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In addition to this, there has been a remarkable decline in fertility rates across the industrialised world. Although the reasons for this are many and complex, it is thought that a reduction in sperm quality has played a role. It is not fully understood why sperm quality is deteriorating but changes in lifestyle and increased pollution have been suggested as possible factors.

But, the new research, published in the Scottish Medical Journal, could provide men with a solution to their poor quality sperm.

It said that since the 80s scientists have linked tight-fitting underwear to impaired male fertility. This was proven in 1990 when experts were able to show that tight pants increased the temperature deep inside the testicles. They also found that the tightness had more of an effect than the style of the underwear.

Experts say that tight-fitting pants are partly responsible for declining fertility On average, wearing tight undergarments increased the temperature of the air surrounding the testicles by 3.5 degrees celcius. For these reasons air exchange around the testicles should be promoted.

Dr Erwin Kompanje, who wrote the review, said: ‘Kilt wearing likely produces an ideal physiological scrotal environment , which in turn helps maintain normal scrotal temperature, which is known to be beneficial for robust spermotaogenesis (sperm production) and good sperm quality’. He added that a recent study found that there are even more serious effects of not airing a man's groin.

Not only did it slow production, but it caused the testicles to produce substandard sperm which could not swim to fertilise the egg and produce normal embryos. The study said: It seems plausible that men should wear skirts and avoid trousers, at least during the period during which they plan to conceive children.’ The Scottish kilt is a male garment that resembles a knee-length skirt. Depictions of men wearing the kilt date back to the 17th century. Nowadays it tends only to be worn for special occasions.

However, the study said that there are moves to reintroduce the kilt as a casual form of clothing, even outside of Scotland. The study added that wearing a kilt provides strong psychological benefits too as ‘it will get you noticed no matter where you are’. It said: 'Research has shown that wearing a kilt gives a man a strong sense of masculinity and freedom. Many women are attracted to men in kilts.' It added: ‘It also gives a man a sensuous awareness of his body’.

However despite the research pointing to Scottish men being more fertile than most, statistical data has in fact shown that sperm quality is declining in Scotland. Recent data has also shown that Scotland falls many European countries with the rest of the United Kingdom, Belgium and Scandinavia outperforming them. According to Eurostat, who complied the data, Iceland is the most fertile county in Europe while Slovakia is the least.

Article: 18th April 2013 www.dailymail.co.uk

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Men have a better chance of having children if they have semen teeming with strong-swimmers. Now fertility experts say they have found a good indicator of what makes sperm good movers in the first place. A study from Brown University in Rhode Island, found sperm that had tails of a similar length were better able to travel than those with tails of varying lengths.

The team led by James Mossmon were surprised to find that tail consistency trumped average length. The findings add to our understanding of why some couples struggle to have children. Around one in six couples may have difficulty conceiving in the UK - which is around 3.5million people. Couples are recommended to visit their GP if they have not conceived after one year of trying, or sooner if the woman is aged over 35.

For the study, researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island examined the semen of 103 men attending an infertility clinic at Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. They found that the wider the variation of sperm length in samples, the lower the concentration of motile sperm. The variation in tail length was found to be the most crucial factor.

Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, the scientists said: 'Sperm length measurements may provide a useful insight into testis function and the efficiency of spermatogenesis (sperm cell development).' It is another piece in the jigsaw that explains why only one per cent of the 300million sperm released by a man during sex manages to reach their partner's uterus, while just a few dozen reach the egg.

Research published earlier this year from the University of Warwick and University of Birmingham revealed sperm has an appalling sense of direction. The team injected sperm cells into hair-thin microchannels to study how they behaved in confined spaces. They found sperm avoid the 'middle lane' of the female reproductive tract and instead crawl along the channel walls. They also struggle to turn sharp corners and crash into the walls and each other in a scene reminiscent of a demolition derby. Only one sperm enters a woman's ovum as afterwards the cell membrane of the egg hardens and the remaining sperm die.

Article: 18th December 2012 www.dailymail.co.uk

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Scientists are now using the compounds to develop a new gel they hope will increase the chance of couples conceiving naturally without the need for expensive treatments such as IVF.

