Male infertility

Question 1

What do pathophysiological conditions impact?

Answer 1

Male fertility.

Question 2

What is less widely recognised?

Answer 2

That male factors contribute to 50% of cases of infertility.

Question 3

What is recommended?

Answer 3

A full medical history of the couple.

Question 4

What is varicocele?

Answer 4

A varicose vein in the scrotum.

Question 5

For what is the the counter current heat exchange necessary?

Answer 5

To help keep the testis cooler than body temperature.

Question 6

Why does counter current heat exchange that help to keep the testis cooler than body temperature not work efficiently?

Answer 6

Because varicocele is essential for that.

Question 7

What is nutrient and waste exchange equally?

Answer 7

Impaired.

Question 8

Why is the nutrient and waste exchange impaired?

Answer 8

So the testis are likely to suffer greater stress.

Question 9

What does greater stress affect?

Answer 9

Spermatogenesis.

Question 10

In what does hypogonadotropic hypogonadism result?

Answer 10

In failed puberty.

Question 11

Why does hypogonadotropic hypogonadism result in failed puberty?

Answer 11

Due to low testosterone.

Question 12

What do elevated temperature and physical damage impair?

Answer 12

Spermatogenesis.

Question 13

What do bacterial and viral infections cause?

Answer 13

Elevated stress .

Question 14

Why do bacterial and viral infections cause elevated stress?

Answer 14

Due to direct damage.

Question 15

What are some examples of bacterial and viral infections that cause elevated stress?

Answer 15

LPS from bacteria.
Reactive oxygen species stress.
Inflammation from the immune response.

Question 16

What is Kalmann syndrome?

Answer 16

A well recognised genetic condition.

Question 17

About what is there an increasing awareness?

Answer 17

About the contribution of genetic defects.

Question 18

What do genetic defects affect?

Answer 18

Spermatogenesis.

Sperm specific proteins.

Question 19

What can drugs and alcohol lower?

Answer 19

Testosterone levels.

Question 20

What factor do anabolic steroids mimic?

Answer 20

Testosterone.

Question 21

What do anabolic steroids cause?

Answer 21

Negative feedback into the hypothalamus and pituitary.

Question 22

What do anabolic steroids switch off?

Answer 22

Natural production of GnRH and gonadotropins.

Question 23

What does chemotherapy target?

Answer 23

Rapidly dividing cells.

Question 24

What happens to spermatogonia when chemotherapy targets dividing cells?

Answer 24

They are damaged.

Question 25

What can occur as a consequence in male infertility?

Answer 25

Observable/measurable defects.

Question 26

What is Azoospermia?

Answer 26

A deficit/loss of sperm production.

Question 27

How is sperm morphology characterised as an assessment on sperm features?

Answer 27

Very subjective.

Question 28

What is Globozoospermia?

Answer 28

The production of sperm with abnormal heads and no acrosome.

Question 29

What can sperm with Globozoospermia not do?

Answer 29

Fertilise.

Question 30

What is Asthenozoospermia?

Answer 30

Sperm with poor motility.

Question 31

How many cases of male infertility have no obvious cause?

Answer 31

Up to 30%.

Question 32

How much should semen volume be for examination of semen range?

Answer 32

Above 1.5ml. | With a pH of 7.2.

Question 33

What should be investigated if volume is low?

Answer 33

Congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens.

Question 34

How much should sperm concentration be?

Answer 34

At least 15ml.

Question 35

How much of sperm showing progressive forward motility should be?

Answer 35

Above 32%.

Question 36

How much should total motility be?

Answer 36

Above 40%.

Question 37

What do observed morphological abnormalities impact?

Answer 37

Fertility.

Question 38

How many men with complete absence of normal form can achieve pregnancy naturally?

Answer 38

Approximately one third.

Question 39

What does embroscope do?

Answer 39

Takes image of developing embryos in culture. | Uses an algorithm to predict which ones are developing normally.

Question 40

For how long has computer assisted sperm analysis existed?

Answer 40

For a long time.

Question 41

What does the algorithm track?

Answer 41

The sperm movement.

Question 42

What does the algorithm give?

Answer 42

Various readings on the pattern. | Speed of sperm movement.

Question 43

What are the main parameters in the reading pattern of sperm movement?

Answer 43

Straight line velocity. Average path velocity. Curvilinear velocity. Amplitude of lateral head displacement.

Question 44

In what can the parameters of sperm movement reading be useful?

Answer 44

In diagnosing asthenozoospermia.

Question 45

To where do the molecular defects contribute?

Answer 45

To the hitherto unknown causes of male infertility.

Question 46

What are 2 prominent examples of causes of male infertility?

Answer 46

Mutations in the sperm ion channel CatSper. | Loss of PLC-zeta.

Question 47

Where can loss of acrosome function be measured?

Answer 47

In the laboratory.

Question 48

What does the western blot show?

Answer 48

A complete lack of PLC-zeta in globozoospermia cases. | One failed fertilisation case.

Question 49

What do further studies support?

Answer 49

Loss of PLC-zeta as a cause of total failed fertilisation at IVF.

Question 50

What do infertile men have?

Answer 50

More sperm with very low or failed acrosome reaction rates.

Question 51

What are the three assisted reproductive technology treatment pathways?

Answer 51

IUI. IVF. ICSI.

Question 52

With what does the success of all treatment pathways decrease?

Answer 52

With age of the woman who is using her own eggs.

Question 53

By what do the key events encounter?

Answer 53

By sperm as they travel from the testes to the egg.

Question 54

What is the association between ART procedure and the length of the dashed lines?

Answer 54

The more complex the ART procedure the greater the length of the dashed lines.

Question 55

What does IUI mean?

Answer 55

Intrauterine insemination.

Question 56

What do the mutations in genes cause?

Answer 56

Production of CatSper.

Question 57

What is CatSper?

Answer 57

A very complex channel.

Question 58

Of what does CatSper consist?

Answer 58

At least 10 subunits.

Question 59

What mutations in genes are found in humans?

Answer 59

Mutations in genes for subunits 1 2 and epsilon.

Question 60

With what is a microdeletion in exon 18 of the CatSper auxiliary subunit epsilon gene associated?

Answer 60

With loss of CatSper function in sperm.

Question 61

In what does loss of CatSper function in sperm result?

Answer 61

In infertility.

Question 62

In what does homozygous 6-base pair in frame deletion in exon 18 of CATSPER EPSILON result?

Answer 62

In a loss of Methionine799 and Alanine800 in the putative extracellular domain of CATSPER EPSILON protein.

Question 63

In what does the loss of Methionine799 and Alanine800 in the CATSPER EPSILON protein result?

Answer 63

In production of ICatSper-null sperm.

Question 64

What do ICatSper-nullsperm not have?

Answer 64

Overt signs of sperm dysfunction.

Question 65

Tow hat does P4 fail?

Answer 65

To elicit an increase in calcium concentration in cell populations.

Question 66

How is male infertility diagnosis beyond hormonal and crude semen assessment characterised?

Answer 66

Limited.

Question 67

Thanks to what are novel causes slowly being reported?

Answer 67

To combined phenotypic and genetic analysis.

Question 68

What is the challenge of male infertility?

Answer 68

To find new methods of treating the male that doesn't involve also treating the female.