varoblog

(wz) CHICAGO — The power to create “perfect” designer babies looms over the
world of prenatal testing. But what if doctors started doing the opposite?
Creating made-to-order babies with genetic defects would seem to be
an ethical minefield, but to some parents with disabilities — say,
deafness or dwarfism — it just means making babies like them.
And a recent survey of U.S. clinics that offer embryo screening
suggests it’s already happening.
Three percent, or four clinics surveyed, said they have provided
the costly, complicated procedure to help families create children with
a disability.
Some doctors have denounced the practice, others question whether
it’s true. Blogs are abuzz with the news, with armchair critics saying
the phenomenon, if real, is taking the concept of designer babies way
too far. more…

From: »nnseek« / »Associated Press«

(sz) Obstetricians and scientists working in IVF clinics should pay attention to a recent paper on some of the problems with mental health emerging from birth onwards. In a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal, a reporter, Elizabeth Bernstein, wrote about infants with anomalies in mental health. She commented that studying these conditions in infants to age 3 was common until recently, as therapists moved from ‘the couch to the crib’. A diagnostic manual of mental disorders has been devised to include two new subsets of depression, five new subsets of anxiety disorders and six new categories of feeding behaviour disorders. Further stimuli to new outlooks also include starting required treatments as soon as possible since they can be diagnosed in some children very early in life, even at the age of 1 year. These advances are linked to an improved understanding of matters such as child-like love, meeting the person they adore, and repairing damage in emotional and other problems emerging in very youthful years. more…

From:»RBM online«

(wz) UroToday.com - Dewan and colleagues conducted a study which demonstrated that the prevalence of y-chromosome microdeletions was higher in patients(couples) undergoing evaluation for recurrent pregnancy loss (n=17) compared to 18 fertile couples without pregnancy loss and 10 infertile men.
Eighty-two (82%) percent of the men from the couples with recurrent pregnancy loss as compared to 0% in the normally fertile males and 20% in the infertile males were found to have microdeletions in the AZFc region of the Y chromosome. more…

From: »Medical News Today«

(wz) The Assisted Conception Unit in Clane General Hospital has achieved the ISO 9001:2000 quality award and is the first fertility unit in Ireland to achieve the standard.
The Unit is certified to carry out all aspects of fertility treatment from ovulation induction to IVF, ICSI and blastocyst transfer.
The Unit does some 750 cycles per year. The Unit is linked with Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge since 1996, and Mr Peter Brinsden acts as Medical Director in both clinics. more…

From: »Irish Medical News« online

(wz) Homosexual couples who have children together are to get the same legal rights as heterosexual parents under proposed new laws published yesterday.
The legislation would give both women in a lesbian couple automatic and equal parental rights over a baby born using donated sperm.
Homosexual men and unmarried heterosexual couples who use surrogate mothers would also gain the same rights currently enjoyed by married couples to apply for parental orders making both partners the legal parents of resulting offspring.
Caroline Flint, the public health minister, yesterday unveiled a White Paper containing 25 proposals that will form the basis for an overhaul of current laws on fertility treatment and embryo research. more…

From: »Sunday Telegraph« online

(sz) The aim of this study was to gain more insight into long-term psychological adjustment to IVF in women. METHODS: In a prospective cohort study, 298 women entering their first IVF treatment cycle (including ICSI) completed standardized psychological questionnaires before the start of the treatment, just after the last treatment cycle, and 6 months and 3–5 years after the last treatment cycle. The main outcome measures were state anxiety, depression and mode of adaptation to unsuccessful IVF. more…

From: »Oxford Journals« Volume 22, No. 1

(sz) Fertility clinics are failing to provide enough information to potential patients, a regulator says.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) looked at the performance of UK clinics offering IVF and donor insemination. While the majority of its standards were being met by most of the 78 clinics, the HFEA found clear areas where big improvements were needed. It said just half of clinics gave patients adequate information.

»The need to provide patients with comprehensive information about infertility and its treatment is fundamental to good medical practice« (Dr Mark Hamilton, British Fertility Society chairman)

more…

From: »BBC News« online

(wz) Since the birth of the world’s first successful “test-tube” baby in Great Britain, many advances were achieved in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology. The need for a forum bringing together clinicians, scientists, and embryologists became inevitable and the World Congress on In Vitro Fertilization was created.

For the past 25 years, this Congress has become a major event in the calendar of physicians and scientists in the field of reproductive health. It is our aim to continue with organizing this Congress and we are pleased to announce that the 14th World Congress on IVF will be jointly held with the 3rd World Congress on IVM, in Montreal, Canada, from September 15 to 19, 2007. more…

(sz) Embryo screening allows couples to decide, but many worry about the ethics

Boy or girl? Almost half of U.S. fertility clinics that offer embryo screening say they allow couples to choose the sex of their child, the most extensive survey of the practice suggests.

Gender selection without any medical reason to warrant it was performed in about 9 percent of all embryo screenings last year, the survey found. more…

From: »Northwest Indiana News«