reproductive system

While the nature of embryos remains a source of political controversy, some patients seek resolution to their dilemma in a way that suggests they see embryos neither as life nor as not-life. Lyerly's 2007 survey discovered that patients were eager for a disposal ceremony, something akin to a funeral for their thawed cells. The survey also indicated significant interest in what Resolve has begun to call "compassionate transfer" -- embryo transfer procedures that would not result in pregnancy.

It’s sort of saying, ‘Oh, if it’s God’s will, it will happen,’   -Joseph Hill

 

Scientists have known for years of a process that occurs in men's sperm to put the tiny gametes "in the mood." New research has begun to reveal exactly how this happens -- a discovery that could lead to new treatments for infertility or even to a male contraceptive. Before it can fertilize an egg inside a woman's body, the sperm goes through a transformation that prepares it for the task ahead: The membrane of the sperm softens and the whipping action of its tail speeds up, allowing it to more easily pe

There is not a really good male contraceptive that is reversible   -Mark D Platt

 

Honestly, I really couldn't wait to get my surgery. For the most part I was really excited. But, I did have some anxiety over it too.  

Jesse Bering, he of the hilarious penis column fame , is at it again. This time, we learn everything we ever (or perhaps never) wanted to know about testicles. Reading Bering's article feels a bit like watching monkeys masturbate at the zoo: you want to look away, but there is something grossly fascinating about the single-mindedness with which they play with themselves.  

New research suggests it may become possible for pre-pubescent boys stricken by cancer to prepare for the future when they may be infertile but still want to become natural fathers. Scientists in the Netherlands found that testicular stem cells can be cultured and multiplied, potentially creating sperm. This raises the prospect that men made infertile by childhood cancer treatments could impregnate women by having the cells implanted in their testicles.

this is a big step forward.   -Van Pelt

 

Of course, with the health-care-reform death-match draining all sense and reason from public discource, plenty of piggish political warriors will be unable to resist pitching these recommendations as part of a fiendish government plot to balance the health care books on the reproductive systems of American women. Sarah Palin, unsurprisingly, is out in front on this . It's like with the abortion sideshow in the reform debate: Never is the uterus so popular as when it can be wielded as a partisan tool.  

In Atlanta, specialists swabbed the cheek lining of all 3,600 female athletes and tested the cells -- a procedure so sensitive it had to be administered by women only, in order to guard against sample contamination. However, testing positive for a male gene does not mean that the athlete was posing as a woman, said Dr. Louis Elsas, who led the Atlanta screening. Eight female athletes at the Atlanta games tested positive, and they were eventually cleared to compete.  

Measurement of serum progesterone concentrations can aid in scheduling breast MRI in premenopausal women who do not have regular menses, a small retrospective study found. Of 11 women who had breast MRI when progesterone concentrations corresponded with the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, none needed a repeat MRI, Richard L. Ellis, MD, of the Gundersen Lutheran Health System in La Crosse, Wis., reported in the December issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. The use of breast MRI has  

There is "crystal clear" evidence that family planning "is one of the best -- and perhaps the very best -- strategy for women in the United States and across the world to improve their health and well-being, as well as that of their offspring," write Eva Moore, a fellow in adolescent medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School's Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine , and Robert Bloom, chair of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health's Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health  

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Merck & Co., Inc. today announced the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has recommended approval of ELONVA® (corifollitropin alfa injection) as a treatment in controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) in combination with a GnRH antagonist for the development of multiple follicles in women participating in an assisted reproductive technology (ART) program. If approved by the Europea