A man who had his sperm frozen while suffering leukaemia as a teenager has fathered a child after doctors successfully thawed his sample a record 22 years later.
Chris Biblis was advised to have his sperm frozen before undergoing radiotherapy that would leave him sterile at age 16.
He survived the cancer and at age 38 has become the father of a healthy baby daughter, Stella.
She was conceived after scientists injected a defrosted sperm into an egg from Mr Biblis's wife, Melodie, and implanted it in her uterus.
The 22-year lapse between storage in April 1986 and conception in June 2008 is the longest on record, according to specialists at the US fertility clinic who carried out the procedure.
“From my life being saved to being able to create a life, words just can’t describe where we are now,” Mr Biblis, of Charlotte, North Carolina, told ABC news.
“I’ve got this bundle of joy to appreciate. It’s truly a miracle."
The case is being hailed as an illustration of how far infertility treatment has advanced in the past two decades. The previous record was 21 years.
"We believe this is a world record," said Bonnie Schwab of Vanguard Communications in Colorado, which represents the Charlotte doctors.
Even the thought of freezing sperm was unusual in the 1980s, said Dr. Richard Wing, the Biblises' doctor and founder of the Charlotte fertility clinic.
The couple have five frozen embryos and some of Chris Biblis' remaining frozen sperm in the bank if they want to have more children.
SOURCE: telegraph.co.uk
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Gene discovery may lead to male contraceptive
There is hope on the horizon for infertile men with news of the discovery of gene mutations linked to male infertility possibly leading to a male contraceptive - and new fertility treatments.
WebMD is reporting the mutations discovered make it hard for a gene to make a protein essential for normal sperm movement, possibly inhibiting male fertility.
The gene, called CATSPER1, may well prove a productive avenue for male infertility solutions – while blocking the gene could possibly be a way of creating a male contraceptive say the researchers.
However, don’t hold your breath for a male birth control pill any time soon say the researchers, who published their results in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
SOURCE: NBR.CO.NZ
WebMD is reporting the mutations discovered make it hard for a gene to make a protein essential for normal sperm movement, possibly inhibiting male fertility.
The gene, called CATSPER1, may well prove a productive avenue for male infertility solutions – while blocking the gene could possibly be a way of creating a male contraceptive say the researchers.
However, don’t hold your breath for a male birth control pill any time soon say the researchers, who published their results in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
SOURCE: NBR.CO.NZ
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Ron Duncan: Are endocrine disruptors reducing human sperm count, killing off the species?
"You have to read this," my brother said. "It shows how the human race is dying out." Dubious, I opened the book that he offered me and stared incredulously at a little-known statistic stating that "average male sperm counts dropped by almost fifty percent between 1938 and 1990." The book was entitled "Our Stolen Future" and was my first introduction to class of chemical compounds known as "endocrine disruptors" and the effect that they are having on our fertility and the fertility of many species across the globe.
The discovery that human sperm counts had been steadily dropping occurred in 1992, when the results of Danish researcher Dr. Niels Skakkebaek's meta-analysis on male fertility was published in the British Medical Journal. Analyzing the findings of every study on sperm count that had occurred since 1930, Dr. Skakkebaek uncovered this surprising trend when he realized the combined evidence of all these studies pointed to an average decline in male sperm count by 1 percent per year. In the aftermath of the publication of these results, countries across the globe tested the sperm counts of their male populations only to find, in many cases, confirmation of Dr. Skakkebaek's conclusions. In the most recent of such studies published last year, Italian researchers at the University of Pisa discovered that the number of active sperm in Italian men has dropped by more than 15 percent in the last 30 years.
Puzzled, scientists were at a loss to account for the trend, until further investigation indicated the decline in fertility rates to be geographically dependent, and thus tied to environmental factors.
Fortunately for Americans, several studies in the mid-1990s revealed sperm counts of American males in New York, L.A. and Minnesota to be increasing, while those of their European counterparts were moving in the opposite direction.
When alarming data on animal infertility emerged that coincided with the human trend, scientists began to look to endocrine disruptors as the likely culprit.
