The Male Clock

By Kathleen

According to a recent New York Times article, the once common knowledge that men can have children at any age is now being called into question. The fact that women have a biological clock that begins ticking in her mid 30’s is widely documented. Men have largely avoided any cause for concern when it comes to fathering children at any age. That conception (pun intended) may need some rethinking, after several scientists are finding abnormalities in the children of older fathers. So far it sounds like the science is not settled, but there may be enough cause for some caution. Apparently some older men are producing children with a higher incidence of birth defects and genetic abnormalities. Additionally, fertility rates are also reported to decline slightly in males after about 40 or so, something previously not reported (at least widely). It may be the case that decreased libido due to lower testosterone levels in 40+ males is the culprit here. It sounds like additional research might point out that men need to rethink their often quoted limitless fertility potential.

National Organ Transplant Act is BAD for Patients

By Kathleen

According to a press release, “The Senate is debating the bill to fund all the health programs of the federal government. An amendment has been introduced that would add eggs, embryos and stem cell lines to the National Organ Transplant Act. This would mean that there could be no compensation offered for any of these tissues.”

This would make paying egg donors (but curiously not sperm donors?) illegal. It might seem like a noble goal to take money out of this process, but in the end altruism alone will not bring in enough egg donors. We must be honest and realize that egg donors provide a valuable service, and should be compensated for it. If they are not, the pool of donors will be drastically reduced or be pushed underground. Call the capitol switchboard and notify your Senator that you are against this crazy plan: 202-224-3121.

PGD Offspring

By Kathleen

A study found that children born as a result of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) do not have higher incidence of major malformations than children born as a result artificial reproductive technologies without PGD. PGD is a technique in which a portion of an embryo is removed for genetic testing and only unaffected embryos are transferred. This study included 583 patients and the researchers set out to find out if the additional embryo manipulation caused any effect on the health of the children. Until recently, PGD was typically used for diagnosis of a genetic disease in early embryos prior to implantation and pregnancy. Now, the major application of PGD is in the field of assisted reproduction for aneuploidy screening and diagnosis of unbalanced inheritance of chromosome abnormalities (translocations). This study should be reassuring for patients who are undergoing this procedure.