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(cz) A new £3.3m fertility centre which is one of the largest in the UK has officially opened in Leeds.
Former facilities at Leeds Infirmary and St James’s, have now been combined to create the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine.
This is one of the largest in the UK, providing approximately 2,000 IVF treatment cycles a year and will improve care for fertility patients.
Mike Collier CBE, chairman of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, officially opened the new facility at Seacroft Hospital where two former wards have been transformed to house the service which will serve Leeds and West Yorkshire.
The new facility also offers a full range of regional services for a large part of the north of England, treating both NHS contracts and self-funding patients.
Professor Adam Balen said: “We have an international reputation for world-class research ranging from the basic science of egg and embryo development, to the management of conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome and the preservation of fertility for women about to undergo cancer therapy.” more…

From: »Yorkshire Evening Post«

(sz) Scientists say they boosted the success of in vitro fertilization in mice by gently rocking embryos before implanting them into the womb.
No evidence yet proves that the same technique would work with human embryos, but authors of a new study hope it might do just that.
“By making the cells feel more at home, we get better cells, which is key to having better infertility treatment,” said study co-author Shu Takayama, an associate professor in the University of Michigan’s department of biomedical engineering.
The idea of the research is to mimic the motion that an embryo feels traveling through the fallopian tube to the uterus. Human embryos created with the assistance of in vitro fertilization don’t get the benefit of such exposure.
The mouse embryos that underwent the rocking treatment with the help of a specially designed device were healthier after four days and had more cells than those grown in dishes. About 77 percent of them resulted in pregnancies when implanted into female mice, compared to 55 percent of those grown in the petri dishes.
The report was published online in the journal Human Reproduction. more…

From: »Bloomberg Business Week«

(wz) A 59-year-old woman, Sue Tollefsen, has become the oldest person to be offered fertility treatment at a British clinic.
Miss Tollefsen, a retired teacher, who already has a two-year-old daughter, has been approved in principle for IVF at the private London Women’s Clinic on Harley Street, despite guidelines advising against treatment in those over 50.
The case has sparked a fierce debate over the ethics of fertility treatment for post-menopausal women and has led to calls for the Government to introduce legislation preventing it.
Miss Tollefsen, from Braintree in Essex, travelled to Russia to have her first child, Freya, two years ago, but now wishes to have a sibling for her daughter.
In September, she and partner Nick Mayer, who is 11 years her junior, approached the London Women’s Clinic, one of the most successful IVF units in the country, after being turned down by scores of other centres.
She underwent a consultation with the clinic’s medical director Peter Bowen-Simpkins who said there “compelling reasons” why she should be approved for treatment.
Mr Bowen-Simpkins said there remained a number of processes to go through before IVF could start, but the case had in principle received unanimous support from the clinic’s governance committee.
Providing Miss Tollefsen fufills a series of strict criteria the case will go before the clinic’s executive for full approval.
Last night Mrs Tollefsen told The Daily Telegraph: “I have always accepted that I would come up against a great deal of people who would be very negative about what we are doing.
“However, I think that when you look at the kind of loving and caring family we are, you have to ask: why should we be denied the opportunity to have another child and to give our daughter a sibling.
“I feel as fit as a fiddle approaching 60 and I’m confident that I could have a child, despite my age. Obviously, I do worry that, if I have another child, when he or she reaches their 10th birthday, I will be 70.
“However, my partner is 11 years younger than me, so I know that even if I am not around in the years to come, Nick would be and so our children would have their father to bring them up.
“I do sometimes wish that I had done this 20 years ago or more, so that I could know that I would definitely be able to see our children grow up, get married and have children of their own.”
She added: “If the doctors in Britain say that I can’t do it, then we would consider going back to Russia to get a second opinion. But, ultimately, having another baby isn’t something we’ve said we are going to do, no matter what - we will only go ahead if the medical advice is that it is safe for me to carry another child. more…