Endocrine disruptors are so-named because they disrupt our endocrine system, a system that produces and regulates our hormones, controlling our body's growth, metabolism, and sexual function and development. Endocrine disruptors act as synthetic hormones, throwing off our hormone levels by mimicking or blocking the natural hormones in our bodies. Although most research has focused on endocrine disruptors that imitate the female sex hormone estrogen, others are found to simulate testosterone, our metabolic hormones and more.
The adverse effects that endocrine disruptors can have on human fertility first came to light in the 1970s as a result of the scandal surrounding the pregnancy drug diethylstilbestrol, or DES. In 1938, when scientists discovered that the body mistook DES for the hormone estrogen, it was hailed as the new wonder drug. Believing the more estrogen the better, doctors throughout the country in the 1940s, '50s and '60s began prescribing DES to their pregnant patients to prevent miscarriages and other pregnancy complications.
Ironically, DES had the opposite effect, as women who had taken DES during pregnancy were more likely to miscarry, have premature children or have babies who died during infancy. However, it was not until the late 1960s and the early 1970s, when a rash of young women began dying of a hitherto rare form of clear-cell vaginal cancer, that the true danger of DES was exposed. It turns out that these young women, most in their late teens and early twenties, all had one thing in common: their mothers had taken DES during pregnancy at a critical time for their development. Other female "DES babies" were found to have fertility problems, including misshaped sexual organs. In males exposed to DES in the womb, the consequences, though not as clear-cut, have been revealed by some studies to include higher rates of underdeveloped testes, stunted penises, undescended testicles, and abnormal sperm.
While doctors no longer prescribe DES, the disturbing truth is that all of us, including, of course, pregnant women, continue to be exposed to endocrine disruptors in our environment, and to ingest them in our food and water. Plasticizers such as bisphenol-A or BPA, found in plastics labeled with the number 7; pesticides, including DDT; and chemicals such as PCBs, formerly used in coolants, lubricants, paints and sealants, are among the endocrine disruptors present in our environment that mimic estrogen in the human body.
These compounds are so pervasive that they have been found in varying levels throughout the world, with high concentrations discovered in seals, polar bears and other marine life currently experiencing fertility problems in areas as remote as Svalbard in the Arctic Circle.
In other words, not only are these substances pervasive, spreading easily across the globe, but they are long-lasting, the evidence being that DDT and PCBs were outlawed decades ago, but still persist in our environment, threatening our own health and the health of other species. Moreover, the number and variety of endocrine disruptors in our environment is unknown since the FDA and other government regulatory agencies to do not test the more than 2,000 chemicals that come on to the market each year to determine if they are endocrine disruptors before releasing them upon the unsuspecting public.
Those at greatest risk to the potential ill effects of endocrine disruptors are fetuses and newborn babies because of the important role that hormones play in development. A prime example is the function of hormones in sexual development. All babies, regardless of whether they have XX chromosomes girls or XY chromosomes boys do not begin to develop their gender until around the seventh week of life for males or the third or fourth month females. Until the time of that important transformation, every fetus is equipped with a pair of unisex gonads that have the potential to transform into either the male or female sexual organs. For boy babies, at the seventh week, the Y chromosome signals the development of the unisex gonads into testes and the rest of the process of gender development is directed by the male hormones produced by those organs. For females, the third or fourth month is when the male-potential Wolffian ducts whither and disappear and, as time goes on, estrogen helps guide the proper development of the ovaries. Things can go wrong if hormone levels are off. For example, male babies that don't receive a strong dose of testosterone at the right time will become hermaphrodites or their testicles will not descend.
Because proper sexual development, particularly in males, is reliant on receiving the correct levels of hormones at a precise moment, many scientists are concerned about the impact of fetal exposure to hormone mimicking elevated hormone levels or blocking lowered hormone levels endocrine disruptors. It has been found that even small doses of synthetic hormones can have serious and lasting consequences. As a result, it is recommended that pregnant women in particular limit their exposure to these harmful substances as much as possible.
Here are some tips for avoiding endocrine disruptors:
* Eat organic food and consume most of your protein from vegetable sources. Because endocrine disruptors "bioaccumulate" in animals, eating animal fat including fish can expose you to higher doses of these chemicals.
