Archive for January, 2012

Tamara McClintock Greenberg: Orgasm Inc.: Filmmaker Liz Canner on Women and the Orgasm Industry

Whether or not women orgasm and how they orgasm has been the subject of speculation for thousands of years. The diagnosis of hysteria in women began with Hippocrates and has been associated with pathology in female sexuality and reproduction. Galen, another early physician, thought hysteria represented a lack of sexual gratification in women who were particularly passionate.

Read More..

Friends Season 9 Episode 21 – The One with the Fertility Test – Video


25-01-2012 17:49 watchfriendshere.com Chandler and Monica court embarrassment when they secretly go to a fertility clinic for tests that will determine their family plans, until an old acquaintance runs into them.

Read More..

Fertility firm in recruitment drive as baby business booms

Fertility experts at Cambridge Temperature Concepts are recruiting a raft of new people as the business takes off. The company celebrated its 200th pregnancy at the end of September, and 300th at Christmas.

Read More..

Fertility clinic offers help for women with cancer

LAS VEGAS (FOX5) – A local fertility clinic is offering free help for women who have been diagnosed with cancer. The Sher Fertility Institute is offering to freeze the eggs of women, like 30-year-old Angela Cooper.

Read More..

CT Fertility Announces Donations to Charity Marking the Birth of Over 300 Babies in 2011

The three organizations receiving over $10,000 each are Family Equality Council, USA for UNHCR and Mapendo New Horizons, representing the clinic’s dedication to helping families of all kind throughout the globe. (PRWEB) January 31, 2012 As CT Fertility celebrated the clinic’s 20th anniversary in September of 2011, it announced an expansion of it’s social responsibility initiatives by pledging to donate $100 for every baby born in 2011 as a result of CT Fertility’s help.

Read More..

Catholics caught in middle of birth-control battle

Whether the Catholic Church should have to comply with a government mandate to provide free birth control in its employees’ health plans is either a question of religious freedom or of women’s health, local Catholics say.

Read More..

Trenton Bishop: Birth control rule threatens religious freedom

In the decision, the Obama administration reaffirmed that most employers will have to provide contraception free of charge to employees by Aug. 1 and rejected an appeal by the Catholic church and other groups that they be exempt based on their opposition to birth control

Read More..

Birth control costs to be paid by employer

Religious institutions in all states will soon be required to cover free birth control for employees, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently ruled. Most new and renewed health plans will begin covering contraceptives Aug.

Read More..

Can Obama's health-care law force Catholics to support birth control?

Without an exemption for Catholic-linked institutions, the Obama health-care law requirement that insurance plans cover birth control would violate religious liberty, priests say. The Obama administration has stirred up new and vocal opposition to its health-care law, as Roman Catholic institutions confront a rule that in their view violates religious liberty. Skip to next paragraph Institutions with ties to the Catholic church, such as hospitals and schools, say they are getting no exemption from a rule requiring that health insurance plans cover contraceptive services

Read More..

Toddler Top Ten

Last week I installed yet another toy management system in the little kids’ room.  I seem to change my mind about how best to do this every 6 months.  This is because for the past two years my life has revolved around toddlers.  (And teens, but that’s a whole other issue!) When the little ones [...]

Read More..

Testing the water before swimming: satisfying the need for clinical trials of devices, media, and instruments before their use in assisted reproduction laboratories

The steady progress of assisted reproduction technologies (ART) realized significant improvements that increase the chance of delivering healthy offspring to parents suffering with infertility. Developments in ART laboratories, such as the introduction of new devices, instruments, and the evolution of culture media formulations, were crucial to this success. At present, laboratories and ART-related technology are [...]

Read More..

Contemporary aspects of male gamete (dys)function: aiming towards optimizing the treatment of fertilization disorders

At its inception, in vitro fertilization (IVF) was a relatively straightforward procedure encompassing the in vitro insemination of surgically retrieved oocytes and the trans-cervical uterine placement of the ensuing embryos with the goal of overcoming tubal infertility. Since that time, IVF has become the ultimate treatment modality for all infertility indications when standard treatments have failed. While [...]

Read More..

Development and current applications of assisted fertilization

Since the very early establishment of in vitro insemination, it became clear that one of the limiting steps is the achievement of fertilization. Among the different assisted fertilization methods, intracytoplasmic sperm injection emerged as the ultimate technique to allow fertilization with ejaculated, epididymal, and testicular spermatozoa. This work describes the early steps that brought forth the [...]

Read More..

Semen analysis: looking for an upgrade in class

Objective: To review the literature database regarding current methods for diagnosing male subfertility and to critique new testing methods that have the potential to be incorporated as part of routine semen analysis.Design: Literature database review.Setting: None.Patient(s): None.Intervention(s): None.Main Outcome Measure(s): None.Result(s): Methods for performing high quality semen analysis are standardized and clearly presented in the [...]

Read More..

Epigenetics of the male gamete

Objective: To review and summarize the current understanding of the epigenetic status of human sperm in regards to protamination, specific localization and modifications of retained histones, and DNA methylation.Design: Review of the relevant literature.Setting: University-based clinical and research laboratories.Patient(s): Fertile and infertile men.Intervention(s): None.Main Outcome Measure(s): Critical review of the literature.Result(s): Sperm from normospermic, fertile [...]

