by Corey Whelan
Some women anticipate pregnancy will not come easily. A history of irregular periods, endometriosis, or the ticking of the biological clock give early indication that seeking out the support of a fertility specialist makes sense …
Month: June 2012
Eye Precursor and Tiny Liver Grown from Stem Cells
Human embryonic stem cells (ES cells) have, for the first time, been used to grow a crucial part of the eye, a paper in Cell Stem Cell reports. It is hoped that in the future transplantation of such tissue could help visually impaired people recover their sight.
Scientists working at the RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, managed to encourage human ES cells to self-organise into a three-dimensional and multi-layered human eye precursors, called an optic cup. The cup, just over half a millimetre in diameter, contained the important light-sensitive rod and cone cells – called photoreceptors – on its inner surface, as well as retinal cells in its outer wall.
As Professor Austin Smith, director of the Centre for Stem Cell Research in Cambridge, UK, who was not involved in the study, told Nature: ‘The morphology [of the optic cup] is a truly extraordinary thing’. But only very recently have researchers been able to grow stem cells in three dimensions rather than as two-dimensional sheets in a dish. The optic cup self-assembled into its complicated three-dimensional shape without any direction, morphologically speaking, from the scientists.
Behind ‘Personhood’ Leader Keith Mason’s Anti-Abortion Crusade
Keith Mason and his wife are leading a growing national campaign to legally define human embryos as people, which would outlaw abortion—and possibly some forms of birth control, opponents say. In an exclusive interview, he tells Abigail Pesta about his ambitious plans for 2012’s election season.
The couple laughs. In the four years since Mason launched the pro-life group Personhood USA, he has been crisscrossing the country to convince voters that the best way to overturn Roe v. Wade, the ruling that legalized abortion, is to define human embryos as people from the moment of fertilization. The group has helped spark 22 “personhood” bills and ballot initiatives; while none has passed, in each ballot vote on personhood, the margin of defeat has declined. His group is now collecting signatures for ballot efforts in Colorado, Ohio, and Montana for the November elections and in Florida for 2014. “Wait and watch us grow,” he says confidently. “We’re like a weed.”
Personhood efforts have existed for decades, but they have never taken hold in the public imagination the way Mason’s work has. Nor have they been so present in the pro-life discourse. “They’re saying out loud what many anti-choice activists believe but don’t say upfront—they want to ban abortion in all circumstances,” says Donna Crane, a policy director at the advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America. “In some ways, it’s the more honest conversation to have.” And it has gathered supporters in this election season who include Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry. (Mitt Romney has demurred, but Mason says he is “hammering away” at the nominee.)
Hormone therapy for men results in weight loss
HOUSTON, June 24 (UPI) — Men using testosterone replacement therapy experienced significant weight loss, researchers in Germany found.
Lead author of Bayer Pharma in Berlin said previous research showed testosterone-deficient men consistently show changes in body composition, but the net effect on weight seemed unchanged. However, in the current study had a longer follow-up by at least two years and used long-acting injections of testosterone.
The investigators restored testosterone to normal levels in 255 testosterone-deficient men, whose average age was nearly 61. Treatment lasted for up to five years, with injections given at day one, after six weeks and then every 12 weeks after that. Patients did not follow a controlled diet or standard exercise program but received advice to improve their lifestyle habits.
Hysterosalpingogram, a common test for infertility
by Corey Whelan
As part of the initial infertility work-up, your physician will wish to schedule a hysterosalpingogram, or HSG. The HSG is a type of x-ray test, designed to give your doctor a view inside your uterus, fallopian tubes and the …
Forced to Abort After 7 months of Pregnancy; the US Raises Concerns on China’s Abortion Policy, But Is it Enough?
China’s one child policy came into force in 1980 and restricted most families in China from having more than one child as a means of controlling the population.
The Chinese government’s justification for the policy lies in their assertion that it has prevented an additional 400 million births from occurring in the already overpopulated country of 1.3 billion people.