* Avoid foods that have been exposed to plastics and don't cook your food in plastic containers, which can leach plasticizers into foods when heated.
*Avoid drinking from plastic water bottles, especially those labeled with the number 7 use stainless steel instead, and limit consumption of canned foods. There is a plastic coating inside can products that reduces metallic taste, but has been shown to leach plasticizers into food.
* Never feed your baby using a plastic bottle, many are plastic No. 7, which contains BPA; always opt for glass bottles.
* Install a filter on your taps and showerhead to strain out pesticides and other chemical compounds from your water.
* Avoid dioxin also an endocrine disruptor by limiting exposure to smoke, animal fats and chlorinated products.
* Limit exposure to chemicals in general.
So, is the human race dying out? The good news is, not yet. Look around; we have 6.7 billion people in the world! Even with the reduced male sperm count, men still have a sufficient amount, on average, of fully functional sperm for fertility. An adequate sperm density is considered to be around 20 million per milliliter, and even those Italians in the study cited above had a density of 60 million per milliliter.
However, the statistics surrounding fertility and the effects of endocrine disruptors should serve as a warning signal. If we don't take serious action to combat the problem, my brother may end up being proved right.
SOURCE: mercurynews.com
The discovery that human sperm counts had been steadily dropping occurred in 1992, when the results of Danish researcher Dr. Niels Skakkebaek's meta-analysis on male fertility was published in the British Medical Journal. Analyzing the findings of every study on sperm count that had occurred since 1930, Dr. Skakkebaek uncovered this surprising trend when he realized the combined evidence of all these studies pointed to an average decline in male sperm count by 1 percent per year. In the aftermath of the publication of these results, countries across the globe tested the sperm counts of their male populations only to find, in many cases, confirmation of Dr. Skakkebaek's conclusions. In the most recent of such studies published last year, Italian researchers at the University of Pisa discovered that the number of active sperm in Italian men has dropped by more than 15 percent in the last 30 years.
Puzzled, scientists were at a loss to account for the trend, until further investigation indicated the decline in fertility rates to be geographically dependent, and thus tied to environmental factors.
Fortunately for Americans, several studies in the mid-1990s revealed sperm counts of American males in New York, L.A. and Minnesota to be increasing, while those of their European counterparts were moving in the opposite direction.
When alarming data on animal infertility emerged that coincided with the human trend, scientists began to look to endocrine disruptors as the likely culprit.
Endocrine disruptors are so-named because they disrupt our endocrine system, a system that produces and regulates our hormones, controlling our body's growth, metabolism, and sexual function and development. Endocrine disruptors act as synthetic hormones, throwing off our hormone levels by mimicking or blocking the natural hormones in our bodies. Although most research has focused on endocrine disruptors that imitate the female sex hormone estrogen, others are found to simulate testosterone, our metabolic hormones and more.
The adverse effects that endocrine disruptors can have on human fertility first came to light in the 1970s as a result of the scandal surrounding the pregnancy drug diethylstilbestrol, or DES. In 1938, when scientists discovered that the body mistook DES for the hormone estrogen, it was hailed as the new wonder drug. Believing the more estrogen the better, doctors throughout the country in the 1940s, '50s and '60s began prescribing DES to their pregnant patients to prevent miscarriages and other pregnancy complications.
Ironically, DES had the opposite effect, as women who had taken DES during pregnancy were more likely to miscarry, have premature children or have babies who died during infancy. However, it was not until the late 1960s and the early 1970s, when a rash of young women began dying of a hitherto rare form of clear-cell vaginal cancer, that the true danger of DES was exposed. It turns out that these young women, most in their late teens and early twenties, all had one thing in common: their mothers had taken DES during pregnancy at a critical time for their development. Other female "DES babies" were found to have fertility problems, including misshaped sexual organs. In males exposed to DES in the womb, the consequences, though not as clear-cut, have been revealed by some studies to include higher rates of underdeveloped testes, stunted penises, undescended testicles, and abnormal sperm.
