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Female Infertility
Female infertility refers to infertility in women. It affects an estimated 48 million women, with the highest prevalence of infertility affecting women in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa/Middle East, and Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Infertility is caused by many sources, including nutrition, diseases, and other malformations of the uterus. Infertility affects women from around the world, and the cultural and social stigma surrounding it varies. Cause Causes or factors of female infertility can basically be classified regarding whether they are Acquired disorder, acquired or genetic, or strictly by location. Although factors of female infertility can be classified as either acquired or genetic, female infertility is usually more or less a combination of nature and nurture. Also, the presence of any single risk factor of female infertility (such as smoking, mentioned further below) does not necessarily cause infertility, and even if a woman is definitely in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subfertility
Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to Sexual reproduction, reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species (mostly haplodiploid insects). It is the normal state of a human child or other young offspring, because they have not undergone puberty, which is the body's start of fertility, reproductive capacity. In humans, infertility is the inability to become pregnant after one year of unprotected and regular sexual intercourse involving a male and female partner.Chowdhury SH, Cozma AI, Chowdhury JH. Infertility. Essentials for the Canadian Medical Licensing Exam: Review and Prep for MCCQE Part I. 2nd edition. Wolters Kluwer. Hong Kong. 2017. There are many causes of infertility, including some that Assisted reproductive technology, medical intervention can treat. Estimates from 1997 suggest that worldwide about five percent of all heterosexual couples have an unresolved problem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tobacco Smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed to have begun as early as 5000–3000 BC in Mesoamerica and South America. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 17th century by European colonists, where it followed common trade routes. The practice encountered criticism from its first import into the Western world onwards but embedded itself in certain strata of a number of societies before becoming widespread upon the introduction of automated cigarette-rolling apparatus. Smoking is the most common method of consuming tobacco, and tobacco is the most common substance smoked. The agricultural product is often mixed with additives and then combusted. The resulting smoke is then inhaled and the active substances absorbed through the alveoli in the lungs or the oral mucosa. Many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primordial Follicles
:''Although the process is similar in many animals, this article will deal exclusively with human folliculogenesis.'' In biology, folliculogenesis is the maturation of the ovarian follicle, a densely packed shell of somatic cells that contains an immature oocyte. Folliculogenesis describes the progression of a number of small ''primordial follicles'' into large '' preovulatory follicles'' that occurs in part during the menstrual cycle. Contrary to male spermatogenesis, which can last indefinitely, folliculogenesis ends when the remaining follicles in the ovaries are incapable of responding to the hormonal cues that previously recruited some follicles to mature. This depletion in follicle supply signals the beginning of menopause. Overview The primary role of the follicle is oocyte support. From the whole pool of follicles a woman is born with, only 0.1% of them will rise ovulation, whereas 99.9% will break down (in a process called follicular atresia). From birth, the ovaries of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premature Ovarian Failure
Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) (also called premature ovarian insufficiency, premature menopause, and premature ovarian failure) is the partial or total loss of reproductive and hormonal function of the ovaries before age 40 because of folliclular (egg producing area) dysfunction or early loss of eggs. POI can be seen as part of a continuum of changes leading to menopause that differ from age-appropriate menopause in the age of onset, degree of symptoms, and sporadic return to normal ovarian function. POI affects approximately 1 in 10,000 women under age 20, 1 in 1,000 women under age 30, and 1 in 100 of those under age 40. A medical triad for the diagnosis is amenorrhea, hypergonadotropism, and hypoestrogenism. Physical and emotional symptoms include hot flashes, night sweats, dry skin, vaginal dryness, irregular or absent menstruation, anxiety, depression, mental fog, irritability, nervousness, decreased libido, and increased autoimmune disruption. The sense of shoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent (which almost always involves combinations of drugs) or it may aim to prolong life or to reduce symptoms ( palliative chemotherapy). Chemotherapy is one of the major categories of the medical discipline specifically devoted to pharmacotherapy for cancer, which is called ''medical oncology''. The term ''chemotherapy'' has come to connote non-specific usage of intracellular poisons to inhibit mitosis (cell division) or induce DNA damage, which is why inhibition of DNA repair can augment chemotherapy. The connotation of the word chemotherapy excludes more selective agents that block extracellular signals (signal transduction). The development of therapies with specific molecular or genetic targets, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radiotherapy
Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of cancer if they are localized to one area of the body. It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant tumor (for example, early stages of breast cancer). Radiation therapy is synergistic with chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after chemotherapy in susceptible cancers. The subspecialty of oncology concerned with radiotherapy is called radiation oncology. A physician who practices in this subspecialty is a radiation oncologist. Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control cell growth. Ionizing radiation works by damaging the DNA of cancerous tissue l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Menstrual Cycle
The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs and the cyclic release of estrogen and progesterone. The uterine cycle governs the preparation and maintenance of the lining of the uterus (womb) to receive an embryo. These cycles are concurrent and coordinated, normally last between 21 and 35 days, with a median length of 28 days, and continue for about 30–45 years. Naturally occurring hormones drive the cycles; the cyclical rise and fall of the follicle stimulating hormone prompts the production and growth of oocytes (immature egg cells). The hormone estrogen stimulates the uterus lining ( endometrium) to thicken to accommodate an embryo should fertilization occur. The blood supply of the thickened lining provides nutrients to a successfully implanted embryo. If implantation does n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sex Organ
A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, are called the ''primary sex organs''. All others are called ''secondary sex organs'', divided between the external sex organs—the genitals or external genitalia, visible at birth in both sexes—and the internal sex organs. Mosses, ferns, and some similar plants have gametangia for reproductive organs, which are part of the gametophyte. The flowers of flowering plants produce pollen and egg cells, but the sex organs themselves are inside the gametophytes within the pollen and the ovule. Coniferous plants likewise produce their sexually reproductive structures within the gametophytes contained within the cones and pollen. The cones and pollen are not themselves sexual organs. Terminology The ''primary sex organs'' are the gonads, a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adipocyte
Adipocytes, also known as lipocytes and fat cells, are the cells that primarily compose adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat. Adipocytes are derived from mesenchymal stem cells which give rise to adipocytes through adipogenesis. In cell culture, adipocyte progenitors can also form osteoblasts, myocytes and other cell types. There are two types of adipose tissue, white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), which are also known as white and brown fat, respectively, and comprise two types of fat cells. Structure White fat cells White fat cells contain a single large lipid droplet surrounded by a layer of cytoplasm, and are known as unilocular. The nucleus is flattened and pushed to the periphery. A typical fat cell is 0.1 mm in diameter with some being twice that size, and others half that size. However, these numerical estimates of fat cell size depend largely on the measurement method and the location of the adipose tissue. The fat stored i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overweight
Being overweight or fat is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary. , excess weight reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults being either overweight or obese. In 2013, this increased to more than 2 billion. Increases have been observed across all age groups. A healthy body requires a minimum amount of fat for proper functioning of the hormonal, reproductive, and immune systems, as thermal insulation, as shock absorption for sensitive areas, and as energy for future use; however, the accumulation of too much storage fat can impair movement, flexibility, and alter the appearance of the body. Classification The degree to which a person is overweight is generally described by the body mass index (BMI). ''Overweight'' is defined as a BMI of 25 or more, thus it includes pre-obesity defined as a BMI between 25 and 29.9 and obesity as de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underweight
An underweight person is a person whose body weight is considered too low to be healthy. A person who is underweight is malnourished. Assessment The body mass index, a ratio of a person's weight to their height, has traditionally been used to assess the health of a person as it pertains to weight: under the cut-off point at a BMI of 18.5, a person is considered underweight. The calculation is either weight in kilograms divided by height in meters, squared, or weight in pounds times 703, divided by height in inches, squared. Another measure of underweight is through comparison to the average weight of a cohort of people of a similar age and height: people who are at least 15% to 20% below the average weight for the group are considered underweight. Body fat percentage has been suggested as another way to assess whether a person is underweight. Unlike the body mass index, which is a proxy measurement, the body fat percentage takes into account the difference in composition be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexually Transmitted Infection
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especially Sexual intercourse, vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral sex. STIs often do not initially cause symptoms, which results in a risk of passing the infection on to others. Symptoms and signs of STIs may include vaginal discharge, penile discharge, genital ulcers, ulcers on or around the genitals, and pelvic pain. Some STIs can cause infertility. Bacterial STIs include Chlamydia infection, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. Viral STIs include genital herpes, HIV/AIDS, and genital warts. Parasitic STIs include trichomoniasis. STI diagnostic tests are usually easily available in the developed world, but they are often unavailable in the developing world. Some vaccinations may also decrease the risk of certain infections including Hepa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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