Male fertility has been largely overlooked until recently with most treatments requiring women to take medication or undergo expensive and invasive procedures. Up to half of the problems suffered by couples trying to conceive, however, are due to the man's fertility.

Now research into a key aspect of male fertility - how sperm cells swim - has enabled scientists at the University of Birmingham to identify potential new treatments that can "supercharge" men's reproductive cells. The scientists have discovered chemical compounds that increase the swimming ability of sperm cells and they believe this can help to boost the number of cells capable of reaching a woman's egg.

They are now using the compounds to develop a new gel they hope will increase the chance of couples conceiving naturally without the need for expensive treatments such as IVF. Their research could also help doctors to select healthier cells for use in assisted conception like IVF and intrauterine insemination.

Dr Jackson Kirkman-Brown, a senior lecturer in reproductive biology at the University of Birmingham and director of the Centre for Human Reproductive Science in Birmingham, said: "Fertility treatments basically involve helping sperm to reach the egg.

"The majority of these involve doing something quite invasive to the woman, often even though she may be perfectly healthy. "If you can give the man's sperm a little more va-va-voom, you could help fertility in a far less invasive way and it would be far cheaper. "We now have some compounds, that are in the early stages of testing, which can make more sperm will swim through cervical mucus, which means you would get more sperm into the uterus. This should increase natural fertility."

Approximately one in six couples have difficulty conceiving and around 3.5 million people are thought to be affected in the UK. Although the majority do eventually conceive naturally, around 50,000 couples undergo fertility treatment each year. Current fertility treatments such as IVF cost thousands of pounds while requiring the woman to take powerful medication and undergo invasive procedures to extract and implant eggs.

Yet only a third of all fertility problems suffered by couples are due to women - the rest lie with the male partner or an unknown cause. There have also been some recent concerns that male infertility is increasing as studies have shown that up to a quarter of young men have poor quality semen.

Dr Kirkman-Brown and his colleagues have now extensively studied what influences the motility, or movement, of sperm cells. They have found that the most successful cells move in a specific way where they flick their tails in a whip-like motion. This motion is thought to be controlled by spikes and dips in the levels of calcium inside the cells.

They are now applying for a patent for a number of molecules that can help increase this whip-like motion with the intention of incorporating them into a gel that can be used by couples during sex to increase their chance of conceiving. The compounds have proved successful in the laboratory but have yet to be used in any kind of clinical trial.

Other recent findings by the team have revealed that sperm cells crawl rather than swim towards the uterus, which may help to doctors select the most successful cells for use in more traditional fertility treatments. Dr Kirkman-Brown said: "Sperm have to make their way through quite a difficult environment. On that scale it would be equivalent to us trying to swim through cold syrup or butter.

"Only a small number of sperm have the correct properties or ability to swim through that environment and we have found that those that can do that, swim very efficiently, with a distinct way of crawling along the walls. "If you can give them something that makes them swim better, then you can give nature a helping hand. What the compounds we are developing do is effectively switch more sperm into the right kind of motility to get through this environment. "We are still in the early stages and but it is showing a lot of promise."

Dr Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield and chairman of the British Fertility Society, said that male fertility has made little progress in the past and so has often been overlooked as a source of new treatments. He said: "Men get a bad deal when it comes to infertility treatments. Faced with a diagnosis that their sperm quality is poor, there is sadly very little that men can do to reverse the situation.

"Years of research has failed to come up with anything to help them, so there is nothing proven that can be offered to them. In spite of this we should not give up searching for something. "It vital to carry out the necessary basic research to understand the problem, but unfortunately all too often this area is not considered a high priority for funding alongside issues such as cancer research. "Any new compound, however, would need to be shown to be effective through a proper randomised controlled trial."

Men check your fertility with our sperm count test.

Article: 15th April 2012 www.telegraph.co.uk

Scientists are questioning if using wi-fi on a laptop to searh the internet could harm a man's fertility, after lab work suggested ejaculated sperm were significantly damaged after only four hours of exposure.

