Device to corral viable sperm may speed IVF process

image credit: edgylabs.com

For couples hoping for a baby via in vitro fertilization, chances have improved. A process that once took hours now takes minutes: Cornell University scientists have created a microfluidic device that quickly corrals strong and speedy sperm viable for fertilization.

Conventional methods to separate vigorous, motile sperm is tedious and may take up to several hours to perform. "Trying to find the highly motile sperm has been difficult to do, but this improves the chances of insemination," said chemist Alireza Abbaspourrad, Cornell's Yongkeun Joh Assistant Professor of Food Chemistry and Ingredient Technology.

Taking advantage of sperm's ability to go against the flow—a process called rheotaxis—Abbaspourrad, Soon Hon Cheong, Ph.D., assistant professor at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, and Meisam Zaferani, a doctoral student in the field of chemistry, have devised a microfluidic channel through which the sperm swim. They added a microscopic corral—shaped like a "C—that features a retaining wall that attracts the strongest swimmers.

Increased chances of successful IVF with 18-20 eggs

image credit: shape.gr

The likelihood of childbirth after in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment increases if 18 to 20 eggs are stimulated to mature in a woman's ovaries, a dissertation at Sahlgrenska Academy, Sweden, shows. That is more eggs than the number aimed at in today's IVF treatments.

"The results can serve as the basis for how hormone stimulation before IVF treatment is designed in the future with the intention of achieving a good balance between effective and medically safe treatment," says Asa Magnusson, MD/PhD at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Sahlgrenska Academy.

To an increasing extent both in Sweden and internationally, only one fertilized egg, or embryo, is retrieved per treatment occasion. If the treatment results in more high-quality embryos, these can be frozen and used in later attempts.

Previous research on the total number of eggs that should be retrieved have indicated that the chance of birth after IVF is optimal after about 10 eggs. It has been believed that a greater number of eggs leads not to a better chance of birth but rather to an increased risk of serious side effects.

However, the studies carried out have mainly examined the delivery rate after the first implantation, called the fresh IVF cycle, which takes place just days after the egg retrieval. Later implants of thawed embryos have not been included.

Does Acupuncture Increases Chances of Having a Baby with IVF?

fertilitysolutions.com.au

Acupuncture could dramatically boost the chances of IVF treatment working, a study suggests.

A British study found that rates of success were twice as high among those having the alternative therapy. Fertility experts said the findings were interesting and statistically significant.

However, they warned that it was unclear whether the apparent benefit stemmed from the traditional Chinese practice - or from a placebo effect, because the women became more relaxed after time was invested in them.

The study by Homerton University Hospital in London, involved 160 couples suffering from fertility problems. Half were assigned to have four sessions of acupuncture during their IVF cycle.
"Fertility treatment is stressful and it can be quite helpful to have a therapy which relaxes them"Dr Adam Balen

One year on, those who underwent the ancient practice, involving fine needles, had achieved pregnancy rates of 46.2 per cent. Among those who had not, pregnancy rates were just 21.7 per cent.

Dr Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society described the findings as “very interesting”.

He said: “There is no doubt that when people are given acupuncture it can feel like an extra dimension of support. Fertility treatment is stressful and it can be quite helpful to have a therapy which relaxes them.”

He said there was no evidence that the controversial practice - dismissed by critics as “mumbo jumbo” - does any harm to those trying to start a family.

Με ποιό Τρόπο η Μεσογειακή Διατροφή Βοηθά στην Υποβοηθούμενη Αναπαραγωγή;

πηγή εικόνας: coach.nine.com.au

Οι γυναίκες έως 35 ετών που ακολουθούν τη μεσογειακή διατροφή επί ένα εξάμηνο προτού κάνουν θεραπεία υποβοηθούμενης αναπαραγωγής έχουν σημαντικά αυξημένες πιθανότητες να έχουν μια πετυχημένη εξωσωματική γονιμοποίηση και μια εξίσου καλή εγκυμοσύνη, γεννώντας τελικά ένα υγιές μωρό, σε σχέση με όσες δεν κάνουν την ίδια διατροφή.

Δεν φαίνεται ωστόσο να υπάρχει το ίδιο όφελος για τις μεγαλύτερες γυναίκες, άνω των 35 ετών.

