Smarter data analysis strategies will improve infertility treatment in the future

image credit: houstonfertilityspecialists.com

Scientists from Tartu have discovered a simple way how to improve infertility treatment in the future. The results of the study, published in Human Reproduction, a top journal in the field, can be used in precision medicine to account for the variability in each female patient's menstrual cycle. This personalised approach will first and foremost benefit those couples, who have experienced repeated IVF failure.

In 2017, more than 2800 in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures were carried out in Estonia, resulting in the birth of 430 babies, which accounts for 3% of all births. The low 15% success rate of IVF can be caused by problems in several stages of the treatment. One of such stages is embryo implantation, which marks the beginning of the pregnancy. However, if the embryo is transferred into the uterus on the wrong day, even the best embryos cannot overcome this, resulting in a negative pregnancy test.

The task of the infertility treatment specialist is to recommend the best treatment for each patient. Female infertility can be caused by problems with endometrial (the inner uterine lining) receptivity. While in natural conception the developing embryo can "sit and wait" until the endometrium matures to peak receptivity, in IVF treatment it is of utmost importance to transfer the embryo on the correct day to increase the chances of pregnancy. Different methods are used to assess endometrial receptivity, the most accurate of which is a test measuring the expression patterns of different genes in an endometrial biopsy. 

Birth defect predicts testicular cancer, infertility in adulthood

image credit: health.clevelandclinic.org

Led by the University of Sydney researchers and published today in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, this is the first population-based cohort study to assess both adult fertility and cancer risk after surgical correction (orchidopexy) for undescended testes in early childhood. The procedure moves an undescended testicle into the scrotum and permanently fixes it there.

"In addition to an increased risk of testicular cancer, we found that boys with undescended testes had decreased paternity and increased use of assisted reproductive technologies for infertility in later life," said the University of Sydney's Professor Natasha Nassar, the study's senior author.

 "The study provides new evidence to support international guidelines recommending surgery before 18 months for boys with undescended testes to reduce the risk of both testicular cancer and infertility later in life."

How Melatonin Is Useful In Fertility?

childrens.com

What is Melatonin?

Melatonin, the sleep wake hormone is secreted from pineal gland in the brain. It regulates circadian rhythms, has also been shown to exhibit unique oxygen scavenging abilities.

What are Reactive oxygen species ROS?

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are chemically reactive chemical species containing oxygen. These are formed inside as a natural by-product of the normal metabolism of oxygen and have important role in homeostasis. Free oxygen radicals are created when oxygen is utilised in metabolic processes. These radicals contain ‘free’ valence electrons, making them highly reactive, capable of causing injury to cells.

What is the role of ROS in infertility?

While ROS are necessary for essential physiological processes, an overabundance can result in cellular damage, commonly referred to as ‘oxidative stress’. ‘Oxidative stress’, can have a negative impact on the success of infertility treatments though alteration of gamete biology.

Can Lead Exposure Affect Fertility Rates?

nytimes.com

Over the last few years, Flint, Michigan, has been in the news due to findings related to lead in its water supply. New research that examined the impact of exposure to lead (in the air and topsoil) on fertility in the United States has found that exposure matters for both women and men. It is the first study to find causal evidence of the relationship between lead exposure and fertility rates in the 1980s and mid-2000s.

The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, is published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

"Until now, we have lacked causal evidence of the effects of lead exposure," explains Karen Clay, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, who led the study. "While many people have been focused on lead in water because of Flint or lead in paint because of public service campaigns, lead in the air and in the soil also deserves significant attention. Lead is an underappreciated environmental toxin, and we need to address this issue through cleanup efforts and solutions that focus on improving air quality and reducing lead in soil."

The researchers looked at U.S. Vital Statistics data on fertility, Environmental Protection Agency data for 1978-88 for airborne lead (covering more than a third of the U.S. population), and U.S. Geological Survey data in the 2000s on lead in topsoil (covering more than two-thirds of the U.S. population).