From: »The Daily Telegraph«

(sz) The issue of fertility treatment for post-menopausal women raises a number of medical and ethical concerns which have become the subject of fierce debate.
One of the most pressing concerns is the ability of an older mother to care for her child in advancing years.
Many campaigners argue that it is unfair on the child to have a parent who may die when they are still very young, but supporters insist youth is no guarantee of life expectancy and the most important thing is that the youngster has a loving home.
With no upper age limit enshrined in law there are also fears that as science advances there will be those who are tempted to push the boundaries even further with women in their 70s eventually allowed to conceive.
Those opposed to IVF for older women claim the welfare of the child is being lost amid the efforts to push the scientific boundaries ever further.
But supporters of IVF for the over 50s insist maturity can be advantageous in parenting as older people tend to have more spare time and money to lavish on their child.
Pro-life groups also argue that if a woman cannot conceive naturally due to her age then science should not intervene.
But fertility expert Professor Ian Craft points out that there have been cases of women giving birth after the menopause which he argues justifies giving IVF to women in their 50s. more…

From: »The Daily Telegraph«

(wz) Dr Richard Fisher and Dr Freddie Graham brought in vitro fertilisation or IVF to New Zealand 27 years ago. They both were made companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year honours.
“Hey egg, meet the sperm.”
Gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Richard Fisher says in vitro fertilisation, or IVF, isn’t creating life, but nurturing it.
“We get all the materials together, and then we nurture that growth,” he says.
Dr Fisher and Dr Freddie Graham, also a gynaecologist and obstetrician, brought IVF to New Zealand 27 years ago.
The Remuera and Parnell residents have been made companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the recent New Year honours for services to medicine.
They were both surprised about the honour and believe their successful careers are largely based on good luck.
“We work with wonderful people. We received the honours because of a great team,” Dr Fisher says.
IVF is a process where egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside of the womb then placed into the woman’s uterus to create a pregnancy.
In 1983 when IVF first began in New Zealand it was a well-kept secret - the hospital board didn’t even know.
“In those days when you wanted to do a new treatment you just did it,” Dr Graham says. “We had to keep very quiet about it until the first pregnancy.”
When the news was announced, attitudes were mixed and IVF was thought of as a controversial treatment. The hospital board was worried about the extra costs and protesters who were against the treatment sat outside the two doctors’ homes and National Women’s Hospital.
“The first I heard of protesters was when I read in the paper that Richard’s letterbox had been bombed,” Dr Graham says.
He also had his fair share of protesters.
“I said: ‘I don’t do abortions any more’ and they said: ‘But you throw away embryos’.”
Within the first year there was a seven-year waiting list for people wanting IVF treatment. To qualify for the treatment back then women had to be in a long-term relationship, but not necessarily married.
“That was a big deal back then,” Dr Graham says. more…

From: »East & Bays Courier«

(cz) Parental demand for “designer babies” screened to lack faulty genes will grow dramatically over the next decade, with new discoveries about the influence of DNA on health, a leading geneticist has predicted.
As science learns more about the genetic roots of disease, couples will increasingly seek DNA tests on their embryos when starting a family, according to David Goldstein, of Duke University in North Carolina.
By 2020, researchers will have discovered many more genetic variations that substantially raise the risk of common conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and psychiatric disorders, and it will be possible to detect these in embryos, he said. This will feed much wider interest in embryo screening, which is currently used by only a few dozen couples each year, and encourage fresh controversy over the ethics of designer babies.
Writing in the journal Nature, Dr Goldstein said that his expectations about the speed at which genetics would advance had led him to make a “confident but uncomfortable” prediction about the future of screening. “The identification of major risk factors for disease is bound to substantially increase interest in embryonic and other screening programmes,” he said. more…

From: »The Times«

(cz) Embryology Academy for Research & Training in Mumbai is an IVF training Centre / institute in the field of assisted reproductive technologies offers Short course and hands on training. EART is recognized research institute for IVF Training Programme for IVF / ICSI / ART Micromanipulation, Reproductive Medicine located in Mumbai, India, Asia.
At Embryology Academy for Research & Training [EART] their aim is to offer the most advanced and globally competitive training in the field of ART. Their centre besides being optically equipped with the state-of-art equipments, mentors the trainees by renowned embryologists, andrologists, biologists, reproductive endocrinologists and other experts in assisted reproductive techniques. Their individualized training program, since its inception in the year 2003, has had the satisfaction of training 150 plus national and international candidates. A constant desire for up gradation coupled with a motivated team spirit is EART’s goal to success.
Embryology Academy for Research & Training in Mumbai is an IVF training Centre / institute in the field of assisted reproductive technologies offers Short course and hands on training. EART is recognized research institute for IVF Training Programme for IVF / ICSI / ART Micromanipulation, Reproductive Medicine located in Mumbai,India,Asia.
Embryology Academy for Research & Training is a one stop training centre for all aspects of Embryology and Andrology laboratory techniques. The school has world renowned Embryologists and Clinicians as faculty. They have Various Embryology Courses,IVF,IUI,ICSI and ART Hands on training short courses ,Accredited by Centre for Reproductive Medicine, USA. more…

