In this paper we examine influencing factors and changes of perceived longitudinal user experience. An implemented mobility app for Berlin was tested in a three month field trial. The app offers unique features for bicyclists and integrates a gamification concept. The study consisted of three game phases. Each phase was completed by a demographic and a user experience questionnaire. Possible di...

BACKGROUND Infertility affects approximately 10-15% of reproductive-age couples. Poor semen quality contributes to about 25% of infertile cases. Resulting from the direct effect on testicular function or hormonal alterations, heavy metals exposure has been related to impaired semen quality. The objective of this study was to assess the level of lead in the seminal plasma in men without occupati...

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate whether individual personality or temperamental qualities that emerge early and persist over the life course, predict adult midlife health. Specific childhood personality attributes considered include distress proneness, behavioral inhibition, and ability to stay focused on a task. Design: Prospective data are from 569 individuals followed from...

Throughout the world, cattle producers are interested in identifying the most fertile bulls, whether for use in AI or natural service. Unfortunately, although researchers and clinicians have tried for “nearly a century to develop techniques to accurately predict the fertility of a semen sample from an individual male, the goal has not been achieved” (Amann and Hammerstedt 1993). Why? This is du...

BACKGROUND Large studies on semen quality of the general healthy population from China are rare. METHODS A cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the semen quality of 1346 healthy men residing in Chongqing area of southwest China in 2007. The semen parameters were measured and compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. A linear regression model was used to examine th...

Exposure at the working place to various substances, that may affect semen quality is possible and should be investigated in detail. One appropriate method for this is computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) which offers multiple benefits in comparison to manual evaluation. However, several pitfalls exist, which make the evaluation of data obtained from CASA difficult to interpret. In the prese...

Some previous studies have identified bacteria in semen as being a potential factor in male infertility. However, only few types of bacteria were taken into consideration while using PCR-based or culturing methods. Here we present an analysis approach using next-generation sequencing technology and bioinformatics analysis to investigate the associations between bacterial communities and semen q...

In captivity, male Asian elephants often yield poor quality semen after transrectal manually assisted semen collection; however, the reasons for the disappointing semen quality are not clear. Here we test the hypothesis that accumulation of senescent spermatozoa is a contributory factor, and that semen quality can therefore be improved by more frequent ejaculation. To this end we investigated t...

OBJECTIVE To investigate semen quality in infertile men from an urban population over an 18-year period. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Andrology clinic at a city university hospital. PATIENTS A total of 9,327 men were referred to the clinic for infertility investigation. After excluding those with azoospermia, 7,780 samples were evaluated. INTERVENTION(S) Semen samples were analyz...