Αυτό είναι το συμπέρασμα μιας νέας ελληνικής επιστημονικής έρευνας, η οποία έγινε από ερευνητές του Τμήματος Επιστήμης Διαιτολογίας-Διατροφής του Χαροκόπειου Πανεπιστημίου και της Μονάδας Ιατρικώς Υποβοηθούμενης Αναπαραγωγής «Εμβρυογένεσις» της Αθήνας.

Οι ερευνητές, με επικεφαλής τον αναπληρωτή καθηγητή Νίκο Γιαννακούρη, οι οποίοι έκαναν τη σχετική δημοσίευση στο περιοδικό Human Reproduction της Ευρωπαϊκής Εταιρείας Ανθρώπινης Αναπαραγωγής και Εμβρυολογίας, μελέτησαν 244 μη παχύσαρκες γυναίκες ηλικίας 22 έως 41 ετών, οι οποίες είχαν κάνει την πρώτη θεραπεία εξωσωματικής γονιμοποίησης μεταξύ 2013-2016.

Συνολικά, από τις 244 γυναίκες, στις 229 (το 94%) τουλάχιστον ένα έμβρυο εμφυτεύθηκε στη μήτρα τους, στις 138 (56%) η εμφύτευση ήταν επιτυχής, οι 104 (43%) είχαν εγκυμοσύνη και οι 99 (41%) γέννησαν ένα ζωντανό μωρό.

Case report of Successful Pregnancy of a 44 year old lady after 10 year trials and 10 Failed IVFs

"A 44 year old lady visited our fertility center with her 52 year old husband with 10 year infertility medical record at September 2016. The lady was submitted in laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis at 2007, and at 2010 she performed laparoscopic surgery and removed the right salpinx and a year later the left one was removed respectively.

The couple has started attempts for a baby since 2008 and they had their IVFs from 2011 until May 2016, and they never had a successful pregnancy. So, they heard about our center and wanted to exhaust their last chance so they would not let down their dream to have a baby.

Their next step according to our guidance was to do our specific individualized immune tests. The lady was tested for NK panel (total, endometrial NK cells, and their activity), where the endometrial NK number was too high. Also, Platelet-leucocyte-aggregates (PLA) test was performed and this marker was high too. We explained the couple that NK was the major reason for their failed implantation, and we planned therapeutic strategy in order to regulate the NK cells and go to next IVF trial with much higher chances for successful pregnancy. On the other hand, Husband’s sperm analysis and DNA fragmentation were fine, while the levels of Vitamin D3 of the lady were low and we administered supplement of Vitamin D3 and baby aspirin.

Based on the diagnostic result, 2 dosages of intralipid were administered before the embryo transfer in order to regulate suitably the NK cells for the next IVF trial. Then, the process of embryo transfer of 2 embryos followed and after 10 days a positive pregnancy test was detected for the FIRST TIME after so many years. Then a final dosage of intralipid was administered, so the danger of miscarriage can be limited down at the first trimester of gestation. At the first UV one embryo was detected with positive heart beats and pulses, and the couple was very happy. Later, The Nuchar translucency screening was followed and level 2 ultrasound by Dr. Spyros Papageorgiou and the pregnancy continued normally without any problems. The baby was born at November 2017 with 3100gr weight and the couple was very happy after all these 10 years of trials..."

Learn more:

http://fertility-biocenter.com/case-report-of-successful-pregnancy-of-a-44-year-old-lady-after-10-year-trials-and-10-failed-ivfs-1703

IVF: What makes a good egg?

via hedgefertility.com

"In approximately 15 percent of cases where couples are unable to conceive, the underlying cause of infertility is not known. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and in the Division of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego have identified a protein in mice that must be present in eggs for them to complete normal development. Without the protein, called ZFP36L2 or L2 for short, the eggs appear ordinary, but they cannot be fertilized by sperm. Female mice lacking L2 in their eggs ovulate and are otherwise healthy, but they produce no offspring.

Since humans also have the L2 protein, this finding, published February 5 in Developmental Cell, gives researchers a new place to look for answers to currently unexplained causes of female infertility.

"In my clinical practice, I work with couples struggling with infertility," said senior author Heidi Cook-Andersen, MD, PhD, assistant professor of reproductive medicine and biological sciences at UC San Diego and physician at the UC San Diego-affiliated Reproductive Partners Fertility Center-San Diego. "It's frustrating that for many of them, we have no idea why it's difficult for them to conceive. All of their tests come back normal, but there are many things important for fertility that we still haven't discovered. And we can't test what we don't know. That's why this study is so exciting to us. It's another clue."

