Fertility in Biological News

Who goes abroad for fertility treatment and why?

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: A substantial number of European patients travel to other countries for fertility treatment, both because they think that they will receive better quality care abroad and in order to undergo procedures that are banned in their home country says a study of the subject la...

Identification of genetic variants affecting age at menopause could help improve fertility treatment

Vienna, Austria: For the first time, scientists have been able to identify genetic factors that influence the age at which natural menopause occurs in women. Ms Lisette Stolk, a researcher from Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, told the annual conference of the European Society of Human ...

Heavy metal link to mutations, low growth and fertility among crustaceans in Sydney Harbor tributary

Heavy metal pollutants are linked to genetic mutations, stunted growth and declining fertility among small crustaceans in the Parramatta River, the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, new research shows. The finding adds to mounting evidence that toxic sediments and seaweeds in Sydney Harbour are...

Reforestation using exotic plants can disturb the fertility of tropical soils

In many regions of the world, the impact of human activity on the environment intensified considerably over the past century. The high world population growth rate and the expansion of areas given over to crop production associated with climatic changes (longer periods of drought, irregular rainfa...

Restoring sight, advances in fertility treatments and better visibility for pilots at FIO

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 V Frontiers in Optics 2007 (FiO), the 91st Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, will be held from Sept. 16-20 in San Jose, Calif., alongside Laser Science XXIII, the annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Laser Science. Reporters interested ...

Corn yield stability varies with rotations, fertility

MADISON, WI, July 20, 2009 -- Understanding temporal variability in crop yields has implications for sustainable crop production, particularly since greater fluxes in crop yields are projected with global climate change. Many long-term cropping system studies have compared average crop yields; ...

Stress puts double whammy on reproductive system, fertility

Berkeley-- University of California, Berkeley, researchers have found what they think is a critical and, until now, missing piece of the puzzle about how stress causes sexual dysfunction and infertility. Scientists know that stress boosts levels of stress hormones - glucocorticoids such as cort...

Study links water pollution with declining male fertility

New research strengthens the link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems. The study, by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, shows for the first time how a group of testosterone-blocking chemicals is finding its way i...

Worker ants of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your fertility

This release is available in French . The highly specialized worker castes in ants represent the pinnacle of social organization in the insect world. As in any society, however, ant colonies are filled with internal strife and conflict. So what binds them together? More than 150 years ago...

Disabling mouse enzyme increases fertility

St. Louis, May 16, 2008 Changing the sugars attached to a hormone produced in the pituitary gland increased fertility levels in mice nearly 50 percent, a research group at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found. The change appears to alter a reproductive "thermostat," unv...

UT Southwestern researchers identify hundreds of genes controlling female fertility

DALLAS Sept. 21, 2007 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found nearly 350 genes related to female fertility. Their research may open the door to much wider study in the poorly understood field of infertility. This study gives us a way to begin to understand the causes of femal...

New technology addresses female fertility preservation

Women at risk for infertility, such as those needing cancer treatment, can freeze mature, fertilized eggs, but the process can take up to six weeks and for some this delay of treatment is not an option. Immature follicles (the female egg and surrounding somatic cells) can be preserved at any time...

Technique may allow cancer patients to freeze eggs, preserving fertility before starting treatment

A new technique might allow women diagnosed with cancer the opportunity to have children when chemotherapy and radiation treatments rob them of their fertility, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found. By having her eggs frozen before she begins cancer tr...

Parasites ready to jump

...n activity is inhibited but only if these RNAs are transmitted from the mother. Disruption of this system usually leads to a drastic reduction in the fertility of the progeny. Germ cells are an ideal target for transposons, since these cells pass their genetic material together with integrated mobile elem...

New research finds possible genetic link to cause of pregnancy loss and disorders

...sible connection to colon cancer, when he found his lab mice showed strange fertility characteristics. "Where you would normally expect a female to have eight... "This work certainly points to Bub1 having a role in maternal age-induced fertility issues," said Venkatachalam. "Now that we know the gene seems to have this ...

Spread your sperm the smart way

...optimal for him to contribute fewer sperm per mating. Although this reduces fertility per mating, it maximises the number of offspring he sires overall. Less att...when males re-mate quickly. We also would like to explore whether the lower fertility of attractive males causes females to start avoiding attractive males that ...

Plastics chemical retards growth, function of adult reproductive cells

...tz. "These are the only follicles that are capable of ovulating and so if they don't grow properly they're not going to ovulate and there could be fertility issues," Flaws said. "These follicles also make sex steroid hormones, and so if they don't grow properly you're not going to get proper amounts of the...

Nitrogen research shows how some plants invade, take over others

...ntly higher plant nitrogen pool and the high productivity of that species." In other words, pines mine the soil for organic nitrogen, decrease soil fertility and use this nitrogen to outcompete other species. Knops, a plant and ecosystems ecologist, said the higher nitrogen residence time creates a posit...

Chromosomal problems affect nearly all human embryos

...n the Centre for Human Genetics and the University fertility Center, Leuven University, Belgium, told the 25th ...on techniques on embryos derived from couples with fertility problems who are at risk for embryonic aneuploidy,...ons for preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) in fertility treatment. PGS is routinely used in many...

New test can detect both genetic and chromosomal abnormalities in embryos

...e able to offer clinical trials to couples seeking fertility treatment later this year. The researchers base...d by Professor Alan Handyside of the London Bridge fertility Gynaecology and Genetics Centre in London (UK), an...l research by a couple who had received successful fertility treatment, including PGD for cystic fibrosis. The ...