The study found that increased exposure to lead lowered the general fertility rate for women of childbearing age (15 to 44 years). In 1978-88, reductions in airborne lead, which were largely due to regulations such as the Clean Air Act, boosted fertility rates, and in the 2000s, higher levels of lead in topsoil decreased fertility rates.

"Because fertility has implications for economic activity, factors that decrease fertility are of significant policy concern, as well as of concern to individuals and society," explains Edson Severnini, assistant professor of economics and public policy at Heinz College, who coauthored the paper. "Lead may continue to impair fertility today: Many Americans may not be aware that they live in counties with high lead levels because of highways, old manufacturing centers, or airborne lead that has landed on the soil. Our findings could help reduce this exposure."

Source: sciencedaily.com

Site of 1st chlamydia exposure makes big difference

via chlamydiaguard.com

"Exposing the gut to chlamydia protects against subsequent infection in the genital tract and other tissues, researchers from UT Health San Antonio discovered. Chlamydia is the nation's most common sexually transmitted disease and causes infertility, ectopic pregnancy and pelvic inflammatory disease if left untreated.

"This research emphasizes the pre-exposure of chlamydia to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract as a vaccine," said Guangming Zhong, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.

The protection is very robust and is across tissues, which is called transmucosal immunity. Protected sites include the genital tract and the lungs, said Dr. Zhong, whose faculty appointment is in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics.

The discovery, reported Nov. 13, 2017, in Infection and Immunity, indicates that exposing the gut first to chlamydia is a novel avenue to explore in preventing the genital infection. However, when the genital tract is the site of initial chlamydia exposure, a different outcome may result. In this scenario, genital chlamydia spreads to the gut and induces responses that promote further disease in the genital tract. Dr. Zhong hypothesized this disease pattern in a review article published Dec. 27, 2017, in Trends in Microbiology..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180126122859.htm

Taking paracetamol during pregnancy may reduce fertility of daughters

via wisegeek.com

"Taking paracetamol during pregnancy may impair the future fertility of female offspring, according to a review published in Endocrine Connections. The article reviews three separate rodent studies that all report altered development in the reproductive systems of female offspring from mothers given paracetamol during pregnancy, which may impair their fertility in adulthood.

Paracetamol, or acetaminophen, is an over-the-counter treatment for pain relief that is commonly taken by pregnant women worldwide. Recent studies have linked paracetamol use during pregnancy with disruptions in the development of the male reproductive system but the effects on female offspring had not yet been investigated. In this article, Dr David Kristensen and colleagues from Copenhagen University Hospital, review the findings from three individual rodent studies that evaluated the effects of paracetamol taken during pregnancy on the development of the reproductive system in female offspring.

It is well known that exposure to some chemicals during pregnancy can cause developmental effects that may not manifest until much later in life. In rodents and humans, females are born with a finite number of eggs for reproduction in the future. In these reviewed studies, rodents given paracetamol during pregnancy, at doses equivalent to those that a pregnant woman may take for pain relief, produced female offspring with fewer eggs. This means that in adulthood, they have fewer eggs available for fertilisation, which may reduce their chances of successful reproduction, particularly as they get older..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180106103439.htm

 

Is human embryo research the key to treating infertility?

via familyeducation.com

"Human embryo research remains controversial in many places around the world, including in the United States. Public funding, and sometimes the research itself, is often prohibited, according to experts who are calling for accelerated research.

“This state of affairs hampers the acquisition of new insights into the intricate process of early human development,” write Eli Adashi and Rajiv McCoy in the journal EMBO Reports. “More importantly, translational breakthroughs intent on improving infertility care are being delayed. Patients afflicted with infertility deserve better.”

Adashi is a professor of medical science and former dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University, and McCoy is a genome sciences postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington.
 
Successful IVF

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.

In theory, pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) technology, lets doctors spot-check chromosome count before choosing which embryo to implant in the mother.

Adashi and McCoy report, however, 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..."

