Healthcare News and Research

[Kobi]

Sperm cells have been created from a female human embryo in a remarkable breakthrough that suggests it may be possible for lesbian couples to have their own biological children.

British scientists who had already coaxed male bone marrow cells to develop into primitive sperm cells have now repeated the feat with female embryonic stem cells.

The University of Newcastle team that has achieved the feat is now applying for permission to turn the bone marrow of a woman into sperm which, if successful, would make the method more practical than with embryonic cells.

It raises the possibility of lesbian couples one day having children who share both their genes as sperm created from the bone marrow of one woman could be used to fertilise an egg from her partner.

Men and women differ because of what are called sex chromosomes. Both have an X chromosome. But only men possess a Y chromosome that carries several genes thought to be essential to make sperm, so there has been scepticism that female stem cells could ever be used to make sperm.

In April last year, Prof Karim Nayernia, Professor of Stem Cell Biology at Newcastle University, made headlines by taking stem cells from adult men and making them develop into primitive sperm.

He has now managed to repeat the feat of creating the primitive sperm cells with female embryonic stem cells in unpublished work.

The next step is to make these primitive sperm undergo meiosis, so they have the right amount of genetic material for fertilisation.

Prof Nayernia showed the potential of the method in 2006, when he used sperm derived from male embryonic stem cells to fertilise mice to produce seven pups, six of which lived to adulthood, though the survivors did suffer problems.

He is now optimistic about the prospect of lab-grown sperm from women.

“I think, in principle, it will be scientifically possible,” Prof Nayernia told New Scientist.

He said that he has applied for ethical approval from the university to use bone marrow stem cells from women to start experiments to derive female sperm.

“We are now writing the application form,” he said, adding that experiments will begin in Newcastle if and when they get approval.

However, Dr Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell and sex determination expert at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, doubts it will work: “The presence of two X chromosomes is incompatible with this. Moreover they need genes from the Y chromosome to go through meiosis. So they are at least double-damned.”

In Brazil, a team led by Dr Irina Kerkis of the Butantan Institute in Saõ Paulo claims to have made both sperm and eggs from cultures of male mouse embryonic stem cells in the journal Cloning and Stem Cells.

The researchers have not yet shown that their male eggs can be fertilised to produce viable offspring, but they are thinking about possibilities for same-sex human reproduction.

If all these experiments pan out, then the stage would also be set for a gay man to donate skin cells that could be used to make eggs, which could then be fertilised by his partner’s sperm and placed into the uterus of a surrogate mother.

“I think it is possible,” says Kerkis, “but I don’t know how people will look at this ethically.”

The UK parliament is now debating changes to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, and the government is under pressure to include an amendment that would allow the future use of eggs and sperm grown in the lab from stem cells.

However, a clause added to this amendment would restrict this to sperm from genetic males and eggs from genetic females.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...le-embryo.html

-------------------------------

This fascinates me for 2 reasons.

First, MissTick and I had a conversation a couple of years ago about how the war on the reproductive rights of women and women in general was the result of the development (unbeknownst to us) of synthetic sperm.

Secondly, the feminist community is struggling with surrogacy as detrimental to women as it reduces women to sperm receptacles and baby making machines ala A Handmaid's Tale.

Funny how stuff fits together sometimes.

[*Anya*]

Health editor, BBC News website

Going up several skirt sizes in midlife could be a warning sign of increased cancer risk, research suggests.

Women who went up a skirt size every decade after their mid-20s had a 33% greater risk of breast cancer after the menopause, say researchers at University College London.

Watching your skirt size from your mid-20s onwards could be a simple way to track weight gain, they told BMJ Open.

Obesity is a known risk factor for cancer, particularly midriff fat.

Women are more likely to remember their skirt size when they were younger than their BMI”

Simon Vincent

Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Prof Usha Menon of the Department of Women's Cancer, who led the study, told BBC News: "If skirt size could be confirmed by others as a good predictor of breast cancer risk in older women, this would be a very simple and easy way to monitor weight gain."

Lifestyle factors
The study tracked more than 90,000 women in their 50s and 60s living in England.

During the three-year follow-up period, 1,090 women developed breast cancer.

