May 28, 2010
Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 12:32 pm
According to a new report by Popular Science, scientists believe that sex with the purpose of reproduction may soon go out of style. While sex will still be a part of life, due to advancements in embryology instead of getting busy with traditional baby making those with, or possibly without, problems will simply skip ahead to invitro fertilization.
While this may seem crazy, due to the fact that fertility treatments are not half as fun as the alternative, John Yovich from the Australia PIVET Medical Centre and Cains Fertility Centre stated that fertility treatments are simply much more effective.
At the moment, IVF boosts a success rate that hovers around 40%, but Yovich and other scientists predict that technology will only continue to improve over the next few years. His paper was created based on the results of a study on cow impregnation given that ranchers already use IVF like treatments in order to create cattle offspring.
The results showed that artificial fertilization is 100 times more effective than simply releasing a bull out into the herd of cows for typical stud duties. In addition, using test tube technology to create calves aids the ranchers in controlling factors such as the sex of the cattle.
There are of course a few flaws in the comparison, such as the fact that IVF is expensive and thus not available to all socioeconomic classes, human IVF is not as effective as cow fertilization techniques, and the fact that there are ethical questions that come along with choosing genetic factors and basic factors such as the sex of one’s offspring.
However, as levels of male infertility may continue to rise it may be more common for fertility treatments to be used.
April 17, 2010
Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 3:00 am
Fertility scientists from the US have said that air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide may affect the outcome of invitro fertilization.
The US team said that it studied the outcomes of the first IVF treatments of 7,403 women at the Hershey Medical Center at Penn State, Shady Grove Fertility in Maryland, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons at the New York Columbia University over a seven year time span stretching from 2000 to 2007.
Penn State Professor Duanping Liao stated that they found that there are significant links that show air pollution may increase the risks of blood-clotting and inflammation. These two factors are linked with reproductive health along with many other ill human health effects such as chronic conditions, mortality, and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers from the study feel their findings could be used to show how air pollution may damage human reproduction in general because IVF allows scientists to take a look of air pollutants on reproduction in a controlled setting.
Liao continued to say that the findings from the study could be used to look at how air quality plays a role in fertilization, delivery, and pregnancy due to the fact that IVF is a highly timed process with a high level of control allowing them to see the time of exposure to air pollutants in relation to reproductive factors.
February 2, 2010
Filed under: Infertility — Alan @ 8:23 am
It seems as if anyone can have a child so long as they have enough money, which seems to be turning society to a baby grabbing frenzy. Regardless of age, even if you are a woman that is over sixty, you can now have a child thanks to the billion dollar IVF industry.
Single and gay people can now hope to have a child due to the many advances in IVF, although moral questions seemed to be housed under another roof. A simple glance at the recent London Fertility show indicates how many ways of giving birth is available to a wide demographic of people.
You can now choose the gender of a child, screen out any genetic problems, and possibly even rent a surrogate to house your child until it is born. For single people, there are plenty of egg and sperm donors that allow you to choose everything from eye colour to intelligence.
One area that often has been recognized as an area for heartache for infertile couples is of course infertility, but no longer are IVF treatments reserved just for them. As science continues to advance many people who may have thought child bearing was never an option now can entertain the idea of raising a child.
Of course, this raises plenty of new questions within the UK about what types of legislation should be put in place to keep child bearing morally acceptable, but with many fertility clinics just a short ride away harbouring reproduction assistance will never be practical.
December 5, 2009
Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 6:06 am
Soon couples who undergo IVF may be facing stiffer bills after European regulators declared that between treatment cycles couples should be screened for diseases.
Although British doctors stated that it is highly unlikely that new infections such as syphilis or HIV would appear between cycles if they were not caught at the initial screening before treatment, regulators still want the additional safety precaution.
Thus, couples possibly may need tested for sexually transmitted diseases every month or two, which will add to the expense of IVF treatment, which commonly takes several cycles before it is successful.
Chairman of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Dr. Luca Gianaroli, wrote to members of the group urging them to speak up about the EU’s commission, stating that over the last 30 years of IVF treatment not one case has been reported where a disease was transmitted under the current guidelines for testing.
Dr. Gianaroli also addressed the fact that if all patients must be tested at the beginning of each new treatment there will need to be a major overhaul in terms of how resources are allocated.
The head of the Department of Women’s Health at King’s College London, Professor Peter Braude, seconded Dr. Gianaroli’s call to action, when he stated that if clinics are forced to implement testing every cycle the cost of fertility treatment will rise substantially.
