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Study compares treatment cost of PID hospitalizations, ER care for teen girls

Hospitalizing teen girls with pelvic inflammatory disease costs six times as much as treating them in the emergency room, and up to 12 times more than treating them in an outpatient clinic, according to a small study conducted at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

6 Jan 2011

The Surrogacy Lawyer discusses role of yoga in helping women cope with infertility

Most of the public knows her as the suffering Mary Alice Young who speaks to the audience from the afterlife as the narrator of ABC's hit Desperate Housewives. But they may not know about Ms. Strong's many other important roles as an advocate for fertility awareness, as a pioneer in developing fertility yoga programs and as a wife and mother whose journey to conceive her second child transformed her life.

4 Jan 2011

New options in fertility preservation for oncology patients

Many young people who've just learned that they have cancer also are told that the therapies that may save their lives could rob them of their ability ever to have children. Infertility caused by chemotherapy and radiation affects a sizable population: Of the 1.5 million people diagnosed with cancer in 2009, nearly 10 percent were still in their reproductive years.

4 Jan 2011

New women’s health policy inadequate

The Gillard government is being criticized for issuing a women’s health policy without announcing more funding for struggling women’s services. This is the first national women’s health policy in 21 years that claims to ensure women “have access to the right healthcare at the right time”.

30 Dec 2010

First “saviour sibling” procedure successful

In a first, a nine year old girl received tissue donated by her 18-month old brother Max who was created specifically so that he could aid her medical treatment – a procedure termed as “savior sibling”. This is the first time that the procedure has been under the supervision of British researchers from IVF onwards.

27 Dec 2010

Scientists pinpoint brain site where leptin hormone may trigger onset of puberty

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have pinpointed a tiny site in the brain where the hormone leptin may help trigger the onset of puberty.

23 Dec 2010

Most Australians don't approve of IVF or abortion for sex-selection

Most Australians do not approve of IVF or abortion for sex-selection purposes, and most do not think a hypothetical blue or pink pill to select the sex of a child should be legal, a new study has found.

23 Dec 2010

Later onset of puberty associated with malnutrition, earlier onset to childhood obesity

The timing of the onset of puberty is linked to levels of nutrition: later onset is associated with malnutrition, while earlier onset is linked to childhood obesity. A team of researchers, led by Carol Elias, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, has now generated data in mice that run counter to current thinking about the molecular pathway by which nutrition status affects the onset of puberty. Further, the team defines a new regulatory pathway for the process, which, if confirmed in humans, could potentially lead to new approaches to treating disorders of puberty and fertility.

23 Dec 2010

Merck announces FDA approval for GARDASIL against HPV-related anal cancer

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GARDASIL® [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] for the prevention of anal cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 and for the prevention of anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) grades 1, 2 and 3 (anal dysplasias and precancerous lesions) caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18, in males and females 9 through 26 years of age.

23 Dec 2010

Birth rate for U.S. teens falls to a record low

The birth rate for U.S. teens aged 15-19 years fell to a record low, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 2009 birth rate of 39.1 births per 1,000 teens is down 6 percent from the 2008 rate of 42.5 births per 1,000. This is the lowest ever recorded in seven decades of tracking teenage childbearing. Birth rates for younger and older teens and for all race/ethnic groups reached historic lows in 2009.

22 Dec 2010

Vitrolife receives FDA approval for RapitVit Blast and RapidWarm Blast vitrification products

Vitrolife has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, the equivalent of the Swedish Medical Products Agency, for the products RapitVit™ Blast and RapidWarm™ Blast. So-called 510(k) clearance has been obtained for these products, which are used for so-called vitrification, the rapid freezing and thawing of blastocysts (embryos days 5-7 after fertilization). Vitrolife has since before approved products for vitrification of embryos in an earlier stage of the fertilization (embryos day 2-3 after fertilization).

22 Dec 2010

Study provides evidence on prevalence of two separate mosquito species which carry malaria parasite

In notable back-to-back papers appearing in the prestigioous journal Science in October, teams of researchers, one led by Nora Besansky, a professor of biological sciences and a member of the Eck Institute for Global Health at the University of Notre Dame, provided evidence that Anopheles gambiae, which is one of the major mosquito carriers of the malaria parasite in Sub-Saharan Africa, is evolving into two separate species with different traits.

21 Dec 2010

Early life food influences life-long fertility

The reproductive success of men and women is influenced by the food they receive at an early stage in life, according to new research by the University of Sheffield.

21 Dec 2010

Britain’s NHS falls short in providing services

British patients are being denied routine procedures varying from hip replacements, to cataract removal and wisdom tooth extraction as trusts are cutting back on surgeries and diagnostic procedures to save money. There is also a restriction preventing patients undergoing procedures for lifestyle reasons and those considered “low priority”. This includes obesity surgeries, mild varicose veins, fertility treatments, back injections for pain, hip and knee replacement in obese patients etc.

20 Dec 2010

Genentech confirms EMA, FDA updates on Avastin for metastatic breast cancer

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, confirmed that following the reviews of Avastin® (bevacizumab) in metastatic breast cancer by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the following regulatory announcements were made by the individual health authorities:

17 Dec 2010

Merck, sanofi-aventis enter global cancer research and development agreement

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today that Merck, has signed a worldwide research and development agreement with sanofi-aventis U.S. Inc., under which Merck Serono and sanofi-aventis U.S. Inc. will collaboratively investigate novel experimental combinations of agents that could block specific pathways in cancer cells. This collaboration could deliver novel targeted oncology treatments with high therapeutic potential.

17 Dec 2010

Watson, PregLem enter licensing agreement to develop, market Esmya in the U.S. and Canada

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Gedeon Richter Plc today announced that Watson's subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc. has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with PregLem, S.A., ("Preglem") the wholly owned subsidiary of Richter, to develop and market Esmya™ (ulipristal acetate) in the U.S. and Canada.

16 Dec 2010

BPA exposure reduces quality of womens' eggs retrieved for IVF

A small-scale University of California, San Francisco-led study has identified the first evidence in humans that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may compromise the quality of a woman's eggs retrieved for in vitro fertilization (IVF). As blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent, according to the research team.

16 Dec 2010

Ultrasound-based diagnosis for rapid detection of benign and malignant ovarian cancer

It is crucial to differentiate between benign and malignant ovarian cysts and tumours in a fast and reliable manner. This improves the surgical management and prognosis of the patient.

16 Dec 2010

Adoption rates plummet to a three decade low

Adoption rates in Australia have touched an all time low since 1970’s. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare revealed that in the last financial year there were just 412 adoptions. That is compared with a peak of more than 8,000 adoptions a year in the early 1970s.

14 Dec 2010