Word: sperms
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...happens, they were wrong. Says Gynecologist Howard Jones, who, together with his wife, Endocrinologist Georgeanna Seegar Jones, founded the first American in-vitro program at Norfolk in 1978: "It turns out that if you get the sperm to the egg quickly, most often you inhibit the process." According to Jones, the pioneers of IVF made so many wrong assumptions that "the birth of Louise Brown now seems like a fortunate coincidence...
...microscope to confirm that it contains an egg (the ovum measures only four-thousandths of an inch across). The ova are carefully washed, placed in petri dishes containing a solution of nutrients and then deposited in an incubator for four to eight hours. The husband, meanwhile, has produced a sperm sample. It is hardly a romantic moment, recalls Cleveland Businessman Popela, who made four trips to Cambridgeshire with his wife, each time without success. "You have to take the jar and walk past a group of people as you go into the designated room, where there's an old brass...
...sperm is prepared in a solution and then added to the dishes where the eggs are waiting. The transcendent moment of union, when a new life begins, occurs some time during the next 24 hours, in the twilight of an incubator set at body heat. If all goes well, several of the eggs will be fertilized and start to divide. When the embryo is at least two to eight cells in size, it is placed in the woman's uterus. During this procedure, which requires no anesthetic, Steptoe likes to have the husband present talking to his wife. "The skill...
...left ovary are blocked with scar tissue, ironically the result of an intrauterine device (I.U.D.) she used for three years. Even if an egg did manage to become fertilized, the embryo might be rejected by her uterus, which has been deformed since birth. Richard has his own difficulties: his sperm count is 6.7 million per milliliter, considerably below the number ordinarily required for fertilization under normal conditions. Says Diana: "I never thought getting pregnant would be so difficult...
Infertility is easier to trace in men, but often much harder to treat. The commonest problems are low sperm counts and blocked sperm ducts. Among all men, 15% have varicose veins on the left testicle, which can reduce sperm production. Certain drugs and chemicals such as insecticides can also lower sperm counts. A man's fecundity also decreases with age, although not with the dramatic finality of female menopause. Happily, the source of infertility in couples can be diagnosed 95% of the time, and half of all these cases can be treated...