Showing posts with label Fertility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fertility. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Fertility body axe plans condemned

The Government has been criticised over plans to scrap the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) by the body's former chairman.

Baroness Deech said splitting the organisation, which regulates IVF treatment and embryo research, would not save money and would threaten its functions.

And the former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, a member of the HFEA until last year, warned that abolishing the body could make "unfortunate instances" more likely.

Health Minister Earl Howe said at question time in the House of Lords that the Government proposed to transfer the functions of the HFEA to other bodies by the end of the Parliament.

Lady Deech, chairman of the HFEA from 1994 to 2002, asked: "Will you give the House an assurance that you will stand by the pre-legislative scrutiny committee of three years ago and not endanger the statutory functions of the HFEA, including the all-important database and the guidance of patients, by splitting up the functions between five other committees, thereby saving no money at all and endangering the world-wide reputation of this model of regulation?"

Lord Howe said that 20 years ago it made sense to have all the functions carried out by a single authority, but he added: "Times have moved on and we think there is a more logical way to parcel out those functions in a way that does not dilute in the slightest the efficacy or efficiency of the regulatory action."

But Lord Harries said: "Given the special ethical status of the early foetus, would you not agree that is the integrated function of the HFEA whereby the licensing of the clinics, the licensing of research and the extensive database are held together which minimises the risk of unfortunate instances?

"If the HFEA is dismembered the likelihood of these unfortunate instances is likely to increase."

Lord Howe said the Government would "look very carefully at the design of systems so as to ensure that both the expertise and scrutiny functions that we associate so well with the HFEA are not diluted or lost".

Baroness Thornton, for Labour, said a large number of organisations, including the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing, had expressed "very serious concerns" about the proposals.

Sunday, 10 October 2010

Healthful Infant Born From 20-Year Aged Embryo

A 42-year old woman in the US has given birth to a healthy baby after being implanted with an embryo that was frozen for nearly 20 years.

The child's birth mother had been getting fertility treatment for 10 years before she received the donated embryo, created by a couple who underwent IVF treatment 20 years ago.

The couple had five embryos cryopreserved during IVF treatment in 1990 that resulted in them having one baby: having completed their family they desired their leftover embryos to be utilized to assist other infertile couples, reported the Daily Telegraph.

This signifies that the baby born in May this year was "conceived" at the same time as his genetic sibling born 20 years ago.

A review of the situation appears in the 30th September online issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility. The authors describe the case as a "a live birth after transfer of cryopreserved pronuclear embryos in cryostorage for almost 20 years".

The senior author was Dr Sergio Oehninger, director of the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at the Eastern Virginia medical school in Norfolk, Virginia.

Oehninger, who was also the doctor treating the woman, told the media that she had been going through treatment for nearly 10 years: "she was a persistent lady", he said, according to a report in myFox New York.

20 years is a new world record for successful embryo storage leading to live birth. The previous record was held by a baby boy born in Spain; he spent 13 years as a frozen embryo before being implanted.

Oehninger and colleagues reported that the woman received thawed "pronuclear stage embryos" and underwent "ultrasound-guided uterine ET [embryo transfer]" and that the embryos had been cryopreserved for 19 years and 7 months.

All five of the frozen embryos were thawed, from which two survived. Both were implanted a day later, from which a "singleton term pregnancy was achieved with the delivery of a healthy boy", wrote the authors.

"To our knowledge this case represents the 'oldest' cryopreserved human embryos resulting in a live birth to date", they added.

In Britain, legislators are currently considering extending the period of embryo storage to 55 years.

This has led to a heated debate with some saying that it will encourage cross-generation adoption, others that it is a good thing because it will help women who want to delay having children, while critics say this is is not a good thing if it leads to an increase in elderly mothers.

Monday, 4 October 2010

Artificial fertility treatments produce a sex bias

Totally different fertility treatments affect the ratio of boy infants to girls, and this could have serious consequences as artificial fertility treatment becomes alot more frequent.

