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Ensuring patient safety at fertility clinics

In the years since the birth of the first ‘test-tube’ baby in 1978, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) has grown to become an accepted mainstream medical technique, with more than 25,000 treatments carried out every year.

23 Apr 2005

Halozyme Therapeutics receives FDA clearance for Cumulase

Halozyme Therapeutics has announced it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Cumulase for the treatment of oocytes to facilitate certain in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. The active pharmaceutical ingredient in Cumulase is the first and only recombinant human hyaluronidase approved in the United States for cumulus removal in the IVF process.

20 Apr 2005

Mothers' poor health revealed in new study

Sleep deprived new mothers are doing it tough, but getting help from early parenting centres improves their mental health, according to a new report.

7 Apr 2005

Women who smoke cut 10 years off their fertile life

More than a third of British women in their 20s smoke, and the rate, despite aggressive campaigns against smoking, has only decreased slightly in the past five years. One in seven couples experience problems conceiving, and, in cases involving female infertility, no specific cause can be found in 20 per cent of cases.

7 Apr 2005

Lack of aftercare support for mothers of twins

New research by the Twins and Multiple Births Association (Tamba) has found that nearly 50 per cent of parents are left struggling unsupported after the birth.

4 Apr 2005

UK grows stem cells free of animal products

Dr Paul de Souza and scientists at the Roslin Institute have successfully created human cells without using animal products.

17 Mar 2005

Public concerns show need for independent fertility regulation as great as ever

The public concerns and future developments which underpin the need for ongoing independent regulation of fertility treatment and research were spelt out in a keynote speech by Angela McNab, Chief Executive of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, at the HFEA’s annual conference this week (15 March).

16 Mar 2005

A weighty issue: can your eating habits make you infertile?

The societal pressures on women to be attractive, successful, and thin are stronger than ever. The desirable woman portrayed in the media is much thinner than the average woman. Popular slogans such as "thin is in" and "you can never be too rich or too thin" have equated thinness with happiness. The result is that for the first time in history, being attractive means being thin.

7 Mar 2005

How to maximise your chance of having a baby

New research by The Times has revealed a huge variation across the UK in the cost of a common fertility drug with some high street chemists charging infertile couples up to 80 per cent more than others for private prescriptions.

7 Mar 2005

Americans support appropriate use of reproductive genetic testing

A majority of Americans believes it is appropriate to use reproductive genetic testing to avoid having a child with a life-threatening disease, or to test embryos to see if they will be a good match to provide cells to help a sick sibling, a new report of the Genetics and Public Policy Center reveals.

20 Feb 2005

IVF process may lack natural growth factors in fluid

The lack of natural growth factors in the fluid in which IVF embryos are grown could have lifelong effects on people conceived this way. That is the implication of a study on mice by Australian researchers, who say preliminary studies of human embryos back their claims.

16 Feb 2005

American Fertility Association alarmed by Judge's embryo ruling

The recent ruling in favor of a Chicago couple, who sued for wrongful death when their fertility clinic failed to preserve an embryo, raises great concerns for fertility patients across the United States.

13 Feb 2005

Study supports giving dehydrated children fluids by mouth, oral rehydration therapy

Oral rehydration therapy, or giving fluids by mouth, is equally effective as giving intravenous fluids to young children dehydrated by common stomach and intestinal inflammations, according to a new study by emergency medicine physicians.

7 Feb 2005

One embryo as good as two to maximize the chance of pregnancy

Nearly as many women who received only one embryo at a time gave birth as women who received two embryos. At the same time the risk of giving birth to twins is minimized. These are the findings of a major study from the Sahlgrenska Academy, at Göteborg University in Sweden.

3 Dec 2004

British parents admit responsibility lies with them to tackle childhood obesity

More than 80% of parents say that they intend to be more accountable for their child's weight and four in five believe that measures set out in the Government's White Paper last week would go a long way to help them combat obesity in their children.

29 Nov 2004

Five advanced tests provide answers to couples with unexplained infertility

For couples struggling with infertility, "all routine tests came back negative" are not the words they want to hear. With up to 15% of couples with "unexplained infertility" and another 3% struggling with recurrent pregnancy loss, advanced tests help doctors find answers for their most challenging cases.

16 Nov 2004

Recommendations made for new research to settle questions on in vitro fertilization (IVF)

Twenty-five years after the birth of the first baby conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), there remain many unanswered questions about the health and well-being of babies born following IVF.

20 Oct 2004

New techniques designed to preserve a women’s fertility after cancer treatments

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) today issued a report on new techniques designed to preserve a women’s fertility after cancer treatments by using egg or ovarian tissue freezing technology.

18 Oct 2004

Presentation of the most recent and advanced work in the rapidly progressing field of fertility preservation

Each year approximately 50,000 women under the age of 40 are diagnosed with breast cancer. Treatments vary but most involve the administration of chemotherapeutic agents or radiation which can disrupt ovarian function or damage a patient’s eggs.

18 Oct 2004

Pioneering work with human embryonic stem cells could speed up development of new treatments for Parkinson’s and diabetes

Pioneering work with human embryonic stem (hES) cells could speed up the development of new treatments for a range of degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes according to Dr Stephen Minger of King’s College London, speaking today at the BA Festival of Science.

8 Sep 2004