Scientists publishing in Nature Communications report that they have developed a mini working replica of the female reproductive tract using human and mouse tissue. read more
In a paper published in BMJ Open, researchers looked at claims of benefit for interventions offered by fertility centres in the UK via the information on the centres’ websites. They then looked at what evidence was cited for these claims. They report that while many fertility centres in the UK offer a range of IVF add-on procedures, and provide claims of benefit for many of these interventions, in most cases the claims are not quantified and evidence is not cited to support them.
The Panorama documentary on BBC One (Panorama: Inside Britain’s Fertility Business) also looks at this issue. read more
A group of researchers have examined the levels of cortisol in hair and saliva in women undergoing fertility treatment and publish their work in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. They report that hair, but not saliva, cortisol concentrations predicted pregnancy. read more
A poster presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) meeting in Salt Lake City has examined the effect of artificial sweeteners on the success of IVF treatment. read more
A group of researchers have examined the sperm quality of the world’s oldest group of young men conceived by of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) fertility treatment and report their results in the journal Human Reproduction. The authors report that sperm quantity and quality of these man was lower than average. read more
Three articles published in the journal Human Reproduction have examined the effect of different liquids used for maintaining IVF embryos and report that the composition can influence success of implantation and pregnancy as well as other factors. read more
Attempting to investigate possible reasons for the decline in pregnancy rates for older women who undergo IVF, a team of researchers have published their work in the Journal of Endocrinology. In a specific type of cell which surrounds the egg they report the expression of several genes to be different between older and younger women, and also that this cell type replicated less frequently in older women. read more
Publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a group of researchers has compared the use of eggs which are “fresh” with those with are frozen before IVF, and report that IVF cycles which used fresh eggs were associated with a higher rate of live births. read more
A paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has examined the rates of complications in donors and patients involved in assisted reproductive technology in the US, reporting few significant changes in outcomes over time. read more
Research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reported that kisspeptin can be used to trigger ovulation after ovarian stimulation in IVF, and that the substance may reduce ovarian hyper stimulation; a serious complication of IVF associated with use of an alternative hormone. read more
A study in PLOS ONE found children born after IVF treatment had a greater risk of birth complications. read more
A study in PLOS ONE found children born after IVF treatment had a greater risk of birth complications. read more
Research in the New England Journal of Medicine found no extra cancer risk among children born after assisted conception. read more
The annual meeting of ESHRE, the world’s leading event in reproductive medicine took place in London from 7-10th July. As usual, the SMC invited 5 leading fertility experts to come and talk through the most significant, newsworthy studies being presented at the conference. read more
In a JAMA study of more than 2.5 million children born in Sweden in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment was associated with a small but statistically significantly increased risk of mental retardation, though not associated with autistic disorder. read more
In a JAMA study of more than 2.5 million children born in Sweden in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment was associated with a small but statistically significantly increased risk of mental retardation, though not associated with autistic disorder. read more
A group of international scientists have been investigating whether there is an association between the use of IVF and the risk of autistic disorder or mental retardation in offspring. read more
Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies will outlined the government’s response to the advice and information provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority on new IVF techniques for the prevention of mitochondrial disease. read more
The government have decided to move ahead with changing regulations to allow new IVF techniques for the prevention of mitochondrial disease, on the advice and information provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. read more
Approximately 70% of embryos produced, either naturally or through IVF, are lost before birth. A study published in Reproductive Biomedicine Online looks at a new time-lapse imaging approach to selecting embryos through IVF and examines for the first time whether it can be used to classify the risk of abnormality in developing human embryos. read more
