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(sz) Something that you’ve probably known intuitively for years is finally official: mothers of daughters are different to mothers of sons, and we produce the sex of children we’re most suited to bring up.
Traditional perception is that the sex of your baby is pure toss-of-the-coin chance, but ten years ago, Dr Valerie Grant, a reproductive scientist at the University of Auckland, came up with the theory that dominant women have high levels of testosterone (often considered the male sex hormone) and are much more likely to give birth to boys.
A small group of researchers, from anthropologists to evolutionary biologists, have known for years that something other than chance affects the human sex ratio which, rather than remaining at a constant 50:50 male to female, is prone to fluctuations; during both World Wars, for example, there was an increase in the number of male births. Grant, who has a PhD in psychology, was the first to suggest that it was down to the character of the mother. “Scientists already knew that mothers behave differently towards their babies according to their sex [mothers of boys are more initiating, mothers of girls more responsive], but the conclusion was that this was because of the strength of sex stereotyping. I’d say there was evidence that the mothers were behaving in ways that were natural to them.” more…

From: »The Times«

(wz) An Australian couple who used IVF to conceive a daughter to avoid passing on an incurable disease which only affects males are suing their doctors after giving birth to a boy, a report said Sunday.
The couple opted to use in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to get pregnant so the woman could be implanted with only female embryos to avoid having a boy afflicted by the genetic and life-threatening illness haemophilia.
But in June 2005 they were delivered a son, Jess, who was soon afterwards found to have a severe form of haemophilia, a disease in which the blood does not clot properly and puts sufferers at risk of bleeding to death. more…

From: »AFP«

(sz) In women over 40 years old, pregnancy loss in a first in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle is not predictive of an improved delivery rate in subsequent cycles, as is the case in women under 40, according to a report in the February issue of Fertility and Sterility.
“Cumulative live birth rates for women 40 years or older with and without prior pregnancy losses are the same,” Dr. Rita Sneeringer told Reuters Health.
Dr. Sneeringer from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts and associates explain that for women younger than 40 undergoing IVF, pregnancy in a prior cycle - even a pregnancy loss - is associated with improved odds of pregnancy in subsequent cycles.
To investigate the situation in older women, the researchers analyzed data on 584 women who had an initial IVF cycle over the age of 40. Fifty-seven of these women delivered and were excluded from the analysis, while 49 had a pregnancy loss and 478 did not conceive.
There was no significant difference in the percent of women who achieved a subsequent liveborn delivery in the prior pregnancy loss group (18.0 per cent) and the negative beta-hCG group (21.9 per cent), the team found. more…

From: »Medicexchange«

(sz) For decades, women have been using the pill to not get pregnant. However, for women who do want a baby but are finding it difficult to conceive, the very same contraceptive may be a boon, say researchers at Tel Aviv University.
On a study conducted on 1,800 women at the Infertility and IVF Unit at the Helen Schneider Hospital for Women, Rabin Medical Centre, researchers led by Dr. Haim Pinkas, found that a two-week intervention treatment using a standard low-dose birth control pill can help time egg harvesting – making the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) more convenient for doctor and patient.
According to clinicians, the ability to time the IVF process is also crucial to successfully conceiving.
“One of the main drawbacks in treating infertility is timing a woman’s body with the clinic’s schedule, so we can get as many mature eggs as possible. IVF clinics can be extremely busy,” said Dr. Pinkas. more…

From: »The Times Of India«

(wz) An Australian couple who used IVF to conceive a daughter to avoid passing on an incurable disease which only affects males are suing their doctors after giving birth to a boy, a report said Sunday.
The couple opted to use in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to get pregnant so the woman could be implanted with only female embryos to avoid having a boy afflicted by the genetic and life-threatening illness haemophilia.
But in June 2005 they were delivered a son, Jess, who was soon afterwards found to have a severe form of haemophilia, a disease in which the blood does not clot properly and puts sufferers at risk of bleeding to death.
The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said the couple, which it did not name, have launched a Supreme Court action against their doctors and IVF clinics. more…

