A new approach to embryo assessment described at this year’s Annual Meeting of ESHRE may be able to shed light on why so many apparently healthy embryos are not viable. The approach is based on the quantification of mitochondrial DNA found in the outermost layer of cells in a five-day old embryo. The combination of chromosome analysis and mitochondrial assessment may now represent the most accurate and predictive measure of embryo viability with great potential for improving IVF outcome.
Category: Fertility Headlines
Men Can Test Their Sperm Count at Home with New Device Trak
In May, America’s Food and Drug Administration approved Trak, a new “male fertility testing” system. It looks like a cross between a frisbee, a clock and a Cuisinart blender. The Trak website announces that it is “like a Fitbit for sperm”.
Sperm-Donor Kids Ask About Their Biological Fathers At Age Three
Where’s my daddy? Children who were born of sperm donors and raised by single moms ask about their fathers from as young as aged three. The major study is the first to analyze the emotions of sperm-donor kids.
Endometrial Scratch Appears Beneficial in Couples Trying to Conceive
There is a much disputed claim that “injury” to the lining of the uterus — whether inadvertent or deliberate — increases the chance of embryo implantation and thus the chance of pregnancy in certain groups of women having IVF. The “injury” has usually been performed as a biopsy from the womb lining (endometrium), whose action is believed to cause a favourable inflammation (“scratch”) within the endometrium thereby making it more receptive to an implanting embryo. Indeed, the success of more complex uterine surgery in some studies has even been attributed to the scratch and not to the surgery itself.
Fertility Treatment: 3 In 4 Women Have a Baby in 5 Years
A new study finds that 3 in 4 women starting fertility treatment will have a baby within 5 years – and around a quarter of these will be conceived naturally.
Supreme Court Rejects Religious Objections to Sale of Contraceptives
Conservatives were disappointed and liberals were encouraged by the Supreme Court decision Tuesday to reject an appeal in a case involving the sale of emergency contraceptives and religious liberty. In effect, the high court let stand a July 2015 lower court ruling that a Washington State statute was OK to protect women’s access to contraceptives.
20-Something, with Menopause
I received a diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia in my mid-20s, and after five months in the hospital and a year in medically required isolation, I felt like an old lady, fragile and tired.
Some Women with PCOS May have Adrenal Disorder, Researchers Suggest
A subgroup of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a leading cause of infertility, may produce excess adrenal hormones, according to an early study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
Male Mitochondrial DNA Found to Self-Destruct After Arrival in Embryo
A team of researchers with members from Taiwan, the U.S., China and Japan has found that mitochondrial DNA from sperm that makes its way into an embryo begins to self-destruct before autophagosomes in the cytoplasm can reach it. In their paper published in the journal Science, the researchers describe their study involving the close monitoring of male mitochondrial DNA activity immediately after an embryo has been fertilized and as it is subsequently destroyed—they also offer some theories regarding why this occurs.
The Strange Story of a Fertility Drug Made With the Pope’s Blessing and Gallons of Nun Urine
Piero Donini, a scientist working in the late 1940s for the Italian pharmaceutical company that would later be known as Serono, was the first to extract and purify FSH and LH, the hormones that stimulate ovulation. The hormones are found in women’s urine, which is why pregnancy tests can be conducted on urine samples. After experimenting with urine from pregnant women, Donini discovered the highest levels of the hormone actually were in post-menopausal women. After menopause, when ovaries stop producing eggs, FHS and LS shoot up as the body tries to stimulate their production.