A group of researchers has found stem cells in the ovaries of mice that they say can be prodded to become new eggs, which can then be fertilized to produce healthy offspring. The provocative findings challenge one of the most fundamental assumptions in biology: that female mammals, including women, are born with all the eggs they will ever have…. While much more research is needed to confirm and explore the findings, the work raises the tantalizing possibility that it could someday lead to new ways to fight a woman’s biological clock, perhaps by stockpiling her egg-producing cells or by stimulating them to make eggs again [Washington Post].
In the study, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, researchers wrote that the stem cells were cultured for more than six months and then transplanted into the ovaries of infertile female mice, … adding that eighty percent of these mice went on to produce offspring after natural mating [Reuters].
(more…)
The preference for sons in traditional Chinese families has led to a vast gender disparity in China: A study has found that there are currently 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20. While Chinese officials have acknowledged that the country’s “one-child” policy has led to a gender imbalance, the new study offers the first hard data on the extent of the disparity. The study included nearly five million people under the age of 20 and covered every county in China. It found that overall ratios of boys were high everywhere, but were most striking among the younger age group of 1-4 years, and in rural areas, where it peaked at 126 boys for every 100 girls [The Wall Street Journal blog].
With the greatest imbalance occurring with very young children, the researchers say that China will be grappling with the problem for 20 years. The imbalance is expected to steadily worsen among people of childbearing age over the next two decades and could trigger a slew of social problems…. “If you’ve got highly sexed young men, there is a concern that they will all get together and, with high levels of testosterone, there may be a real risk, that they will go out and commit crimes” [AP], says study coauthor Therese Hesketh.
(more…)
A double-whammy method of screening for ovarian cancer, which is sometimes called the silent killer, seems to catch many cases in the early stages when the disease is more curable, researchers say. A massive study tested the impact of two types of screening: One is a blood test which measures the levels of a protein called CA125, which is often higher in women with ovarian cancer. The other is an ultrasound scan that looks for abnormalities in the ovaries [The Guardian]. When used in conjunction, the two tests showed great promise in catching cancer cases early on.
Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal types of cancer. About 21,000 U.S. women are diagnosed each year and more than 15,000 die. The high death rate is due to the fact that the disease is often detected at a late stage of development, when chances for a cure are much lower [Los Angeles Times].
However, many of the women in the study had false positive results, especially those who received only an ultrasound test, leading some to unnecessarily have their ovaries removed. Lead researcher Ian Jacobs cautioned that “women thinking of having [an ultrasound screening] must understand and realize that there’s a possibility it will do more harm than good. We have reason to think it will save lives,” he added, “and then the question is, will it save enough lives to balance out the harm it does?”[The New York Times].
(more…)
Lab rats who were exposed to alcohol while in the womb had a skewed sense of taste and showed a marked preference for ethanol as young rats, researchers say. The findings may shed new light on why human studies have previously linked fetal alcohol exposure to increased alcohol abuse later in life, and to a lower age at which a person first starts drinking alcohol [New Scientist].
The taste of alcohol has both sweet and bitter components, and study coauthor Steven Youngentob wondered whether prenatal exposure could affect how rats respond to those elements. He gave young rats a choice between ethanol, sweet water flavored with sugar, and bitter water flavored with quinine. Those rats whose mothers had consumed alcohol while they were pregnant preferred ethanol and the bitter water. By contrast, rats who were not exposed to alcohol tended to plump for the sweeter alternative [Telegraph].
(more…)
A compound often used in cosmetics and foods like ice cream may soon find a loftier use: Researchers say a topical gel containing the compound has shown great promise in preventing HIV infection. An effective vaginal gel would be particularly useful in Africa, where the virus is most commonly passed through heterosexual contact. Researchers say that while the current formulation of the compound does not provide 100 percent protection, it might greatly reduce a woman’s risk of being infected, and she could use it privately and without hurting her chances of pregnancy [Reuters].
The compound, glycerol monolaurate (GML), already has FDA approval because it’s used as an emulsifier in some foods and cosmetics; it’s also found naturally in breast milk. What’s more, the price for the compound is right: each dose used in the experiment cost about one cent.
The research marks a new approach to microbicides, as most other gels under development try to kill the virus outright or prevent it from attaching to cells. In contrast, GML stifles the host’s own inflammatory response that typically summons the immune cells targeted by the virus. “Even though it sounds counter-intuitive, halting the body’s natural defence system might actually prevent transmission and and rapid spread of the infection,” said chief investigator Ashley Haase [AFP]. Since GML prevents the immune cells from gathering, the HIV virus can’t infect them all and spread through the body.