The benchside tests showed sperm were less able to swim and had changes in the genetic code that they carry. Experts stress this does not mean the same would occur in a real-life setting and say men should not worry unduly. But they are recommending more studies.

The preliminary research, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, looked at semen samples from 29 healthy donors. Each donor sample was separated out into two pots. One of these pots was then stored for four hours next to a laptop that was wirelessly connected to the internet. The other was stored under identical conditions, minus the laptop.

The scientists, from Argentina and the US, suspect that the effect seen is unrelated to the heat kicked out by a laptop, although heat can damage sperm.

The UK's Health Protection Agency has been closely monitoring the safety of wi-fi.
It says people using wi-fi, or those in the proximity of wi-fi equipment, are exposed to the radio signals it emits - and some of the transmitted energy in the signals is absorbed in their bodies. However, the signals are very low power.

The HPA says there is no consistent evidence to date that exposure to radio signals from wi-fi adversely affects the health of the general population.

UK fertility expert Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "The study is very well conducted, but we should be cautious about what it may infer about the fertility of men who regularly use laptops with wi-fi on their laps.

"Ejaculated sperm are particularly sensitive to many factors because outside the body they don't have the protection of the other cells, tissues and fluids of the body in which they are stored before ejaculation. Therefore, we cannot infer from this study that because a man might use a laptop with wi-fi on his lap for more than four hours then his sperm will necessarily be damaged and he will be less fertile.

"We need large epidemiological studies to determine this, and to my knowledge these have not yet been performed."
He said men should still be cautious about balancing a laptop on their thighs for hours on end.
"We know from other studies that the bottom of laptops can become incredibly hot and inadvertent testicular heating is a risk factor for poor sperm quality.

"There is a case report of a man who burnt his penis after using a laptop resting on his lap for a long time. Therefore, there are many reasons to try and use a laptop on a table where possible, and this may in itself ameliorate any theoretical concerns about wi-fi."

"The study is very well conducted, but we should be cautious about what it may infer about the fertility of men who regularly use laptops with wi-fi on their laps” UK fertility expert Dr Allan Pacey

Article: 30th November 2011 www.bbcnews.co.uk

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Most men don’t give much thought to their prenatal care, but, according to male-fertility experts, what guys do now could make the difference between becoming a dad or not.

Unlike women -- who have all the eggs they will ever have when they’re born -- men produce sperm all day long. Sperm takes about two to three months to fully mature, so a guy’s behaviour during the past 90 days will affect the baby he makes today, or whether he can make one at all, said Dr. Sijo Parekattil, director of urology at Winter Haven Hospital, where he specializes in male infertility.

Although society tends to focus on women when couples can’t conceive, about half the time it’s the guy’s fault, said Parekattil, who will be among several infertility and adoption experts speaking Saturday at a free conference in Lake Mary, Fla.

Among the more common sperm-killing behaviours guys engage in are keeping cellphones in pants pockets, and working with laptops on their laps, which raises sperm temperature.

Other behaviours not conducive to fatherhood are smoking; excessive drinking; frequenting saunas and hot tubs; wearing tight underwear; using recreational drugs, including marijuana; taking male supplements; and getting sick. Studies show that such behaviours can reduce sperm quality and quantity.

Ashok Agarwal, director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, has conducted several studies on the effects of cellphone radiation on sperm. In one lab study, he found that the viability of sperm exposed to cellphone radiation for one hour dropped by 11 per cent compared with control samples.

His research also found that sperm count, motility and viability dropped more as cellphone exposure went up.

"Cellphones emit radiation, which can potentially harm the sperm in men who carry their phones in their pockets or on their belts," Agarwal said. "We believe these harmful effects are due to the proximity of the phones to the groin area."

A bout with the flu can lower sperm count, too, which is why experts recommend that men trying to have children get flu shots. Chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, also take their toll. Obesity can foster low sperm counts because excess fat causes men to produce more female hormones, Parekattil said.

When men take male supplements, including anabolic steroids, their bodies think they’re making too much testosterone and shut down the testicles, which actually atrophy, Parekattil said. Once guys stop taking supplements, sperm production can take a year to resume.