L2 plays an important role in cells by activating mRNA decay, a system cells use to turn off gene expression when the proteins encoded by the mRNAs are no longer needed. Some of the team's collaborators had previously found that L2 is needed for normal blood cell development. These earlier studies also suggested a link to female fertility, but whether L2 played any role in the egg itself remained unclear..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180205161829.htm

Does mediterranean diet help women receiving IVF to achieve successful pregnancies?

via deccanchronicle.com

"New research has found that women who follow a "Mediterranean" diet in the six months before assisted reproductive treatment have a significantly better chance of becoming pregnant and giving birth to a live baby than women who did not.

Researchers asked women about their diet before they underwent in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment and found that those who ate more fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, fish and olive oil, and less red meat, had a 65-68% greater likelihood of achieving a successful pregnancy and birth compared to women with the lowest adherence to the Mediterranean-style diet.

The study, which is published today (Tuesday) in Human Reproduction, focused on dietary patterns rather than individual nutrients, foods or food groups. It assessed the diet of 244 women via a food frequency questionnaire when they enrolled at an Assisted Conception Unity in Athens, Greece, for their first IVF treatment. The questionnaire asked them about how often they ate certain groups of food in the preceding six months; the results gave the women a MedDiet Score, which ranged from 0-55 with higher scores indicating greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The women were aged between 22-41 and were non-obese (body mass index of less than 30 kg/m2).

Researchers, led by Associate Professor Nikos Yiannakouris at the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University of Athens, divided the women into three groups depending on their MedDiet Score: the first group had scores between 18 to 30, the second scored between 31-35 and the third group scored between 36 to 47.

They found that compared to the 86 women in the highest scoring group, the 79 women in the lowest scoring group had significantly lower rates of pregnancies (29% versus 50%) and live births (26.6% versus 48.8%). When the researchers looked at women younger than 35 years old, they found that every five-point improvement in the MedDiet Score was linked with an approximately 2.7 times higher likelihood of achieving a successful pregnancy and live birth..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180129223846.htm

Frozen embryos result in just as many live births in IVF

via hindustantimes.com

"Freezing and subsequent transfer of embryos gives infertile couples just as much of a chance of having a child as using fresh embryos for in vitro fertilization (IVF), research from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Adelaide, Australia has found.

In results to be published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine, the research team shows that ongoing pregnancy rates and live births were equivalent in a group of IVF women implanted with frozen embryos compared with fresh embryos.

"Frozen embryo techniques are growing in popularity in fertility clinics worldwide. This is one of the reasons why our research is important for fertility clinicians and researchers, and of course couples who are hoping to have a child," says lead author Dr Lan N. Vuong from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, and My Duc Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City.

Dr Vuong's work was conducted in collaboration with Professor Ben Mol, from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute, a member of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute's Healthy Mothers, Babies and Children theme; and Professor Robert Norman, also from the Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide and a leading fertility unit, Fertility SA.

The study investigated almost 800 women who had infertility not related to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Women were given one cycle of IVF, where either a transfer of fresh embryos occurred, or all embryos were frozen and one cycle of thawed embryos occurred subsequently without the use of IVF drugs.

After the first completed cycle of IVF, ongoing pregnancy occurred in 36% of women in the frozen embryo group, and in 35% of the fresh embryo group.

Rates of live birth after the first embryo transfer were 34% in the frozen embryo group, and 32% in the fresh embryo group..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180110223410.htm

Sperm-sorting device could improve IVF success

via thesun.co.uk

"Women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) may become pregnant with fewer treatment cycles, thanks to a new device developed by a team of researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Stanford University that uses an "obstacle course" to sort and select faster and healthier sperm cells for use in IVF treatment.

This new device was created by a team co-led by Erkan Tüzel, associate professor of physics, biomedical engineering, and computer science at WPI, and Utkan Demirci, professor of radiology and electrical engineering (by courtesy) at Stanford University. The work was funded by two separate but collaborative grants from the National Science Foundation and was published in the most recent issue of Advanced Science, a high-impact, peer-reviewed scientific journal.

The microfluidic device, which can be used in clinics, is dubbed SPARTAN, short for Simple Periodic ARray for Trapping And IsolatioN. It uses a field of three-dimensional posts that create an obstacle course for the swimming sperm cells. The strongest and healthiest sperm get through this array the fastest and then are collected at the outlet to be used in the IVF process.