(more…)
The Obama administration is preparing to roll back a rule that prevents discrimination against medical workers who refuse to take part in procedures, provide medication, or hand out information based on their moral or religious beliefs. As 80beats reported in December, the Bush administration pushed the rule through as one of its final policy initiatives. Seven states, including California, Illinois and Connecticut, and two family-planning groups have filed lawsuits challenging the Bush rule. They argue that it sacrifices the health of patients to the religious beliefs of medical providers [Los Angeles Times].
Pre-existing federal law protects doctors and nurses who decline to provide abortion services because of their ethical beliefs, and changing the so-called conscience rule would have no effect on that law. But an official from the Department of Health and Human Services says the Bush administration’s rule is too broad. “We’ve been concerned that the way the Bush rule is written it could make it harder for women to get the care they need. It is worded so vaguely that some have argued it could limit family planning counseling and even potentially blood transfusions and end-of-life care” [Washington Post], an unnamed department official said.
(more…)
The recent birth of octuplets in California has riveted the nation’s attention with the strange story of Nadya Suleman, who had six young children at home but went back to a fertility clinic for more. The 33-year-old Suleman says she used in vitro fertilization to have six embryos implanted, and that two of those embryos split into twins. But the incident has shone a bright light on the $1 billion fertility industry, and has many people wondering about the ethics of implanting so many embryos simultaneously. The California Medical Board says it is investigating the doctor who implanted Suleman…. The consequences could range from a reprimand to loss of medical license [CBS News].
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine adopted guidelines in 2008 encouraging the transfer of only one embryo for women under 35, and no more than two, except in extraordinary circumstances. The guidelines allow more for older women, up to a maximum of five. But unlike some other countries, the United States has no laws to enforce those guidelines [The New York Times]. Given the expense of each attempt at in vitro fertilization and the fact that not all implanted embryos develop successfully, many women prevail upon their doctors to implant multiple embryos–according to federal statistics, only 11 percent of in vitro procedures in the United States involve a solitary embryo.
(more…)
A chemical found in common household products and cosmetics has been linked to a decrease in fertility in women, according to a new study. Researchers examined more than 1,000 pregnant women and found that those exposed to higher levels of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) had experienced more difficulty getting pregnant. PFCs are used to make textiles and leather resistant to water, dirt or oil. They are also found in personal care products such as nail polish, dental floss or facial moisturizer. The chemicals resist breakdown and tend to persist in the environment and in the body for decades [Bloomberg]. “If this finding can be replicated, one would have to look for other chemicals to replace these,” [Washington Post] said lead researcher Jorn Olsen. Although experts caution that the correlation doesn’t prove causation, many manufacturers have already taken steps to cut back on PFCs.
Data for the study was taken from 1,240 women in the Danish Birth Cohort when they were six to 12 weeks pregnant. If they reported that it took them longer than 12 months to get pregnant or if they used drugs designed to increase their chances of conceiving, they were considered to have infertility. This is a generally accepted definition of infertility by experts in the field [ABC News]. The women were divided into four groups based on levels of two types of PFCs, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), found in their blood. Compared to women in the group with the lowest levels of PFOS, women with higher levels took from 70 percent to 134 percent longer to conceive. For PFOA, women with higher levels took from 60 percent to 154 percent longer to conceive. The researchers accounted for factors such as age and economic and social factors, although they admit that they lacked information on other factors that could influence fertility such as timing and frequency of intercourse and sperm quality.
(more…)
Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth is under scrutiny for its practice of paying ghostwriters to draft scientific journal articles favorable to its products and publishing them under the names of academic researchers. Some of the ghostwritten reports involve Wyeth’s hormone replacement therapy, Prempo, and deny the results of a federal study that linked the drug to an increased risk for breast cancer. The inquiries come as part of the Senate Finance Committee’s examination of “medical ghostwriting,” part of a broader probe into the influence of drug companies on the health-care industry [Wall Street Journal].
The investigation is being spearheaded by Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who last week sent a letter to Wyeth’s chairman requesting documentation of the company’s ghostwriting and publishing procedures. The letter [pdf] said Wyeth’s publications resembled “subtle advertisements rather than publications of independent research” and that “any attempt to manipulate the scientific literature, that can in turn mislead doctors to prescribe drugs that may not work and/or cause harm to their patients, is very troubling.” In response, a Wyeth spokesman accused Mr. Grassley of recycling old arguments and insisted that “The authors of the articles in question, none of whom were paid, exercised substantive editorial control over the content of the articles and had the final say, in all respects, over the content” [New York Times].
