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A lower motility of spermatozoa and a higher incidence of abnormal sperm morphology were found in 25 fathers of hypospadiacs compared with those of 50 fathers who produced children who were not hypospadiacs. Subfertility of fathers may result in a higher risk of hypospadias in offspring and as subfertile males now represent a higher proportion among fathers, owing to the improved efficacy of infertility treatment, this may explain the increased occurrence of hypospadias. Our relaxed-selection hypothesis, which states that there is a redistribution in the number of children born to fertile and infertile (subfertile) couples, may account for the increasing number of other defects and cancers of male genitalia observed today and the fall in sperm counts.

Anterior pituitary glands were removed from 27 intact cycling rhesus monkeys sacrificed in the early (Day 2), mid (Days 6--9) and late (Days 11--12) follicular phase, and in the early and late luteal phase (3--5 and 10--15 days after the midcycle luteinizing hormone (LH) surge). Assignment of cycle stage was confirmed by the pattern of circulating steroid and gonadotropin levels seen in the blood samples taken daily throughout the cycle. The anterior pituitary glands were weighed, stored at -30 degrees C and assayed for LH and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) content by specific radioimmunoassays. Serum estradiol levels and pituitary LH and FSH contents rose simultaneously during the follicular phase. After the preovulatory gonadotropin surge, pituitary LH content was low and invariant. Pituitary FSH content reached a nadir in the early luteal phase and tended to rise in the late luteal phase. Multiple correlation analyses revealed that there is a positive correlation between rising levels of estradiol in the circulation and pituitary LH (p = 0.003) and FSH (p = 0.017) content, and that there is a significant negative correlation between circulating progesterone levels and pituitary FSH content (p = 0.002). Pituitary LH content is less strongly related to circulating progesterone levels. There was no significant difference in the wet weights of the anterior pituitary glands during the five phases of the menstrual cycle studied.

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