From: »PR.Com«

(cz) An Irish woman has lost her legal battle to have three of her frozen embryos released to her.
The Supreme Court in the Republic of Ireland dismissed the appeal which was taken by a 43-year-old mother.
She wanted to implant the embryos and have the babies against the wishes of her estranged husband.
All five Supreme Court judges were in agreement in dismissing the appeal in Dublin on Tuesday.
The couple at the centre of the case had IVF treatment in 2002 - six embryos were created - three were implanted and the woman went on to have a child.
The other three embryos were frozen. Shortly afterwards the couple separated.
The original High Court case arose when the woman wanted to use the frozen embryos to have another child, but her estranged husband did not.
In 2006, the High Court rejected the woman’s argument that the embryos were protected by the Republic’s Constitution.
On Tuesday, the judges also ruled that the term “unborn” only applies after implantation in the womb and does not apply to frozen embryos.
Therefore frozen embryos are not afforded the legal protection guaranteed by article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution.
The Supreme Court expressed concern at the total absence of any form of statutory regulation of in vitro fertilisation in Ireland. more…

From: »The BBC«

(wz) Doctors fear fertility clinics will struggle to cope with a surge in demand and patients could face lengthy delays in treatment as hundreds of single women and lesbians seek IVF following changes to Victorian legislation.
Specialists expect that about 1000 women previously excluded from IVF because they were considered ‘’socially infertile” will access treatment each year following a change to the law on January 1. This will take the number of women seeking treatment in Victoria each year to about 7000, stretching facilities to their limit and putting more pressure on the state’s dwindling supply of donor sperm.
Until now, single women and lesbian couples in Victoria had to travel interstate for IVF unless they could prove they were medically infertile.
Adding to fears of lengthy delays, the wider access to IVF has come with greater restrictions for all prospective patients. Under the new legislation, all women and their partners are now being forced to undergo police and child protection checks before starting assisted reproductive treatment.
Gab Kovacs, national medical director at Monash IVF, said fertility counsellors had to sign off every application and the clinic had employed extra staff to cope with the workload. No other Australian state or territory requires such checks.
”The system is not at all set up to cope with this new demand. We’ve had terrible trouble trying to get the police checks done. They’re very slow in processing them and it can take several weeks because the police don’t see the urgency about it. For these couples they need those checks done as soon as possible,” Professor Kovacs said. more…

From: »The Age«

(cz) Employees who are pregnant enjoy a significant level of legal protection.

To discriminate against a woman on the grounds of her pregnancy, for example by dismissing her or subjecting her to some other detriment, is direct sex discrimination to which an employer has no defence.
European law has established that it is not necessary for a woman to identify a male comparator when bringing such a claim because pregnancy is a condition unique to women.
A woman who becomes pregnant as a result of IVF treatment is of course entitled to the same legal protections as a woman who becomes pregnant naturally, but what is the position of a woman who is under going IVF treatment but is yet to become pregnant, either because fertilised eggs have yet to be implanted or because implantation has failed but a further attempt is contemplated?
In the earlier case of London Borough of Greenwich v Robinson, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that infertility was a medical condition requiring medical treatment and that absence due to such treatment fell to be decided in the usual way. It held that even though infertility was a gender specific illness any less favourable treatment did not constitute sex discrimination.
Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled in the case of Mayr, in which an Austrian woman was dismissed by her employer while undergoing IVF treatment (but just before implantation of eggs). She tried to argue that she should be protected in the same way as a woman who was actually pregnant. more…

From: »shoosmiths« (UK)