While doctors no longer prescribe DES, the disturbing truth is that all of us, including, of course, pregnant women, continue to be exposed to endocrine disruptors in our environment, and to ingest them in our food and water. Plasticizers such as bisphenol-A or BPA, found in plastics labeled with the number 7; pesticides, including DDT; and chemicals such as PCBs, formerly used in coolants, lubricants, paints and sealants, are among the endocrine disruptors present in our environment that mimic estrogen in the human body.
These compounds are so pervasive that they have been found in varying levels throughout the world, with high concentrations discovered in seals, polar bears and other marine life currently experiencing fertility problems in areas as remote as Svalbard in the Arctic Circle.
In other words, not only are these substances pervasive, spreading easily across the globe, but they are long-lasting, the evidence being that DDT and PCBs were outlawed decades ago, but still persist in our environment, threatening our own health and the health of other species. Moreover, the number and variety of endocrine disruptors in our environment is unknown since the FDA and other government regulatory agencies to do not test the more than 2,000 chemicals that come on to the market each year to determine if they are endocrine disruptors before releasing them upon the unsuspecting public.
Those at greatest risk to the potential ill effects of endocrine disruptors are fetuses and newborn babies because of the important role that hormones play in development. A prime example is the function of hormones in sexual development. All babies, regardless of whether they have XX chromosomes girls or XY chromosomes boys do not begin to develop their gender until around the seventh week of life for males or the third or fourth month females. Until the time of that important transformation, every fetus is equipped with a pair of unisex gonads that have the potential to transform into either the male or female sexual organs. For boy babies, at the seventh week, the Y chromosome signals the development of the unisex gonads into testes and the rest of the process of gender development is directed by the male hormones produced by those organs. For females, the third or fourth month is when the male-potential Wolffian ducts whither and disappear and, as time goes on, estrogen helps guide the proper development of the ovaries. Things can go wrong if hormone levels are off. For example, male babies that don't receive a strong dose of testosterone at the right time will become hermaphrodites or their testicles will not descend.
Because proper sexual development, particularly in males, is reliant on receiving the correct levels of hormones at a precise moment, many scientists are concerned about the impact of fetal exposure to hormone mimicking elevated hormone levels or blocking lowered hormone levels endocrine disruptors. It has been found that even small doses of synthetic hormones can have serious and lasting consequences. As a result, it is recommended that pregnant women in particular limit their exposure to these harmful substances as much as possible.
Here are some tips for avoiding endocrine disruptors:
* Eat organic food and consume most of your protein from vegetable sources. Because endocrine disruptors "bioaccumulate" in animals, eating animal fat including fish can expose you to higher doses of these chemicals.
* Avoid foods that have been exposed to plastics and don't cook your food in plastic containers, which can leach plasticizers into foods when heated.
*Avoid drinking from plastic water bottles, especially those labeled with the number 7 use stainless steel instead, and limit consumption of canned foods. There is a plastic coating inside can products that reduces metallic taste, but has been shown to leach plasticizers into food.
* Never feed your baby using a plastic bottle, many are plastic No. 7, which contains BPA; always opt for glass bottles.
* Install a filter on your taps and showerhead to strain out pesticides and other chemical compounds from your water.
* Avoid dioxin also an endocrine disruptor by limiting exposure to smoke, animal fats and chlorinated products.
* Limit exposure to chemicals in general.
So, is the human race dying out? The good news is, not yet. Look around; we have 6.7 billion people in the world! Even with the reduced male sperm count, men still have a sufficient amount, on average, of fully functional sperm for fertility. An adequate sperm density is considered to be around 20 million per milliliter, and even those Italians in the study cited above had a density of 60 million per milliliter.
However, the statistics surrounding fertility and the effects of endocrine disruptors should serve as a warning signal. If we don't take serious action to combat the problem, my brother may end up being proved right.
SOURCE: mercurynews.com
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Men Must Contend With a Biological Clock, Too
Older males face higher risk of fathering children with medical problems, research finds
It wasn't all that long ago that any suggestion that a man had a "biological clock" like a woman, and should father children sooner rather than later, would have been given short scientific shrift.
