varoblog

(wz) A University of Illinois at Chicago study says a majority of fertility clinic web-sites do not adhere to their own association’s advertising guidelines.
Many consumers rely on the internet to gather health information, and “the concern is that vulnerable patients may be misled by information that does not give the whole picture,” according to study’s senior author Dr. Tarun Jain, of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. more…

From:»The United Press International« (USA)

(wz) The charity Infertility Network UK was due to spend yesterday compiling a report for the Department of Health into the inconsistent availability of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment on the NHS. Instead, it spent the day handling a torrent of calls from worried patients who had seen a BBC Panorama programme questioning the propriety of the man said to be the most successful IVF technician in Britain, the private practitioner Mohammed Taranissi.
Which is a shame, because the muddle of treatment on the NHS is a far greater scandal than the continued operation by Mr Taranissi of a private clinic whose licence was under review. And under review not because he had done anything wrong, but because the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the regulatory body for IVF clinics, had suddenly reduced the number of embryos Mr Taranissi was allowed to transplant, and he had objected. more…

From: »The Times« (online edition)

(sz) Almost two years have passed since a single Romanian woman in her mid-60s gave birth to a daughter conceived through the use of donated eggs and sperm and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Worldwide, there was great concern about the ethical and moral implications of such technologies being used to assist a woman in her 60s, much less a single woman, to become a mother, given her life expectancy and the probability that she would not live to see her daughter reach adulthood.
Concerns were also raised about future identity issues and the child’s entitlement to information about her medical and social history, given that she has no genetic relationship to her mother. more…

From: »UBC Reports« (University of British Columbia)

(wz) For many couples, the Bar-Ilan University Clinic for Male Infertility, possibly the only lab in Israel that focuses on male infertility, is the end of a long, frustrating road of failed fertility treatments. Most couples who come to the clinic already have been trying to get pregnant for an average of six years.
Studies have found that in about 35 percent of infertility cases the problem rests with the man, and in 35 percent with the woman. The rest fall into the murky category of “unexplained infertility.â€? more…

From: »The Jewish Ledger«

(wz) Desperate women are flocking to IVF doctors who use high doses of drugs to increase their chances of a baby. But at what price?
After nine attempts at IVF in four different clinics, Yasmina Wight is finally pregnant. She is carrying twins, due in May, and like many women who’ve been treated successfully at London’s Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre, is now evangelical about its leading doctor, who oversaw her care.
Yasmina, 34, and her husband Aldwin, a 53-year-old risk management consultant, were so desperate for a baby that they’ve spent £60,000 on fertility treatment. more…

From: »Daily Mail« (UK)

(wz) A quarter of men with testicular cancer banked their sperm before treatment, but only six per cent of those actually used the sperm to father a child, according to a study published in the January issue of the urology journal BJU International.
Researchers from the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, USA, surveyed 129 males treated at the institution over a ten-year period.
They discovered that 31 of the men (24 per cent) chose to bank their sperm before treatment, at an average cost of US $358. Maintenance fees added an average of US $243.86 a year. more…

From: »Science Daily«

(wz) Times are tough for biotechnology companies hoping to raise private investment capital.
Venture capital firms generally wait longer – until a product is more fully developed – before they are willing to risk their money in biotech.
That makes it almost impossible for companies working on human embryonic stem cell research to find financing because…
so much is unknown about how those few cells morph into the more than 200 cell types in the body.
Using human embryonic stem cells to develop cures and treatments for Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, cancers and other ailments is still decades away, say those in the field. more…

From: »Greater Paramus News«

· Treatment has 30% success in target group
· Risk reduced by avoiding heavy doses of hormones

Scientists have unveiled a new form of IVF which they claim is “better than nature” at getting some women pregnant and does not need high doses of potentially harmful hormones.

The method, which involves harvesting immature eggs and growing them outside the body, reduces the need to pump women with hormones to mature the eggs internally. It has resulted in 400 healthy babies in Denmark and won the backing of Bob Edwards, the British scientist behind the first test-tube baby. more…

From: »The Guardian«