Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Fertility: What You Need to Know

Polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS for short is a disorder that causes an imbalance in female sex hormones. The imbalance can lead to a variety of symptoms and also affect a woman's fertility.

To understand what PCOS is and how it affects a woman, it's helpful to learn a little about how the ovaries work.

Every month in women of childbearing age, tiny fluid-filled cysts called follicles develop on the surface of the ovary. One of the follicles will produce a mature egg, which is released from the ovary. Female sex hormones including estrogen cause the egg to mature and break through the follicle.

In women who have polycystic ovary syndrome, there is an imbalance in female sex hormones. The imbalance may prevent mature eggs from developing and being released. Without a mature egg, ovulation does not occur, which leads to infertility.

Read more: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Fertility: What You Need to Know

The imbalance in female hormones may prevent ovulation, leading to infertility. If showing any
symptoms of PCOS, it is wise to see a doctor in order to prevent further complications. Unless a
woman is trying to get pregnant, birth control pills may be used to correct the hormonal imbalance.

Source: MedicalNewsToday.

Antibacterial Soaps Aren't Just Ineffective, They're Potentially Dangerous

With a new ban on antibacterial soap, the US government is finally acknowledging that it’s not just ineffective, it’s also dangerous

Fear is a potent marketing tool. Consider how a Listerine advertising campaign in the 1920s literally turned bad breath into a disease (and sold a ton of mouthwash along the way) or the run on potassium iodide in North America after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 2011.

Then there are antibacterial soaps and body washes, which have targeted—and arguably created—a widespread fear of disease-causing bacteria lurking on every surface of our homes and bodies. Sales of antibacterial soap skyrocketed during the 2009 H1N1 flu sale and have stayed strong since, as brands marketed their antibacterials as scientifically proven to clean better than the stuff you used to keep by your sink.

Read more: Antibacterial Soaps Aren't Just Ineffective, They're Potentially Dangerous

Lather up, but just use regular soap. (Mariana Bazo/Reuters)

Source: quartz

Fluctuating Serum Aspartate Aminotransferase Activity in a Complicated Pregnancy

Clinical Case Study

A 29-year-old para 0 gravida 2 woman with a history of infertility and spontaneous abortion presented to her local hospital at 9 weeks gestation with severe nausea and vomiting. Symptoms persisted for 10 weeks, leading to the diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum and treatment with intravenous fluids (3 times/week) and Zofran.

At 8 weeks gestation, laboratory tests were unremarkable with the exception of increased aspartate aminotransferase (AST)5 measured at a regional reference laboratory [105 U/L; reference interval (RI), 10 – 40 U/L]. AST continued to be monitored at the same laboratory, peaking at 132 U/L (9 weeks gestation) and gradually declining to 38 U/L by 19 weeks gestation.

Read more: Fluctuating Serum Aspartate Aminotransferase Activity in a Complicated Pregnancy

uqccr/hepcarepharmacy

Source: clinchem

Lab-grown sperm makes healthy offspring

Sperm have been made in the laboratory and used to father healthy baby mice in a pioneering move that could lead to infertility treatments.

The Chinese research took a stem cell, converted it into primitive sperm and fertilised an egg to produce healthy pups.

The study, in the Journal Cell Stem Cell, showed they were all healthy and grew up to have offspring of their own.

Experts said it was a step towards human therapies.

It could ultimately help boys whose fertility is damaged by cancer treatment, infections such as mumps or those with defects that leave them unable to produce sperm.

Sperm factory

Making sperm in the testes is one of the longest and most complicated processes in the body - taking more than a month from start to finish in most mammals.

Read more: Lab-grown sperm makes healthy offspring

Source: bbc

Human sperm created from mature skin cells for infertility solution

Scientists in Spain say they have created human sperm from skin cells, which could eventually lead to a treatment for infertility.

The researchers said they were working to find a solution for the roughly 15 per cent of couples worldwide who are unable to have children and whose only option is to use donated gametes (sperm or eggs).

"What to do when someone who wants to have a child lacks gametes?" asked Dr Carlos Simon, scientific director of the Valencian Infertility Institute, Spain's first medical institution fully dedicated to assisted reproduction.

"This is the problem we want to address: to be able to create gametes in people who do not have them."

The result of their research, which was carried out with Stanford University in the United States, was published on Tuesday in Scientific Reports, the online journal of Nature.

Read more: Human sperm created from mature skin cells for infertility solution

Infertile sperm cells were created by adding genes to skin cells

Source: ABC News Breakfast