With approximately 90 million cases annually, infection with Chlamydia trachomatis is the most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial disease in the world. Considering that these infections are often asymptomatic and cause major complications like acute pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infertility or infant pneumonia, the estimated costs for diagnosis and treatment in the USA amounts to 2.2 million US dollars for each 500 cases. Therefore, there is a high need for correct, quick and cost-effective diagnosis and treatment of this urogenital tract infection. New innovative therapies provide good results with regard to efficacy and patients' compliance. The success rates of treatments are at least 95%. However, the occurrence of antibiotic resistance should not be ignored and new treatment schemes must be developed. The state-of-the-art of diagnosis and treatment of chlamydial infections as well as the pathophysiology is discussed in this review. In conclusion, infections with C. trachomatis is an important public health problem, especially in third world and developing countries, and more socio-economic studies linking secondary prevention of chlamydial infections, infertility and adverse pregnancy outcome are needed to understand more of its aetiology. In addition, diagnosis and treatment should be improved. Data in men revealed that past infections but not present infections are more related to male infertility. There is still controversial results. In future studies, function of the seminal vesicles and evaluation of the antioxidant capacity should be taken into account when role of C. trachomatis infection on male fertility is assessed.
This work evaluates sperm head morphometric characteristics in adolescents from 12 to 18 years of age, and the effect of varicocele. Volunteers between 150 and 224 months of age (mean 191, n = 87), who had reached oigarche by 12 years old, were recruited in the area of Barranquilla, Colombia. Morphometric analysis of sperm heads was performed with principal component (PC) and discriminant analysis. Combining seminal fluid and sperm parameters provided five PCs: two related to sperm morphometry, one to sperm motility, and two to seminal fluid components. Discriminant analysis on the morphometric results of varicocele and nonvaricocele groups did not provide a useful classification matrix. Of the semen-related PCs, the most explanatory (40%) was related to sperm motility. Two PCs, including sperm head elongation and size, were sufficient to evaluate sperm morphometric characteristics. Most of the morphometric variables were correlated with age, with an increase in size and decrease in the elongation of the sperm head. For head size, the entire sperm population could be divided into two morphometric subpopulations, SP1 and SP2, which did not change during adolescence. In general, for varicocele individuals, SP1 had larger and more elongated sperm heads than SP2, which had smaller and more elongated heads than in nonvaricocele men. In summary, sperm head morphometry assessed by CASA-Morph and multivariate cluster analysis provides a better comprehension of the ejaculate structure and possibly sperm function. Morphometric analysis provides much more information than data obtained from conventional semen analysis.
Una de las causas que aportan a la disminución de la biodiversidad es la introducción de especies exóticas que muchas veces terminan siendo invasoras, y por lo tanto terminan compitiendo con especies locales. Esta competencia no siempre es equitativa ya que las especies invasoras comúnmente cuentan con ventajas adaptativas que le otorgan beneficios ante las especies locales. Este estudio realizado en microcuencas del noroccidente del Ecuador identifica los efectos de la reciente presencia de Poecilia gillii sobre la especie nativa Pseudopoecilia fria; mediante un análisis poblacional (distribución longitudinal, parámetros de crecimiento y morfometría). Los resultados muestran un desplazamiento de P. fria hacia la parte alta del río, un aceleramiento en su crecimiento y por lo tanto una madurez anticipada con la consecuente disminución del tamaño corporal y finalmente un cambio en el alto del cuerpo con deslizamiento posterior de la aleta pectoral.
Summary
This study estimated the length‐weight relationship (LWR) of seven species (six native species and one introduced species) in two small perennial watercourses of the Chocó region of Ecuador. Specimens were collected bimonthly with two different fishing methods between August 2016 and July 2017 (Seine net: 46 × 21.20 m, 3 mm mesh size and casting net: 2.10 m radius, 10 mm mesh size). This is the first report of the LWR and a new report on maximum length for two endemic species (Eretmobrycon ecuadorensis and Andinoacara blombergi). The intercept (a) of the LWR ranged from 0.0124 to 0.0316 and the slope (b) ranged from 3.03 and 3.16. The LWRs are useful and, in connection with the collection of other key data on fish biology and the environment they can contribute to management and conservation of the local inland fisheries.
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