(more…)
One in five breast cancer tumors may regress without treatment, a new study suggests. Researchers screening women who had a history of regular mammograms and those who did not report that those in the first group were diagnosed with 22 percent more breast cancers, implying that such a percentage of cancers would have eventually gone away on their own. The study opens up a controversial debate on whether early and aggressive treatment of breast cancer is always the best procedure. But many experts are wary of the new findings, saying the conclusions were incorrectly drawn and fearing they will discourage women from getting mammograms. “The idea that somehow these cancers go away entirely is, I would say, an intriguing hypothesis, but one we don’t have a lot of evidence to support,” [Reuters] said Dr. Eric Winer.
Researchers in Norway followed two groups of women, each numbering more than 100,000, for six years. The first group, monitored from 1992 to 1997, did not receive mammograms until the end of the study. (Mammograms were not common in Norway until 1996.) The second group, monitored from 1996 to 2001, received mammograms every two years. For every 100,000 women who were screened regularly, 1,909 were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer over six years, compared with 1,564 women who did not have regular screening [New York Times]—a difference of 22 percent. The researchers attribute this difference to the number of undetected tumors in the first group that vanished on their own during those six years.
(more…)
Dosing menopausal women with testosterone may be the key to helping those with low libidos get back in the mood, according to a new study. Proctor & Gamble Pharmaceuticals has published the results of a new trial of their testosterone patch, called Intrinsa, and say the results are encouraging for frustrated older women seeking a “Viagra for women.” However, nagging safety concerns are likely to keep the drug off the market in the United States for some time to come (although the drug is already on sale in Europe): During the new study, four of the test subjects using the patch developed breast cancer.
The 52-week study included 814 women with sexual desire disorder, characterized by troublesome low sexual desire or function…. The women were asked to keep sexual encounter diaries, and researchers used other established measures to assess sexual response during the six-month evaluation phase of the study. They found that compared to placebo users, the women who used the 300 microgram patch reported significant improvements in sexual functioning, including desire, arousal, orgasm, and pleasure [WebMD].
(more…)
Three researchers who discovered viruses that cause serious diseases have been awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine, the Nobel Foundation announced today. The prize was awarded jointly to France’s Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, who worked together to identify the HIV virus that causes AIDS, and also to the German scientist Harald zur Hausen who discovered the human papilloma viruses (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer.
Barre-Sinoussi, who is the eighth woman to win the medicine prize since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901, worked with Montagnier to discover the HIV virus. Shortly after reports in the early 1980s of a new immunodeficiency syndrome, researchers all over the world raced to find the cause. The two [researchers] cultured cells from lymph nodes of patients. They first detected the enzyme reverse transcriptase, which meant that a retrovirus was active. Further searching turned up retroviral particles, which could kill white blood cells and which also reacted with antibodies from infected patients [Scientific American].
(more…)
The little blue pills that have given so many men a sexual boost may be of some use to women as well. A small study looked at women whose sex lives had suffered as a side effect of taking antidepressants, and found that Viagra increased their sexual sensation and orgasms.
However, the pills didn’t boost the women’s sex drive, leading some experts to question whether the medication could help most women. “Viagra is not a desire drug. It dilates the blood vessels, allowing intercourse to occur,” said Rutgers University psychology professor Barry R. Komisaruk, an expert on sexual dysfunction. [Sexual health expert Leonard] Derogatis agreed: “The most prevalent female sexual dysfunction is not arousal but desire. Viagra doesn’t have a direct effect on that,” he said [Baltimore Sun].
(more…)
In a few years, young women may be offered a genetic test that would gauge their probability of developing breast cancer decades later. The test, which could be a simple mouth swab, could make women who are at high risk more vigilant and could lead them to detect the disease earlier, researchers say. But some doctors warn the results could cause serious psychological stress and would not identify all women at risk [Sydney Morning Herald].
Researchers know that a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer is based on both genetics and lifestyle. Currently, women with a strong family history of breast cancer are offered genetic screenings, but those tests only look for the rare genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, which have long been known to carry a high risk of the disease. The proposed tests, which researchers say are just a few years away, would also look at seven genetic variants… which have been discovered to increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer, particularly if she has certain combinations of them [The Guardian].
(more…)
