Month: September 2012

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IUDs Implants Encouraged for Teenage Girls

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Teenage girls looking for birth control should be encouraged to consider the long-lasting “set and forget” methods, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

In new guidelines, ACOG says IUDs and contraceptive implants should be considered “first-line” birth control options for teenagers. The group issued similar advice for adult women last year (see Reuters Health story of June 21, 2011).

IUDs, or intrauterine devices, are implanted in the uterus, where they release small amounts of either copper or the hormone progestin to prevent pregnancy. The contraceptive implant, about the size of a matchstick, is inserted under the skin of the arm, where it releases controlled amounts of progestin. Read full article.

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Mice Experiment May Point to New Ways to Protect Female Fertility

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(Reuters) – Egg cells can repair themselves from damage caused by radiation far better than doctors ever thought, a finding researchers say gives fresh hope in protecting women undergoing cancer therapy from infertility.

Although the experiments have only been in mice, researchers believe they have relevance for female cancer patients and women who suffer premature menopause, a condition that puts them at risk of early infertility, osteoporosis and heart disease.

In a paper to be published in the November 9 issue of the journal Molecular Cell, scientists in Australia found that egg cells, or oocytes, are killed not by radiation, but by two proteins — puma and noxa — which snap into action when they detect DNA damage to egg cells. Read full article.

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Male Fertility Restored with Missing Sperm Protein

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Male infertility can be the result of sperm missing just one vital protein, which is necessary to activate the egg when the sperm fuses with it. But injecting that egg with the missing protein can “kick-start” the vital processes of embryo development, and dramatically increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.

These are the findings of a new study by a team at Cardiff University in the UK who write about their work in a paper being published in the journal Fertility and Sterility. They suggest the findings strengthen the case for the potential use of the protein in treating male infertility. Read full article.

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3 Person Embryo Consultation Launched in UK

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The UK’s fertility watchdog has launched a public consultationon the ethics of IVF-based techniques designed to avoid serious mitochondrial diseases.

Around 1 in 200 children is born each year with a form of mitochondrial disease. Some children have mild or no symptoms but others can be severely affected and have a shortened life expectancy. Symptoms include muscle weakness, intestinal disorders and heart disease.

New techniques, known as mitochondria replacement, could enable women to avoid passing these diseases on to their children by using mitochondria from a donated egg to create a healthy embryo, which would then be used in normal IVF treatment. Read full article.

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Couples Who Smoke Banned from IVF by NHS Fife – Scotland

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NHS Fife has been criticised for refusing IVF treatment to couples who smoke.

The health board said it would no longer provide treatment to couples if either of them smoked, or if doctors considered the woman to be overweight.

The charity Infertility Network said the health board had acted too quickly before new national guidelines on IVF were published at the end of the year.

The new rules come in to effect on 1 October 2012. Read full article.

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New breast cancer clues found in gene analysis

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Scientists reported Sunday that they have completed a major analysis of the genetics of breast cancer, finding four major classes of the disease. They hope their work will lead to more effective treatments, perhaps with some drugs already in use.

The new finding offers hints that one type of breast cancer might be vulnerable to drugs that already work against ovarian cancer.

The study, published online Sunday by the journal Nature, is the latest example of research into the biological details of tumors, rather than focusing primarily on where cancer arises in the body. Read full article.

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‘Missing’ protein can kick-start male fertility

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Adding a missing protein to in fertile human sperm can ‘kick-start’ its ability to fertilise an egg and dramatically increase the chances of a successful pregnancy, a new study has claimed.

Researchers from Cardiff University have found that sperm transfers a vital protein, known as PLC-zeta (PLCz), to the egg upon fertilisation.

This sperm protein initiates a process called ‘egg activation’ which sets off all the biological processes necessary for development of an embryo. Read full article.