An exploratory technique for measuring fertility norms.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
OBJECTIVE: To assess whether cigarette smoking in women or men affects the outcomes of IVF-ET and at what functional levels smoking is active. INTERVENTIONS: Demographic and smoking data were collected by questionnaire at the onset of consecutive treatment cycles (n = 462) and at the time of ET. In addition to routine endocrine and clinical data, circulating immunoreactive inhibin, follicular fluid E2 endometrial thickness, and morphology were assessed. Reported exposure to cigarettes was validated using a serum cotinine assay. RESULTS: Serum cotinine level at the onset of treatment correlated strongly with the number of cigarettes reported (r = 0.68). The duration and dose of gonadotropin treatment was greater among active smokers than never smokers: 10.2 versus 9.2 days and 24.7 versus 19.8 ampules, respectively. Fertilization, pregnancy, and abortion rates were similar between groups. Multivariate analyses demonstrated negative correlation between female age, but no such effect was seen with female or male smoking. Sperm concentration was significantly reduced in male smokers (prewash: 108 versus 130 x 10(6); postwash: 17.1 versus 21.6 x 10(6)), although fertilization rate was unaffected (66% versus 62%). Follicular function, assessed using serum inhibin and E2, as well as follicular fluid E2 levels showed no significant difference between active smokers and never smokers. Endometrial thickness and morphology also were similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that among couples undergoing IVF neither female nor male smoking has a measurable deleterious effect on conception rate. Female age remains a far more potent prognostic factor in the current study. However, when all the published data are combined, a significant deleterious effect of smoking on conception is suggested, with a common odds ratio of 0.540 (95% confidence interval 0.385 to 0.757).
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Four baboons were primed with diazotized beta human chorionic gonadotrophin and boosted with diazotized C-terminal beta human chorionic gonadotrophin peptide, and the changes in antibody amount and affinity determined using a double isotope modified Farr assay, using labelled human chorionic gonadotrophin as the antigen. The degree of cross-reaction with human luteinizing hormone was also determined. Although appreciable reactivity with luteinizing hormone was observed soon after immunization, this declined rapidly during the response. At the time intervals studied, there was a progressive increase in affinity of antibodies to human chorionic gonadotrophin until day 248 after priming. At day 313, in two of the animals, there was a decrease in affinity from 1.04 X 10(11) to 6.80 X 10(10) and 1.05 X 10(11) to 4.93 X 10(10) l/mol, whereas in the other two baboons there was a further increase in antibody affinity. At corresponding time intervals, there was a steady decrease in values of total antibody binding sites. To determine the overall effect of the maturation of affinity with a decrease in antibody amount on biological efficacy, the theoretical amount of chorionic gonadotrophin that would be neutralized was calculated. We computed that in all instances, over 99% of a peak concentration of chorionic gonadotrophin that could be in circulation in a pregnant baboon would be neutralized. This was in excellent agreement with results of mating experiments in these baboons. In over forty cycles studied, none of the matings resulted in a sustained pregnancy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Environmental effects on fertility measures early in lactation, such as the interval from calving to first luteal activity (CLA), proportion of samples with luteal activity during the first 60 days after calving (PLA) and interval to first ovulatory oestrus (OOE) were studied. In addition, traditional measurements of fertility, such as pregnancy to first insemination, number of inseminations per service period and interval from first to last insemination were studied as well as associations between the early and late measurements. Data were collected from an experimental herd during 15 years and included 1106 post-partum periods from 191 Swedish Holsteins and 325 Swedish Red and White dairy cows. Individual milk progesterone samples were taken twice a week until cyclicity and thereafter less frequently. First parity cows had 14.8 and 18.1 days longer CLA (LS-means difference) than second parity cows and older cows, respectively. Moreover, CLA was 10.5 days longer for cows that calved during the winter season compared with the summer season and 7.5 days longer for cows in tie-stalls than cows in loose-housing system. Cows treated for mastitis and lameness had 8.4 and 18.0 days longer CLA, respectively, compared with healthy cows. OOE was affected in the same way as CLA by the different environmental factors. PLA was a good indicator of CLA, and there was a high correlation (-0.69) between these two measurements. Treatment for lameness had a significant influence on all late fertility measurements, whereas housing was significant only for pregnancy to first insemination. All fertility traits were unfavourably associated with increased milk production. Regression of late fertility measurements on early fertility measurements had only a minor association with conception at first AI and interval from first to last AI for cows with conventional calving intervals, i.e. a 22 days later, CLA increased the interval from first to last insemination by 3.4 days. Early measurements had repeatabilities of 0.14-0.16, indicating a higher influence by the cow itself compared with late measurements, which had repeatabilities of 0.09-0.10. Our study shows that early fertility measurements have a possibility to be used in breeding for better fertility. To improve the early fertility of the cow, there are a number of important factors that have to be taken into account.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
As a result of the paucity of biological markers for both reproductive events and exposure to reproductive toxicants, it is likely that individual members of populations will be misclassified with respect to reproductive performance and xenobiotic exposure. A four-parameter computerized model of fertility (frequency of intercourse, male fecundity, female fecundity, and spontaneous abortion) was developed to explore the effect of misclassification of populations on several measures of fertility. The measures of fertility explored include cumulative percent pregnant, time to pregnancy, cycle specific fertility, and fecundability ratio. The cumulative percent pregnant and time to pregnancy appeared to be insensitive to small changes in reproductive competence. The fecundability ratio decreased in proportion to the size of population exposed to a reproductive toxicant. The three reproductive parameters, time to pregnancy, cumulative percent pregnant, and fecundability, do not appear useful as measures of reproductive heterogeneity in populations. The reproductive heterogeneity of a population was best defined by the change in cycle-specific fertility rate over the period of observation. These simulations suggest that the change in the cycle-specific fertility rate should be evaluated and comparable in all population groups over the period of observation to assure reproductive homogeneity.
A new fertility measurement, probability that a woman of specified parity and age will bear a given number of births in her remaining lifetime, is proposed in this article. The measurement is a summary index of a set of age-parity-specific birth probabilities and in a particular case it is conceptually analogous to the total fertility by birth order but free from the influence of the parity distribution. Fertility of American women for the period 1935-1968 was studied by use of such lifetime probabilities. It appears that the trend of fertility of high birth orders has been parallel with that of low orders. Initiation of the recent decline in fertility depends on parity and age of woman.
To influence the number of children ever born to a woman, socioeconomic variables must operate through behavioral and biological mechanisms such as the age at marriage, the level of fertility in the absence of deliberate fertility control, and the level of control exerted to reduce fertility within marriage. In this paper, we propose a new measure of cumulative fertility which is standardized for the age-fecundity relationship and for exposure to the risk of conception associated with duration of marriage. A simple model of fertility behavior which incorporates some of the mechanisms through which socioeconomic factors may affect fertility is developed and applied to data from the United States to demonstrate the properties of alternative measures of family size. The results indicate that use of the new measure allows more precise estimates of socioeconomic fertility relationships than would be obtained with children ever born or by sample stratification.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.