTIVE Over-the-counter vaginal lubricants have been shown to negatively affect in vitro sperm motility. The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of vaginal lubricant use during procreative intercourse on natural fertility. METHODS Women aged 30-44 years with no history of infertility who had been trying to conceive for less than 3 months completed a baseline questionnaire on...

Urogenital infection can influence the fertilization potential of the spermatozoa, which may lead to male infertility. The symptomatic urethiritis can change the semen parameters, however the role of asymptomatic urethirtis in fertility is still obscure. In this descriptive investigation, a total of 148 samples from urethra and semen of fertile as well as 146 samples from urethra and semen of i...

BACKGROUND Sexual problems have different effects on the life of people by influencing their interpersonal and marital relationships and satisfaction. Relationship between sexual dysfunctions and infertility can be mutual. Sexual dysfunction may cause difficulty conceiving but also attempts to conceive, may cause sexual dysfunction. OBJECTIVE This paper compares sexual dysfunction in fertile ...

Experts are divided on whether women's cognition and behavior differs between fertile and non-fertile phases of the menstrual cycle. One of the biggest criticisms of this literature concerns the use of indirect, imprecise, and flexible methodologies between studies to characterize women's fertility. To resolve this problem, we provide a data-driven method of best practices for characterizing wo...

The necrotrophic fungal pathogen Sclerotinia trifoliorum exhibits ascospore dimorphism and unidirectional mating type switching - self-fertile strains derived from large ascospores produce both self-fertile (large-spores) and self-sterile (small-spores) offsprings in a 4:4 ratio. The present study, comparing DNA sequences at MAT locus of both self-fertile and self-sterile strains, found four ma...

Previous studies on antisperm cell-mediated immunity (CMI) have been confounded by the presence of immunogenic leukocytes in sperm antigen preparations. In this study we isolated pure populations of viable spermatozoa on discontinuous Percoll gradients, and utilized sonicated and cavitated extracts, as well as live motile spermatozoa, to measure cellular immunity to spermatozoa in vasectomized ...