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\"Scholars and practitioners from a range of social science, legal, and health-related backgrounds will benefit from this volume. This book includes diverse contributions from a global context relating to donor conception and donor-linked families, giving it both international and interdisciplinary appeal\"-- Provided by publisher.

Unimaginable until the twentieth century, the clinical practice of transferring eggs and sperm from body to body is now the basis of a bustling market. In Sex Cells, Rene Almeling provides an inside look at how egg agencies and sperm banks do business. Although both men and women are usually drawn to donation for financial reasons, Almeling finds that clinics encourage sperm donors to think of the payments as remuneration for an easy \"job.\" Women receive more money but are urged to regard egg donation in feminine terms, as the ultimate \"gift\" from one woman to another. Sex Cells shows how the gendered framing of paid donation, as either a job or a gift, not only influences the structure of the market, but also profoundly affects the individuals whose genetic material is being purchased.

\"From its crude and uneasy beginnings thirty years ago, Chinese sperm banking has become a routine part of China's pervasive and restrictive reproductive complex. Today, there are sperm banks in fifteen of China's twenty-two provinces, the biggest of which screen some 2,000-3,000 potential donors each year. With an estimated one to two-million azoospermic men--those who are unable to produce their own sperm--the demand remains insatiable. China's fifteen sperm banks cannot keep up, spurring sperm bank directors to publicly lament chronic shortages and even warn of a national 'sperm crisis' (jingzi weiji). Good quality explores the issues behind the crisis, including declining sperm quality in the country due to environmental pollution, as well as a chronic national shortage of donors. Whalberg also outlines the specific style of Chinese sperm banking that has been shaped by the particular cultural, juridical, economic and social configurations that make up China's restrictive reproductive complex. Good Quality shows how this high-throughput style shapes the ways in which men experience donation and sperm is made available to couples who can afford it\"--Provided by publisher.

Background Intrauterine insemination (IUI) also found that this experience was associated with anxiety. Therefore, measures must be taken to reduce or eliminate the pain and anxiety associated with it. Objectives This study investigated the effect of virtual reality glasses (VRG) and therapeutic touch (TT) on pain, anxiety and satisfaction during intrauterine insemination. Methods A single blind randomized controlled trial design was used. Patients were randomized into three groups: the virtual reality group (VRG, n  = 32), the therapeutic touch group (TT, n  = 32), and the control group (CG, n  = 32). The study was conducted between January and June 2022 in the obstetric outpatient clinics of a public hospital in northern Türkiye. Anxiety was evaluated using the State Anxiety Inventory. Pain, and satisfaction were evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale [VAS]. “The study used non-parametric tests for its statistics.” Results There was a significant difference in the pain level of the VRG group during IUI was lower than those of CG 3.7 ± 2.7 and TT 3.6 ± 2.9 ( p  = 0.01). Women were most satisfied with the TT application 9.2 ± 1.1 in the IUI procedure ( p  = 0.000). Anxiety levels after IUI were lower in the TT 43.0 ± 4.2 and VRG 43.9 ± 4.4 than in CG 49.9 ± 4.0 ( p  = 0.000). Conclusion VRG application was effective in reducing pain associated with IUI procedure in women. Although the use of VRG with music reduced the pain associated with IUI more than the TT application, the women left the TT application satisfied. Trial registration The study was registered at the Clinical Trials.gov website under the code NCT05192330. The first trial registration date was (12/01/2022).

Women with unexplained infertility are often offered intrauterine insemination (IUI) with ovarian stimulation as an alternative to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). However, little evidence exists that IUI is an effective treatment. In 2013, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended that IUI should not be routinely offered for couples with unexplained infertility. For this pragmatic, open-label, randomised, controlled, two-centre study, we enrolled women attending two fertility clinics in New Zealand with unexplained infertility and an unfavourable prognosis of natural conception. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) using a computer-generated randomisation sequence, prepared by an independent statistician, to either three cycles of IUI with ovarian stimulation (with either oral clomifene citrate [50–150 mg, days 2–6] or oral letrozole [2·5–7·5 mg, days 2–6], with choice of ovarian stimulation made by the clinic) or three cycles of expectant management (couples advised to be sexually active around the likely time of ovulation and provided with a diary to record the first day of each menstrual cycle and dates of sexual activity) in blocks of four, six, and ten, without stratification. The participating couple and the clinicians were informed of treatment allocation. The primary outcome was cumulative livebirth rate in the intention-to-treat population. The safety analyses were done in the intention-to-treat population. This study was prospectively registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register, number ACTRN12612001025820. Between March 12, 2013, and May 12, 2016, we randomly assigned 101 women to IUI with ovarian stimulation and 100 to expectant management, all of whom were included in the primary efficacy analysis and safety analyses. Women assigned to IUI had a higher cumulative livebirth rate than women assigned to expectant management (31 [31%] livebirths among 101 women vs nine [9%] livebirths among 100 women; risk ratio [RR] 3·41, 95% CI 1·71–6·79; p=0·0003). Of 31 livebirths in the IUI group, 23 resulted from IUI cycles and eight were conceived without assistance before or between IUI cycles. Of nine livebirths in the expectant management group, one patient was pregnant from IUI with ovarian stimulation at study entry and one had received off-protocol treatment (IVF). Two sets of twins were born, both in the IUI group (one from a cancelled cycle for over-response). IUI with ovarian stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for women with unexplained infertility and an unfavourable prognosis for natural conception. Auckland Medical Research Foundation, Evelyn Bond Fund of Auckland District Health Board, Mercia Barnes Trust of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust, and The Nurture Foundation for Reproductive Research.

