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New insight into the role of the breast cancer gene known as BRCA2

Researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cancer Cell Unit, Cambridge have gained an important new insight into the role of the breast cancer gene known as BRCA2.

29 Oct 2004

Key gene that impacts the timing of puberty

Researchers at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) have identified a key gene that impacts the timing of puberty and can shorten the time span for reproduction.

24 Oct 2004

Telling the truth about donor insemination

A new book based on 27 years of research work emphasises the importance of families who use donor insemination being open and honest with their children about their origins.

22 Oct 2004

Greater risk for children of mothers over 40 to die in the womb or as a newborn

Women who give birth after 40 run a greater risk of experiencing pregnancy complications than younger women. Moreover, there is an increased risk of the child dying in the womb or in close connection with delivery.

13 Oct 2004

Researchers identify new sulfur-containing scent molecules in sweat

Sometimes, people just don't smell good – and not only in the figurative sense. The sense of smell plays an important role in interpersonal relations.

7 Oct 2004

Reliability theory explains human aging

The quest to understand and control aging has led University of Chicago biologists Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova to draw inspiration from what might seem an unlikely source: reliability engineering.

4 Oct 2004

Pine cones may form a new line of attack against MRSA infection

Pine cones may form a new line of attack against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, the British Pharmaceutical Conference heard this week.

29 Sep 2004

Marijuana use may increase the risk of ectopic (tubal) pregnancies

It is not known whether drugs that block or, in the case of marijuana, over-stimulate the CB1 receptor can cause ectopic pregnancy in humans. However, "our results raise caution for women of reproductive ages regarding the chronic use of marijuana for recreation or pain alleviation," the researchers concluded.

27 Sep 2004

New insights into ancient mating and migration patterns in humans

Men have been tomcatting around since time immemorial, and some traveled far from home to do it, new research suggests.

20 Sep 2004

Sea urchins may provide clues to some baffling human reproductive problems

For many years scientists have believed they understood how closely related species that occupy the same regions of the ocean were kept from interbreeding. It turns out they were only seeing part of the picture.

13 Sep 2004

Researchers unravel genetic makeup of ticks to tackle disease

Ticks as small as a freckle can transmit a number of illnesses for which there is no vaccine and, in some cases, no cure. These creatures even could become bioterrorism weapons.

4 Sep 2004

Hormone leptin could play a key role in treating bone loss, anorexia and infertility in women

A new study has found that the hormone leptin plays a key role in women’s reproductive and neuroendocrine health and suggests a future for the hormone in treating a number of conditions including exercise-induced bone loss, anorexia and in some cases of infertility.

2 Sep 2004

Authors redefine aging as any change in an organism over time

Voyager Pharmaceutical have announced the publication of a paper co-authored by its chief scientist, Richard Bowen, M.D., and Craig Atwood, Ph.D., research director of the University of Wisconsin Memory Research Program and the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute.

18 Aug 2004

IVF pioneer wins international recognition

Monash in vitro fertilisation pioneer Professor Alan Trounson has been awarded the 2004 Bertarelli Foundation Award in Reproductive Health for his outstanding contribution to the field of assisted reproductive technologies.

29 Jul 2004

Gene responsible for infertility

A paper describing discoveries about the role of a gene that is important in all animals, plants, and fungi is published in the 20 July 2004 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

23 Jul 2004

Single embryo transfer (SET) can produce an acceptable pregnancy rate while lowering the incidence of multiple pregnancies

Transferring a single embryo to a woman can result in a similar number of pregnancies as double embryo transfer, while at the same time reducing the risk of multiple births and the complications due to twin pregnancies

2 Jul 2004

Abnormalities observed in cloned mice help reinforce the need to continue to avoid the reproductive cloning of humans

Dr. Takumi Takeuchi, from Cornell University, New York, USA told a media briefing that he and Dr. Gianpiero Palermo's team had compared imprinting abnormalities (the process where specific genes inherited from both parents are silent) in mice embryos derived from assisted reproduction techniques and from cloning.

30 Jun 2004

Successes in frozen ovarian tissue technology may offer hope to women being treated for cancer

Doctors in Denmark have succeeded in producing a two-cell embryo after ovarian tissue was removed, frozen, and then thawed and replaced two years later.

29 Jun 2004

Chromosomal chaos in early embryonic development is linked to abnormalities in cytokinesis and spindle formation

Abnormalities in the spindles (the bi-polar thread like structures that link and pull the chromosomes during cell division) of human embryos before implantation may be the primary reason for many of the chromosome defects observed in early human development

29 Jun 2004

Five children have been born conceived from previously isolated and frozen egg cells

Five children have been born conceived from previously isolated and frozen egg cells, Italian scientists announced today (Wednesday 30 June 2004) at the 20th annual conference of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.

29 Jun 2004