UK MPs have questioned the restrictive lower age limit policies practised by increasing numbers of NHS healthcare providers, which prevent women accessing IVF until they are in their late thirties - when chances for the treatment's success dramatically decrease to an average of 15 per cent. Meanwhile, some...
Six US teenagers conceived from the same sperm donor have been put in contact with their biological father through the US Donor Sibling Registry website. Their father, Mr Jeffrey Harrison - or 'Donor 150' - 'nearly choked on his coffee' as he read an article in the New York...
All newborn babies in England will be offered screening for the rare metabolic disorder Medium Chain Acyl CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD). MCADD is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder that is caused by a lack of an enzyme that converts fat into energy, affecting blood sugar levels. The...
The Human Genetics Commission (HGC) has given its backing to the creation of animal-human hybrid and chimera embryos for research purposes. The Government advisory body made the announcement at their most recent plenary meeting, in response to the current debate about whether research that involves the mixing...
IVF is more likely to be successful if embryos are transferred with the use of ultrasound, rather than the traditional clinical touch method. A new review study has found that the ultrasound method gives women a 32 per cent chance of viable pregnancy as compared to 25...
Recent research published online in the journal Nature has mapped the most important genes involved in increasing people's risk of developing type 2 diabetes. These genes could account for up to 70 per cent of the genetic risk of developing the disorder. Type 2 diabetes affects...
Contrary to some earlier findings, a large Canadian study links an increase in birth defects with babies born through fertility treatments. According to the results of the study, which was presented at a Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine meeting in San Francisco, the overall risk appears minimal - less...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a genetic test that can give women with breast cancer an estimate of whether the disease is likely to return within five to ten years. The MammaPrint test - made by Dutch company Agendia - relies on an intricate computer...
By Dr Laura Bell New research recently published in the journal Science provides hope for the treatment of Rett syndrome, a rare but severe childhood neurological disorder. Nearly 10,000 children in the UK are affected by Rett syndrome which, in its early stages, has similar symptoms to autism. The condition...
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Comment
Good news for medical research from Norway
by Professor Jan Helge Solbakk
Norway's double morality stand on IVF and stem cell research may be on its way to being overturned by the present coalition government. For two decades, Norway has been profiting from IVF-related research on fertilised eggs performed elsewhere to build up its own IVF treatment practices. The research ban on...