The researchers found that a unit increase in UK skirt size every 10 years (for example from 12 to 14) between 25 and post-menopausal age was linked to a 33% increased risk of breast cancer.

Going up two skirt sizes in the same period was associated with a 77% greater risk, they report.

Commenting on the research, Simon Vincent of Breakthrough Breast Cancer said: "We know that 40% of breast cancers could be prevented by changes to lifestyle such as being regularly active and maintaining a healthy weight.

"This study highlights an easy way to monitor your weight gain over time. Women are more likely to remember their skirt size when they were younger than their BMI."

Limitations
The researchers said the study had some limitations - it relied on women being able to accurately recall their skirt size in their 20s.

But if the findings are confirmed, it could give women a simple and easy-to-understand message about the risks of obesity.

Tom Stansfeld of Cancer Research UK said the study could be unreliable as dress sizes had changed over the years and it relied on a woman being able to remember her skirt size several decades earlier.

"Evidence tells us the most important things you can do to reduce breast cancer risk, especially after the menopause, is to keep a healthy weight, be physically active as often as you can, and cut down on alcohol," he said.

"Keeping a healthy weight is important to help reduce breast cancer risk after the menopause, and looking at skirt sizes to help women understand this is interesting, but knowing if you're overweight is more important."

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29351249

[*Anya*]

First womb-transplant baby born

Posted October 4, 2014

By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News

A woman in Sweden has given birth to a baby boy using a transplanted womb, in a medical first, doctors report.

The 36-year-old mother, who was born without a uterus, received a donated womb from a friend in her 60s.

The British medical journal The Lancet says the baby was born prematurely in September weighing 1.8kg (3.9lb). The father said his son was "amazing".

Cancer treatment and birth defects are the main reasons women can be left without a functioning womb.

If they want a child of their own, their only option is surrogacy.

Medical marvel

The identity of the couple in Sweden has not been released, but it is known the mother still had functioning ovaries.

He's no different from any other child, but he will have a good story to tell.”

The boy's father

The couple went through IVF to produce 11 embryos, which were frozen. Doctors at the University of Gothenburg then performed the womb transplant.

The donor was a 61-year-old family friend who had gone through menopause seven years earlier.

Drugs to suppress the immune system were needed to prevent the womb being rejected.

A year after the transplant, doctors decided they were ready to implant one of the frozen embryos and a pregnancy ensued.

The baby was born prematurely, almost 32 weeks into the pregnancy, after the mother developed pre-eclampsia and the baby's heart rate became abnormal.

Both baby and mum are now said to be doing well.

In an anonymous interview with the AP news agency, the father said: "It was a pretty tough journey over the years, but we now have the most amazing baby.

"He's no different from any other child, but he will have a good story to tell.

Two other medical teams have attempted womb transplants before.

In one case, the organ became diseased and had to be removed after three months. Another case resulted in miscarriages.

Prof Mats Brannstrom, who led the transplant team, described the birth in Sweden as a joyous moment.

"That was a fantastic happiness for me and the whole team, but it was an unreal sensation also because we really could not believe we had reached this moment.

"Our success is based on more than 10 years of intensive animal research and surgical training by our team and opens up the possibility of treating many young females worldwide that suffer from uterine infertility."

Liza Johannesson, a gynaecological surgeon in the team, said: "It gives hope to those women and men that thought they would never have a child, that thought they were out of hope."

However, there are still doubts about the safety and effectiveness of the invasive procedure.

Dr Brannstrom and his team are working with another eight couples with a similar need. The results of those pregnancy attempts will give a better picture of whether this technique can be used more widely.

Dr Allan Pacey, the chairman of the British Fertility Society, told the BBC News website: "I think it is brilliant and revolutionary and opens the door to many infertile women.

"The scale of it feels a bit like IVF. It feels like a step change. The question is can it be done repeatedly, reliably and safely."

The couple, fresh from celebrating the birth of their child, will soon have to decide if they want a second.

The drugs used to prevent the womb being rejected would be damaging in the long term - so the couple will either try again or have the womb removed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29485996

[SleepyButch]

Originally Posted by *Anya*

First womb-transplant baby born

Posted October 4, 2014

By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News

A woman in Sweden has given birth to a baby boy using a transplanted womb, in a medical first, doctors report.