So says Michael Chapman at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, following a study that compared distinctive kinds of assisted fertility therapy (AFT)!!! His team recorded the sex of all 13,368 infants born in Australia and New Zealand between 2002 and 2006 utilizing AFT.

They in contrast two sorts of reproductive technology: IVF, which entails placing an egg on a dish with up to 1000 sperm, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in which sperm are injected directly into the egg - an approach made use of for low-quality, immotile sperm. They also in contrast the stage an embryo was at when transferred to the womb.

IVF raised the proportion of boys to 53 per cent, although with ICSI it fell to 50 per cent. The natural proportion of boys is 51.5 per cent.

The stage at which the embryo was transferred had the greatest effect. The later the transfer, the much more likely it would result in a boy (British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2010.02731.x)!

Chapman suspects the culture medium that's utilized to grow the embryo is affecting the baby's sex. He is working with clinics to record the sort of formula put into use in the study period.

Friday, 1 October 2010

Antioxidants Might Increase Fertility

Millions of pounds are spent each and every year on fertility treatments and countless couples have sought complicated medical procedures to support them improve their ability to conceive. Even so, the outcomes of a new study indicate that increasing consumption of antioxidants may possibly be a straightforward, inexpensive way to assist these couples conceive.

Researchers from St. Thomas Hospital in London examined the outcomes of numerous previous studies that dealt with antioxidant supplementation and fertility. The outcomes of these studies indicated that the nutrients may possibly be able to enhance men's fertility.

The authors wrote in their report, which was published inside the journal Reproductive Biomedicine, that antioxidants may perhaps enhance the mobility of sperm, making each and every cell more efficient.

"Trials showed an improvement in either sperm top quality or pregnancy rate after antioxidant therapy," the authors wrote. "The use of oral antioxidants in infertile men could enhance sperm quality and pregnancy rates."

You will discover much more than 7 million women who have sought infertility services within the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thursday, 30 September 2010

Seven Steps to Take to Increase Your Fertility

1. Observe, apply, apply! According to experts, weekly sexual intimacy can aid to regulate the menstrual cycle, too as delay the decline of estrogen with age. A lot more estrogen is also linked to increased bone density, a healthier cardiovascular system, decrease “bad” cholesterol, higher “good” cholesterol and a milder menopause.

2. Keep your weight in check. Having a BMI larger than 25 can invite a host of health complications, including infertility. Aim for a BMI between 18.5 and 25 to prevent conditions like Polycystic-Ovarian Syndrome, which disrupts the menstrual cycle and makes it harder to get pregnant.

3. Quit smoking. As it turns out, smoking isn't just poor for lungs. It's also negative for your ovaries: numerous new studies show that cancer sticks can disrupt ovulation, but the excellent news is that quitting right now can assist preserve your fertility.

4. Get some sleep. Try to log 7 to 8 hours of sleep each and every night. Some infertile women have been shown to have low ranges of leptin, a hormone that affects hunger and weight regulation--and less sleep mean decrease leptin.

5. Clean house. Chemical compounds in residence products can affect fertility: polybrominated diphenyl ethers , which is in many flame retardant materials, tech toys, fabrics, and plastics contain this dangeorus chemical. Recent studies show that women with high amounts of PBDEs took twice as lengthy to get pregnant compared to females who hadn't been exposed at such high amounts. The chemical substances may possibly alter thyroid function and disrupt sex-hormone levels. Make certain to vacuum often and wash your hands generally.

6. Get tested. Sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia can trigger pelvic inflammation and scarring of the fallopian tubes, which can lead to infertility. See your OBGYN regularly and apply safe sex if you aren't attempting with a committed partner.

7. Take vitamin B tablets. Folic acid (400 micgrograms a day) is now considered excellent medicine for all females of childbearing age. We use the B vitamin to make and maintain new cells in skin, hair, nails and throughout the body. The vitamin is also discovered naturally in leafy greens like spinach.

Saturday, 25 September 2010

UK mothers having fewer children, older

Over the last two decades women in Britain had fewer children than they originally intended, according to a study by the ESRC Centre for Population Change at the University of Southampton, published today in the ONS publication Population Trends.

