Author: brigitte

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Courts split on contraception, cases plow forward

brigitte

contraception legislationThe cases brought against the Obama administration’s employer contraception coverage rule are largely marching forward, despite the White House’s recent attempt at compromise, the American Civil Liberties Union noted in an update Thursday.

Brigitte Amiri, an attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, told reporters more than 40 cases have been filed against the rule from for-profit and nonprofit groups that oppose having to pay for contraception on moral grounds. Some cases are traveling up to the appellate courts, where, she said, five decisions regarding temporary relief from the rule have been made so far. Three circuit courts have denied temporary relief to plaintiffs, and two have granted it.

When the administration rolls out its final rule regarding nonprofit organizations, more cases brought by the groups could be dismissed as they would be exempt from the coverage requirement.

The ACLU has filed amicus briefs in many cases in support of the contraception rule and the government. Read full article.

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Embryo-like stem cells enter first human trial

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EmbryoDevelopment

It will be the first clinical study to put induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into humans — and where more fitting than in Japan, where Shinya Yamanaka garnered a Nobel prize last December for showing how to take bodily cells and return them to an embryo-like pluripotent state.

Masayo Takahashi of the Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe just cleared the second and, observers say, most difficult hurdle in starting her iPS cell trial to treat age-related macular degeneration, a condition that affects the retina and can lead to blindness.

On Wednesday an institutional review board (IRB) at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation(IBRI), which is going to sponsor the trial, gave conditional approval. The team needs now only to notify the IRB of the final results of some preclinical safety trials now underway (see story in Japanese). Read full article.

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How TV Shows Handle Menopause

brigitte

Menopause in the MediaOne of the things that grabbed me most about the new Netflix House of Cards—other than the fact that I watched all 13 episodes in a 24-hour span—was the superb performance by Robin Wright. As Rep. Francis Underwood’s intensely focused wife, Claire, Wright managed to convey ruthlessness and driving ambition while also suggesting that Claire was questioning some of her life choices, especially when it came to love and romance. But since Claire is the sort of woman who is slow to trust and share, Wright had to express this inner turmoil in a guarded, coded way.

There’s a transactional quality to many of Claire’s relationships—much of her social life revolves around stage-managed appearances alongside her politician husband or fundraisers for the nonprofit she runs. And so she doesn’t open up with many people. Still, it’s striking how utterly reluctant she is to acknowledge the hot flashes she appears to experience early in the show. A female friend who notices her lingering for longer than is strictly necessary in front of the refrigerator tries to start a conversation about hot flashes and night sweats, but Claire simply changes the subject. Later, Francis brings up the same refrigerator pause, in what seems to be an attempt to shake Claire’s steely composure. Read full article.

 

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Infertility and Childhood Asthma

brigitte

logo(dailyRx News) When a couple has trouble conceiving, they may use infertility treatments to get pregnant. New research suggests there could be a connection between these treatments and childhood asthma.

The study found that children born to parents who sought treatment for fertility issues were more likely to experience asthma, wheezing and to be taking asthma medication at the age of 5 than children who were conceived without medical intervention.

The researchers did not find that the parents’ infertility treatments caused asthma in their children, but rather that there is a slightly higher chance that children born after fertility treatments might develop asthma. More research is needed to better understand the link.

Claire Carson, PhD, a researcher at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford (UK), and colleagues led the study to find out if there was a link between parents’ infertility treatments and the likelihood that their children would develop asthma.

The study authors used data from a larger study called the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to perform their research. The MCS has followed over 18,000 children in the United Kingdom born between 2000 and 2002.

The children were recruited into the MCS at nine months of age. Interviews were performed with their caretakers to get demographic information. Health data for both parents and children was also gathered, including information about the pregnancy and any infertility treatment. Read full article.

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With sex ed, contraception–and Plan B–NYC teen pregnancy rate drops

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Image:The teen pregnancy rate among New York City’s public high school students dropped 27% over a decade, new city data shows. Among 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19, 73 became pregnant in 2010. That’s down from 99 of 1,000 girls who became pregnant in 2001.

“We’re seeing that there are two things happening: teens are both delaying sex, and those that are having sex are more likely to use contraceptives,” Deborah Kaplan, assistant commissioner of the New York City Department of Health’s Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health, told MSNBC.com. “Our efforts to make sex education and birth control more widely available in public high schools are working.”

According to the health department’s numbers, she’s right. From 2001 to 2011, there was a 12-point drop in the proportion of public high school students who have ever had sex: 51% to 39%. And from just 2009 to 2011, the proportion of sexually active female students who used hormonal contraception (Plan B included) or long-acting reversible contraception (such as an IUD) the last time they had intercourse increased from 17 to nearly 27%. Read full article.