Learn more:

http://www.futurity.org/ivf-infertility-embryo-1392362-2/

Infertility linked to higher risk of death among women

via hormonesmatter.com

"Women with a history of infertility have a 10 percent increased risk of death compared to those without reported infertility struggles, according to results of a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The study, which examined the association between infertility and mortality as well as specific causes of death, also showed that women with a history of infertility have a 20 percent increased risk of cancer-related mortality. The results of the study were presented this week at the annual American Society of Reproductive Medicine Scientific Congress & Expo in San Antonio, Texas.

"While associations between infertility and overall health have been noted in the male population, until now, the relationship between a woman's fertility and her overall health has not been as robustly examined," said lead author Natalie Stentz, MD, a fellow in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "Though we can't yet explain the association between infertility and mortality, it is possible that the condition may be an early indicator of either endocrine or inflammatory disruption that over time, leads to long term health issues such as malignancy or diabetes."

In the new study, researchers examined data from the 78,214 women enrolled in the National Cancer Institute's Prostate Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer screening trial. Study participants were enrolled between 1992 and 2001, and were followed 13 years, or until study withdrawal or death. Using data collected in that study, the Penn team examined the effect of self-reported infertility (inability to conceive for one year or greater) on all causes of mortality and primary cause of death..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171101141635.htm

Intake of pesticide residue from fruits, vegetables and infertility treatment outcomes

via dailymail.co.uk

"Eating more fruits and vegetables with high-pesticide residue was associated with a lower probability of pregnancy and live birth following infertility treatment for women using assisted reproductive technologies.

Is preconception intake of fruits and vegetables with pesticide residues associated with outcomes of assisted reproductive technologies?

Animal studies suggest ingestion of pesticide mixtures in early pregnancy may be associated with decreased live-born offspring leading to concerns that levels of pesticide residues permitted in food by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may still be too high for pregnant women and infants.

325 women who completed a diet questionnaire and subsequently underwent cycles of assisted reproductive technologies as part of the Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) study at a fertility center at a teaching hospital in Boston between 2007 and 2016 by Jorge E. Chavarro, M.D., Sc.D., of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues.

Researchers categorized fruits and vegetables as having high or low pesticide residues using a method based on surveillance data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They counted the number of confirmed pregnancies and live births per cycle of fertility treatment..."

Learn more: 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171030112401.htm

 

Ovarian reserve tests fail to predict fertility, study suggests

via npr.org

"Tests that estimate ovarian reserve, or the number of a woman's remaining eggs, before menopause, do not appear to predict short-term chances of conception, according to a National Institutes of Health-funded study of women with no history of infertility. The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Women are born with a set number of eggs that gradually declines through the reproductive years," said Esther Eisenberg, M.D., of the Fertility and Infertility Branch of NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which funded the study. "This study suggests that testing for biomarkers of ovarian reserve does not predict the chances for conception in older women still of reproductive age."

As a woman ages and her egg supply declines, cells in the ovary secrete lower amounts of inhibin B and anti-Müllerian hormone, substances considered to be indicators of ovarian reserve. The ovaries also produce higher amounts of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in the days before ovulation. Although there is little research to support their use, tests for anti-Müllerian hormone are routinely offered in many fertility clinics on the assumption that women with a lower ovarian reserve would be less likely to respond to treatment. Moreover, home fertility tests of urinary FSH are commercially available.

The researchers enrolled 750 women from 30 to 44 years of age who had been attempting to conceive for three or fewer months. Women were ineligible to participate if they had known fertility problems, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, tubal blockage or endometriosis. The women provided a urine and blood sample and checked for conception with home pregnancy test kits. The researchers statistically corrected for factors known to reduce fertility, such as smoking, recent use of oral contraceptives and obesity..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171010124105.htm

 

Is Social Acceptance more Important than Economic Factors in Fertility Treatment?

"Although one in 8 couples experience fertility issues and many of them turn to Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) to help them have a child, usage varies significantly across Europe. A new Oxford study has shed light on some of the reasons behind this -- pinpointing moral and social acceptance of the treatment and religion as key.

