Author: brigitte

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US Preterm Birth Rate Shows Five Year Improvement

brigitte

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Nov. 13, 2012 – The U.S. preterm birth rate dropped for the fifth consecutive year in 2011 to 11.7 percent, the lowest in a decade, giving thousands more babies a healthy start in life and saving billions in health and social costs.

Four states – Vermont, Oregon, New Hampshire, and Maine earned an “A” on the March of Dimes 2012 Premature Birth Report Card as their preterm birth rates met the March of Dimes 9.6 percent goal. Although, the US preterm birth rate improved, it again earned a “C” on the Report Card.

“These results demonstrate that many premature births can be prevented with the right policies and bold leadership,” said March of Dimes President Dr. Jennifer L. Howse. “Our national progress in reducing premature births over the past five years shows that when infant health becomes a priority, babies benefit. We must implement proven interventions and accelerate our investment in new research to prevent preterm birth so one day every baby will get a healthy start in life.” Read full article.

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Sperm Length Variation Could Mean Fertility Problems

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Sperm length variation is an indication of problems with fertility, and men who have a broad range of different sperm lengths, especially in the flagellum, have a decreased chance of being able to reproduce and lower numbers of sperm that can swim well , according to a new study conduction by Brown University researchers and published in the journal Human Reproduction.

Jim Mossman, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral scholar at Brown University, commented:

“Our study reveals that men who produce higher concentrations of competent swimming sperm also demonstrate less variation in the size and shape of those sperm. It suggests that in some cases, tests are working more optimally to produce high numbers of consistently manufactured sperm, and vice versa.”

Mossman and his team measured the flagella, middles, and heads of 30 sperm per person from 103 men who were chosen at random out of 500 individuals who had previously been enlisted in another substantial fertility study.

The team also measured other sperm factors that the WHO (World Health Organization) claims are important fertility indicators, such as concentration and motility. Read full article.

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Exposure to Chemicals May Reduce Fertility

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November 14. 2012 – A new study suggests that couples who have high levels of PCBs may take longer to conceive.

Although industrial chemicals called PCBs have been banned for more than three decades, a new study suggests that the pollutants could be making it harder for some people to have a baby today.

Couples with high levels of certain chemicals in their bodies took about 20% longer to conceive compared with those with lower exposures, says the study from the National Institutes of Health.

That type of delay is similar to the effects of other factors known to reduce fertility, such as smoking, obesity and older age, according to the findings, published today in Environmental Health Perspectives. Read full article.

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Vasectomies Halved in Ten Years as Abortions Rise – UK

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The number of men having vasectomies has halved in a decade and may be the reason behind a rise in abortions among women in their 30s and early 40s, experts have said.

Men may be more reluctant to have the procedure as a permanent contraceptive because of the increased likelihood of marriage breakdown and a second relationship.

Financial constraints on the NHS may also have contributed to the drop as the health service attempts to save money by rationing non-essential operations. Read full article.

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Cell Phone Exposure During Pregnancy Related to Fetal Brain Development Problems

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Avoiding cell phone exposure during pregnancy may be a necessity in protecting your unborn child, according to Yale School of Medicine.  According to a recent study, cell phone radiation may lead to brain development problems including hyperactivity in children amongst other things.

“This is the first experimental evidence that fetal exposure to radiofrequency radiation from cellular telephones does in fact affect adult behavior,” said senior author Dr. Hugh S. Taylor, professor and chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences.

A control group case study using pregnant mice exposed to an active but muted and silenced cell phone revealed more “hyperactive and had reduced memory capacity” in their offspring. The study measured brain electrical activity in adult mice exposed to the radiation as fetuses against those not exposed. Dr. Taylor’s study reveals that the development of neurons in the fetus prefrontal cortex region is adversely effected, when exposed to cell phone use during pregnancy. Read full article.

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Pregnancy Test Reveals Testicular Cancer

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You may have seen the headline, or maybe you’re one of the 1.7 million-and-counting people who clicked on the Reddit post that started it all.