The 36-year-old mother, who was born without a uterus, received a donated womb from a friend in her 60s.

The British medical journal The Lancet says the baby was born prematurely in September weighing 1.8kg (3.9lb). The father said his son was "amazing".

Cancer treatment and birth defects are the main reasons women can be left without a functioning womb.

If they want a child of their own, their only option is surrogacy.

Medical marvel

The identity of the couple in Sweden has not been released, but it is known the mother still had functioning ovaries.

He's no different from any other child, but he will have a good story to tell.”

The boy's father

The couple went through IVF to produce 11 embryos, which were frozen. Doctors at the University of Gothenburg then performed the womb transplant.

The donor was a 61-year-old family friend who had gone through menopause seven years earlier.

Drugs to suppress the immune system were needed to prevent the womb being rejected.

A year after the transplant, doctors decided they were ready to implant one of the frozen embryos and a pregnancy ensued.

The baby was born prematurely, almost 32 weeks into the pregnancy, after the mother developed pre-eclampsia and the baby's heart rate became abnormal.

Both baby and mum are now said to be doing well.

In an anonymous interview with the AP news agency, the father said: "It was a pretty tough journey over the years, but we now have the most amazing baby.

"He's no different from any other child, but he will have a good story to tell.

Two other medical teams have attempted womb transplants before.

In one case, the organ became diseased and had to be removed after three months. Another case resulted in miscarriages.

Prof Mats Brannstrom, who led the transplant team, described the birth in Sweden as a joyous moment.

"That was a fantastic happiness for me and the whole team, but it was an unreal sensation also because we really could not believe we had reached this moment.

"Our success is based on more than 10 years of intensive animal research and surgical training by our team and opens up the possibility of treating many young females worldwide that suffer from uterine infertility."

Liza Johannesson, a gynaecological surgeon in the team, said: "It gives hope to those women and men that thought they would never have a child, that thought they were out of hope."

However, there are still doubts about the safety and effectiveness of the invasive procedure.

Dr Brannstrom and his team are working with another eight couples with a similar need. The results of those pregnancy attempts will give a better picture of whether this technique can be used more widely.

Dr Allan Pacey, the chairman of the British Fertility Society, told the BBC News website: "I think it is brilliant and revolutionary and opens the door to many infertile women.

"The scale of it feels a bit like IVF. It feels like a step change. The question is can it be done repeatedly, reliably and safely."

The couple, fresh from celebrating the birth of their child, will soon have to decide if they want a second.

The drugs used to prevent the womb being rejected would be damaging in the long term - so the couple will either try again or have the womb removed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29485996

I saw this yesterday and was just amazed that they had even tried it. I guess we can transplant many different types of organs so why not the uterus. The donor definitely didn't need it.

What surprises me is that the donor had gone through menopause already and with that, the uterus changes. I wonder what they did to make it more viable to host the embryo. I also wonder if the suppression drugs will have any long term affect on the little one. I hope not and that he continues to grow as healthy as he is now.

Again, I am just amazed. Thanks for posting!

[*Anya*]

20 October 2014 Last updated at 21:21 ET

Scientists say they have identified the underlying reason why some people are prone to the winter blues, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

People with SAD have an unhelpful way of controlling the "happy" brain signalling compound serotonin during winter months, brain scans reveal.

As the nights draw in, production of a transporter protein ramps up in SAD, lowering available serotonin.

The work will be presented this week at a neuropsychopharmacology conference.

"We don't yet know enough about how serotonin levels can be affected by light levels so this is quite an interesting, albeit small, study. We would welcome more research”

The University of Copenhagen researchers who carried out the trial say their findings confirm what others have suspected - although they only studied 11 people with SAD and 23 healthy volunteers for comparison.

Using positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans, they were able to show significant summer-to-winter differences in the levels of the serotonin transporter (SERT) protein in SAD patients.

The SAD volunteers had higher levels of SERT in the winter months, corresponding to a greater removal of serotonin in winter, while the healthy volunteers did not.

Winter depression
Lead researcher, Dr Brenda Mc Mahon, said: "We believe that we have found the dial the brain turns when it has to adjust serotonin to the changing seasons.

