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(sz) An infertility expert whose scientific interest was sparked while growing up on a sheep station is among those recognised this Australia Day.
Professor Jock Findlay of Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, has been made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) for his contribution to the field of reproductive endocrinology.
It is the latest in a line of honours for Findlay, who is one of the original collaborators on a paper in the journal Nature that reported the first successful in vitro fertilisation pregnancy using hormone replacement to prepare the uterus.
But Findlay says this latest recognition is a “completely unexpected honour”.
As well as being awarded a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) in 2001, Findlay’s work in understanding the ovary has been recognised internationally.
He has been previously awarded for his finding that the regulation of egg development and ovulation is not just hormonally based.
Rather, interactions between cells in the ovary, he calls “local regulation”, also play a significant role.
Findlay says this knowledge can lead to improved outcomes in stimulating women to produce eggs in IVF procedures.
In 2006, Findlay was awarded the Dale Medal by the UK Society for Endocrinology for his studies that changed fundamental understanding of endocrinology.
And in the same year became the first Australian to receive the Distinguished Scientist Award from the UK Society for Reproduction and Fertility. more…

From: »ABC« (Australia)

(cz) Sixty percent of Poles think that a couple unable to have children should have access to IVF, whereas 25% think this method unacceptable, says poll by Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS).
When a similar poll was conducted exactly three years ago, as many as 76% of respondents were in favour of in vitro fertilization, and only 15% were against.
What might have caused the support to weaken, is the clearly articulated lack of support fom the method from the part of Polish clergy, speculates the pollster.
Support or its lack is primarily influenced by factors such as religious beliefs, political affiliation, age and education. Young, well-educated professionals are in favour more often than not, whereas older and poorly educated people from rural areas tend to be against, as are many supporters of the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition party, which is against state funding for this method of treatment. more…

From: »Polskie Radio«

(wz) From what is now considered medical waste might be fashioned bio-treasure: stem cells able to form into any of the body’s 220 cell types, including blood, nerves, bone, and skin tissue, new research suggests.
Scientists at Children’s Hospital Boston have forged stem cells from the “flawed” and “poor quality” early-stage embryos that in vitro fertilization clinics discard by the hundreds of thousands every year, according to research published yesterday in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
These are embryos created by IVF technicians but culled because abnormalities make them unsuitable for implantation into the wombs of women unable to conceive naturally. The embryos, usually containing no more than a few score cells, are deemed medical waste and simply tossed away.
Such embryos can “provide a reliable source for embryonic stem derivation,” said Dr. Paul H. Lerou, lead author of the study and a neonatologist at Children’s and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. more…

From: »The Boston Globe«

(sz) In vitro fertilization may be a high-tech science requiring sophisticated equipment, but for the people involved, from clinicians to clients, this assisted start to life is profoundly personal.
It’s early Sunday morning and the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine is having a busy day.
There will be four egg retrievals this morning — a bit of a post-Christmas rush, explains the RN who ushers Val Cole into the changing room to prepare her for egg retrieval.
The changing room, where Cole dons a robe and slippers, looks more like a room in a spa than a medical facility, complete with purse lockers, plush white robes and potted silk orchids.
Val Cole and her partner Stephen John are delighted to see the tiny spots of light that represent their embryos in an ultrasound image taken just after the embryo transfer was performed.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Val Cole and her partner Stephen John are delighted to see the tiny spots of light that represent their embryos in an ultrasound image taken just after the embryo transfer was performed.
Val is feeling a little weak. It’s early, and she hasn’t had anything to eat or drink this morning. She’ll be receiving conscious sedation, a combination of medazolin and fentanyl, for the egg retrieval process.
The anesthetic ensures that Cole will be lightly aware, but remember little of the procedure she is about to undergo. The nurse wraps Cole’s arm in a heating pad to warm up the veins and get her ready for an IV.
Cole’s partner Stephen sits on a stool next to her. “I finally feel like I’m a part of things today,” he says. “Until now, I’ve been kind of separated from the process, getting reports from Val after her ultrasounds, watching her inject herself.”
While Cole is in the operating theatre where Dr. Jeffrey Roberts will retrieve the eggs from her fallopian tubes, Stephen will be ushered into another room to produce the sperm.
“No pressure, honey,” cracks Cole. Stephen laughs. They’re nervous today, but excited. Soon they’ll know how many eggs, and how many opportunities they will have to realize their dream of a family.
Both the operating theatre where Cole’s eggs will be retrieved, and the room in which Stephen’s sperm will be collected have doors that connect to the lab where fertilization will take place.
Carol Lawrence, the embryologist who will manage the embryo creation today by performing ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection), pops her head in and smiles broadly. more…