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Too much TV could damage sperm production

brigitte

Sperm qualitySemen quality is a much-discussed subject among scientists these days. Data suggests sperm concentration has been declining in Western countries over the past couple of decades – and reasons for the decline are debatable.

The lead author of a new study on the subject, Audrey Gaskins, has been studying the effects of diet and exercise on semen for several years as a doctoral candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her latest research shows a lack of physical activity – and too much time in front of the television – may impact sperm count and concentration.

Previous studies have shown a link between physical activity and decreased levels of oxidative stress, Gaskins says. “Oxidative stress” is stress placed on the body as it tries to get rid of free radicals or repair the damage caused by them. Exercise may protect certain male cells from oxidative damage, Gaskins says, leading to increased sperm concentration. Read full article.

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Frozen egg procedure benefits couple coping with infertility

brigitte

Nurse assisting with egg retrieval procedureSALT LAKE CITY — Egg freezing had long been labeled experimental, but in October the American Society for Reproductive Medicine declared that’s no longer the case.

The first baby in Utah conceived from a frozen egg was actually delivered nearly three years ago. Kirk and Heather Larson thought it might be their last chance for getting pregnant. Now, they thank God and science for their family.

“At first the donor egg part was really kind of mind-blowing,” Heather said. “We had never heard of anything like that. We didn’t know if we were comfortable with it.”

Premature ovarian failure left Heather unable to produce eggs.

“One day it just sank in to me and became clear to me that doing in vitro with a donor egg is not that much different than adoption. I’m just adopting an egg,” she said.

However, Heather’s first two attempts at in vitro fertilization failed. The Larsons began the adoption process. Then out of the blue they were offered a unique opportunity to participate in an experimental procedure at the Reproductive Care Center in Sandy using a frozen egg. Read full article.

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When the Law Says a Parent Isn’t a Parent

brigitte

Reproductive battleIt is easy to interpret the popularity of a network television series like “Modern Family” as proof that we have mainstreamed the various and sweeping ways domestic life has reshaped itself over the past two decades. A nation of squares would not embrace a comedy about a badly dressed, middle-aged gay couple raising an adopted Vietnamese baby, we tell ourselves, no matter what they might say in Copenhagen or Berlin.

Gay rights are moving forward; single women now account for 41 percent of all births. Americans build caring families with lovers, friends and neighbors; from one-night stands and anonymous providers of genetic material. And yet, even in a place as progressive as New York, the legal system has been slow to synchronize to these altered realities.

It is hard to imagine anyone experiencing this more viscerally right now than a man named Jonathan Sporn, a 54-year-old pharmaceuticals executive living on the Upper West Side, who in a sense has fallen prey to a system that excessively privileges the conventional family models from which there seems to be a growing exodus. Read full article.

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Birth Control Rule Altered to Allay Religious Objections

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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday proposed yet another compromise to address strenuous objections from religious organizations about a policy requiring health insurance plans to provide free contraceptives, but the change did not end the political furor or legal fight over the issue.

The proposal could expand the number of groups that do not need to pay directly for birth control coverage, encompassing not only churches and other religious organizations, but also some religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service agencies. Health insurance companies would pay for the coverage.

The latest proposed change is the third in the last 15 months, all announced on Fridays, as President Obama has struggled to balance women’s rights, health care and religious liberty. Legal experts said the fight could end up in the Supreme Court. Read full article.

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KCTV5 Special Report: Association found between chemicals and early menopause

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KansasCity5FAIRWAY, KS (KCTV) – It was Benjamin Franklin who famously said, “The only things certain in life are death and taxes.” Women can add a third certainty to that list: menopause. There is no way around this body change that marks an end to a woman’s fertility.

For women like Olathe resident Michele Zook, menopause means learning to deal with an array of unpleasant symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disturbances and mood swings.

“It’s crappy. It’s disruptive. It’s unpredictable. It sucks,” Zook said. Zook’s menopause kicked in at the expected time, her early 50s.

She is being treated by obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Danielle Staecker, a University of Kansas Hospital physician who’s been practicing medicine for two decades. In the last few years, Staecker says she’s noticed a shift in the women she sees for menopause.

“I’m definitely seeing more women having symptoms of menopause at an earlier age,” Staecker said.

Research conducted at Washington University in St. Louis is providing a possible first clue to those increased cases of early menopause.

Dr. Amber Cooper and a team of researchers studied the blood and urine samples of 5,708 women, looking at more than 100 different chemicals. They were able to make an association between women in early menopause and elevated levels of phthalates, man-made chemicals known to mimic estrogen. Read full article.