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(sz) New Zealand women are being forced to wait for a new fertility treatment which has been held up for three years awaiting approval. An Auckland fertility specialist says up to 25 women are on a waiting list for the treatment and he is frustrated by the delays.
In vitro maturation (IVM), which matures eggs in the lab rather than in the woman’s body, dispenses with costly fertility drugs. It is therefore safer for women who have polycystic ovaries, for whom fertility drugs can be life-threatening.
The technique has been used in Canada, South Korea, Scandinavia and Britain. But in New Zealand, IVM is still being assessed by the independent Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (Acart). It has been on its books since the committee was set up in 2005.
Simon Kelly, a consultant with Fertility Associates, told the Herald on Sunday he had submitted IVM to the National Ethics Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction in 2004 - before Acart was established - and it had been approved. But it had to be assessed again when Acart replaced the old Ethics Committee after the passing of the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology (Hart) Act in November 2004.
“It has been sitting with them for two years. Hence the frustration. I have been raring to go and actually have patients waiting to try the treatment. I have at least 20-25 patients interested.” more…

From: »The New Zealand Herald«

(wz) The Barbados Fertility Centre has been reaping success by leaps and bounds. According to statistics released by the Centre, the clinic has seen a 68 per cent success rate for fertility treatment given to women under 38, as compared to 42 per cent for the United States and 22 per cent for the United Kingdom within the same age group. Additionally, a recent release has stated that the Barbados Fertility Centre has also been awarded international accreditation, from the United States health facility accreditation programme. The success rate was based on a combination of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) and In vitro Fertilisation (IVF).
The release said that this achievement by the Centre is a boost for medical tourism in Barbados and the wider region, as it is assuring patients that the quality care they will receive when deciding on the Centre for IVF treatment, is as good as any clinic in the United States or the United Kingdom.
According to the release, the accreditation process was considered by the centre to be essential in improving the quality care given to their patients. Moreover, by investing in new quality measurement systems, resources and staff training they are providing the best treatment for continued high success rates in IVF cycles. more…

From: »The Barbados Advocate«

(sz) Test tubes make lousy wombs. Now comes a device that nurtures embryos like the real deal.
Since the 1978 birth of Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) has produced approximately three million infants worldwide. Although success rates continually improve, the science of making babies in the lab is still hit-or-miss. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that less than 29 percent of IVF attempts result in the successful birth of a child.
Those rates could soon soar, thanks to an innovation by fertility researchers at the University of Tokyo. Teruo Fujii and his colleagues have invented a plastic chip-like incubator that nurtures early embryos like a real womb does. Currently, IVF eggs mature while resting on the floor of a petri dish, a very unwomb-like environment. “We wanted to culture embryos in an environment that is closer to what happens inside the body,” Fujii says.
The team’s research began with mice, but in March, they graduated to human embryos. While they have yet to implant any of the human embryos, results from the rodent experiments are promising: The team has successfully incubated up to 88 percent of early embryos.
The ultimate goal, Fujii says, is to perfect an artificial micro-uterus that fuses egg and sperm—and easily produces healthy, ready-to-implant human embryos. Such a device could benefit many of the estimated 1.2 million women who visit fertility doctors every year. more…

From: »Popular Science Magazine«

(wz) A San Carlos startup is offering to create “personalized” stem cells from the spare embryos of fertility clinic clients on the chance that the cells, frozen and stored away, may some day help a family member benefit from medical breakthroughs.
The novel business plan of StemLifeLine Inc. - which started promoting its service to fertility patients earlier this year as “insurance for the future” - set off a flash fire of protest from stem cell research opponents and supporters alike.
The outcry from anti-abortion groups wasn’t surprising. StemLifeLine derives stem cells from very early stage human embryos, which are destroyed in the process. Opponents of the research see this as the moral equivalent of killing a child. This belief is the basis of the Bush administration’s limits on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
But some of the most fervent denunciations of StemLifeLine came from vigorous supporters of embryonic stem cell research. Two Stanford University critics aired their complaints in newspaper editorial pages. A prominent Stanford ethicist challenged UC San Francisco scientists who are advisers of the company to sever those ties. These critics accuse StemLifeLine of trying to profit from the promise of stem cell research in the present, even though the work may not yield medical treatments for decades, if ever. more…

From: »The San Francisco Chronicle«

(cz) Although it is inexpensive, easy to obtain and poses little health risk, women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) cannot rely upon aspirin to help them become pregnant, according to a systematic review of nine studies.
Over-the-counter aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is typically used as a pain reliever. When taken daily, aspirin might lower the risk of heart attack, clot-related strokes, and other blood flow problems. Although it has its benefits, aspirin might also cause serious side effects, such as kidney failure, bleeding problems and some kinds of strokes.
But how could it help couples conceive?
“It is thought by some that taking low-dose aspirin may improve blood flow to the uterus and therefore improve ovarian response to IVF treatment, so it may be of benefit to women who have previously responded poorly to IVF treatment,” said the review’s lead author Vanessa Poustie, Ph.D., at the Institute for Child Health at the University of Liverpool in England. more…

From: »MaxHealth«

(sz) Fortifying flour with folic acid to cut birth defects may lead to a range of health problems, warn scientists. The move was approved earlier this year by the Food Standards Agency as a way to reduce defects such as spina bifida. However, an Institute of Food Research team has shown the liver could easily become saturated by folic acid.
Writing in the British Journal of Nutrition, they warn this could lead to unmetabolised folic acid entering the blood, which could damage health.
The latest study follows a letter to the Food Standards Agency from Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer of England, requesting further expert consideration of two recent studies linking folic acid to bowel cancer before the government gives the final go-ahead for mandatory fortification.
But the Food Standards Agency said fortification was safe. more…

From: »The BBC News«

(sz) Hollywood’s not the only place women are waiting longer to have babies. Dramatic increases in the average age of women giving birth are being recorded on the North Shore.
At North Shore Hospital, births to women over 40 have risen nearly 60 percent since 2000. In 2005 alone, 156 women over 40 gave birth – a 73 percent increase. Of the total 22,727 births in the period, 4.1 percent were to women over 40, compared to 2.7 percent at Waitakere Hospital.
Births to women between 35 and 39 have also risen more than 50 percent since 2000. That age group made up about 23 percent of total births at the hospital last year, while women aged 30 to 34 accounted for nearly 35 percent.
The trend towards delaying childbirth is worrying, says Waitemata clinical director of obstetrics Sue Belgrave.Fertility drops significantly in older mothers and subsequently the chance of successful in-vitro fertilisation. Higher maternal age is also linked to a number of medical conditions that can affect mother and baby, and a higher number of deliveries by caesarean section. more…

From: »stuff« (NZ)