Increasing dietary intake of folic acid could result in more women giving birth to twins after IVF treatment, UK researchers report. The research team, based at Aberdeen University, studied the likely impact of fortifying white flour with the vitamin. It is hoped that this proposed measure...
French researchers have published a study showing new evidence that male fertility declines as they get older. The study's authors, who published their findings in the journal Fertility and Sterility, warn that men's lack of awareness of this fact - and of their own biology - may play...
By Dr Kirsty Horsey: According to new figures, more than 20 IVF babies are born to women aged over 50 each year in the UK. In 2002, 96 women older than 50 were treated at fertility clinics across the country, according to the latest figures released by the Human Fertilisation...
A investigation undertaken by the Scotland on Sunday newspaper has found that some fertility clinics in the country are treating lesbians and single women on the National Health Service. The investigation shows that three Scottish health boards pay for donor insemination and sometimes IVF for lesbian...
A 62-year old woman who will become the UK's oldest woman to give birth to a child has defended her decision to have IVF to enable her to have a baby. Dr Patricia Rashbrook, who already has three children aged 17, 22 and 26, is seven months pregnant and...
Another UK couple has received permission to try and conceive a 'saviour sibling' to provide cord blood stem cells to help treat their seriously ill child. Charlie and Catherine Mariethoz, from Leicester, have been granted a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to...
Mice bred to lack a crucial brain gene show many of the characteristics of autism, say US scientists based at the University of Texas. The team created a 'knockout' mouse that is missing a gene called Pten, specifically in areas of the brain associated with learning...
US researchers have pinpointed a genetic variation associated with abnormal heartbeats, a finding that could help identify people at risk of sudden heart failure. The team, based at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), has shown that different versions of a gene called NOS1AP are linked to unusually long or short 'QT...
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Comment
What price a baby at any age?
by Dr Ian Craft
Let me make my position clear from the start. I consider fertility specialists have an absolute obligation to provide a clinical service to deal with all types of fertility problem so that certain groups are not discriminated against, provided that methods used are legal and fall within a sensible framework...
Finding a path between faith and human need
by Sheila McLean
In common with most faith groups, the Church of Scotland's position on the human embryo has historically proceeded from the perspective that the embryo is an actual person at all stages of its development, from conception onwards, and must be treated accordingly. This is probably to be expected. However, over...