Friday, 24 September 2010

Stem Cells Could Make Women Fertile Forever

Everyone is aware that somewhere after the age of 40, a woman's fertility begins to decrease and eventually goes. It's an unjust fact of life. But it's particularly unfair when this decline in fertility affects a woman in her 30s or even 20s, when she thought she had a great deal of time left to build her family.

When this occurs, it's called premature ovarian failure, and affects between 250,000 and One million women in the United States. In most cases, women who experience from premature ovarian failure can't get pregnant on their own and need to use donor eggs to become pregnant.

Now, a new treatment using a type of embryonic stem cells is showing promise in restoring once failed ovaries to full function.

The hook is that the treatment method has been very successful -- in rats. There are questions about whether the eggs from ovaries injected with stem cells could actually produce babies, and if they can, whether those babies would be genetically related to the mother or the stem cell donor.

Still, the progress sounds Great right? For women who have experienced premature ovarian failure, it could be a remarkable if it works in humans as well as it does in rats. But think about this: This treatment could mean that women who are well past natural menopause can reawaken their ovaries and have babies indefinitely, just like men do.

Monday, 20 September 2010

Career women seeking fertility treatments Increasing

A leading fertility clinic on Monday said it has been inundated by career orientated women who are eager to have babies.

It said many South African women delayed having children, but
to their mid-30s and early 40s.

Vitalab said their practice treated between 130 and 150 patients every month.


Many cut back on luxury items in order to pay for treatments which cost roughly R30,000 per cycle.


Fertility specialist Dr Lawrence Gobetz said,
“The fact that women are delaying their child bearing is causing difficulty and often they are trying to commence their family unit at an age of 37 or 38-years-old, when the females are really made to have their babies between the ages of 18 and 24 years old,” he added.

Monday, 6 September 2010

Infertility Solution

Tips On Things You Can Improve Your Fertility

  1. Don't have sex more than 3 times a week as this can reduce the amount of sperm
  2. Pick your positions as when having sex as this can deposit the sperm closer to the cervix
  3. Eat healthy foods fats can affect your fertility
  4. Eat organically grown produce
  5. STOP drinking alcohol it can cut down your fertility rate by half
  6. Exercise

Monday, 23 August 2010

Going East For Your Eggs Is A Risk To Your Health

Withe the shortage of eggs is the UK couples are not only looking but going east for treatment. The only problem is that the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology found that hundreds of Eastern European clinics were ignoring safety guidelines and inserting two or more embryos into a woman's womb to try to boost the chances of her becoming pregnant.

With risks like miscarriage and also Another procedure that the medical world is using today is known as selective reduction, i.e. the termination of one or more, but not all, of the fetuses.

With all the issue of not being able to conceive why would anyone want to add to that pain? when your put in a position of needing help to conceive its ethically wrong to have to then terminate one or more fetuses.

Help is at hand as the UK government is looking at the spanish system for egg donation where a women can get £800. At the moment a ban for any sale or payment is in place in the UK

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Toxic Shopping

Can you believe this one? A new study has show that the compound that make ink show on tills receipts can make men well lets just say more feminine. The compound Bisphenol A (BPA) can be high enough to suppress male hormones in the body.

So will be seeing hand wash dispensers at tills now -)

Prof Frank Sommer, 42, a Berlin based urologist, was quoted as saying that it can make men less up for it and less with reduced sexual drive, encourages the belly instead of the muscles to grow and has a bad effect on erection and potency."

How funny is that? I would have loved to been a fly on the wall at that testing.

Funny side apart just make sure you get the cash from your man and get the staff member to put the receipt in the page. if your man works on a till and your having problems then you know what you need to do now.

Good luck

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Men Who Needs Them?

Jennifer Aniston in "The Switch"

Jennifer Aniston came under fire from right-winger Bill O'Reilly, of Fox News, for comments she made about her movie "The Switch," in which she plays a single woman who has become pregnant using donor sperm.

