What are the advantages of natural methods of contraception over artificial methods?
As no medicines or devices are used in these methods, side effects are almost nil.
What are the conditions in which medical termination of pregnancy is advised?
Medical termination of pregnancy is carried out to get rid of unwanted pregnancies. It is also essential when the foetus is suffering from an incurable disease or when continuation of the pregnancy could be harmful or even fatal to the mother and/or foetus.
Comment on the essential features required for an ideal contraceptive.
An ideal contraceptive should
(i) be easily available
(ii) effective and reversible with least or no side effects
(iii) no interference with the sexual drive/desire or the sexual act of the user
(iv) be user-friendly
All reproductive tract infections RTIs are STDs, but all STDs are not RTIs. Justify with example.
Among the common STDs, hepatitis-B and AIDS are not infections of the reproductive organs though their mode of transmission could be through sexual conact also.
All other diseases like gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes, hepatitis-B are transmitted through sexual contact and are also infections of the reproductive tract so, there are STDs and RTI, Whereas, AIDS and hepatitis are STDs but not RTI.
What are the assisted reproductive techniques practised to help infertile couples? Describe any three techniques.
ART techniques are described as follows
(i) Test-tube Baby Programmes In this method, ova from the wife/donor (female) and the sperms from the husband/donor (male) are collected and are induced to form zygote under simulated conditions in the laboratory. This process is called In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).
The zygote or early embryo with upto 8 blastomeres is transferred into the Fallopian tube (process is called Zygote Intra Fallopian Transfer or ZIFT) and embryo with more than 8 blastomeres is transferred into the uterus (process is called Intra Uterine Transfer or IUT).
In females who cannot conceive, embryos formed by fusion of gametes within the female (called in vivo fertilisation) are transferred.
(ii) Gamete Intra Fallopian Transfer (GIFT) It is the transfer of an ovum collected from a donor into the Fallopian tube of another female who cannot produce one, but can provide suitable environment for fertilisation and further development of the embryo.
(iii) Artificial Insemination (AI) In this method, the semen collected either from the husband or a healthy donor is artificially introduced into the vagina or into the uterus (Intra Uterine Insemination or IUI).
This technique is used in cases where the male is unable to inseminate sperms in the female reproductive tract or due to very low sperm counts in the ejaculation.