Previous research has mainly focused on the economic issues that can affect ART usage, such as a country's wealth and health insurance costs. But, in new research published in Human Reproduction, scientists from the Oxford University Department of Sociology and Nuffield College, have for the first time assessed the relative importance of the role that economic, demographic and cultural normative factors play in the process.

The study compares the prevalence of ART usage across 35 European countries since 2010, which is the number of ART cycles, per million women of reproductive age (15-44 years). The findings revealed that although economic factors and national wealth are important, it is not merely affordability that determines ART use. Rather, ART treatments were more widely used in countries where it was considered culturally and morally acceptable to do so. For example, the Czech Republic, which ranks 51st in a poll of the world's wealthiest countries, reported 10,473 cycles per million women of reproductive age -- which is a usage level almost identical to the comparatively wealthier (37th) Denmark. By contrast, high income nations such as Italy (8th) and the United Kingdom (5th) reported only 5,480 and 4,918 cycles per million women of reproductive age, respectively..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171006085927.htm

 

Existing drugs may shield women from infertility after cancer

"An existing drug may one day protect pre-menopausal women from the infertility that commonly follows cancer treatments.

Women who are treated for cancer with radiation or certain chemotherapy drugs are often unable to have a baby later. A 2006 study showed that nearly 40 percent of all female breast cancer survivors experience premature ovarian failure, in which they lose normal function of their ovaries and often become infertile.

Women are born with a lifetime reserve of oocytes, or immature eggs, but those oocytes are among the most sensitive cells in the body and may be wiped out by cancer treatments.

The new study, published in Genetics, builds on earlier research that identified a so-called checkpoint protein (CHK2) that becomes activated when oocytes are damaged by radiation.

CHK2 functions in a pathway that eliminates oocytes with DNA damage, a natural function to protect against giving birth to offspring bearing new mutations. When the researchers irradiated mice lacking the CHK2 gene, the oocytes survived, eventually repaired the DNA damage, and the mice gave birth to healthy pups.

The new study explored whether the checkpoint 2 pathway could be chemically inhibited.

“It turns out there were pre-existing CHK2 inhibitor drugs that were developed, ironically enough, for cancer treatment, but they turned out not to be very useful for treating cancer,” says senior author John Schimenti, professor of biomedical sciences and molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University..."

Learn more:

http://www.futurity.org/infertility-after-cancer-1535282-2/

Flint's water crisis led to fewer babies and higher fetal death rates, researchers find

via huffingtonpost.com

"An estimated 275 fewer children were born in Flint, Michigan, while the city was using lead-contaminated water from the Flint River, according to findings by researchers from West Virginia University and the University of Kansas.

"We compared fertility rates in Flint to fertility rates in other big cities in Michigan and we found that, following the water change, fertility rates dropped substantially in Flint but did not change in other areas," said Daniel Grossman, assistant professor of economics at WVU's College of Business and Economics. "We also explored fetal death rates in Flint and found that they increased 58 percent following the water switch.

"This can only explain a small fraction of the overall change in fertility rates and we speculate that much of the results we find are likely due to an increase in miscarriages in Flint," he said.

Flint, once part of the Detroit area's legendary automobile manufacturing sector, has faced a major public health emergency due to lead poisoning since it temporarily changed its public water source to the Flint River in April 2014.

Although officials had seen serious health problems in Flint such as a wave of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in 2014 and 2015, no public warning was issued until early 2016. As a result, a number of Michigan officials now face criminal charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to misconduct in office to obstruction of justice.

The report said that "only the city of Flint switched their water source at this time, while the rest of Michigan did not. These areas provide a natural control group for Flint in that they are economically similar areas and, with the exception of the change in water supply, followed similar trends in fertility and birth outcomes over this time period..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170922091626.htm

 

Many young cancer patients do not receive adequate fertility information and support

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"All cancer patients of reproductive age should be provided with fertility information and referrals for fertility preservation. A new Psycho-Oncology analysis of the published literature indicates that many cancer patients are not receiving such support, however.