He also commented that fertility clinics already adhere to the EU rule that men be tested every year despite being a part of a committed couple.
November 12, 2009
Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 7:04 am
Doctors believe that IVF treatments may be more successful for older women if their eggs are spliced with the eggs of a woman that is younger.
In fact, scientists believe that splicing and combining the eggs may double the chance of pregnancy from IVF, due to the fact the younger women’s eggs help to counteract the damage to eggs due to age.
On the other hand, critics of the process consider that babies born from this type of treatment have two different mothers which is not a natural process.
In any IVF treatments things that can decrease the chances of success, damage to the nucleus, the jelly like cytoplasm that surrounds the egg, or damage to the area where the DNA is stored.
According to the New Scientist reports, Atsushi Tanaka has attempted to splice 31 eggs out of which 25 cases were successful.
Out of these eggs, seven of the eggs started to develop into embryos when injected with sperm, which is a little over double the traditional rate.
Since the DNA is held in the nucleus the baby would still look like the male and female parents, but technically it would have two mothers and fertility laws in the UK do not allow babies to have three parents.
Reproductive Ethics member Josephine Quintavalle said that nature has been great at taking care of human reproduction and the idea that science feels they can make the process better is ridiculous.
October 30, 2009
Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 8:48 am
A new study suggests that women who lie flat on their backs for about 15 minutes after they receive fertility treatment have a 50% greater likelihood of getting pregnant.
The new research points to movement after artificial insemination as the reason why many women fail to conceive.
In the study, 400 couples were looked at, with the results that showed only 18% of women who moved after IVF treatments became pregnant, compared to 27% of women who remained still after the treatment.
Dr. Inge Custers of the Amsterdam Academic Medical Centre said that this is a significant finding and that it has been discovered that even 15 minutes of immobilization can play a large role in confirming the positive results of the study. Custers continued to say that immobilization should become standard after artificial insemination takes place for the best result.
In the past, smaller studies have looked at immobilization and artificial insemination, but this is the largest study to actually show the same result.
As part of the study half of the women were asked to lie down on their backs for fifteen minutes following IVF, while the other half were asked to get up and move around directly after treatment was finished.
Custers stated that moving immediately after IVF may cause some sperm to leak out of the uterus, or the sperm may be delayed from moving up to the fallopian tubes.
October 21, 2009
Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 8:42 am
New research shows that the chances of successful IVF treatments is lower in women that consume even just a handful of glasses of white wine during a week.
Men who consume beer on a daily basis also reduce their chances of being able to father a child.
Even worse, couples in which both of the partners drink over six units per week; which is the same as splitting one bottle of wine between two people, reduces their chance of conceiving and carrying a child to full term birth by 26%.
The research comes from a study by the Boston, US Harvard Medical Study that asked 2.574 couples to report their regular drinking habits before they tried IVF treatments.
Out of the group surveyed, 34% of men and 56% of the women reported that they drink less than one drink a week while 5% of the men and 4% of the woman reported they had an alcoholic drink at least once every day.
The study leader, Dr. Brooke Rossi, said that the results of the study showed that couples in which both partners drank over six units of alcoholic a week had a much less likelihood of becoming pregnant. Six units are the same as two large glasses of wine or two pints of strong beer.
Men who drink this amount reduce their chances by 14% and women by 18%.
September 23, 2009
Filed under: Baby public health — Alan @ 5:53 am
Only a woman would comprehend what it feels like to give birth to a child. Having a child is one gift that nearly every woman craves for. It is the most desired thing on earth for huge numbers of women.
So it is little wonder that unfortunate women who are infertile, or who have been diagnosed with a serious condition, such as cancer, are so desperate to have a baby that they are ready to go bankrupt, or even risk death, to give birth.
University College London, have just held a conference on motherhood, which was chaired by Professor Sammy Lee, an infertility expert, and chief scientist of the IVF program at Wellington Hospital.
He addressed the issue of some women’s obsession with having a child, and aired some of his observations. According to him, a considerable number of unfortunate women are ready to risk anything, and everything, to have a child. For example, cancer patients who want to have a baby first, before going for treatment. And many are desperate to find the funds for IVF at absolutely any cost.
The advancement of medical science has allowed these women to hope against hope, and in situations where they know there is very little chance of success, they are stubbornly unwilling to give up, they are risking it all, and make the clinicians comply with their demands, regardless of personal risk, or little, or no chance, of success.