"A man’s lifestyle can impact the DNA organization inside the sperm and the surface properties of the sperm, which are critical for penetrating the egg, fertilizing it and helping the embryo get to full term," said Dr. Michael Witt, a urologist and male-fertility specialist who divides his time between Winter Park, Fla., and Atlanta.

Avoiding these sperm-unfriendly behaviours and conditions are sometimes all men need to do to give their sperm a boost, Witt said.

Besides having a better understanding of how lifestyle and anatomical stresses can affect sperm, men trying to become dads also benefit from another advance in male infertility: in-home sperm-test kits.

Although the home tests aren’t as sensitive as those in the urologist’s office, they’re a lot more convenient and less embarrassing than giving a sample at the doctor’s office.

A normal sperm count is about 40 million motile sperm per ejaculation, according to the World Health Organization. Most men produce that well into their 70s. However, of those men who have problems with infertility, about 10 per cent to 15 per cent make no sperm, and an additional 30 per cent have low sperm.

Among all men, about one in seven has a varicocele, in which excess blood vessels impair the count and quality of sperm, Witt said. Surgery to remove the veins often restores fertility.

Like 15 per cent of American couples, Clay and Wendi Harris of Orlando, Fla., couldn’t have a baby, despite trying for five years. "We were tested seven ways to Sunday" to look for the cause, Clay Harris said.

After five failed rounds of in vitro fertilization, they had just about given up. Then tests showed that Harris, 38, had a sperm count in "the midrange." However, Witt reviewed Harris’ sample and thought the sperm quality would improve if he had varicocele surgery.

In November 2010, Harris had the surgery, and afterward, "my sperm count went through the roof. It skyrocketed to 90 million." Now, the Harrises are expecting a baby boy in early February. "When we go for our weekly ultrasound," said Clay Harris, "we just stare at the baby on the monitor and hold hands."

Article: 11th November 2011 www.vancouversun.com

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Men have ticking biological clocks too, as IVF study shows male fertility declines with age - with even a year making a difference, researchers have warned.

They say that after the age of 41, a man’s odds of fathering a child decline rapidly. And after 45, those who haven’t started a family and want one should start doing something about it.

But with the likes of Des O’Connor having his fifth child at 72, and Rod Stewart becoming father for the eighth time at the age of 66, other experts said the finding should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The warning comes from a study of IVF patients in which the man’s sperm fertilised an egg from a donor. In the context of the study, the use of donor eggs allowed the researchers to separate out the effect of the man’s age from that of the woman’s.

The donor eggs all came from young, healthy women and so any differences in pregnancy rate must be due to the sperm. And the difference was clear, with fertility declining by up to seven per cent with each extra year on a man’s age between 41 and 45. After that, it declined even more rapidly.

The average age of the men whose partners got treatment through IVF was 41. But the average age of those in which the IVF was unsuccessful was 45, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual conference heard. The chances of pregnancy fell from 60 per cent at the age of 41 to just 35 per cent for the 45-year-olds.

Researcher Paula Fettback, of the Huntington Medicina Reproductiva clinic in Brazil, said: ‘Age counts ‘Men have a biological clock too. It is not the same as for women but they can’ t wait forever to have children. ‘They have to think about having children, especially after 45.’

A second study presented at the conference backed up the warning. There, fertility plummeted in male mice from a year old – equivalent to middle-age in people. Fewer eggs were fertilised and fewer embryos grew long enough to be used in IVF.

Pregnancies took longer to occur and when they did, the miscarriage rate rocketed from zero using sperm from young animals, to over 60 per cent. The researchers, from the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, said they believed there would be ‘some parallel’ with men.

‘We found an abrupt reproductive deterioration in mid-life, equivalent to humans in their 40s.’ Other studies have found that children of older fathers also run an increased risk of heart defects, autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy, and are almost twice as likely to die before adulthood.

While men constantly make fresh sperm, the ‘machinery’ that makes it can slow down and become defective over time. In addition, genetic errors may creep into sperm as men get older. But other experts said advised would-be fathers not to worry.