Traditional sperm-sorting methods used in IVF treatments select sperm that are the fastest swimmers. The SPARTAN device collects sperm that are the fastest and also the healthiest because it culls out those with malformations, such as bent necks or larger heads, which can slow their movement..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180103160159.htm

 

Does timing of IVF to avoid weekend procedures affects pregnancy success?

via independent.co.uk

"It's unclear whether there is a need to retrieve a woman's eggs on weekends, in connection with in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmatic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) treatment in couples wishing to conceive. 

In a recent Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica study, scheduling of eggretrieval and single embryo transfer procedures only on weekdays did not result in reduced live-birth rates; however, delays of two days or longer may be unfavorable in some treatments.

The study included 1000 patients undergoing their first in IVF/ICSI with single-embryo transfer (SET).

"Our study supports that weekend work may not be needed for most IVF/ICSI treatments receiving SET at large IVF centers, such as ours; however, in IVF/ICSI treatments using short protocols with gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists, the outcomes could be less favorable if delaying egg retrieval," said senior author Dr. Kenny Rodriguez-Wallberg, of the Karolinska Institute, in Sweden."

Source

 

International patients increasingly seek in vitro fertilization treatment in US

via myivfalternative.com

"A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the U.S. by non-U.S. residents is growing. These "reproductive tourists" are more likely, compared to Americans, to use egg donors and carriers and genetically screen early embryos.

The study is the most detailed picture of cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) in the United States to date. It analyzed more than 1.2 million ART cycles that were submitted to the National ART Surveillance System (NASS) from 2006 to 2013. NASS is the federally mandated reporting system that collects ART procedure information under the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992.

During that time frame, the number of non-residents receiving ART treatment in the United States more than doubled, growing from 1.2 percent of the total number of cases to 2.8 percent (nearly 5,400 in 2013).

"While the number of cycles is relatively small, it is definitely growing," said Georgia Tech's Aaron Levine, the associate professor in the School of Public Policy who led the study. "Non-U.S. residents are increasingly coming here for specialized ART treatments that may not be available in their home countries. And they're using these techniques at greater rates than Americans..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171019111012.htm

 

What if piglets really could help in making IVF cheaper?

"Scientists have made a discovery in piglets that could decrease the costs associated with in vitro fertilization in people.

Parents seeking to have children through IVF spend between $12,000 and $15,000 each session plus the cost of medications, which could average between $3,000 and $5,000.

Scientists were working with pigs to research stem cells and the mechanisms they use to proliferate, communicate, and grow in the body. During an attempt to improve how they grow the cells, researchers discovered a method that uses a special liquid medium that improves the success of IVF in pigs.

“It was a serendipitous discovery, really,” says R. Michael Roberts, professor of animal sciences at the University of Missouri. “Generally, there are multiple steps to producing viable embryos that we can then implant in pigs and cows involved in our research; however, it’s costly and sometimes yields very little return.

“We were seeking a way to do that more efficiently and stumbled upon a method that may have implications in human fertility clinics as well.”

In IVF involving pigs, scientists first extract oocytes, or eggs from female pigs as well as the “nurse” cells that surround them and place them in a chemical environment designed to mature the eggs. The eggs are then fertilized to create zygotes, or single-celled embryos that are allowed to develop for six days. These embryos are then transferred back into a female pig with the hope of achieving a successful pregnancy and healthy piglets..."

Learn more:

http://www.futurity.org/piglets-ivf-p1489152-2/

 

Clomid and The Birth of a New Era in Assisted Reproduction

via online-pills.com

When Dr. Eli Adashi began practicing fertility medicine in 1974, there was nothing so revolutionary as in vitro fertilization, but at least there was the drug clomiphene citrate (Clomid). Before that came to market in 1967, Adashi said with only a little exaggeration, the job of a fertility doctor was basically to refer couples who could not conceive a baby to adoption agencies.

"Clomiphene citrate ushered in the era of assisted reproduction," wrote Adashi, a professor of medicine at Brown University, in a new paper in Fertility and Sterility to mark the drug's 50th anniversary year. "To patients whose only family-building recourse was adoption, clomiphene citrate proved nothing short of life-changing."