From: »AFP«

(cz) Beachcroft, Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW), Herbert Smith and Morgan Cole have won places on the first ever panel for the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA), the independent regulator that licences and monitors IVF, artificial insemination and human embryo research.
Panel members will advise on public law, corporate governance, judicial review, employment, contracts and procurement, medical law and training. They have been appointed for a three-year period.
The HFEA also has two in-house lawyers, senior legal adviser David Gomez and lawyer Catherine Drennan.
The FFW team advising the authority is led by public law and regulatory partner Sarah Ellson. Ellson said: “We are delighted to have been selected for the HFEA’s legal panel at a time when there are so many new developments in the field of fertility treatment and embryo research. more…

From: »The Lawyer«

(cz) Braun Pharmacy and Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC announce that they have joined to offer Braun Pharmacy customers free overnight shipping on infertility medication, and will make a generous donation for prescriptions filled for individual cycles to the Jude Andrew Adams Charitable Fund, a not for profit fund established by Lotus Blossom Consulting, offering a free fertility treatment cycle for financially needy individuals.
“As one of the first pharmacies in the Midwest specializing in infertility since 1985, we view this as an excellent way to give back to the community,” said Braun Pharmacy owner, Jay Pine. “Through the years we’ve witnessed countless emotional success stories related to infertility, and there is nothing more fulfilling than to have a patient rewarded with the blessings of a child on the way.”
“We are thrilled that Braun will be making this donation to the Jude Andrew Adams Fund,” said Mindy Berkson, founder of Lotus Blossom Consulting, one of the first infertility consultancies in the United States, “Financial difficulties should not be a deterrent to having a family.” more…

From: »StreetInsider« (press release)

(cz) Polish First Lady Maria Kaczynska has expressed support of in vitro fertilisation, but rejected the idea of refunding the procedure from the state’s budget.
In an interview for the Internet edition of Wprost weekly the President’s wife said that she understands the tragedy of people who can’t have children. That is why she is in favour of IVF, which may be the only chance for them of starting a family.
The First Lady argued, however, that in vitro fertilisation shouldn’t be refunded by the state in view of the bad financial shape of the Polish health care system.
Maria Kaczynska’s opinion is in opposition to views of the part of the Polish clergy, who are against the procedure entirely and call the method ‘an abortion in disguise’. more…

From: »The News« (Poland)

(sz) IVF mums are less confident in caring for their babies than women who conceive naturally, a study has found.
And the longer it takes for women to conceive using assisted reproduction technologies, the more their confidence is eroded in the months after their child’s birth, a women’s mental health conference in Melbourne has been told.
The study by the University of Melbourne showed IVF mothers were over-represented among those admitted to residential early parenting centres.
About three per cent of babies in Australia are born to parents who have assisted reproduction procedures, but these mothers make up almost 20 per cent of women in these mother-baby units.
A survey of 183 IVF mothers showed that levels of anxiety and low confidence were high among the group.
“Over half of the women felt anxious about baby care when they took their baby home from hospital,” said Dr Karin Hammarberg of the Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society.
Over time, the women felt more confident, but by 18 months about a third were still not totally confident, she said.
“And by 18 months, 17 per cent had been admitted to a residential mother-baby unit because of early parenting difficulties, which is three times higher than the general population rate of admission.” more…

From: »Sydney Morning Herald«

(wz) Test tube babies are no longer considered extraordinary arrivals by residents of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, after a spike in the number of such births during the past decade.
The number of test tube babies born in Guangzhou last year was at least 10 times greater than a decade ago, according to Long Xiaolin, a senior doctor of the Reproductive Department from No 3 Hospital affiliated to Guangzhou University of Medical Science.
A test-tube baby is a term that refers to a child conceived through in vitro fertilization, a medical technique in which a woman’s egg is placed with her husband’s sperm in a laboratory environment to promote fertilization.
According to Long, his hospital alone welcomed more than 1,200 little miracles into the world last year, with an average of three test-tube babies born a day.
In contrast, only about 100 were born annually at Long’s hospital in the late 1990s.
The stigma once associated with artificially conceived children has receded, Long said. more…

From: »China Daily«