Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 118

Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 118 consecutive infertile couples in whom the man presented with clinical varicocele and isolated

asthenospermia (less than 50% motile sperm). All couples were presented with possible treatment options (observation, varicocelectomy, assisted reproductive technologies). The clinical characteristics and outcomes of 2 subgroups of men-those who elected to undergo surgery (varicocelectomy, 69) and those who did not (49)-were examined and compared.

Results: Mean male and female patient age, duration of infertility and baseline total motile sperm count were not significantly different in the control and surgery groups. The Selleckchem MLN2238 mean total motile sperm count increased significantly after varicocelectomy (29.6 million preoperatively vs 39.0 million postoperatively, p < 0.05). The spontaneous pregnancy rate was significantly higher in the surgery group compared to the control group (65% vs 32%, respectively, p < 0.01). The combined spontaneous and intrauterine insemination pregnancy rate was also significantly higher in the surgery group compared to the control group (74% vs 36%, respectively, p < 0.01). Use of in vitro this website fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection was significantly higher in the control group compared to the surgery group (32% vs 11%, respectively, p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Our data

support the practice of varicocelectomy for the treatment of clinical varicocele and isolated Sitaxentan asthenospermia.”
“Recent research has indicated that processing different kinds of action verbs, such as those related to arm

or leg movements (e.g. grab, kick), engages regions along the motor strip responsible for the execution of the corresponding actions. It has been proposed that this activation reflects action-related meaning and that these regions are automatically triggered whenever action words are encountered. However, this view is not universally shared by cognitive studies that have shown that the representation of verbs is highly dependent on the interactions with the semantic context. We investigated these views in a set of fMRI studies, in which participants performed a movement localiser task and listened to arm- and leg-related verbs that were presented in isolation (e.g. kick), in literal sentences (as in kick the ball) and idiomatic sentences (as in kick the bucket). We found significant activation in motor regions when action verbs were presented in isolation, and, to a lesser extent, in literal sentential contexts. When the same verbs were presented in idiomatic contexts, activation was found in fronto-temporal regions, associated with language processing, but not in motor and premotor cortices. These results suggest that motor responses were context-dependent, rather than automatic and invariable.

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