[Survey on knowledge, attitude, practice related to contraception among college students in Beijing].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the current status and relative factors on knowledge, attitude, practice to contraception among college students in Beijing and to provide evidence for developing aimed contraceptive service and education in colleges. METHODS: Quantitative surveys were employed, questionnaire was conducted anonymously among 12,450 unmarried college students under informed consent. RESULTS: Among 12,129 students, acknowledgement of contraceptive knowledge among females was superior to males in college (P=0.000). Rates on the favor for unmarried sexual practice and 'sexual liberation' were 81.9% and 60.2% for males, comparing to 74.8% and 54.3% for females respectively. The prevalence rates for masturbation were 74.3% for males and 24.9% for females respectively. 18.4% of the male and 10.5% of the female students had ever experienced unmarried sexual intercourse. Among those students who had sexual experiences, 29.4% of the males had made their sex partners pregnant and 23.1% of the female students had experienced unexpected pregnancy. Statistical significance was found between males and females (P=0.000) in terms of attitudes and behaviors. 51.3% of the male and female students took contraceptive measures during the episode of first sexual intercourse. The excuses for not taking any measures would include: sexual intercourse happened incidentally, not interested in using condom, only one sexual experience would not cause pregnancy, etc. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of unmarried sexual intercourse among college students had been rising. Among those who had experienced unmarried sexual intercourse, the rate of taking contraceptive measures was low and the incidence of unexpected pregnancy was high. It is urgent to strengthen the education and service programs on contraception among college students.

[Correlation of the content and expression of urokinase plasminogen activator with asthenospermia in rat models].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the content and expression of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) in the ornidazole-induced asthenospermia animal model, and to probe the mechanism of ornidazole inducing asthenospermia and the possibility of using uPA for the prevention and treatment of asthenospermia. METHODS: Forty-eight male rats were equally randomized into 5 medication groups (1 d, 5 d, 10 d, 15 d and 20 d) and a blank control group, and ornidazole (200 mg/kg) was given intragastrically every day to the former five while 0.5% carboxymethylcellulose Na (CMC-Na) to the latter for 20 successive days. Then the rats were sacrificed by intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital at 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 days respectively and the epididymides and testes harvested. The integrity of the sperm cell membrane was detected by hypoosmotic swelling experiments, the uPA expression in the testicular and epididymal tissues dynamically observed by immunohistochemistry and the level of uPA mRNA in the testis determined by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The integrity of the sperm cell membrane was reduced at 10 days and remained low till the end of the medication, but with no statistic significance. Compared with the blank controls, the uPA expression and mRNA content in the testicular and epididymal tissues showed no conspicuous difference in the 1 d and 5 d groups, decreased insignificantly in the 10 d group, but significantly in the 15 d and 20 d groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The defect of sperm cell membrane and decrease of sperm motility go in parallel with the reduced expression and content of uPA, which may be one of the factors for the development of asthenospermia.

[Urokinase-type plasminogen activator improves the reproductive function of male rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) on the reproductive function of the male rats with ornidazole-induced infertility. METHODS: Fifty 10-12 weeks old adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: low-dosage uPA (330 IU/[kg x d]), mid-dosage uPA (1000 IU/[kg x d]), high-dosage uPA (3000 IU/[kg x d]), ornidazole (400 mg/[kg x d]) and control (0.5% Carboxymethylcellulose solution). The ornidazole group was treated by gastric gavage, and the rats in the uPA groups given both ornidazole by gastric gavage and uPA by intraperitoneal injection at the same time. All the rats were treated for 20 days consecutively, followed by copulation experiment. The rats were sacrificed and the reproductive system explored. RESULTS: The percentage of motile sperm and the number of embryos in the high-dosage uPA group increased significantly (P < 0.01) compared with the ornidazole group. CONCLUSION: uPA can antagonize ornidazole-induced infertility in male rats. The effect might be attributed to the improvement of sperm motile function by uPA.

[Effect of ornidazole on sperm in rats and its mechanism of action].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the reductive effect of ornidazole on sperm motility in rats and its mechanism of action. METHODS: Twenty rats were randomly divided into three groups, a low dosage group (LD group, n = 5), a high dosage group (HD group, n = 8) and a normal control group (n = 7). Ornidazole (200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg) was given to the LD and HD groups, and 0.5% carboxymethylcellulose sodium (CMC) administered to the normal control, all for 20 consecutive days. Immediately after, sperm density, motility and the morphological changes of the testis and epidiclymis were measured, and the concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alpha-glycosidase, malondialdehyde (MDA) and fructose in the testis and epididymis tissues were monitored. RESULTS: Compared with the normal control, there were no obvious changes in sperm density (P > 0.05), but a significant decrease in sperm motility in the LD and HD groups (P < 0.01), and the concentration of LDH obviously declined (P < 0.01) while that of MDA distinctly increased in the HD group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Spermatogenic cells could be damaged by the increase of inhibiting MDA, while sperm motility could be decreased by inhibiting energetic transferase or non-protein substance in the epididymis. This might be one of the mechanisms of ornidazole on weak sperm models in rats.

[Detection of Trichomonas vaginalis with direct immunofluorescence assay].

OBJECTIVE: To detect Trichomonas vaginalis (Tv) by direct immunofluorescence assay (DFA) and discuss its clinical significance. METHODS: The parasites at a concentration of 3 x 10(5) cells/L were fixed by acetone on slides which were then blocked by 1% BSA (bovine serum albumin) or 10% BSA or 10% NCS (newborn calf serum) respectively, incubated with different dilution of polyclonal goat anti-Tv IgG (1:20-1:2,560) for different incubation time (15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 min). 120 clinical vaginal specimens were examined by direct immunofluorescence assay, the wet mount method and the in vitro cultivation. RESULTS: Blocked by 1% or 10% BSA, incubated at 37 degrees C for 45 min with a titer 1:160 of polyclonal antibody were the optimal conditions for direct immunofluorescence assay. Its sensitivity and specificity were 87.9% and 98.6% respectively in comparison with the in vitro cultivation method. CONCLUSION: Direct immunofluorescence assay is a useful alternative to the wet mount method which shows a lower sensitivity.