Withe the BBC archers also having a story line with the same as Jennifers new movie where is all this going? does this now mean that when couples break up that the guy is no longer responsible for his child?

Science can do a lot of things for us in our lives but its up to us to us to work out the ethics.

Sunday, 15 August 2010

Fertility Vitamins

For Future Mothers

• Prenatal Vitamins

It’s a general rule to have taken prenatal vitamins three months before trying to conceive. Prenatal vitamins do not entirely ensure the chances of becoming pregnant however it can improve the health of your entire pregnancy. Studies show that taking prenatal vitamins greatly lower the risk of developing preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication that can turn fatal.

• Omega-3 Supplements

These contain fatty oils and acids needed to keep nerves and the immune system healthy. Unfortunately our bodies don’t produce the before mentioned fatty acids and oils naturally, therefore you run the risk of having depression, as well as heart disease.

Father’s To Be

The main option for men is to take generic fertility vitamins to boost their fertility. Fertility supplements for men usually contain the following essential vitamins:

• Folic Acid

Folic acid helps the testicles create DNA during the production of sperm. Studies reveal that even fertile men can have improved sperm production by taking adequate amounts of folic acid daily.

• Lycopene

Lycopene has a protective property to the male testicles. Having low levels of lycopene greatly increases the risks of being infertile as well and a risk of getting prostate cancer. This substance is abundant in tomatoes. If tomoatoes are not part of a man’s diet then he needs to consider taking a daily dose of lycopene supplements to protect the sperm from damage.

Thursday, 12 August 2010

Test For Select Fertile Sperm

The first clinical trials of the procedure, which aims to select fertile sperm, could begin next year after a research team was awarded a £120,000 grant to develop the technology by the pharmaceutical company Merck Serono.

The test identifies unhealthy sperm by tagging them with a protein dye that binds to damaged DNA. The healthy sperm can then be selected.

Some men are infertile because their sperm has genetic damage, which prevents them from fertilising eggs.

The test is comparatively cheap and would be about £100

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Stress Prevents Pregnancy

According to study author Germaine Buck Louis, Ph.D., M.S., director of the NICHD’s Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, stress can be a self-perpetuating cycle as women trying to conceive become more concerned with each cycle that they might not be able to have a baby.

Interestingly, short-term stress may be more dangerous than long-term stress. Cortisol levels in the women who had difficulty conceiving were not any higher than the other women. Alpha-amylase is a marker of recent stress, while high cortisol is indicative of long term stress. This leads to hope that the stressors affecting fertility may be controlled, giving women hope that they might be able to relax long enough to increase their chances of getting pregnant.

Sunday, 1 August 2010

Gay Men Able To Have 100% Biological Baby?




Gay Men Able To Have 100% Biological Baby?

We think that's its now possible for gay male couple to have a 100% biological baby! We have always loved the idea that a gay women can produce and then carry a baby for their partner.

A great example is Sara Gilbert from the TV Show Roseanne she has been in a relationship with Allison Adler since 2002, and she came out as a lesbian in 2010 They have a son, Levi Hank, born in October 2004 and a daughter, Sawyer, born on August 2, 2007. Adler is the birth mother of Levi and Gilbert is the birth mother of Sawyer. How great that must have been for them both.

We reported the other day about it now being possible for science to produce both eggs and sperm from stem cells. Well you can’t tell me that they can’t take some cells from one gay man and now turn it into an egg that can be then placed into a surrogate mother. How great would that be for guy men?

Without doubt we will have the ethical questions about it but our sex is determined by the fact that both sex carry two sets of chromosomes women have XX, men have XY men have the deciding gene with the Y chromosome. And depends on whether His X bond with a women’s X to get a girl or his Y and a women’s X to get a boy. In other words men’s stem cells must be able to produce an egg?

Thursday, 29 July 2010

No Need For Men Any More! No Really


Researchers in Britain have shown that stem cells extracted from human embryos can develop in the laboratory into the early forms of cells that become eggs or sperm, raising the possibility that one day eggs and sperm needed for infertility treatment could be grown in a dish.