USN.load('Loomia');
Not anymore. Today, a growing body of evidence suggests that as men get older, fertility can and does decline, while the chances of fathering a child with serious birth defects and medical problems increase.
Some studies have linked higher rates of serious health problems such as autism and schizophrenia in children born to men as young as their mid-40s.
And doctors and researchers are busy trying to figure out how men who choose to delay fatherhood -- either by choice or necessity, such as a lack of a partner -- can offset the effects of their biological clocks as those clocks wind down.
Interestingly, problems with reduced fertility can start long before middle age, said Dr. Harry Fisch, one of the pioneers in the field in male fertility and director of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons' Male Reproductive Center, in New York City.
"We know after age 30, testosterone levels decline about 1 percent per year," said Fisch, author of the book The Male Biological Clock.
Research done at the University of Washington has found that "as men age, DNA damage occurs to their sperm," said Dr. Narendra P. Singh, a research associate professor in the department of bioengineering, who co-authored a study on the subject.
Several other studies point to problems in the offspring of older fathers, as well as older men experiencing fertility problems.
For instance, Fisch and his colleagues found that if a woman and a man were both older than age 35 at the time of conception, the father's age played a significant role in the prevalence of Down syndrome. And this effect was most detectable if the woman was 40 or older -- the incidence of Down syndrome was about 50 percent attributable to the sperm.
Other researchers have found that children born to fathers 45 or older are more likely to have poor social skills, and that children born to men 55 and older are more likely to have bipolar disorder than those born to men 20 to 24 years of age at the time of conception.
On other fronts, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City found that children of men aged 40 or older were about six times more likely to have autism. Still another study found that the children of fathers who were 50 or older when they were born were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Fisch is now focusing much of his attention on encouraging men to assess if their biological clock is ticking faster than it should. For instance, men who are overweight or obese tend to have more fertility problems than healthier men.
"It turns out that if you are too heavy, you have a lower sperm count," he said, adding that excess body fat causes testosterone levels to decline. The good news: Losing weight helps them return to normal.
Singh advises older men who want to become fathers to pay attention to lifestyle issues and practice healthy habits that will, in turn, keep their sperm healthy. That particularly means no smoking and no overuse of alcohol, he said.
Both Fisch and Singh said they don't think there's a "cutoff" point for fatherhood. And they said it's difficult to pinpoint the "ideal" age to father a child, especially since many couples today are marrying later and delaying starting a family.
But Fisch did say, "The sooner, the better."
SOURCE: healthusnews.com
It wasn't all that long ago that any suggestion that a man had a "biological clock" like a woman, and should father children sooner rather than later, would have been given short scientific shrift.
USN.load('Loomia');
Not anymore. Today, a growing body of evidence suggests that as men get older, fertility can and does decline, while the chances of fathering a child with serious birth defects and medical problems increase.
Some studies have linked higher rates of serious health problems such as autism and schizophrenia in children born to men as young as their mid-40s.
And doctors and researchers are busy trying to figure out how men who choose to delay fatherhood -- either by choice or necessity, such as a lack of a partner -- can offset the effects of their biological clocks as those clocks wind down.
Interestingly, problems with reduced fertility can start long before middle age, said Dr. Harry Fisch, one of the pioneers in the field in male fertility and director of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons' Male Reproductive Center, in New York City.
"We know after age 30, testosterone levels decline about 1 percent per year," said Fisch, author of the book The Male Biological Clock.
Research done at the University of Washington has found that "as men age, DNA damage occurs to their sperm," said Dr. Narendra P. Singh, a research associate professor in the department of bioengineering, who co-authored a study on the subject.
Several other studies point to problems in the offspring of older fathers, as well as older men experiencing fertility problems.
For instance, Fisch and his colleagues found that if a woman and a man were both older than age 35 at the time of conception, the father's age played a significant role in the prevalence of Down syndrome. And this effect was most detectable if the woman was 40 or older -- the incidence of Down syndrome was about 50 percent attributable to the sperm.
Other researchers have found that children born to fathers 45 or older are more likely to have poor social skills, and that children born to men 55 and older are more likely to have bipolar disorder than those born to men 20 to 24 years of age at the time of conception.
