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Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in which a single sperm cell is injected directly into the cytoplasm of an egg. This technique is used in order to prepare the gametes for the obtention of embryos that may be transferred to a maternal uterus. With this method, the acrosome reaction is skipped.
Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species. It is the normal state of a human child or other young offspring, because they have not undergone puberty, which is the body's start of reproductive capacity.
Bronchiectasis is a disease in which there is permanent enlargement of parts of the airways of the lung. Symptoms typically include a chronic cough with mucus production. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing up blood, and chest pain. Wheezing and nail clubbing may also occur. Those with the disease often get lung infections.
The vas deferens, with the more modern name ductus deferens, is part of the male reproductive system of many vertebrates. The ducts transport sperm from the epididymis to the ejaculatory ducts in anticipation of ejaculation. The vas deferens is a partially coiled tube which exits the abdominal cavity through the inguinal canal.
Kallmann syndrome (KS) is a genetic disorder that prevents a person from starting or fully completing puberty. Kallmann syndrome is a form of a group of conditions termed hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. To distinguish it from other forms of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, Kallmann syndrome has the additional symptom of a total lack of sense of smell (anosmia) or a reduced sense of smell. If left untreated, people will have poorly defined secondary sexual characteristics, show signs of hypogonadism, almost invariably are infertile and are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis. A range of other physical symptoms affecting the face, hands and skeletal system can also occur.
A varicocele is an abnormal enlargement of the pampiniform venous plexus in the scrotum. This plexus of veins drains blood from the testicles back to the heart. The vessels originate in the abdomen and course down through the inguinal canal as part of the spermatic cord on their way to the testis. Varicoceles occur in around 15% to 20% of all men. The incidence of varicocele increase with age.
Azoospermia is the medical condition of a man whose semen contains no sperm. It is associated with male infertility, but many forms are amenable to medical treatment. In humans, azoospermia affects about 1% of the male population and may be seen in up to 20% of male infertility situations in Canada.
Terms oligospermia, oligozoospermia, and low sperm count refer to semen with a low concentration of sperm and is a common finding in male infertility. Often semen with a decreased sperm concentration may also show significant abnormalities in sperm morphology and motility. There has been interest in replacing the descriptive terms used in semen analysis with more quantitative information.
Y chromosome microdeletion(YCM) is a family of genetic disorders caused by missing genes in the Y chromosome. Many men with YCM exhibit no symptoms and lead normal lives. It is present in a significant number of men with reduced fertility. Reduced sperm production varies from oligozoospermia, significant lack of sperm, or azoospermia, complete lack of sperm.
Male infertility refers to a sexually mature male's inability to impregnate a fertile female. In humans it accounts for 40–50% of infertility. It affects approximately 7% of all men. Male infertility is commonly due to deficiencies in the semen, and semen quality is used as a surrogate measure of male fecundity. More recently, advance sperm analyses that examine intracellular sperm components are being developed.
Female infertility refers to infertility in women. It affects an estimated 48 million women, with the highest prevalence of infertility affecting women in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa/Middle East, and Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Infertility is caused by many sources, including nutrition, diseases, and other malformations of the uterus. Infertility affects women from around the world, and the cultural and social stigma surrounding it varies.
Testicular sperm extraction (TESE) is a surgical procedure in which a small portion of tissue is removed from the testicle and any viable sperm cells from that tissue are extracted for use in further procedures, most commonly intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as part of in vitro fertilisation (IVF). TESE is often recommended to patients who cannot produce sperm by ejaculation due to azoospermia.
Azoospermia factor (AZF) is one of several proteins or their genes, which are coded from the AZF region on the human male Y chromosome. Deletions in this region are associated with inability to produce sperm. Subregions within the AZF region are AZFa, AZFb and AZFc. AZF microdeletions are one of the major causes of male infertility for azoospermia and severe oligozoospermia males. AZF is the term used by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee.
Sertoli cell-only syndrome is a disorder characterized by male sterility without sexual abnormality. It describes a condition of the testes in which only Sertoli cells line is present in seminiferous tubules.
Protein boule-like is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BOLL gene.
Williams–Campbell syndrome (WCS) is a disease of the airways where cartilage in the bronchi is defective. It is a form of congenital cystic bronchiectasis. This leads to collapse of the airways and bronchiectasis. It acts as one of the differential to allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. WCS is a deficiency of the bronchial cartilage distally.
Klinefelter syndrome (KS), also known as 47,XXY, is an aneuploid genetic condition where a male has an additional copy of the X chromosome. The primary features are infertility and small, poorly functioning testicles. Usually, symptoms are subtle and subjects do not realize they are affected. Sometimes, symptoms are more evident and may include weaker muscles, greater height, poor motor coordination, less body hair, breast growth, and less interest in sex. Often, these symptoms are noticed only at puberty. Intelligence is usually average, but reading difficulties and problems with speech are more common.
Obesity is defined as an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more over an individual's ideal body weight. This is often described as a body mass index (BMI) over 30. However, BMI does not account for whether the excess weight is fat or muscle, and is not a measure of body composition. For most people, however, BMI is an indication used worldwide to estimate nutritional status. Obesity is usually the result of consuming more calories than the body needs and not expending that energy by doing exercise. There are genetic causes and hormonal disorders that causes people to gain significant amounts of weight but this is rare. People in the obese category are much more likely to suffer from fertility problems than people of normal healthy weight.
Ranjith Ramasamy is Director of the Reproductive Urology Fellowship program at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Handelsman DJ, Conway AJ, Boylan LM, Turtle JR (January 1984). "Young's syndrome. Obstructive azoospermia and chronic sinopulmonary infections". N. Engl. J. Med. 310 (1): 3–9. doi:10.1056/NEJM198401053100102. PMID 6689737. S2CID 19418407.
- 1 2 Young syndrome at NIH 's Office of Rare Diseases
- 1 2 Young's syndrome - General Practice Notebook
- ↑ Definition: Young syndrome from Online Medical Dictionary
- ↑ Young, M (January 2003). "Obituary of Donald Herron Young". BMJ. 326 (7382): 226. doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7382.226/g. PMC 1125087 .
- ↑ Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM): Young syndrome - 279000
- ↑ Blackwell, Aaron D.; Tamayo, Marilyne A.; Beheim, Bret; Trumble, Benjamin C.; Stieglitz, Jonathan; Hooper, Paul L.; Martin, Melanie; Kaplan, Hillard; Gurven, Michael (2015). "Helminth infection, fecundity, and age of first pregnancy in women". Science. 350 (6263): 970–972. doi:10.1126/science.aac7902. PMC 5953513 . PMID 26586763.
- Lau KY, Lieberman J (June 1986). "Young's syndrome. An association between male sterility and bronchiectasis". West. J. Med. 144 (6): 744–6. PMC 1306774 . PMID 3727536.
