Fertility News and Research

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Model predicts earth’s population will stabilise around mid century

Global population data spanning the years from 1900 to 2010 have enabled a research team from the Autonomous University of Madrid to predict that the number of people on Earth will stabilise around the middle of the century.

5 Apr 2013

Researchers discover injectable protein to reverse symptoms of dangerous conditions

The creation of new blood vessels in the body, called "angiogenesis," is usually discussed in connection with healing wounds and tumors. But it's also an ongoing process in the female reproductive tract, where the growth and breaking of blood vessels is a normal part of the menstrual cycle. But abnormal growth of blood vessels can have painful consequences and resultant pathologies.

4 Apr 2013

Researchers diagnose genetic disease in embryonic DNA without biopsy

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technologies allow identification of genetic disorders in human preimplantation embryos after in vitro fertilization (IVF) and before the embryo is transferred back to the patient.

3 Apr 2013

Fruit flies raised on organic diets record better health outcomes

A new study looking at the potential health benefits of organic versus non-organic food found that fruit flies fed an organic diet recorded better health outcomes than flies fed a nonorganic diet.

27 Mar 2013

Women over 40 need to be vigilant about contraception even in perimenopause

Women reaching the age of 40 tend to be less vigilant about birth control because they think the risk of pregnancy is low - or that birth control can cause health problems - but a review of the evidence by a team that includes a Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island physician recently underscored the need to be vigilant about contraception even in perimenopause.

26 Mar 2013

Scientists develop new chemo drug that fights cancer without impacting fertility

A new gentler chemotherapy drug in the form of nanoparticles has been designed by Northwestern Medicine- scientists to be less toxic to a young woman's fertility but extra tough on cancer. This is the first cancer drug tested while in development for its effect on fertility using a novel in vitro test.

25 Mar 2013

The Lancet examines changes to China's family planning policy

The Lancet reports on changes in the governance of China's family planning policy. "On March 10, nearly 32 years to the day since China's National Population and Family Planning Commission was established to oversee the world's largest, longest-standing population control program, the country's leaders announced plans to dissolve it into the Ministry of Health," the journal writes, noting, "Four days later, the National People's Congress rubber-stamped the proposal and the commission ceased to exist, leaving the future of the country's fertility policy in doubt."

25 Mar 2013

Researchers find little support for legal controls on cross-border fertility treatment

PROBLEMS in accessing donor sperm and eggs at home appear to be behind a reported increase in the number of UK citizens who seek fertility treatment abroad, despite the fact that this is widely seen as risky.

20 Mar 2013

IRIN examines maternal mortality in Nepal

IRIN examines maternal mortality in Nepal, writing, "Observed declines [in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR)] since the early 1990s make Nepal, together with Bangladesh, the most recent 'success story,' comparable to countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Cuba that gained ground decades earlier, Julia Hussein, lead author of a 2011 medical appraisal of Nepal's MMR reduction, told IRIN."

19 Mar 2013

Researchers report development of multi-parameter sorting approach to part SSCs from cancerous cells

As success rates in treating childhood cancers have improved, greater emphasis is being placed on quality of life issues following successful treatment.

18 Mar 2013

Swine study shows that moderate exercise can affect ovarian cells

A short walk around the barn might improve the future fertility of Yorkshire gilts. According to research presented by Samantha Kaminski, a graduate student at North Dakota State University, swine fetuses showed significant ovarian development after their mothers exercised.

13 Mar 2013

Unmet need for modern contraceptive methods projected to reach more than 230 million women worldwide by 2015

New research on contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for contraception in married or co-habiting women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years), based on data from 194 countries, suggests that although the proportion of women in this group using contraception has risen in the last two decades, and unmet need has fallen, 233 million married or co-habiting women are projected to have an unmet need for modern contraceptive methods by 2015.

12 Mar 2013

Researchers find healthy teens raise fertility concerns from threat of disease

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have found that healthy adolescent females have predetermined expectations for becoming parents in the future, but have concerns about fertility and childbearing should they develop a life-threatening illness, such as cancer.

2 Mar 2013

Sole Miss. abortion clinic readies for license revocation hearing; N.Y. Gov.'s abortion bill criticized

Mississippi health department officials are challenging the license of the state's only abortion clinic, while critics of a proposal to expand abortion rights by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo say it would hurt women.

1 Mar 2013

Study finds major risk factor behind increased risk of adverse outcomes in IVF pregnancies

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified what may be a major factor behind the increased risk of two adverse outcomes in pregnancies conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

26 Feb 2013

DNA repair mechanisms tied to reproductive aging

Age-related decline in the efficacy of DNA repair may underlie reproductive aging, say researchers.

14 Feb 2013

New research to rewrite textbooks on how ovaries are formed

New research from the University of Adelaide will rewrite the textbooks on how an ovary is formed, as well as providing new insights into women's health and fertility.

13 Feb 2013

Frozen/thawed embryo replacement better than fresh in vitro fertilization

In a study to be presented on February 14 between 1:15 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting -, in San Francisco, California, researchers will present findings showing perinatal outcomes of frozen/thawed embryo replacement (FER) have better outcomes compared to fresh in vitro fertilization (IVF), but worse outcomes compared to the non-IVF general population.

12 Feb 2013

Long-acting reversible contraception with progestin may increase risk of type 2 diabetes in women

A first-of-its-kind study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) indicates that healthy, obese, reproductive-age women who use long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) containing the hormone progestin have a slightly increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes when compared to those who use non-hormonal contraception.

11 Feb 2013

Breast cancer genes modify age at menopause

Women with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation begin menopause at a significantly younger median age than noncarriers, US researchers warn.

4 Feb 2013