On other fronts, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City found that children of men aged 40 or older were about six times more likely to have autism. Still another study found that the children of fathers who were 50 or older when they were born were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Fisch is now focusing much of his attention on encouraging men to assess if their biological clock is ticking faster than it should. For instance, men who are overweight or obese tend to have more fertility problems than healthier men.
"It turns out that if you are too heavy, you have a lower sperm count," he said, adding that excess body fat causes testosterone levels to decline. The good news: Losing weight helps them return to normal.
Singh advises older men who want to become fathers to pay attention to lifestyle issues and practice healthy habits that will, in turn, keep their sperm healthy. That particularly means no smoking and no overuse of alcohol, he said.
Both Fisch and Singh said they don't think there's a "cutoff" point for fatherhood. And they said it's difficult to pinpoint the "ideal" age to father a child, especially since many couples today are marrying later and delaying starting a family.
But Fisch did say, "The sooner, the better."
SOURCE: healthusnews.com
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Drinking pomegranate juice may improve male fertility
A new study has shown that drinking pomegranate juice regularly may improve sperm health.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at Turkey’s Firat University and published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, examined 28 male Wistar rats to see if the so-called ‘superfood’ would help their fertility reports health website NaturalNews.
The rats were divided into four groups and given either 1ml of water, 0.75ml of water mixed with 0.25ml of pomegranate juice, 0.5ml of each or 1ml of pomegranate juice once a day over a seven-week period, after which the researchers tested the rats’ sperm.
Results were positive: compared to those drinking water only, the rats drinking the concentrated pomegranate juice showed a 48.5% reduction in their blood levels of a reactive chemical called malondialdehyde (MDA) that can damage sperm production.
Even more encouragingly, they also showed a 63.5% decrease in the levels of MDA in their sperm.
Researchers found the rats that drank the concentrated pomegranate juice had “increased spermatogenic cell density, epididymal sperm concentration, sperm motility and decreased abnormal sperm rate”.However, they noted it was only the concentrated juice, and not the diluted versions, that made a positive difference.
This isn’t the first study to show the potential health benefits pomegranate juice offers for men.
In 2007, a study published in the International Journal of Impotence Research reported some success in using pomegranate juice as a way of managing erectile dysfunction.
A three-year UCLA study also found a daily dose of pomegranate juice helps stabilise prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in prostate cancer sufferers.
SOURCE: nbr.co.nz
The study, which was conducted by researchers at Turkey’s Firat University and published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, examined 28 male Wistar rats to see if the so-called ‘superfood’ would help their fertility reports health website NaturalNews.
The rats were divided into four groups and given either 1ml of water, 0.75ml of water mixed with 0.25ml of pomegranate juice, 0.5ml of each or 1ml of pomegranate juice once a day over a seven-week period, after which the researchers tested the rats’ sperm.
Results were positive: compared to those drinking water only, the rats drinking the concentrated pomegranate juice showed a 48.5% reduction in their blood levels of a reactive chemical called malondialdehyde (MDA) that can damage sperm production.
Even more encouragingly, they also showed a 63.5% decrease in the levels of MDA in their sperm.
Researchers found the rats that drank the concentrated pomegranate juice had “increased spermatogenic cell density, epididymal sperm concentration, sperm motility and decreased abnormal sperm rate”.However, they noted it was only the concentrated juice, and not the diluted versions, that made a positive difference.
This isn’t the first study to show the potential health benefits pomegranate juice offers for men.
In 2007, a study published in the International Journal of Impotence Research reported some success in using pomegranate juice as a way of managing erectile dysfunction.
A three-year UCLA study also found a daily dose of pomegranate juice helps stabilise prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in prostate cancer sufferers.
SOURCE: nbr.co.nz
Monday, January 19, 2009
New evidence that river pollution could be causing male fertility problems
Testosterone-blocking chemicals have been found in UK rivers for the first time in new research that strengthens the link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems.
Anti-androgens, that are found in a number of medicines including cancer treatments and pesticides used in agriculture, were found in 30 rivers across England.
The group of chemicals can block the male hormone and therefore reduce male fertility.