From:»The Vancouver Sun«

(wz) A California company said on Thursday it used cloning technology to make five human embryos, with the eventual hope of making matched stem cells for patients.
Stemagen Corp. in La Jolla, California, destroyed the embryos while testing to make sure they were true clones. But the researchers, based at a fertility center, said they believed their ready source of new human eggs would make their venture a success.
Other experts were skeptical about the claims, published in the journal Stem Cells. If verified, the team would be the first to prove they have cloned human beings as a source of stem cells, the master cells of the body.
There are several types of stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, made from days-old embryos, are considered the most powerful because they can give rise to all the cell types in the body.
The Stemagen team said they got five human embryos using skin cells from two adult men who work at the IVF center. They said they had painstakingly verified that the embryos were clones of the two men.
“We hope it is a bit of a turning point for many more studies,” Andrew French, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.
They used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, which involves hollowing out an egg cell and injecting the nucleus of a cell from the donor to be copied — in this case, the skin cells from the men. more…

From: »Reuters«

(wz) Over the next two months India will unilaterally recognise postgraduate medical degrees from English-speaking countries, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has said.
Initially, the PG degrees of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand would be recognised, he clarified, stating this agreement would, over a period of time, become bilateral after issues relating to quality and uniform standards were settled. During his recent visit to the U.K., he explored the possibilities of mutual recognition of medical degrees, which had existed till 1975.
Speaking to journalists at The Hindu here on Saturday, Dr. Ramadoss said the Health Ministry would evolve regulations to control stem cell research and therapy. Admitting that there was a lot of research going on in the private sector, he stressed the need for regulating and monitoring that process. The regulations would be incorporated into the existing guidelines for In-vitro Fertilisation procedures.

Stem cell initiative
The National Stem Cell Initiative would give a fillip to stem cell research, he added. Research need not necessarily happen in the public sector. The Indian Council of Medical Research was funding organisations which undertook research in the area and collaborations were being worked out with the U.K. and Australia. Research would also move towards therapy in the next few years. more…

From: »The Hindu«

(sz) The House of Lords last night decisively rejected attempts to ban research on hybrid animal and human embryos as Christian activists mounted a protest outside Parliament.
Hundreds of demonstrators from Christian Concern For Our Nation (CCFON), some wearing cow and rabbit masks, joined the protest, which was staged to coincide with the report stage in the House of Lords of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. The Bill could give Britain the scientific lead in licensing research on hybrid embryos for up to 14 days.
The Bishop of Winchester said the Bill was the point at which a line should be drawn. His concerns were echoed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. He was also supported by Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative Party chairman, who said peers faced a “deep ethical dilemma” over “unnatural” experiments.
Lord Tebbit said: “Because it is possible to do something doesn’t mean it should be done, because it might bring some great benefit to some people doesn’t mean it should be done.”
The trio supported an amendment by Lord Alton, the Liberal Democrat peer, prohibiting the creation of animal-human embryos. “I have always believed that life begins at conception, and after that I don’t believe we should destroy life.”
But the Health minister Professor Lord Darzi said that “unnatural” discoveries included IVF treatment, which had saved many lives and enabled couples to have children. He assured peers that the licences would be limited to 14 days. Lord Alton refused to withdraw his amendment, but it was defeated by 268 votes to 96.
Lord Darzi said understanding of stem cell research had increased significantly. “We are… more confident than ever that the end result… will be new treatments for serious diseases and medical conditions.” more…