In the analysis of 23 relevant studies, investigators found that many clinicians are broadly informed about the risk to their patients' fertility brought about by cancer treatment, but many factors hinder the appropriate discussions and referrals needed to provide adequate fertility support to patients of reproductive age. For example, some oncology clinicians may lack appropriate fertility knowledge and be unsure whose role it is to provide fertility support.

"Impaired fertility brought about by cancer treatment leads to long-term psychological distress and lowered quality of life for cancer patients of a reproductive age. As such, it is paramount that clinicians are able to deliver oncofertility services to the standard of best practice guidelines, to assist in lowering long term distress," said Dr. Shanna Logan, lead author of the article. "However, as the results of this review indicate, oftentimes oncofertilty related services are not delivered to the standard required or in line with patient's needs. Moving forward, the results of this review will be utilised to aid in the development of an international competency framework, to better assist clinicians in providing necessary oncofertility care in the future."

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170821102728.htm

 

New technique overcomes genetic cause of infertility

Graphical depiction 

of XXY chromosomes.

Credit: Joe Brock

"Scientists have created healthy offspring from genetically infertile male mice, offering a potential new approach to tackling a common genetic cause of human infertility.

Our sex is determined by the X and Y chromosomes. Usually, girls have two X chromosomes (XX) and boys have one X and one Y (XY), but approximately 1 in 500 boys are born with an extra X or Y. Having three rather than two sex chromosomes can disrupt formation of mature sperm and cause infertility.

In a new study published in Science, scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have found a way to remove the extra sex chromosome to produce fertile offspring. If the findings can be safely transferred into humans, it might eventually be possible for men with Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) or Double Y syndrome (XYY) that are infertile to have children through assisted reproduction using this technique.

The research was done in collaboration with Kyoto University and funded by the European Research Council, the Japan Science and Technology Agency, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

The team took small pieces of ear tissue from XXY and XYY mice, cultured them, and collected connective tissue cells known as fibroblasts. They turned the fibroblasts into stem cells and noticed that in the process, some of the cells lost the extra sex chromosome..."

Learn more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170817141800.htm

Significant ongoing decline in sperm counts of Western men

hamilelikvegebelik.com

"In the first systematic review and meta-analysis of trends in sperm count, researchers from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report a significant decline in sperm concentration and total sperm count among men from Western countries. 

The study is published today in Human Reproduction Update, a leading journal in the fields of Reproductive Biology and Obstetrics & Gynecology.

By screening 7,500 studies and conducting a meta-regression analysis on 185 studies between 1973 and 2011, the researchers found a 52.4 percent decline in sperm concentration, and a 59.3 percent decline in total sperm count, among men from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand who were not selected based on their fertility status. In contrast, no significant decline was seen in South America, Asia and Africa, where far fewer studies have been conducted.

The study also indicates the rate of decline among Western men is not decreasing: the slope was steep and significant even when analysis was restricted to studies with sample collection between 1996 and 2011..."

Learn more:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170726110954.htm

How does resolved parental infertility relate to children's performance in school?

image credit: parenting.com

"A University of Illinois at Chicago sociologist considers this question in a sample of all Swedish births between 1988 and 1995.

Findings from the co-authored study suggest that involuntary childlessness prior to either a first or a second birth is associated with lower academic achievement -- both test scores and grade point average -- at age 16, even if the period of infertility was prior to a sibling's birth rather than the child's own.

The authors also find that infertility among parents who already have a first child, known as "secondary infertility," has negative effects on how first- and second-born children perform in school only when the family did not already experience infertility before a first birth.

"Our results suggest that we need to be thinking of infertility as a cumulative physical and social experience, with effects extending well beyond the point at which a child is ultimately born," said Amelia Branigan, the study's lead author and UIC visiting assistant professor of sociology.

Branigan and co-author Jonas Helgertz of Lund University used data from the Swedish Interdisciplinary Panel, which links multiple Swedish government registers.

