Infertility Options
WASHINGTON — Army Maj. Marc Bailey and his wife, Sallie, never thought they’d have to wait this long or spend this much to have a baby.
As of June, the couple had spent three agonizing years and $35,000 unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant. The effort has nearly exhausted their retirement savings and their patience.
“This is hands down the worst thing we’ve ever been through,” Sallie said. “When you start having fertility problems, it consumes your life.” Read full article.
In the first study of its kind, researchers have discovered that male DNA is commonly found in the brains of women – a finding that could hold important implications for diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.
Male DNA is likely transferred to female brains during pregnancy, according to researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. During this time, mothers and fetuses exchange and harbor genetic material and cells in a phenomenon called microchimerism. Read full article.
Want your “guys” to swim like Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps — good kick, perfect physique and great speed? Well, you can spur on your sperm by adding walnuts to your daily menu. (Mike likes ’em roasted; Mehmet? Soaked in water.) Turns out this nut is packed with alpha linoleic acid, one of the omega-3s that help protect you from inflammation and associated diseases, such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and osteoporosis. Read full article.
A hospital in China is introducing a sperm extractor to help men who have infertility problems.
The hands-free device has an adaptable massager that can be adjusted according to the person’s height. A website that’s selling the machine for $2,800 says “it can give patients very comfortable feeling.” Read full article.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Prices for long-acting contraception will be halved for 27 million women in the developing world through a new partnership, former President Bill Clinton and other world leaders announced Wednesday.
The deal will help avoid almost 30 million unwanted pregnancies and save an estimated $250 million in health costs, the partnership said. By slowing down the pace of births and avoiding medical problems such as premature births, the partnership said about 30,000 maternal deaths and 280,000 child deaths can be avoided. Read full article.
Nordic Cryobank admits that one of its sperm donors carried a genetic disease but says it was right to delay informing fertility clinics about his condition.
“Two women received sperm from sick donor.”
“Sperm Bank covered up inherited disease.”
These were two of the headlines that public broadcaster DR ran earlier this week following an exposé on its program 21 Søndag about nine children, all conceived using the same donor’s sperm, all carrying a hereditary disease. Read full article.
A new study in monkeys provides the strongest evidence yet that an estrogen-like chemical called BPA could alter chromosomes, increasing the risk of birth defects and miscarriages, scientists say.
Although researchers have performed hundreds of studies of BPA in mice, there are far fewer studies in humans and their closest relatives, non-human primates. Read full article.
A Danish sperm donor passed a severe genetic disorder to five children after tests did not detect it and the fertilisation clinic failed to act on evidence that a baby had been diagnosed with the illness.
The man, known only as “donor 7042”, fathered 43 children, in breach of rules limiting the number to 25, after giving sperm to Copenhagen’s Nordisk Cryobank clinic.
But as well as fertilising the clinic’s clients, the donor was also transmitting the tumour-producing nerve disorder known as Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) or Von Recklinghausen’s disease. Read full article.
London – More than half of women think not being able to have babies because they haven’t met Mr Right is as bad as being infertile, according to a survey.
One in five even say they would consider trying to conceive without a husband or partner by using donor sperm.
Another fifth have thought seriously about freezing their eggs so they could have children later on.
The poll of 3,000 women aged 28 to 45 also revealed that just over a third – 36 percent – were not yet sure if they ever wanted to start a family.
Another third did not think they had met the right partner. Read full article.
The Office of Disease Prevention and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH will co-sponsor an Evidence-based Methodology Workshop on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) on December 3-5, 2012. ASRM is pleased to join as a Supporter of this workshop.