A team of US researchers has discovered a way to make human fetal stem cells grow into adult nerve cells when implanted into rat brains and spinal cords. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, could pave the way for the development of new stem cell therapies for diseases such as...
According to a study conducted at the University of Southern California (USC), post-menopausal women are equally as likely as younger women to conceive and give birth following egg donation. Dr Richard Paulson and colleagues, whose research is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, studied 77 post-menopausal women...
A new study suggests that children born as a result of assisted reproduction technologies may have a greater risk of particular hereditary birth defects than children who are naturally conceived. A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington in the US studied a national registry...
The Australian Senate passed a bill last week banning all forms of human cloning, including the cloning of embryos to obtain stem cells for medical research (therapeutic cloning). The vote took place following an amendment that bans the import and export of any cloned embryos, or cells derived from them...
An American study has shown that men who live in agricultural areas have poorer quality and sperm than their urban counterparts. The research, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, suggests that exposure to water containing chemicals drained from farmland may be the reason. The team, led by professor Shanna Swan of...
The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has announced that Dr Maureen Dalziel, Chief Executive of the authority will step down with effect from today. In a statement issued earlier today, the HFEA said that 'following a unanimous vote of no confidence by its members, the Chairman of the...
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Understanding postmenopausal conceptions
by Juliet Tizzard
In this week's BioNews, we report on a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which shows that postmenopausal women having egg donation are just as likely to conceive as younger women. Although we've known it for some time, the study confirms that it is the age...