( e ?much lower than with natural concept...)Nutrition a major factor in rise in twin pregnancies

e ?much lower than with natural conceptions", said Professor Jansen. "Our study shows for the first time that the increase we've seen coincides with improving culture conditions and that it started before any manipulation of the zona ?the 'shell' of the egg ?began. Transfer of just one embryo can therefore still lead to twins. If a higher rate of MZ twinning turns out to be a natural adaptation to improved nutrition or culture conditions, it could prove difficult to reverse as embryo quality continues to improve ?whether in the IVF lab or in the community generally."

"Because two implanted embryos have twice the chance of MZ twins than a single implanting embryo the best way of minimising MZ as well as DZ twinning is to transfer one embryo at a time, irrespective of the age of the mother to be", he said.

In another other presentation to the conference, Mr. Graham Scotland, from the Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK, described how he and his colleagues had conducted work that throws light on why some couples prefer double embryo transfer (DET), despite being aware of the risks of twin pregnancy. His team assessed patients' preferences for a range of adverse birth outcomes associated with twin pregnancies ?cerebral palsy, cognitive impairments, visual impairments, perinatal death ?as well as a scenario in which treatment failed and they did not become pregnant. Participants were asked to read several cards describing the treatment outcomes and then asked hypothetical questions to elicit their preference value for each.

"The results showed that many women awaiting IVF appear to prefer the prospect of a chronic adverse birth outcome rather than childlessness", said Mr. Scotland. "Having no child at all was valued significantly lower than having a child with physical, cognitive or visual impairments, but significantly higher than perinatal death. Our work suggests that couples may need to be convinc
'"/>

Source:European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology

Page: 1 2 3
Related biology news :

1. Columbia research lifts major hurdle to gene therapy for cancer
2. Researchers uncover sequence of major rice pathogen
3. Emergence of cancer as major cause of childhood death in developing countries is not being adequately addressed
4. Biochemists report discovery of structure of major piece of telomerase; implications for cancer
5. Virologists make major step towards understanding the process of HIV infection
6. Biota makes major antiviral discovery
7. New gene scanning technology marks a major advance in disease research
8. LIAI scientists make major finding on potential smallpox treatment
9. MicroRNAs have shaped the evolution of the majority of mammalian genes
10. MIT: Oceans are a major gene swap-meet for plankton
11. U-M scientists identify major psoriasis susceptibility gene