"The serotonin transporter (SERT) carries serotonin back into the nerve cells where it is not active - so the higher the SERT activity, the lower the activity of serotonin.

"Sunlight keeps this setting naturally low, but when the nights grow longer during the autumn, the SERT levels increase, resulting in diminishing active serotonin levels.

"Many individuals are not really affected by SAD, and we have found that these people don't have this increase in SERT activity, so their active serotonin levels remain high throughout the winter."

Prof Siegfried Kasper, of the European College of Neuropsychophar­macology, which this year is holding its annual congress in Berlin, said: "SERT fluctuations associated with SAD have been seen in previous studies, but this is the first study to follow patients through summer and winter comparisons.

"It seems to offer confirmation that SERT is associated with SAD."

Sam Challis, information manager at mental health charity Mind, said: "We don't yet know enough about how serotonin levels can be affected by light levels so this is quite an interesting, albeit small, study. We would welcome more research."

She said there was a range of treatments available for SAD, such as light therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

"We know that eating a balanced diet, cutting down on caffeine and getting some exercise can help, as can spending as much time as possible outdoors because - even when it's overcast - light will be higher than indoors."

SAD affects about two million people in the UK, and more than 12 million people across northern Europe.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29691479

[Kobi]

(Reuters) - Boston Scientific Corp on Monday was set to face its first federal trials in two courts over claims from women who say they were injured by the company’s transvaginal mesh devices.

One, in Charleston, West Virginia, involves allegations from four women over the company's Obtryx device, used to treat stress urinary incontinence. The other, in Miami, concerns women implanted with the Pinnacle, which treats pelvic organ prolapse.

Boston Scientific has been hit with more than 23,000 suits in U.S. state and federal courts over the devices in the six years since concerns were first publicly raised over the devices. Federal cases against it and six other companies have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia.

Since then, transvaginal mesh has become one of the most sued-over medical devices in U.S. history. Goodwin has said he'll resort to creative tactics, like grouping similar plaintiffs for trial, to keep the cases from dragging on for decades, as litigation for other mass torts like asbestos and tobacco did.

It won't be easy. Together, the three biggest defendants - Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon Inc unit and C.R. Bard Inc - face more than 72,000 claims in federal and state courts, according to the companies' regulatory filings.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April said it was considering requiring the makers of products used to treat pelvic organ prolapse to submit additional safety data to remain on the market.

Plaintiffs say the devices were poorly designed, made from substandard material and can lead to injuries ranging from infection and pain to bleeding and nerve damage.

Ethicon and Boston Scientific have both denied liability and said in statements to Reuters that they believe mesh is an important treatment option. C.R. Bard declined to comment.

The nine cases that have gone to trial so far, against Boston Scientific, Ethicon and C.R. Bard, have produced mixed results, with defendants winning some and plaintiffs others. One company, Endo International’s American Medical Systems, announced recently that it would set aside $1.6 billion to settle “substantially all” mesh claims.

The three trials faced by Boston Scientific in state courts have also led to varying outcomes. Two cases in Massachusetts resulted in wins for the company, while a third in Texas ended with a $73 million verdict for the plaintiff, which was later reduced to $34 million under a state law capping damages.

The group trials starting Monday are part of Goodwin's plan to speed up the cases' progress. He has also ordered Boston Scientific and C.R. Bard to each prepare hundreds of cases for trial in courts across the United States starting as early as next year.

While Goodwin originally scheduled a series of single-plaintiff bellwether, or test, trials for the federal litigation, he scrapped those plans earlier this year and instead consolidated claims from multiple women into a single trial. Doing so, he said, would help save courts' time and resources, and “may facilitate settlement” by giving Boston Scientific and plaintiffs a clearer picture of the strengths and weaknesses of their cases.

While not unprecedented, it is unusual for personal-injury cases involving medical devices to proceed with more than one plaintiff at a time, given that individuals may have different medical histories and product experiences.

Boston Scientific fought vigorously against the consolidated trial plan, saying in court filings that each woman’s issues would be obscured by the group setting and prejudice jurors against the company.

A company spokeswoman, Kelly Leadem, declined to comment specifically on the litigation but said in a statement that Boston Scientific is committed to patient safety.

Several plaintiffs’ lawyers for the women headed to trial Monday did not return requests for comment.

