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Primary function of sex is not to promote diversity, but to maintain a species' identity

Biology textbooks maintain that the main function of sex is to promote genetic diversity. But Henry Heng, Ph.D., associate professor in WSU's Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, says that's not the case.

8 Jul 2011

Researchers to evaluate long-term health effects of oil spills

An NIH-funded network of researchers will evaluate potential harmful effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on reproduction and birth outcomes, the cardiorespiratory system, and behavior and mental health.

8 Jul 2011

Merck Serono announces recipients of second Grant for Fertility Innovation

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announces the recipients of its second Grant for Fertility Innovation.

8 Jul 2011

Tulane University receives NIH grant to examine oil spill effects on women's health

The NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has awarded Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine $6.5 million for a five-year study exploring the potential health impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on pregnant women and women of reproductive age living in Louisiana's coastal parishes.

8 Jul 2011

Smoking pregnant mums have smaller unhealthier babies

Professor Nick Macklon of Southampton University says even though most women now understand there is “overwhelming evidence” that smoking during pregnancy is harmful to the developing child, they continue to do so.

7 Jul 2011

Gum disease linked to infertility

According to experts gum disease may reduce the chances of getting pregnant. Poor oral health is as bad for fertility as obesity - delaying conception by about two months says latest research.

7 Jul 2011

Fiscal problems could be mitigated by ART conceived children

In 2009, 1,547 ART children were born in public clinics in Denmark, projecting a net tax revenue of -224 million and -247 million in 25 and 50 years respectively. The authors of the study calculated that reductions of 30-50% in ART cycles following the new policy would lead to cost savings of -67 - -111 million for the Danish government in 2034.

6 Jul 2011

Cumulus cells can provide information about genetic and chromosomal status of eggs

At present, when a woman undergoes preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) in a fertility clinic, doctors are trying to select an egg or an embryo that is healthy and doesn't have a chromosome abnormality such as an extra copy of chromosome 21, which causes Down's syndrome. In order to establish this, they either have to biopsy a part of the egg called the polar body or remove a cell from the embryo for screening. Both procedures are expensive, invasive and can damage the egg or embryo.

6 Jul 2011

Specialist RM clinic helps women achieve subsequent live birth

The researchers studied the records of 987 women with a minimum of three consecutive miscarriages, who had been referred to a specialist RM clinic between 1986 and 2008.

6 Jul 2011

Study highlights importance of mRNA translation in aging process

When researchers at the Buck Institute dialed back activity of a specific mRNA translation factor in adult nematode worms they saw an unexpected genome-wide response that effectively increased activity in specific stress response genes that could help explain why the worms lived 40 percent longer under this condition.

6 Jul 2011

Study: 'Vanishing twin' linked to increased risk of congenital malformations

Professor Michael Davies will tell the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today that the "vanishing twin" phenomenon, in which only one child is born from a pregnancy that originally starts as a multiple pregnancy, is linked to a nearly two-fold increased risk in any congenital malformation and to a nearly three-fold risk of multiple malformations.

6 Jul 2011

Periodontal disease can affect woman's chance of conceiving

Professor Roger Hart told the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that the negative effect of gum disease on conception was of the same order of magnitude as the effect of obesity.

5 Jul 2011

Study: Threatened miscarriages complicate 20% of all pregnancies

Dr Kaltum Adam, an honorary clinical research fellow at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester (UK), told the annual meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology that around 20% of all pregnancies were complicated by threatened miscarriage, and up to 20% of these would miscarry.

5 Jul 2011

Cleavage stage embryo with aneuploidy can undergo genetic normalisation process

Professor William G. Kearns told the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that a three-day-old embryo with an incorrect number of chromosomes was capable of undergoing "a dynamic process of genetic normalisation" so that by day five, when it had developed to the blastocyst stage, it had become euploid, with the correct number of chromosomes.

5 Jul 2011

Early childbearing impedes education among women

In almost every country, women with more education have fewer children. But does education reduce childbearing, or does childbearing get in the way of education, or both? New research by Joel E. Cohen and colleagues in Norway found that, at least among a population of Norwegian women, childbearing impeded education more than education impeded childbearing.

5 Jul 2011

ICSI study shows strong increase in first trimester pregnancy loss after the age of 38

The research, presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, also showed that rates of preclinical abortion, miscarriage and overall pregnancy loss during the first trimester remained more or less constant until the age of 34, but increased steadily from the age of 35 onwards.

5 Jul 2011

Study examines long-term sexual and relationship satisfaction in couples

Cuddling and caressing are important ingredients for long-term relationship satisfaction, according to an international study that looks at relationship and sexual satisfaction throughout committed relationships, but contrary to stereotypes, tenderness was more important to the men than to the women.

5 Jul 2011

Hope for fertility spreads through postcards

The campaign sends a multiplied message of hope for fertility in form of postcards with stories, including the key message on prevention and treatment. Thousands of postcards with moving stories are expected to cross Europe until October 2011.

4 Jul 2011

New model may help reduce multiple pregnancies in women

Dr Jan Holte told the annual meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology, that if this model were to be applied in all fertility clinics, it had the potential to reduce the twin rates to the level of just under two percent seen in the normal population. Already, another four clinics have started to use the model.

4 Jul 2011

New insight into oocyte chromosome abnormalities

Ovarian stimulation undertaken by women of advanced maternal age receiving fertility treatment may be disrupting the normal pattern of meiosis - a critical process of chromosome duplication followed by two specialised cell divisions in the production of oocytes and sperm - and leading to abnormalities of chromosome copy numbers that result in IVF failure, pregnancy loss or, more rarely, the birth of affected children with conditions such as Down's syndrome, which is caused by the inheritance of three copies of chromosome 21.

4 Jul 2011