Sperm are highly specialized cells adapted to achieve a single goal: fertilize an egg. Along the road to fertilization sperm must embark on a lengthy journey to the female oviduct, avoiding several fatal stresses that occur when they pass through different physiological environments.
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Although infertility is widely acknowledged as a crisis for individuals and couples, it is less recognized as a trauma that impacts their families. Yet, involuntary childlessness is an inter-generational crisis that has the ability to strain, even damage, family relationships over time by impairing communications and interactions. Invisible losses, such as miscarriages, failed medical treatments,
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From in-vitro fertilization to miscarriages to infertility, trying to get pregnant can be a painful process for many women — and their partners, too. New research is shedding light on the role that food plays in fertility, and how it can affect not just your waistline but your chances of getting pregnant too. A Harvard University
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Whether naturally or through IVF, conception usually requires an egg and a sperm to get things started. But now, researchers from the Netherlands have managed to skip that step and grow model mouse embryos by combining stem cells instead.
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An estimated 10 percent of couples in the U.S. struggle with infertility. While a variety of factors can make it difficult for some people to get pregnant, ovulation disorders are a leading cause of female infertility. Now, researchers at Pennsylvania State University have found
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As the third largest global epidemic, fertility issues are much more common than people realize — yet very few people are talking about it. With 1 in 8 couples affected by infertility, there’s a growing interest in fertility treatments, including egg freezing and in vitro fertilization (IVF).
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Sex education shouldn’t be about scaremongering, but it must acknowledge that many couples have problems conceiving How easy is it to get pregnant? Judging by the scaremongering sex education I received,
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In humans and other mammals, the female reproductive cells — the eggs or oocytes — need nourishment in order to grow and remain fertile. It is known that the egg gets its food from little arm-like feeding tubes (called filopodia) that jut out from tiny cells surrounding the egg and must poke through a thick
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