Parents Feel Responsible for Unused Embryos

Following the completion of a course of fertility treatment, parents typically feel a sense of responsibility towards the unused embryos left over.

Such is the finding of Duke University Medical Center in a recent survey of those who had undergone women’s sexual health procedures.

Despite a desire to preserve the embryos, however, few respondents were willing to allow them to be implanted into other recipients.

As such, researchers were left wondering what purpose the remaining stored embryos could serve.

The problem arises when extra embryos are created as a backup should the first implant fail during women’s sexual health procedures.

When the first embryo is successfully brought to term, however, those backups remain in storage indefinitely.

But the parents queried expressed a desire for their excess embryos to be used in research.

Such a wish was seen to be the only commonly accepted option, while indefinite storage, donation to another family and disposal were rejected.

The European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology recently investigated the effect of alternative therapies on women’s sexual health.

Researchers compared the likelihood of conception while undergoing IVF for patients who also received acupuncture treatments with those who were given a placebo procedure.

In the placebo process, needles were used which retracted into the handle rather than entering the skin.

Patients given the placebo acupuncture were seen to be more likely to conceive than those receiving the genuine alternative therapy.

What Is the Fragile X Syndrome?

When it comes to neurodevelopmental delays, X marks the weak spot, according to the University of California (UC).

The MIND Institute at UC Davis reveals that the fragile X gene has been associated with delayed development and autism in children.

Meanwhile, in older adults, neurodegenerative diseases are associated with mutations in the gene.

It has also been linked with infertility among female patients, according to researchers from the educational facility.

As such, they are calling for physicians to check for signs of mutation in the gene throughout patients’ lives, to ensure they are given the correct health care advice.

Director of the facility’s Fragile X Research and Treatment Center Randi Hagerman explains that, without mutations being identified, patients are unlikely to receive targeted intervention to protect against the outcomes.

And, as the range of conditions which may be associated with the gene is comparatively wide, she adds that families may not form the link between diseases which affect different members or generations.

UC Davis asserts that the MIND Institute aims to improve the health care advice given to patients with neurodevelopmental disorders and ultimately to help find new cures for previously untreatable conditions.

Elderly Told to ‘Get Jabbed’

The flu jab is important for elderly individuals this winter, according to the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Health advice from the publication urges older people to ensure they receive the vaccination in the run-up to Christmas.

The publication does concede, however, that the UK is already leading Europe in terms of uptake of the jab.

In all, 78 per cent of the over-70 population receives the vaccine in the UK, according to the journal’s health advice.

But it stresses that some of the research conducted into how effective the jab actually is may not be completely accurate.

For example, the BMJ argues that some researchers consider all deaths which occur during the winter months to result from flu.

Such an assumption may be taken into account when attempting to determine by how much the death rate has been reduced by the injection.

And as each vaccine may not fully match all strains of flu which exist within the population, the journal adds that it cannot be expected to provide 100 per cent protection for recipients.

In related health news, the American Heart Association recently revealed research which indicated that flu jabs may actually help to reduce the risk of blood clots in individuals of less than 52 years old.

‘Epilepsy Gene’ Discovered by Team

A team of researchers claim to have identified a gene associated with a specific form of epilepsy.

While they concede that only one form of the condition is marked by the presence of the gene, the University of Iowa scientists anticipate that their discovery could help to identify alternative therapies for the disease.

Meanwhile, they add that “Iowa luck” played a part in the early stages of the research process.

This was after lead author Dr Alex Bassuk, performing background work on the project, found a University of Iowa colleague had already investigated the same gene, known as PRICKLE1.

Dr Diane Slusarki’s own study had focused on the behaviour of the gene in zebrafish.

In the human study, three families with a form of progressive myoclonus epilepsy were studied to discover whether the PRICKLE1 gene was present.

The research team notes that their experience of the condition was accompanied by ataxia, a physical imbalance disorder.

Dr Bassuk explains that PRICKLE1 was found to be linked to the form of epilepsy – the first time it has been associated with a human disease of any kind.

The University of British Columbia recently announced that a team investigating alternative therapies for Alzheimer’s disease had discovered that valproic acid – commonly used to treat epilepsy – can help prevent memory loss in the early stages of the condition.

Fighting Parents ‘Cause Physical Distress’

Research has discovered that children’s bodies undergo physiological changes due to the distress caused by their parents fighting.

During parental arguments, stress hormone cortisol is seen to appear at elevated levels in children who become “very upset”.

The significance of the cortisol level varies, according to health articles published by the Society for Research in Child Development.

In its report, the organization explains that there is no significant link between the stress hormone and children’s hostility across the full range of participants.

However, a more direct connection is noted between particularly high levels of cortisol and children who exhibited especially high levels of distress or became closely involved in the simulated arguments staged in the laboratory.

The researchers add that their study is one of the first to examine physiological responses to parental arguments.

Previous investigations have focused on psychological reactions such as the likelihood for an individual to develop problems in later life, they state.

But they suggest that the physiological response of increased cortisol may indeed be linked with the propensity for psychological disturbances to develop during adulthood.

Established in 1933, the Society for Research in Child Development explains that it now operates with the participation of more than 5,000 professionals in more than 50 countries around the world.

Osteoporosis ‘is a Killer’

Dr Richard M Dell, orthopaedic surgeon at the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Centre, explains that the condition kills more people than some more headline-grabbing illnesses.

He claims that fractures caused by osteoporosis are responsible for more deaths than both cervical and breast cancer added together.

As many as one in three men and half of all women can expect to experience a fracture due to bone weakness at some point in their lifetime, he adds.

In a recent experiment, the medical centre aimed to reduce hip fractures in test subjects by 25 per cent or more.

But by following a number of interventions as described in their methodology, researchers achieved a reduction rate of 37 per cent on average – and up to 50 per cent in the most successful cases.

Among the simple steps linked with such a reduction were pro-active procedures such as identifying high-risk individuals and giving advice on health to sufferers about the condition itself and the threat of sustaining a fracture during a fall.

The International Osteoporosis Foundation recently criticised advice on health given to osteoporosis patients by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

According to the foundation, the NICE guidance neglects a number of high-risk groups who could otherwise benefit from treatment or expert advice.