Here’s the story: A guy found his ex-GF’s pregnancy test in his medicine cabinet, took the test for laughs, and found out he was pregnant.

At least that’s what the test said. It seemed funny, so a friend of his posted a cartoon of the story on Reddit. Comments to the post noted that pregnancy tests identify hCG, a hormone produced during pregnancy — and in testicular cancer.

Sure enough, the man found he had a small tumor in one of his testicles. A follow-up post says it was a very early, curable tumor.

Does all this make sense? I asked Bruni Nazario, MD, WebMD’s resident endocrinologist.

“Yes, this is possible. Testicular cancer makes hormones and one hormone produced is hCG, the same hormone produced by embryonic tissue during pregnancy. This cancer also produces AFP, a fetal protein measured during pregnancy.” Read full article.

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Fertility Reflects Mom’s Age at Menopause

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Women whose mothers experienced early menopause are themselves likely to have an accelerated decline in fertility, Danish researchers found.

Median serum levels of an important marker of ovarian reserve, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), declined by 8.6% (95% CI 6.4 to 10.8,P<0.001) yearly in women whose mothers entered menopause at or before age 45, according to Janne Gasseholm Bentzen, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the University of Copenhagen.

In contrast, women with maternal menopause at ages 46 to 54 had a decline in median AMH of 6.8% (95% CI 5 to 8.6, P<0.001) each year, while those with later maternal menopause had an annual decrease of only 4.2% (95% CI 2 to 6.4, P<0.001), the researchers reported in Human Reproduction.

During recent decades many women have delayed childbearing, with the possible result that they may then have difficulties in conceiving if their ovarian reserve has begun to be depleted and oocyte quality lost. Many population-based studies have demonstrated a strong component of heritability for age at menopause, but whether this influence extends to fertility and ovarian viability has been unclear. Read full article.

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Soy Based Foods Have Little Impact on Easing Menopause: Study

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Soy-based products were found to have little impact on menopausal symptoms in a new study, contrary to long-held beliefs.

 The results of a new study derail the widely held notion that eating soy-based products like tofu and soy milk can help reduce menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats.

It was a hypothesis based on the fact that, overall, women of Asian ancestry report fewer menopausal symptoms than women of European background, scientists say.

With the onset of menopause, women’s hormone levels drop precipitously. Given that Asian women consume diets notably high in soy products —  which also happen to be rich in plant-based estrogen — scientists had long hypothesized that it was their dietary intake of estrogen that helped make up for the shortfall and ease menopausal symptoms. Read full article.

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Miscarriages Put Women at Risk for Heart Conditions

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A new study scheduled for presentation Tuesday November 6, at the American Heart Association annual meeting in Los Angeles finds that women who have had one or moremiscarriages are at an increased risk for hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), which can lead to problems such as heart attack and stroke, reported US News Health Today.

Researchers looked at health data from more than 1 million Danish women to examine the association between miscarriage and heart attack, stroke or renovascular hypertension, which is high blood pressure caused by narrowing of the arteries that carry blood to the kidneys. Comparing to women who had no miscarriages, women who had one miscarriage were 11 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack. The risk more than doubled in women who had four or more miscarriages, according to a heart association news release. Read full article.

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FDA: Fertility Doctor Didn’t Test Donors For STDs

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Federal regulators have sent a warning letter to a Chicago fertility doctor, citing his clinic’s failure to meet standards for screening egg donors for sexually transmitted diseases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s letter to Dr. Martin Balin was posted on the agency’s website Tuesday night. FDA spokeswoman Lisa Misevicz said nobody got sick, but the FDA’s goal is to “prevent anyone from becoming sick in the future.”

The letter followed an FDA inspection of Balin’s north Chicago office from June 20 through Aug. 17 during which an investigator found “significant deviations” from required screenings for egg donors.

The FDA routinely inspects clinics that deal with human tissue, including donated eggs, which can be used to help infertile couples conceive. Women generally are paid to provide eggs, which are retrieved and fertilized. The resulting embryos are implanted in the recipient’s uterus. Read full article.