Fidelma Fitzpatrick, an attorney at Motley Rice who has represented plaintiffs in other mesh trials against Boston Scientific and Ethicon, said the outcome from the group trials could help Boston Scientific and plaintiffs move closer to a resolution.

“I think that Goodwin has been working hard to try to find an end game for this litigation,” Fitzpatrick said. “The reality is, one case at a time when you’re trying four or five cases a year against a manufacturer isn’t enough to truly put pressure on the defendants."

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/boston-sci...--finance.html

[SleepyButch]

A third of Fortune 500 companies now cover transgender health care

A new report highlights dramatic changes in how corporations treat trans employees.

By Liz Goodwin


The number of Fortune 500 companies willing pay for sex reassignment surgeries and other transgender-related healthcare has gone from zero in 2002 to 169 this year, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign.


The report, which ranks corporations on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans employees, also found that more than half of corporations with more than 500 employees that participated in the survey now cover the procedures. That’s 418 firms.

Some of the biggest names in corporate America are among those who have signed up to cover the procedures, at up to $75,000 per employee. Facebook Inc., Visa, Starbucks Corp., CVS Health Corp. and Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. are just some of the firms that decided this year to begin covering the procedures for their workers for the first time.

“The jump in terms of employers adopting transgender benefits has been the most dramatic of any single aspect of the Corporate Equality Index in its entire history,” said Deena Fidas, the director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Workplace Equality Program, which has been producing the report for more than a decade.

Ratings in the Corporate Equality Index are derived from a look at five major areas, including: recruiting efforts, whether firms have explicit gender identity and sexual orientation anti-discrimination protections, and if they have extended health care and other benefits to same-sex partners.

While the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies now have nondiscrimination policies that explicitly protect employees from being fired for their gender identity or orientation, companies have moved much more slowly when it comes to covering transgender health care

“Across a lot of the businesses, very well-meaning people were quite anxious about these benefits,” Fidas said. “They wondered if there’d be murmurings among the workforce.”

It took many “uphill conversations” to convince some big employers that transition-related health care is not elective or cosmetic for transgender people, Fidas said.

Such health care can include: sex reassignment surgery, breast augmentation or mastectomy, hormone therapy, short-term leave and counseling.

The vast majority of health insurance plans explicitly ban the coverage of any transition-related care, grouping those procedures with elective cosmetic surgery.

This has slowly begun to change as mainstream medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, have announced new positions in recent years stating that sex reassignment surgery is not elective for some transgender people. (The American Medical Association said in 2008 that “gender dysphoria” is a “serious medical condition” that can result in “suicidality and death” without proper treatment.)

“Transition-related care is absolutely essential to trans people who are seeking to be themselves,” said Lisa Mottet, deputy executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “In many cases, this care is actually life-saving.”

Not every transgender person wants surgery, but having it as an option is crucial, she said.

Some state officials are also beginning to move in that direction. Eight states have banned insurance companies from explicitly excluding surgeries for transgender people, and a handful of states even offer coverage for the procedures through Medicaid.

The Human Rights Campaign says that businesses that have decided to provide the care have not had to increase insurance premiums. The cost has been “so small it’s not quantifiable,” Fidas said. That might be in part because so few people in the country are transgender. The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates the transgender population at one third of one percent.

“There’s not one number that will tell you how many people are transgender in corporate America,” Fidas said. “We’re on the brink of seeing more people being able to be visible in their jobs and to be able to be more open about the fact that they’re transgender.”

Nancy Kelly, the director of compensation and benefits at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said larger companies can no longer remain competitive if they are not offering transgender benefits. The bank decided this year to begin to cover transition-related health care services as of Jan 1. Kelly said she is not sure if any of the bank’s 1,200 employees are transgender or will want to access the new benefits when they become available. The Federal Reserve banks of Boston, Cleveland and Richmond also decided to offer the benefits this year.

“It was not a particular employee request, it was more about diversity and inclusion and being a competitive employer,” Kelly said.

A CVS spokeswoman said the company changed its health coverage to include sex reassignment surgery to "provide all colleagues with meaningful choices regarding their health care."


http://news.yahoo.com/a-third-of-for...142740785.html