STOCHASTIC MODELING OF SPERM MOTILITY

THE OBJECTIVE ADDRESSED IS TO USE STOCHASTIC PROCESS METHODS TO CHARACTERIZE MOTILITY OF HUMAN SPERM AND THEREBY TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN FERTILE AND NON-FERTILE DONORS. A LANGEVIN EQUATION IS CONJECTURED AS A MODEL OF SPERM MOTILITY AFTER LOCAL PROGRESSIVITY IS SUBTRACTED DETERMINISTICALLY. DISCRETIZATION RENDERS THIS AS A STATIONARY SECOND-ORDER AUTOREGRESSIVE PROCESS. THE THREE PARAMETERS ARE TO BE ESTIMATED FROM TWO-DIMENSIONAL MOTION DATA OBSERVED IN NUMEROUS SPERM SAMPLES. SUBSTANTIAL SAMPLES ARE AVAILABLE ON SPERM FROM HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS OF KNOWN FERTILITY OR NON-FERTILITY. BY ESTIMATION FROM THESE DATA, FERTILE AND NON-FERTILE SUBSETS OF R4 (THREE PARAMETERS PLUS PROGRESSIVITY) ARE THUS TO BE FORMED. DISCRIMINANTS FOR INDIVIDUAL DONORS AND LARGER GROUPS WILL BE SOUGHT, BY PROJECTION PURSUIT METHODS. THE RESULT SHOULD DEMONSTRATE FEASIBILITY OF IMPROVED MALE FERTILITY DIAGNOSIS BY SUCH STOCHASTIC PROCESS METHODS, WITH EASE OF COMPUTABILITY FROM OBSERVABLE DATA. GIVEN SUCH A PHASE I DEMONSTRATION OF FEASIBILITY, A PHASE II OBJECTIVE WOULD BE DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES BASED ON SUCH METHODS.