Single thawed embryo transfer after PGD does not affect pregnancy rates

...ed embryos that are frozen as part of conventional fertility treatment. These results should empower fertility centres to include PGD cycles for inherited geneti... this policy would be considerable." Until now, fertility specialists have not applied a single embryo trans...

Ovarian transplantation: First baby is born after a new technique

... Amsterdam, The Netherlands: A new technique for transplanting the ovaries of women who have lost their fertility as a result of cancer treatment was outlined to the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday ...

Ovarian transplantation: New technique gives greatly improved results in this delicate operation

...lands: Ultra-fast freezing of ovarian tissue from women who have lost their fertility as a result of cancer treatment can lead to it being used in transplants wi...ransplanting them back at a later date. It can also be used to preserve the fertility of young women with cancer who are likely to be cured of their cancer, but ...

New, less invasive genetic test greatly improves pregnancy rates in older women with poor prognosis

...se to applying technical innovations which will make this test even better, faster, and cheaper. We are also going to be using the test in cases where fertility preservation is required, due to cancer, for example," she said. ...

ICSI or IVF: Babies born from frozen embryos do just as well

...0.4% from the natural cycles. Ms Neri said: "Freezing embryos as part of fertility treatment has become a fundamental part of assisted reproduction technology...ted a new sub-population. These children are now reaching puberty and their fertility status still remains to be assessed. Therefore, the continuous monitoring o...

Female human embryos adjust the balance of X chromosomes before implantation

...cultures that embryos are grown in before transfer to a woman's womb during fertility treatment, as well as for embryo stem cell research. Males and females h...embryos that had been donated for scientific research by couples undergoing fertility treatment. They studied them at three stages of their development: after th...

Study highlights massive imbalances in global fertilizer use

..."Unlike most regions of the world, crop yields have not increased substantially in sub-Saharan Africa. Nitrogen inputs are inadequate to maintain soil fertility and to feed people. So it's not a matter of nutrient pollution but nutrient depletion." U.S. and Europe The contrast between Kenya and Chi...

Bisphenol A exposure in pregnant mice permanently changes DNA of offspring

..., or BPA, found in many common plastic household items, is known to cause a fertility defect in the mother's offspring in animal studies, and now researchers hav...one of the genes that is responsible for uterine development and subsequent fertility in both mice and humans (HOXA10). Furthermore, these changes in the offspri...

Ethanol production could jeopardize soil productivity

... less than 66% and that no more than 40% of the aboveground residues other than grain are removed. From a crop management perspective, proper nitrogen fertility combined with no-till would further reduce the possibility of net losses in SOC and SON." Research is ongoing at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada t...

Penn researchers discover genetic risk factor for testicular cancer

...son says the findings show that previous models of testicular cancer formation are correct and underscore why men with testicular cancer may also have fertility problems. "Researchers have postulated testicular cancer was a disorder of germ cell development or maturation, and they were right," she says. "The K...

NAU discovery could help feed millions

...d. "We can easily increase rice production by 10 percent by reducing rodent fertility in half." She said this noninvasive approach is more humane than poison... won't be able to make a dent. You have to combine rabies vaccinations with fertility control." She hopes to address rabies problems on the rise in West Afric...

Late motherhood boosts family lifespan

...use also is associated with women having prolonged fertility and longevity. "There is a genetic component t...y Mormons and Catholics. Also, a link between late fertility and lifespan is easier to observe in large familie...lowing genes may be responsible for both prolonged fertility in women and longer lifespan in both sexes. The ef...

Drugs needed to preserve eggs for reproduction need to be given in stages

...g. While still less than 10 percent, success rates for egg preservation to help protect an endangered species or enable a cancer patient to retain fertility have improved in recent years as scientists learn more about how best to give and remove the drugs including using more than one at a time with the ...

Changing climate will lead to devastating loss of phosphorus from soil

...ersely affected if predicted changes in rainfall patterns over the coming years prove true, according to research published this month in Biology and fertility of Soils . Scientists from Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded North Wyke Research have found for the first time ...

Gene discovery could lead to male contraceptive

...1 will also occur in humans with the genetic mutation," Hildebrand said. "Identification of targets such as the CATSPER1 gene that are involved in the fertility process and are specific for sperm -- potentially minimizing side effects of a drug targeting the protein's function -- provide new targets for a phar...

NIH funds research center for women's reproductive health at Einstein

... last few decades," says Dr. Pollard. "More recently, the new technologies have enabled us to make great strides in understanding the basic biology of fertility and reproduction in animal models. This funding will help us determine whether the same biochemical pathways that we've identified in rodents are also...

Plant biologists discover gene that switches on 'essence of male'

...w each single pollen grain could produce the pair of sperm cells needed for fertility and seed production. "We now report the discovery of a dual role for DU...t sperm cells and provide new molecular tools for the manipulation of plant fertility and hybrid seed production as well as to control gene flow in transgenic c...

Engineering bouncing babies, 1 at a time

...VF implantation, Prof. Elad says. His recent publication in the journal fertility and Sterility suggests methods to enhance the success rate of fertility treatments. The Gravity of the Situation "We are all subject to th...

Mount Sinai Hospital researcher makes stem cell breakthrough

...r in 1994. In 2005, he created Canada's first embryonic stem cell lines from donated embryos no longer required for reproduction by couples undergoing fertility treatment. That research played a pivotal role in Dr. Nagy's current discovery. One of the critical components reported in Nagy's paper was develop...

Early whales gave birth on land

...n the group known as Archaeoceti, and the find represents a new species dubbed Maiacetus inuus. (Maiacetus means "mother whale," and Inuus was a Roman fertility god.) The fetus is positioned for head-first delivery, like land mammals but unlike modern whales, indicating that these whales still gave birth on...