Dr Richard Sherbahn, of the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, said that while it is likely that male fertility does decline, any difference is likely to be just a few per cent over decades. He added that IVF can compensate for many problems in sperm, in a way that it can’t with eggs.

Charles Kingsland, a consultant gynaecologist at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital and member of the British Fertility Society, questioned the quality of the study and added that the quality of a woman’s eggs is far more important. He advised men who want to stay in good reproductive shape to eat healthily, not smoke, drink only in moderation, keep active and avoid hot baths, as sperm likes cool temperatures.

He added: ‘There are a lot of advantages to being a young father. First and foremost, you’ve got energy. But being an older father also confers certain advantages – stability, wisdom, maybe a bit of financial security but you don’t have the energy. ‘I wouldn’t go rushing off to procreate on the basis that tomorrow my fertility might drop.’

Article: 20th October 2010 www.dailymail.co.uk

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Men who are planning to have children one day may want to reduce how long they spend chatting on their mobile phones. Researchers from Queen's University, Canada, found that mobile use may lower sperm quality and lead to a decrease in fertility. The team found that electromagnetic waves (EMW) transmitted by handsets has a complex relationship with male hormones. Lead researcher, Dr Rany Shamoul, said: 'Our findings were a little bit puzzling.

'We were expecting to find different results, but the results we did find suggest that there could be some intriguing mechanisms at work.' The research team discovered that men who reported cell phone use had higher levels of circulating testosterone but they also had lower levels of luteinizing hormone (LH).

LH is an important reproductive hormone that is secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain. The researchers think that electromagnetic waves emitted by cell phones may have a dual action on male hormone levels and fertility. EMW may increase the number of cells in the testes that produce testosterone, however it could also lower the levels of LH excreted by the pituitary gland.

This may block the conversion of this basic type of testosterone to the more active, potent form of testosterone associated with sperm production and fertility. Dr Shamloul concluded more in-depth research is needed to determine the exact ways in which EMW affects male fertility. The research comes just two months after mobile phone users in the UK were advised by the Government to text or use hands free kits rather than make calls.

The Department of Health said this would reduce the user's exposure to reduce radiation emitted by the devices. In the first update to the UK Mobile Phones and Health leaflet since 2005, health officials added that further research is needed into the long-term effects of using mobile phones. It stated there had been no 'clear evidence of adverse health effects' from the use of mobiles or from phone masts. However, it added: 'As people have only been using mobile phones for relatively few years, the HPA advises that more research be carried out, especially to investigate whether there might be longer term effects.'

Article: 20th May 2011 www.dailymail.co.uk

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An "accelerator pedal" that controls the speed of sperm has been discovered, in a breakthrough that could be used to boost male fertility or come up with a new form of contraception.

Researchers have found how a chemical switch not only kick starts sperm swimming but also controls its speed as it races towards fertilising an egg.

The process is crucial to successful conception because if a sperm starts off too early or to quickly it will die before reaching the egg.

Alternatively, if it starts too late and too slowly it will miss its opportunity.

Dr Yuriy Kirichok, the lead author from the University of California, said: "You can imagine now that we know the molecule responsible we could block it to prevent activation and fertilisation as a kind of male contraception.

"On the other hand, you might also give some sperm the extra boost they need."

It was already known that the speed at which a sperm's tail moves was controlled by the pH or acidity level inside its body. The less acidic the faster the sperm swims.

But now scientists, who published their study in the journal Cell, have discovered the process by which the pH levels of the "internal environment" is controlled.

They have discovered that tiny little pores that act like "gateways" in the sperm's tail, allowing acidic protons to seep out and boosting the sperm's movement.

These "gateways" are in turn controlled by a molecule known as Hv1. By controlling the Hv1 molecule the speed of the sperm can be controlled.

Dr Allan Pacey, an expert in male fertility at the University of Sheffield, said the research was "useful" because it identifies what triggers sperm to start beating its tail by changing the acidity of the inside of the cell.

"Now that we know what this channel is, then it could lead us to either develop a novel contraceptive for men, or perhaps find a way to improve the sperm motility for men whose sperm don't swim as well as they should," he said.

Read more:www.telegraph.co.uk