The present study aimed to test the efficiency of transcervical artificial insemination techniques with cervical immobilization (TCAI-CI) or cervical traction (TCAI-CT), associated or not with the use of oxytocin (OT) as a protocol for cervical dilation, in the brown brocket deer ( Subulo gouazoubira ). The study was carried out in a crossover design using four adult females in two replicates with an interval of 60 days. Estrus was synchronized with oral melengestrol acetate (MGA) associated with estradiol benzoate and sodium cloprostenol. TCAI techniques were performed from 18 to 24 h after estrus onset. All females received either an i.v. application of 50 IU of OT (G-OT, n = 4) or 1 mL of saline solution (G-Control, n = 4) 20 min before the TCAI procedure. The TCAIs were performed using frozen-thawed semen motility 40%, vigor 3, acrosome integrity 87%, membrane integrity of 95% and 13% of total post-thaw defects from the same batch. Behavioral estrus was observed in 100% of the females, in both replicates. It was achieved a 50% (4/8) success of cervical transposition with semen deposition in the uterine. Regarding inseminations, most of them (87.5%) were performed using the TCAI-CT technique, and the overall conception rate was 50%. Cervical transposition times (< 1 min) and TCAI procedures (~ 17 min) were considered satisfactory. Thus, the performance of the TCAI-CI and TCAI-CT techniques was successful, regardless of using OT as a cervical dilation protocol. This procedure is proposed as a method of choice for artificial insemination with greater applicability in different conservation centers, compared to more advanced reproductive biotechniques, and with a favorable impact on the conservation of deer species.

Abstract Typically, bovine embryos are transferred into recipient females about day 7 after estrus or anticipated ovulation, when the embryo has reached the blastocyst stage of development. All the biological and technical causes for failure of a female to produce a blastocyst 7 d after natural or artificial insemination (AI) are avoided when a blastocyst-stage embryo is transferred into the female. It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that pregnancy success would be higher for embryo transfer (ET) recipients than for inseminated females. This expectation is not usually met unless the recipient is exposed to heat stress or is classified as a repeat-breeder female. Rather, pregnancy success is generally similar for ET and AI. The implication is that either one or more of the technical aspects of ET have not yet been optimized or that underlying female fertility that causes an embryo to die before day 7 also causes it to die later in pregnancy. Improvements in pregnancy success after ET will depend upon making a better embryo, improving uterine receptivity, and forging new tools for production and transfer of embryos. Key to accelerating progress in improving pregnancy rates will be the identification of phenotypes or phenomes that allow the prediction of embryo competence for survival and maternal capacity to support embryonic development.

PurposeTo compare the effect of two different sperm preparation techniques, including swim-up and gradient methods on sperm deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation status of semen samples from unexplained and mild male factor subfertile patients undergoing intrauterine insemination (IUI).DesignA prospective randomized study was conducted in 65 subfertile patients, including 34 unexplained and 31 male factor infertility to compare basal and post-procedure DNA fragmentation rates in swim-up and gradient techniques. Sperm DNA fragmentation rates were evaluated by a sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test in two portions of each sample of semen that was prepared with either swim-up or gradient techniques. Sperm motility and morphology were also assessed based on WHO 2010 criteria.ResultsSwim-up but not gradient method yielded a statistically significant reduction in the DNA fragmented sperm rate after preparation as compared to basal rates, in the semen samples of both unexplained (41.85 ± 22.04 vs. 28.58 ± 21.93, p < 0.001 for swim-up; and 41.85 ± 22.04 vs. 38.79 ± 22.30, p = 0.160 for gradient) and mild male factor (46.61 ± 19.38 vs. 30.32 ± 18.20, p < 0.001 for swim-up and 46.61 ± 19.38 vs. 44.03 ± 20.87, p = 0.470 for gradient) subgroups.ConclusionsSwim-up method significantly reduces sperm DNA fragmentation rates and may have some prognostic value on intrauterine insemination in patients with decreased sperm DNA integrity.

Interest in the study of kinship, a key area of anthropological enquiry, has recently reemerged. Dubbed ‘the new kinship’, this interest was stimulated by the ‘new genetics’ and revived interest in kinship and family patterns. This volume investigates the impact of biotechnology on contemporary understandings of kinship, of family and ‘belonging’ in a variety of European settings and reveals similarities and differences in how kinship is conceived. What constitutes kinship for different publics? How significant are biogenetic links? What does family resemblance tell us? Why is genetically modified food an issue? Are ‘genes’ and ‘blood’ interchangeable? It has been argued that the recent prominence of genetic science and genetic technologies has resulted in a ‘geneticization’ of social life; the ethnographic examples presented here do show shifts occurring in notions of ‘nature’ and of what is ‘natural’. But, they also illustrate the complexity of contemporary kinship thinking in Europe and the continued interconnectedness of biological and sociological understandings of relatedness and the relationship between nature and nurture.