If cannabis slows anything, it is the US government's effectiveness in the worthless drug war they wage.

Free all casual users and growers.

By Maxine Frith

October 14, 2003

Coffee may not simply wake up the brain cells - it could also boost male fertility, new research suggests.

Scientists have found that men who drink coffee have sperm that moves better than the sperm of those who lay off the caffeine. The study suggests that new coffee-based treatments should be developed for men with poor sperm movement - a defect that can cause fertility problems.

The findings will be presented later this week at the annual American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Texas.

Brazilian researchers tested the sperm motility - the strength and endurance of sperm as they swim towards the egg during fertilisation - of 750 men awaiting vasectomy operations. Doctor Fabio Pasqualotto, the lead researcher, said: "Sperm motility was higher in patients who drink coffee compared to patients who do not drink coffee."

The researchers also found that smoking had neither a beneficial nor an adverse effect on sperm motility compared with the caffeine effect.

Doctor Euan Paul, spokesman for the Coffee Science Information Centre, said: "These findings are very exciting. There has been growing concern about sperm problems and about lack of fertility in particular." Doctor Paul said that since caffeine acted as a stimulant on dopamine cells in the brain, helping people to concentrate, there was a possibility that sperm also experienced a boost when a man drank caffeine.

• New evidence that smoking cannabis can affect fertility, particularly in women, was also presented at the conference in San Antonio.

Scientists from New York University examined the sperm of 22 men who admitted smoking cannabis at least four times a week for the past five years. They found that the sperm may not be capable of the hyperactivity needed to fertilise the egg and also reduced the number and volume of sperm in men.

But women were found to be more seriously affected with toxins from the drug left in their reproductive tracts.

Doctor Simon Fischel, who heads the CARE fertility unit at Park Hospital in Notting-ham, said: "[Women] have a fixed egg production, which means any damage may be difficult to overcome."

He added: "With men, providing there isn't any damage to the stem cells responsible for sperm production, there may not be any lasting harm if they stop using the drug, because sperm is continually being made."

By Cyrille Cartier

October 13, 2003

I didn't see that conclusion anywhere in this study! To prove that, they would have to track a bunch of stoners trying to get their wife pregnant, and a bunch of non-smokers of the same age trying to their wife pregnant.

Gee, I wonder why that study hasn't been done? Probably because it will show there's no difference.

Peace,

Do an inconclusive study (or in the case of the RAVE act an improper study) then scream "Look Look!"

We don't know exactly what is happening to change sperm functioning," said Burkman, "but we THINK it is one of two things: THC MAY be causing improper timing of sperm function by direct stimulation, or it MAY be bypassing natural inhibition mechanisms.

Same woman, same BS. In her previous work, she stated 3 negative side affects. Now she is down to one. That sperm swim abnormally if you smoke pot. What the hell is that. Sperm always swim abnormally. They don't have eyes or ears. Millions of sperm are released like pollen in hopes that one runs into the egg. period. She's really pulling at straws to keep that government money coming. I'd like to see the actual research methods and statistical information.

People told me I'd have trouble conceiving. My wife and I succeeded the FIRST time we tried, and have a healthy, happy little boy.

http://wings.buffalo.edu/smbs/frp/HTML/262.HTM

Lani J. Burkman, Ph.D.

Preferred Address: Section on Andrology Dept. Gyn/Ob State University of New York at Buffalo 219 Bryant St. Buffalo, NY 14222 ------------------------

Preferred Phone: 716/878-7177

Preferred Fax: 716/878-7695

Preferred email: lburkman@acsu.buffalo.edu

Affiliations: Research Assistant Professor Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics Children's Hospital of Buffalo 219 Bryant St. Buffalo, NY 14222Phone: (716) 898-4328 Fax: (716) 888-3833 Research Assistant Professor Department of Urology Buffalo General Hospital 100 High St. Buffalo, NY 14203Phone: (716) 859-2212 Fax: (716) 859-1888

Summary:

My work has focused on general mammalian fertilization events, the biology of human sperm capacitation, development of functional assays to be used in human sperm clinical diagnostics, the impact of anandamide (endogenous, marijuana-like substance) on human sperm function, and human sperm motility as a tool for toxicity assessment.

General mammalian fertilization: Pioneering work with the rabbit concerning capacitation of the sperm in vivo and modulation of the very vigorous swimming patterns (hyperactivation) by oviductal fluids. Past research also touched on in vitro fertilization models using the mouse, hamster and cynomologous monkey. We carried out some of the earliest trials involving micromanipulation (sperm injection) of mammalian oocytes to produce fertilization.

Human sperm capacitation: In connection with the first in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic in the U.S. (Jones Institute, Norfolk, VA), my laboratory was the first to identify and demonstrate that human sperm hyperactivated swimming is required for fertilization. We have established the criteria necessarry for automatically identifying hyperactivated sperm by computer-tracking.

Developing functional assays for clinical use: Our laboratory has developed and published the protocols for: a) assessing the incidence of hyperactivated swimming within motile sperm from the husbands of infertile couples (< 4% may predict fertilization failure); and b) utilizing the bisected zona pellucida (egg cover) to test for sperm fertilizing ability (< 35% of the control value can predict ferilization failure -- Hemizona Assay). We have also studied the incidence of premature acrosome reactions and chromatin decondensation for men from subfertile couples. These assays have proved useful in predicting lack of pregnancies in certain couples and guiding therapeutic decision-making.