Local authorities pursue birth quotas set by Beijing by imposing abortions and sterilizations. The number of abortions has increased from less than 5 million abortions (before 1979) to 8.7 million (in 1981) – a year after the one-child policy was launched, peaking at 14.4 million (in 1983).
One recent imposed abortion flying around cyberspace is the case of Feng Jianmei. On June 2, Feng Jianmei, 27, was beaten by three Chinese officials, held down with a pillow over her head, and then injected with lethal chemicals to the belly to abort her unborn child. The dead baby was evacuated 2 days later after intense pain to the mother. Her baby was already seven months in utero.
Doctor’s advice: early menopause
DR Cindy Pan sheds light on how to manage your physical and emotional health during premature menopause.
** Question: I am 38 and have been diagnosed with premature menopause. I am very distressed and wonder how this could have happened. I am struggling to cope with the physical, mental and emotional symptoms of menopause in addition to the sense of grief, loss and change in identity. Please help.
— Answer: It is understandable for a woman to feel devastated with the diagnosis of premature menopause. It is, of course, not simply symptoms of hot flushes, vaginal dryness, mood swings, irritability, dry skin, eyes and mouth, sleep disturbance and decreased sex drive that can be distressing, but also the loss of fertility that can have a massive impact.
This is particularly evident if the woman has not yet had children. That said, IVF using donor eggs is an option some women with premature menopause choose to explore.
About one per cent of women experience premature menopause, which is defined as cessation of ovulation and menstruation before 40. It can occur as early as the teens or early 20s. In most cases, the reasons for it are not known, but sometimes there may be an association with an autoimmune condition (such as hypothyroidism, Graves’ disease, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis or lupus), a genetic condition or family history.
Lancet to launch new series on midwifery
A new global project has been launched in an effort to enhance the evidence base on midwifery and to further advocate for developing midwifery services at scale. This collaborative endeavor, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, brings together an international team of 35 researchers comprised of health systems analysts, health economists, statisticians and specialists in midwifery.
Specifically, the research will focus on the impact of midwifery and health systems interventions on improving maternal, newborn and child health outcomes while placing particular emphasis on low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this extensive project will be to inform and provide guidance to decision-makers at the national level on key areas (i.e., budget allocations, health system development) which will increase access to midwifery services. Additionally, it will provide impetus to improving the competency and coverage of midwifery services. The research will contribute to global actions in achieving Millennium Development Goals 4,5 and 6.
The papers will be featured in The Lancet in a special series on midwifery in Spring 2013.
The project is being steered by an executive group that includes the University of York, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the White Ribbon Alliance, ICS Integare, the University of Southampton, Yale University and the University of Technology, Sydney.
Could Fertility Drugs Make Kids Shorter?
SATURDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) — For those who need help getting pregnant, the thought of having a child who’s a little shorter than other kids probably won’t be much of a worry. But the question of whether infertility treatment causes unanticipated consequences remains fertile ground for researchers.
In a study scheduled for presentation Saturday at the Endocrine Society annual meeting in Houston, researchers found full-term children conceived with fertility drugs were about one inch shorter than their peers.
The researchers wanted to find out whether there was a difference in height among children whose mothers used only ovarian stimulation by fertility drugs such as Clomid (clomiphene) without in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
Children conceived with the help of ovarian stimulation alone account for about 5 percent of all births in the developed world, according to the researchers.
Previous studies have suggested that children conceived by IVF may be taller than naturally conceived kids. The researchers wanted to know if something in the process of IVF, which includes fertilization and culture of embryos in a laboratory dish, could affect stature. So they studied children conceived without IVF, but with the assistance of fertility drugs that cause ovulation.
ASRM and SART Respond to ART Linkage Study Published in New England Journal of Medicine
Leaders of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology reacted today to a new publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. The article links the annual registry of assisted reproductive technology cycles with individuals to show the overall cumulative success rate of ART procedures to be 57%.