Still in wide use today, the drug works by modulating estrogen levels in women who are producing too much of the hormone to properly trigger a monthly ovulation cycle. There are many other causes of infertility that require other means to address, Adashi said, but by some estimates there are also millions of people, age 50 and younger, whom Clomid helped to make possible. The World Health Organization lists the drug among the globe's "essential medicines."

In the new article, Adashi, who has studied the drug in the lab and the clinic and prescribed it thousands of times over the decades, traces the drug's development, path to market and ultimate impact.

Clomid's legendary success was hardly certain, he notes. After chemist Frank Palopoli synthesized it in 1956, the William S. Merrell Company first guessed other uses for it including, ironically, as a contraceptive. Working with outside physicians, the company soon recognized it might aid fertility and launched a study, Adashi wrote. By 1961 the first clinical results appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association: It restored ovulation in 28 of 36 women..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170913193041.htm

New microscope technique reveals internal structure of live embryos

thinglink.com

"University of Illinois researchers have developed a way to produce 3-D images of live embryos in cattle that could help determine embryo viability before in vitro fertilization in humans.

Infertility can be devastating for those who want children. Many seek treatment, and the cost of a single IVF cycle can be $20,000, making it desirable to succeed in as few attempts as possible. Advanced knowledge regarding the health of embryos could help physicians select those that are most likely to lead to successful pregnancies.

The new method, published in the journal Nature Communications, brought together electrical and computer engineering professor Gabriel Popescu and animal sciences professor Matthew Wheeler in a collaborative project through the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the U. of I.

Called gradient light interference microscopy, the method solves a challenge that other methods have struggled with -- imaging thick, multicellular samples.

In many forms of traditional biomedical microscopy, light is shined through very thin slices of tissue to produce an image. Other methods use chemical or physical markers that allow the operator to find the specific object they are looking for within a thick sample, but those markers can be toxic to living tissue, Popescu said..."

Learn more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170808074305.htm

Elective freezing of IVF embryos linked to higher pregnancy rates in some cases

peterpilt.org

A delay in transferring embryos to the mother improves the success of in vitro fertilization in certain cases, according to a study by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Celmatix Inc. and several other institutions.

Women undergoing IVF who have high levels of the hormone progesterone when their egg cells are retrieved benefit from having the resulting embryos frozen and transferred back to the uterus at a later date, the researchers found.

The study appears in the August issue of Fertility and Sterility. The lead author is Ange Wang, MD, a resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford. Several other co-authors, including senior author Piraye Yurttas Beim, PhD, work for Celmatix, a company that makes software and a genetic test to help guide fertility treatments for women.

The IVF process starts with injections of reproductive hormones to stimulate the growth of multiple eggs. The eggs are retrieved and then fertilized in the laboratory. The resulting embryos can be transferred back to the woman's uterus a few days later (a "fresh" transfer) or frozen and then transferred in a subsequent hormonal cycle..."

Learn more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170801103838.htm

Are IVF delivery rates affected by the age of the male partner?

independent.co.uk

"Men, unlike women, do not have a menopause or a predictable and detectable decline in their fertility. Female age is thus the dominant factor in predicting (or explaining) a couple's chance of conception, whether natural or assisted.

A few studies have found that the chance of natural conception can be affected by the age of the male partner, particularly in the genetic health of sperm cells, but the celebrity examples of Charlie Chaplin or Luciano Pavarotti have kept alive the notion that male fertility goes on forever.

Now, a new study from the USA in IVF couples shows quite clearly that live birth outcome is clearly affected by the age of the male partner and that in certain younger female age groups, where the effect of age is less potent, the chances of live birth can be appreciably reduced by the man's increasing age. 

"Our study found an independent effect of male age on the cumulative incidence of live birth," said investigator Dr Laura Dodge from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Dr Dodge will present the study's results on Tuesday at the 33rd Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Geneva..." - Learn More

Follistatin is a key player in embryo implantation

via primitive-streak.org

"Looking to improve the success rate of assisted reproductive technologies, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine investigated in more detail the mechanism involved in successful embryo implantation, an essential component of female fertility. They discovered that the protein follistatin plays a key role in establishing receptivity of the uterus to embryo implantation in an animal model. 

The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contribute to the understanding of embryo implantation and provide an animal model in which to study human embryo implantation failure.

"Embryo implantation into the uterus wall is a highly coordinated process that involves many proteins and communication between the embryo and the mother. If this communication fails, the embryo won't attach to the uterus and a new life won't develop," said co-author Dr. Diana Monsivais, postdoctoral fellow in pathology & immunology at Baylor College of Medicine.

