Reproduction News and Research

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ASPIRE 2010 focuses on A.R.T. issues

Infertility, defined as the failure to conceive after 12 months or more of regular, unprotected intercourse, may affect as many as 15 percent of couples around the world including Asia. Like other countries, China's infertility rate is on the rise increasing from 3 percent to 15 percent in the past 20 years. It is estimated that at least 40 million Chinese couples have difficulty in having children or are actually infertile.

7 Apr 2010

Traces of many medicines found in fish swimming in treated waste water

Researchers at Ume- University and the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have discovered that traces of many medicines can be found in fish that have been swimming in treated waste water. One such medicine, the hormone levonorgestrel, was found in higher concentrations in the blood of fish than in women who take the contraceptive pill. Elevated levels of this hormone can lead to infertility in fish.

5 Apr 2010

Recipients of Pfizer Canada's third Neuropathic Pain Research Awards Competition announced

Pfizer Canada is pleased to announce the recipients of its third Neuropathic Pain Research Awards Competition, which aims to fund and support Canadian innovation within independent neuropathic pain research in the areas of basic biomedical, clinical and health sciences.

31 Mar 2010

Canon launches REALiS SX7 Mark II D with DICOM Simulation Mode

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today announced the latest addition to the award-winning REALiS Multimedia Projector lineup, the SX7 Mark II D with DICOM Simulation Mode. In the medical-education field viewing monochrome digital X-Rays, CAT Scans and MRI's with accurate color and precise detail is of the highest importance and the REALiS SX7 Mark II D is able to meet this need on a scale much larger than traditional monitors.

31 Mar 2010

Cook Medical's new IVF culture-oil purification process reduces contaminant trace to below detectable limits

A new purification process developed by Cook Medical for culture oil used in assisted reproduction eliminates traces of contaminants below detectable limits of 0.1 parts per million. The oil is purified by a proprietary refining technique that removes hydrocarbon impurities, which can have adverse effects on fertilization and threaten the viability of the developing embryos. The culture oil viscosity, MEA and LAL parameters remain unchanged.

27 Mar 2010

British couples seek alternative fertility treatment in the US

With strict social and legal restrictions associated with third party reproduction, as well as limited egg donors available in the UK, an increasing number of British couples are traveling to the U.S. for alternative fertility treatments, such as egg donation. Unfortunately, the UK does not allow financial compensation for egg donors; this greatly reduces the number of available donors and presents major obstacles for many infertile couples, some of whom wait for an egg donor for two years or longer. Last year approximately 1200 egg donors were needed in the UK, and roughly 500 families were unable to find a donor.

24 Mar 2010

New combination drug treatment for parasitic intestinal roundworms shows promise

Several drugs currently in use or in development control parasitic worms in the same way. That concerns health workers In developing countries where reinfestations often require repeated treatments. If worms develop resistance to one drug, the other treatments would likely fail as well.

18 Mar 2010

Researchers identify a novel way to study species-specific reproductive behavior

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have discovered that injecting a simple hormone into leeches creates a novel way to study how hormones and the nervous system work together to produce species-specific reproductive behavior.

17 Mar 2010

New SpermCheck Fertility home test kit for sperm level measurement

Infertility affects between 10 and 15 percent of couples worldwide. Surprisingly, problems with male fertility account for approximately 50 percent of infertility cases.

12 Mar 2010

PolyMedix presents data from PMX-30063 defensin-mimetic antibiotic compound Phase 1B study at 8th TSIS

PolyMedix, Inc., an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat acute cardiovascular disorders and infectious diseases, has presented for the first time to the medical community data from its Phase 1B clinical study with its defensin-mimetic antibiotic compound, PMX-30063.

12 Mar 2010

Genetic epidemiology: Importance of population genomics

Did women and men contribute equally to the lineage of contemporary populations? Did our ancestors, Homo sapiens, lean more toward polygamy or monogamy? To answer these questions, Dr. Damian Labuda, an investigator at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center and a professor at the Department of Pediatrics of the Universit- de Montr-al, headed a team that analyzed genomic data from three population samples of African, Asian and European origin. The study's findings are published in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

5 Mar 2010

Getting pregnant the "traditional" way or by assisted reproduction does not affect birthing process or the baby

Whether a women gets pregnant the "traditional" way or by assisted reproduction has no effect on the birthing process itself or the baby, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have found.

2 Mar 2010

Positive antioxidant balance may help in better reproduction, barn swallow study shows

A balanced diet, exercise and reduced stress not only can lead to a longer life, but also better reproduction, according to a new study by a team of researchers, including one from Arizona State University, on barn swallow nutrition and mating habits.

1 Mar 2010

Bioethics expert: Parents should be allowed to use selective reproduction in choosing future child's gender

A bioethics expert has argued that parents should be allowed to use selective reproduction to choose their future child's gender and to screen out serious disease and disability.

27 Feb 2010

BPA exposure during pregnancy may cause permanent reproduction problems for female offspring

Here's more evidence that "safe" plastics are not as safe as once presumed: New research published online in The FASEB Journal suggests that exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy leads to epigenetic changes that may cause permanent reproduction problems for female offspring. BPA, a common component of plastics used to contain food, is a type of estrogen that is ubiquitous in the environment.

26 Feb 2010

Ovarian transplant: A viable method for fertility treatment

For the first time, a woman has given birth to two children after her fertility was restored using transplants of ovarian tissue that had been removed and frozen during her cancer treatment and then restored once she was cured.

25 Feb 2010

Frozen/thawed ovarian tissue transplant: Woman has two children from separate pregnancies

24 Feb 2010

Women who become pregnant with single foetus after IVF/ICSI have increased risk of stillbirth

Women who become pregnant with a single foetus after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) have an increased risk of a stillbirth, according to new research out today (Wednesday).

24 Feb 2010

Children born through assisted reproduction at greater risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes related defects

More than three million children have been born as a result of assisted reproductive technologies since the birth of the first "test tube baby" in 1978. While the majority of these children are healthy and normal, as a group they are at greater risk of certain kinds of birth defects and being low birth weight, which is associated with obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes later in life.

22 Feb 2010

BPA has no effects on brain development: New study

This new study, which exposed pregnant rodents to a range of BPA dietary doses from low to high, concluded that BPA had no effects on brain development or behavior in their offspring that had been exposed to BPA in utero and throughout development. The robust study was conducted by highly qualified researchers at WIL Research Laboratories.

18 Feb 2010