Shmuel Segal

Hyperprolactinemic Male Infertility

Serum prolactin was studied in 25 fertile and 127 infertile men. The latter included 91 oligospermic, 27 azoospermic, and 9 hypogonadotropic hypogonadal men. The mean prolactin level in all three groups of infertile men was significantly above that of the fertile group. There was no correlation among serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, sperm count, and serum prolactin values. Hyperprolactinemia was found in five patients (two oligospermic, one azoospermic, and two hypogonadotropic hypogonadal men). Bromocriptine, 2.5 mg twice daily, suppressed hyperprolactinemia. In one man with hyperprolactinemic oligospermia, treatment with bromocriptine yielded significant improvement in sperm count (to normal values).

Oral contraceptives and liver hemangioma: a case-control study

Objective.u2002 To study whether there is an epidemiological association between liver hemangiomas and oral contraception use, as may be suggested by clinical observations of liver hemangioma growth during pregnancy and under estrogen administration.

Volume And Shape Of Normal Human Spermatozoa

An improved apparatus for measuring the electrical size of particles, developed in this laboratory and based on the principle of the Coulter counter, is used to size human spermatozoa. The typical size distribution is unimodel, with a skew to the right. The actual quantity determined by the measuring system is electrical size (i.e., shape factor X volume); in order to extract the volume, it is necessary to obtain an independence measure of particle shape. This is done by estimating the relative contributions of each part of the spermatozoon, and gives a weighted value for the shape factor of 1.28. The mean value of spermatozoa from 25 normal human seminal fluid specimens is found to be 17.4+/-1.46 cu micronm and the modal volume, 15.2+/-1.27 cu micronm. These values are compared with data reported in the literature after correcting the latter for the effects of particle shape. Zaponin does not affect the cell volume distributions, even when used in high concentrations, provided measurements are carried out within the hour.

Serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in fertile and subfertile men.

High levels of serotonin and 5-HIAA were found in the urine of a group of 102 oligospermic and azoospermic men. These levels were significantly higher than those of normal fertile men.

Size and Size Distribution of Subfertile Human Spermatozoa**Supported in part by a grant from the Joint Research Fund of the Hebrew University and Hadassah.

An improved apparatus for measuring the electrical size (shape factor times volume) of particles based on the Coulter counter principle was used to characterize 110 subfertile semen specimens; size distributions were attainable in the 97 cases with a count above 1 x 10(6) spermatozoa/ml. The typical size distribution was unimodal and positively skewed. Spermatozoa maintained a constant profile during their passage through the orifice of the sizing apparatus, with an effective shape factor of 1.28. Two groups of cells were found. The larger one consisted of 68 specimens with a modal volume of 18.1 +/- 2.0 cu micron and a cell count of 27.5 +/- 9.2 x 10(6) spermatozoa/ml (mean +/- 1 SD). The smaller group contained 29 cases and had a modal volume of 6.6 +/- 0.9 cu micron and a count of 10.2 +/- 7.8 x 10(6). Samples with cell counts below 10 x 10(6) spermatozoa/ml tended to have low modal volumes (less than one-half the normal), but those above showed no particular trend.