The complex process of embryo implantation in the uterus has raised interest among researchers in the field in part because it fails in about half of in vitro fertilization procedures. A better understanding of the process would help raise the odds of successful attempts at in vitro fertilization..."

Learn More:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170602143800.htm

100-year-old fertility technique reduces need for IVF

Ben Mol as a baby with his mother
Annemie Mol-Albers,1965.Until he
embarked on this study,
Profesor Mol had no idea that
he himself was a result of a
successful pregnancy following
this medical procedure |
Credit: Professor Ben Mol,
University of Adelaide

"Infertile couples have a major opportunity to achieve a successful pregnancy without the need for IVF, thanks to new research into a 100-year-old medical technique.

The now lesser known technique - which involves flushing the woman's fallopian tubes with an iodised poppy seed oil - has been proven to have significant benefits for fertility, according to the largest study undertaken by a team involving researchers in the Netherlands and Australia.

The results of the study will be published in The New England Journal of Medicine. They will also be presented at the 13th World Congress on Endometriosis in Vancouver, Canada, by project leader Professor Ben Mol, from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute, and a member of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute's Healthy Mothers, Babies and Children theme.

Known as the H2Oil study, the project compared the benefits of flushing the fallopian tubes with either an oil-based or water-based solution in 1119 women. With Professor Mol, this work was conducted by Dr Kim Dreyer and Dr Velja Mijatovic from the Department of Reproductive Medicine, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, and a research team from 27 medical centres in the Netherlands.

100-year-old technique

The procedure, known as hysterosalpingography (HSG), is a dye test of the fallopian tubes conducted under X-ray. The procedure was first carried out in 1917, and since the 1950s both water-based and oil-based solutions have been used..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170518174013.htm

Do IVF babies have lower cognitive skills than naturally conceived children?

image source

"Researchers analysed data of hundreds of UK children who had been born through IVF or ICSI (when the man has a low sperm count), testing the same groups of children every few years up to the age of 11. They found a positive association between artificial conception and cognitive development when a child was between the ages of three and five.

The study published in the journal, Human Reproduction, also shows that parents who undergo such treatments are generally older, more educated and have a higher socio-economic status than parents who had naturally conceived children. Artificially conceived babies are more likely to be part of a multiple birth or have low birth weight, however, this study finds their family backgrounds 'override' the possible negative effects to health that could lessen cognitive ability. The findings are significant given previous studies show a mixed picture, with some research suggesting assisted reproductive treatments can harm a child's cognitive abilities.

Researchers Professor Melinda Mills and doctoral student Anna Barbuscia, from the University of Oxford's Department of Sociology and Nuffield College, used data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative group of 18,552 families. They analysed a sample of babies born in 2000-1 who were resident in the UK at nine months, using data from the Department of Social Security Child Benefit Registers..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170525164254.htm

Technology to screen embryos before implantation falls short

image source

"The healthy development of an embryo created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) depends on whether most, if not all, of the cells have the proper number of chromosomes. With pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) technology, doctors can, in principle, spot-check chromosome count before choosing which embryo to implant in the mother. In a new article, however, scholars at Brown University and the University of Washington report that PGS has serious limitations that can only be overcome with more human embryo research, even as they acknowledge the controversy surrounding that research.

What doctors and hopeful parents want to see in PGS is 46 chromosomes -- two pairs of 23 -- a normal state of affairs called "euploidy." An abnormal number, or "aneuploidy," could signal a fatal flaw in early development. In 2013 in the United States, more than 15 percent of IVF pregnancies ended in miscarriage, often because of aneuploidy, wrote Dr. Eli Adashi, professor of medical science and former dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown, and Rajiv McCoy, a genome sciences postdoctoral fellow at Washington. The miscarriage rate rises quickly with maternal age, as does the rate of aneuploidy.

Hoping to prevent a bitter loss, a growing percentage of infertility patients using IVF have turned to PGS. But as Adashi and McCoy wrote in the journal EMBO Reports, PGS has yielded mixed results. Sometimes it has predicted the doom of embryos that became healthy children, and in the small studies conducted so far, there has been mixed evidence that its use leads to a greater likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

"The impact of PGS on the outcome of assisted reproduction remains uncertain," they wrote..."

Learn more:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170402111324.htm