The Welsh Assembly Government has published access criteria outlining which infertile couples in Wales would be eligible for state-funded IVF treatment. All couples meeting the criteria will be allowed one full cycle of IVF on the National Health Service (NHS). According to the National Infertility Awareness Campaign (NIAC), access to...
The bill to expand federal funding for stem cell research in the US looks unlikely to come to a vote this week before the summer recess. The bill was passed easily by the House of Representatives in May, and a similar success was expected in the Senate, perhaps with enough...
The identification of a gene involved in autism could lead to a new test for children at risk of developing the condition, French researchers say. The scientists, based at the company IntegraGen SA, have shown that variations in a gene called PRKCB1 are 'strongly associated' with autism. The finding, published...
Some women may not respond to fertility drugs if they lack a certain oestrogen-related gene, according to a new study on mice. Scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in the US found that mice engineered to lack the gene for oestrogen receptor beta did not ovulate...
The risk of having a child born with certain congenital problems may increase with the father's age, US and Danish researchers say. In a study of over 70,000 births, published online in the journal Human Reproduction, they report that the risk of Down syndrome and other conditions begins to increase...
The majority of testicular cancer patients are able to go on to father children, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Cancer. Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust quizzed 200 men who tried to have children after treatment...
Despite government promises to end the 'postcode lottery' of the provision of fertility treatment in the UK, ten primary care trusts (PCTs) of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) have said they will refuse to fund IVF treatments at present. The ten PCTs, all in the county of Hampshire, said...
Thomas Reilly, the Attorney General of the US state of Massachusetts, has rejected a proposed ballot that was designed to overturn the state's recently-passed law on embryonic stem (ES) cell research. Reilly said he has refused the ballot because the Massachusetts constitution does not allow ballot initiatives on laws that...
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From here to paternity: older fathers and sperm donation
by Professor Allan Pacey
The eighth child of Charlie Chaplin was born when he was 73 and as far as we know has lived a healthy life. However, whilst most men remain fertile into their old age, it has long been recognised that to father children later in life increases the risk of their...