Infertility is measured as the number of years that parents spent trying to conceive, reported by the mother after a baby is delivered. Grades and test scores were measured at grade 9, when children are about 16 years old.

"To our knowledge, no large U.S. data source currently includes measures of both years of infertility, as well as long-term outcomes in parents and in children ultimately born," Branigan said..." 

Learn more: 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170606090159.htm

Unlocking the key to infertility in older women

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"Findings from new research led by the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) and University College London may finally resolve, and potentially provide answers, as to why older women have higher incidences of miscarriage and have babies with chromosomal abnormalities.

Female fertility declines rapidly after the age of 37 -- with women over 42 having only a five per cent chance of having a baby without fertility treatment. The problem is that as a woman ages, her eggs also age -- increasing the chances of chromosomal abnormalities. This leads to an increase in conditions such as Down's syndrome, where the egg has three copies of chromosome 21. However most chromosomal abnormalities in eggs lead to embryos that either fail to implant in the womb, or miscarry soon after implantation. In women over 40 most miscarriages are caused by the wrong number of chromosomes being present in the egg.

In a paper published today in Nature Communications, Professor John Carroll from the Monash BDI, together with an international team of collaborators, reveal a fault in how the egg controls the levels of a protein called securin. In the final stages of egg development just before ovulation, it undergoes two specialised cell divisions known as meiosis I and meiosis II. Securin is important for both divisions but in old eggs, it appears that there is insufficient securin remaining to ensure meiosis II takes place normally.

Most chromosome abnormalities occur in the first egg division (meiosis I) but it is known that a substantial number of abnormalities also occur during meiosis II. Dr Ibtissem Nabti and Professor Carroll's experiments help explain why things go wrong in this second division. In these older women the chromosomes in their eggs start to fall apart because there is insufficient securin to control the process. Dr Nabti, formerly from University College London, is currently at the Abu Dhabi campus of New York University..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170518083036.htm

Researchers find another immune system link science said didn't exist

via 123rf.com

"The University of Virginia School of Medicine has again shown that a part of the body thought to be disconnected from the immune system actually interacts with it, and that discovery helps explain cases of male infertility, certain autoimmune diseases and even the failure of cancer vaccines.

Scientists developing such vaccines may need to reconsider their work in light of the new findings or risk unintentionally sabotaging their own efforts. UVA's Kenneth Tung, MD, said that many vaccines likely are failing simply because researchers are picking the wrong targets -- targets that aren't actually foreign to the immune system and thus won't provoke the desired immune responses.

Overturning Orthodoxy

Tung, of UVA's Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, and a team of collaborators have discovered an unexpected interaction between men's testes and the immune system. While science textbooks insist the testes are barricaded from the immune system by an impenetrable wall of cells, the researchers have determined there's actually a very small door in that wall, a door that appears to open in only one direction.

The team discovered that the testes release some, but not all, of the antigens -- substances that can spur an immune response -- that are created during the production of sperm. Because the testes release these antigens naturally, the immune system ignores them. That's a normal, healthy response, but it also may explain why cancer vaccines are failing. Cancer vaccines target antigens, so if vaccine developers rely on antigens that are ignored by the immune system, the vaccine won't work..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170323105812.htm

New hope given to women struggling to conceive

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"Southampton researchers have found new insight into why some women have difficulty falling pregnant.

Endometriosis is a chronic condition affecting around 10 per cent of women and is associated with chronic abdominal pain, irregular periods, and lowered fertility.

In order to become pregnant a woman must produce a mature egg. Maturation occurs in fluid-filled structures called follicles in the ovary. The mature eggs are then released to become fertilised however eggs in women who have endometriosis are affected by a very hostile uterine environment that lowers fertility. It is assumed that the egg itself, before it is released, is not affected by the endometriosis.

However, in a collaborative study between researchers at the University of Southampton and Princess Anne Hospital's Complete Fertility Centre, it was found that egg quality is severely compromised in endometriosis..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161115120140.htm