American researchers from New York University have found that exposure to stress during pregnancy may affect gestational age and the probability of a preterm baby (a baby born before 37 weeks of gestation). The researchers considered data on pregnant women who were exposed to the 2005 Chilean earthquake. These women were compared to other Chilean […]
Fewer IVF babies are now being born in Australia. Research which was presented at the World Congress of Human Reproduction identified the main determinant of this decrease as being the change in IVF funding made by the Australian government. The Health Insurance Amendment (Extended Medicare Safety Net) which was introduced last year reduced the amount
Very few scientific studies have been conducted to explore the use of Chinese herbal medicine in assisting IVF therapy. The problem:The requirements of research (scientific method) demands standardisation of treatments. By nature, Chinese herbal medicine treatments are however very difficult to standardise. A true clinical approach involves an idiosyncratic selection of herbs based on a
Late last week, Professor Jenni Millbank from the University of Technology (Sydney) proposed that embryo donation could become more prevalent in the future. She reported that donated embryos led to the birth of 39 children in 2009 between Australia and New Zealand. Prof. Millbank conducted a study to assess the attitudes on embryo donation amongst
Further to my blog “Pregnancy: how old is too old?” posted on 11thNovember, I would like to share the following story by Jared Yee published in Bioedge. Increasing numbers of older women in the UK are turning to IVF therapy. The number of women over the age of 40 receiving IVF in the UK has