Read More..

Human spermatozoal RNAs

Objective: To provide a focused review of the scientific literature pertaining to spermatozoal RNA.Design: Review of the literature and appraisal of relevant articles.Setting: Not applicable.Patient(s): Infertile male.Intervention(s): None.Main Outcome Measure(s): Spermatozoal RNAs as potential epigenetic modifiers in early embryo development and as clinical markers of male infertility.Result(s): The nucleus of mature spermatozoa contains a complex [...]

Read More..

Increased maternal cardiovascular mortality associated with pregnancy in women with Turner syndrome

In women with Turner syndrome, the risk of death from aortic dissection or rupture during pregnancy may be 2%, and this risk persists during the postpartum period owing to pregnancy-related aortic changes. Turner syndrome is a relative contraindication for pregnancy; however, it is an absolute contraindication for pregnancy in a patient with a documented cardiac [...]

Read More..

Genome-wide sperm deoxyribonucleic acid methylation is altered in some men with abnormal chromatin packaging or poor in vitro fertilization embryogenesis

Objective: To evaluate genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in sperm from men with abnormal sperm chromatin packaging and patients displaying abnormal embryogenesis after IVF in the absence of known female factors.Design: Case–control study.Setting: University andrology and research laboratory.Patient(s): Men with abnormally high and low protamine 1/protamine 2 ratio (n = 15); patients who have undergone IVF/intracytoplasmic [...]

Read More..

Superoxide dismutase content in sperm correlates with motility recovery after thawing of cryopreserved human spermatozoa

Objective: To investigate the correlation between sperm superoxide dismutase (SOD) content and motility recovery after thawing of cryopreserved human sperm, based on the rationale that this antioxidant enzyme provides protection against reactive oxygen species-induced damage during cryopreservation.Design: Prospective study.Setting: Private infertility institute and university-based research laboratory.Patient(s): Forty-two consenting normozoospermic patients consulting for infertility.Intervention(s): The SOD [...]

Read More..

The utility and cost of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae screening of a male infertility population

Objective: To determine the utility and cost of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) screening in infertile males.Design: Cohort study.Setting: Canadian tertiary-level male infertility clinic and university-affiliated laboratories.Patient(s): 5,588 male infertility patients.Intervention(s): CT and NG testing on 8,972 urine and semen samples.Main Outcome Measure(s): Prevalence of CT and NG infection in infertile males versus [...]

Read More..

The management of retrograde ejaculation: a systematic review and update

Objective: To determine the best management of retrograde ejaculation to optimize the chance of conception.Design: Systematic review.Setting: Tertiary reproductive medicine center.Patient(s): Subfertile men with retrograde ejaculation.Method(s): Systematic search of studies using search terms “management” or “therapy” or “treatment” and “retrograde ejaculation.” We excluded case reports and papers not in English.Main Outcome Measure(s): Pregnancy and live [...]

Read More..

Normal live birth after testicular sperm extraction and intracytoplasmic sperm injection in variant primary ciliary dyskinesia with completely immotile sperm and structurally abnormal sperm tails

Objective: To report on the investigation and fertility management of variant primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD).Design: Case report.Setting: University-affiliated assisted reproductive technologies practice.Patient(s): A 40 year-old man presenting with 12 months’ primary infertility, complete sperm immotility, severe morphologic defects, and moderate sinopulmonary disease.Intervention(s): Electron microscopy (EM) of sperm, nasal cilial function studies, open testis biopsy, and [...]

Read More..

Presence of spermatogonia in 47,XXY men with no spermatozoa recovered after testicular sperm extraction

Objective: To evaluate the presence of spermatogonia in men diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome (KS), in whom no testicular spermatozoa were recovered by testicular sperm extraction.Design: Retrospective case series.Setting: University hospital.Patient(s): Testicular samples from 22 nonmosaic 47,XXY men, aged 24–43 years, with no spermatozoa at multiple biopsies.Intervention(s): Paraffin-embedded testicular tissue was sectioned and stained with hematoxylin-eosin, [...]

Read More..

Elective single embryo transfer and perinatal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: To determine whether elective single embryo transfer (eSET) lowers the risk of poor perinatal outcomes associated with IVF, when [1] compared with double embryo transfer (DET) or multiple embryo transfer (MET), and separately, [2] compared with spontaneous conceptions.Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Setting: Centers for reproductive care.Patient(s): Infertility patients.Intervention(s): MEDLINE, Embase, and bibliographies were searched [...]

Read More..

Selection of high-potential embryos by culture in poly(dimethylsiloxane) microwells and time-lapse imaging

Objective: To assess the developmental kinetics of human embryos and their ability to develop to morphologically normal blastocysts.Design: Experimental study on human embryos donated for research using a time-lapse imaging system based on individual embryo culture in poly(dimethylsiloxane) microwells and monitored using a microscope inside the incubator.Setting: Private fertility clinic.Patient(s): Surplus embryos donated by couples [...]

Read More..