From: »The Independent«

(wz) Scientists in Britain have been given the go-ahead to create human-animal hybrid embryos for research.
Britain’s fertility regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has approved applications from King’s College London and Newcastle University to carry out the research.
This will allow them to create “cytoplasmic” embryos, where human cells are merged with eggs from animals such as cattle or rabbits.
These human-animal hybrid embryos will be used for research purposes and the scientists say such research could lead to therapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The HFEA licence committee says the two applications satisfied all the requirements of the law and they have been offered one-year research licenses to carry out the research; the research licenses are both subject to a series of detailed conditions.
A lengthy investigation was carried out by the HFEA including a public consultation which revealed that the public was generally in favour of allowing animal-human embryos for research.
Researchers aim to produce hybrids that are 99.9 percent human and 0.1 percent animal and this will involve transferring nuclei containing DNA from human cells to animal eggs which have had almost all their genetic information removed.
The resulting embryos are therefore mostly human, with a small animal component; stem cells, which can grow into different kinds of tissue, are then formed.
Dr. Lyle Armstrong, from Newcastle University says the long term objective of the research is to understand reprogramming and find better ways to make human embryonic stem cells.
Dr. Armstrong says cow eggs appear to be as good as human eggs for this purpose once their own nuclear DNA is removed and replaced with DNA from a human cell and they are much more readily available.
Until now scientists have had to rely on human eggs left over from fertility treatment, which are in short supply and are often of poor quality. more…

From: »News-Medical.Net«

(cz) Should the language used in this debate about IVF in Poland be more carefully considered? I [the author – ed.] think most people agree that in vitro fertilisation (IVF) is an extremely sensitive subject matter.
Nowhere more so than in Poland, where a large majority of the Catholic population objects to the freezing (and sometimes the destruction) of human embryos. Of course, the ethical and moral side of this complicated issue is something that should be discussed by both sides. However, that is not what I want to talk about today. What I want to discuss is the language employed within this debate.
One in five couples has problems with conceiving and it is likely that this number will continue to rise. Recently, the IVF debate has been in the headlines again as the government has been thinking about refunding the procedure to the growing number of couples undergoing it. There have been many newspaper articles, radio programmes and news items devoted to the subject. In some of them, women receiving IVF have been described as ‘immoral’ and accused of having ‘silent abortions’.
They have been said to use IVF in order to be able to choose their child’s eye and hair colour. Everyone knows that stress is proven to be a major factor in many cases of infertility. Such commentary and judgment must add to this stress. Particularly, for the many Catholic women who are having problems with conceiving. The Roman Catholic Church is wholly opposed to IVF, yet it is legal in this country. It must indeed be a difficult dilemma for many.
Is it alright to say that women undertaking IVF treatment are “reduced just to virtually a breeding animal”? To refer to their husbands or partners as “sperm donors”? Is it fair to say that one “can hardly imagine a worse beginning of paternal love”? more…

From: »Polskie Radio«

(cz) The genetic testing of embryos at risk of developing deadly diseases is not foolproof, and all parents should be extensively counselled on the risks, experts say.
The warning yesterday came after a couple declared that they were suing a Melbourne fertility clinic because pre-implantation genetic testing had failed to pick up that their son was carrying an inherited cancer gene.
They are suing for damages to cover hospital and medical expenses for their son’s entire life and for the cost of rearing a child without the gene.
Embryos, grown in laboratories, are usually tested when they are three days old and made up of about eight cells, but some clinics wait until the embryo is five days old and has more than 100 cells, giving the test greater accuracy.
Cells can be checked for up to 100 diseases such as Huntington’s, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome, sparing couples the trauma of a termination if the embryo is later found to be carrying a deadly gene.
But a fertility specialist at IVF Australia, Michael Chapman, said yesterday the technology was not foolproof and any patient wanting it needed to have two hour-long sessions of counselling with a genetic counsellor to make sure they understood the risks. “It’s all about the counselling. People need to understand that even with our best endeavours, there is a possibility it may not be accurate.”
The medical director of Fertility First, Anne Clark, said yesterday that there was always room for error when only one cell was tested. more…

From: »The Sydney Morning Herald«