US scientists have shown for the first time how a virus, a toxin and a genetic mutation interact to cause Crohn's disease. The study, in mice, may help explain why many people with disease risk genes don't develop the condition...
Stories about a genetic test to see if you would live to 100 abounded in the UK press last week. Was this hype or something more? The stories arose following the publication of a paper in Science where researchers claimed to have identified regions of the genome linked to exceptional longevity...
Expensive UK fertility treatment and long waiting times related to a shortage of egg and sperm donors are the major reasons people seek fertility treatment abroad, according to the first academic study into cross-border reproductive care....
When ovaries from young mice were transplanted into aging females, the old mice lived longer and changed their reproductive behaviour, scientists from Japan have found. The findings raise the question of whether a similar effect may be seen in women receiving ovarian transplants...
Babies born after in vitro maturation of ooctyes (IVM), an assisted reproductive technology (ART), seem to be larger and to have more complicated births. Researchers led by Dr Peter Sjöblom from Nottingham University's NURTURE IVF clinic found the average birth weight of 165 IVM babies was six to nine per cent higher than babies conceived by IVF/ICSI. The IVM babies' birth weights were also 0.3 to six per cent higher than the national average for singleton births...
Two papers published in the Lancet have suggested that the number of people in the UK suffering with Huntington’s disease (HD) may be double original figures and that patients are failing to be diagnosed due to the stigma attached to the illness...
Scientists have discovered a genetic mutation that may make some women less likely to respond to the ovarian stimulating hormones used in fertility treatment. Dr Maria Lalioti and her colleagues from Yale University Medical School, US, reported their findings at the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome last week...
Testicular tissue from pre-pubescent boys has been successfully converted to sperm precursor cells. Belgian researchers isolated and froze immature testicular tissue from two pre-pubescent boys. The preserved tissue was thawed out and used to generate spermatogonial cells - an intermediate step towards producing sperm. These findings could potentially help pre-pubescent boys left infertile as a result of cancer treatment...
Scientists have identified 12 new gene variants associated with type 2 diabetes, according to recent work published in Nature Genetics...
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is considering lifting its age limit for free IVF on the National Health Service (NHS), as part of a full review of its guidelines. Instead, women would be offered free IVF on the NHS if they had enough viable eggs...
Reading both of these books from the standpoint of a patient, I now feel fully equipped to take on any challenge infertility may throw my way. That said, I'm not sure I would have felt quite so ready had I only read one of them....
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Comment
Is genetic discrimination fear of disability?
by Catherine Casserley
People with a genetic predisposition to health problems may experience prejudice from employers, prospective employers or insurers due to a perception that they will develop a condition that could seriously affect their work and life. But can present UK legislation protect them against this potentially discriminatory treatment given that it is based on perceived - not actual - disability?
BioNews welcomes a new genetics editor
by Sarah Norcross
This week we are welcoming Chris Chatterton as BioNews' new genetics editor. Chris has a degree in Biological Sciences from King's College, London, and an MA in Genetics, Culture and Society from Lancaster University. Chris is currently completing his PhD which is entitled 'Metabolic Syndrome: The construction of a group of risk factors into a new disease?'...
The future of NHS funding for infertility services
When the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was asked to produce a clinical guideline on infertility back in 2000, it was with the aim of creating fairer and faster access to services for patients. At that time, the vast majority of couples seeking treatment for infertility had to pay for it privately...