Modulation of fertilization events by anandamide: Mammals have a marijuana-like chemical -- a cannabinoid -- called anandamide in both the female and male reproductive tracts. We have established that anandamides significantly alter the timing of sperm acrosome reactions in vitro, as well as the modulation of hyperactivated swimming and sperm binding to the zona pellucida, and that a cannabinoid-binding receptor is present on human sperm. We continue to examine the apparent endogenous regulatory role which anandamides may have in controlling fertilization events.

Publications:

Schuel H, MC Chang, LJ Burkman, A Zimmerman, A Hill, RP Picone, A Makriyannis (1998). "Cannabinoid receptors in the sperm of sea urchin and humans and modulation of fertilization by cannabinoids," IN: Proceedings of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. March 20-21, 1998. NY, NY. In press.

Burkman LJ (1996). New assays for evaluating human sperm function. IN Cambridge University Press, volume on Evaluation and Treatment of the Infertile Male, ed. Centola, GM and Ginsburg, KA, pp 108-129, Cambridge.

Burkman LJ (1995). Motility of human spermatozoa during capacitation. IN Cambridge Reviews in Human Reproduction, volume on Gametes - the Spermatozoon, ed. Grudzinskas JG, Yovich JL, Simpson JL and Chard T., Cambridge, pp. 122-139.

Oehninger S, Sueldo C, Lanzendorf S, Mahony M, Burkman LJ, Alexander NJ, Hodgen GD (1994). A sequential analysis of the effect of progesterone on specific sperm functions crucial to fertilization in vitro in infertile patients. Human Reproduction 9:1322-7.

Sueldo CE, Oehninger S, Subias E, Mahony M, Alexander NJ, Burkman LJ, Acosta AA (1993). Effect of progesterone on human zona pellucida sperm binding and oocyte penetrating capacity. Fertil Steril 60:137-40.

Shibahara H, Shigeta M, Koyama K, Burkman LJ, Alexander NJ and Isojima S (1991). Inhibition of sperm-zona pellucida tight binding by sperm immobilizing antibodies as assessed by the hemizona assay (HZA). Acta Obstetrica Et Gynaecologica Japonica 43(2):237-238.

Burkman, LJ (l991). Discrimination between nonhyperactivated and classical hyperactivated motility patterns in human spermatozoa using computerized analysis, Fertil and Steril, 55:363-371.

Coddington CC, DF Franken, LJ Burkman, WT Oosthuizen, T Kruger, and GD Hodgen (l991). Functional aspects of human sperm binding to the zona pellucida using the hemizona assay. J Andrology 12(1):1-8.

Burkman LJ, Coddington CC, Franken DR, Kruger TF, Rosenwaks Z, Hodgen GD (l988). The Hemizona Assay (HZA): Development of a diagnostic test for the binding of human spermatozoa to human hemizona pellucida to predict fertilization potential. Fertil Steril 49:688-697.

Burkman LJ (l988). A microperfusion chamber for study of mammalian spermatozoa, J Andrology 9(2):102-108.

Keywords: mammalian fertilization human sperm capacitation andrology

Updated: Wednesday, September 02, 1998 File created: Wednesday, September 09, 1998

Created by Jeff Embury

The guy that writes the artcile says UB this and UB that and never even says what UB is. I gather it is some Universtiy in Buffalo.

The article is meaningless. The research is meaningless. The only thing it shows is the government wants negative reports and nothing real that can actually help people.

By Cyrille Cartier

October 13, 2003

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sperm in men who smoke marijuana regularly lose stamina and burn out which may prevent conception, said a study released on Monday.

The study by the State University of New York in Buffalo, New York, is the first to focus on the swimming patterns of sperm in men who smoke marijuana, the authors say.

"The sperm from marijuana smokers were moving too fast too early," said Lani Burkman, lead author of the study, in a statement.

"To attach itself to the egg, the sperm has to swim like mad -- that's hyper activation -- and they have to be vigorous at the right time," Burkman said. "Smoking marijuana messes up the natural regulatory system."

"The timing was all wrong. These sperm will experience burnout before they reach the egg and would not be capable of fertilization."

The study, released at the annual conference of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio, found that men who smoke marijuana have less sperm because of lower quantities of seminal fluid compared to fertile men.

One of the ingredients of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the psychoactive chemical that causes people to feel "high."

SWIMMING TOO FAST

"We don't know exactly what is happening to change sperm functioning," said Burkman, "but we think it is one of two things: THC may be causing improper timing of sperm function by direct stimulation, or it may be bypassing natural inhibition mechanisms. Whatever the cause, the sperm are swimming too fast too early."

The speed, volume, shape, density, movement and count of sperm were studied in both men whose sperm is fertile and marijuana smokers.

A previous study found that the enzyme cap of human sperm changed when exposed to high levels of THC. As a result, the sperm has a harder time attaching to the egg before fertilization.

Even if people stop smoking marijuana, THC gets stored in the body fat and may take several months before leaving the body, Burkman said.

"I definitely would advise anyone trying to conceive not to smoke marijuana, and that would include women as well as men," Burkman said.

As for helping with birth control, I guess smoking pot all the time is very slightly better than using no birth control at all. And if a means of birth control is that unreliable, it is no longer birth control IMO.