Scientists found male fish are already being affected and warned that it could also be contributing to a reduction in human sperm counts, that have been falling in the last fifty years.
In the past the contraceptive pill has been blamed for "feminising" male fish but levels would have to be extremely high to affect humans.
However anti-androgens have been proven to affect humans in small measures and provide a much stronger link between river pollution and male fertility.
The three year study by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology looked at more than 1,000 fish in rivers across the UK.
Previous studies have already shown that the female sex hormone oestrogen is causing the feminisation of fish and in some cases can lead to male fish changing sex.
The chemical, found in the contraceptive pill and some industrial chemicals, enters rivers via sewage works.
The new study shows that anti-androgens are also causing male fertility problems in a "double whammy" for the fish.
Senior author Professor Charles Tyler of the University of Exeter said the study showed that a much wider range of chemicals than previously thought could be affecting male wildlife and human health.
"Our research shows that a much wider range of chemicals than we previously thought is leading to hormone disruption in fish.
This means that the pollutants causing these problems are likely to be coming from a wide variety of sources.
Our findings also strengthen the argument for the cocktail of chemicals in our water leading to hormone disruption in fish, and contributing to the rise in male reproductive problems.
There are likely to be many reasons behind the rise in male fertility problems in humans, but these findings could reveal one, previously unknown, factor."
Prof Tyler said there was a lack of evidence to prove a small amount of oestrogen found in river water could affect human fertility, however studies on rats and mice have shown a small amount of anti-androgens can affect male fertility in mammals.
"There is good evidence for more problems in male reproductivty in human males in the last fifty or sixty years," he said. "The anti-androgens are possibly a contributing factor."
The study will now concentrate on where the anti-androgens are coming from and the affect on human health.
Lead author on the research paper Dr Susan Jobling at Brunel University's Institute for the Environment, said the group would be working with regulators like the Environment Agency to consider whether levels of the pollutant need to be controlled in order to protect health.
She said: "We have identified a new group of chemicals in our study on fish, but do not know where they are coming from. A principal aim of our work is now to identify the source of these pollutants and work with regulators and relevant industry to test the effects of a mixture of these chemicals and the already known environmental estrogens and help protect environmental health."
SOURCE: telegraph.co.uk
Anti-androgens, that are found in a number of medicines including cancer treatments and pesticides used in agriculture, were found in 30 rivers across England.
The group of chemicals can block the male hormone and therefore reduce male fertility.
Scientists found male fish are already being affected and warned that it could also be contributing to a reduction in human sperm counts, that have been falling in the last fifty years.
In the past the contraceptive pill has been blamed for "feminising" male fish but levels would have to be extremely high to affect humans.
However anti-androgens have been proven to affect humans in small measures and provide a much stronger link between river pollution and male fertility.
The three year study by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology looked at more than 1,000 fish in rivers across the UK.
Previous studies have already shown that the female sex hormone oestrogen is causing the feminisation of fish and in some cases can lead to male fish changing sex.
The chemical, found in the contraceptive pill and some industrial chemicals, enters rivers via sewage works.
The new study shows that anti-androgens are also causing male fertility problems in a "double whammy" for the fish.
Senior author Professor Charles Tyler of the University of Exeter said the study showed that a much wider range of chemicals than previously thought could be affecting male wildlife and human health.
"Our research shows that a much wider range of chemicals than we previously thought is leading to hormone disruption in fish.
This means that the pollutants causing these problems are likely to be coming from a wide variety of sources.
Our findings also strengthen the argument for the cocktail of chemicals in our water leading to hormone disruption in fish, and contributing to the rise in male reproductive problems.
There are likely to be many reasons behind the rise in male fertility problems in humans, but these findings could reveal one, previously unknown, factor."
Prof Tyler said there was a lack of evidence to prove a small amount of oestrogen found in river water could affect human fertility, however studies on rats and mice have shown a small amount of anti-androgens can affect male fertility in mammals.
"There is good evidence for more problems in male reproductivty in human males in the last fifty or sixty years," he said. "The anti-androgens are possibly a contributing factor."
The study will now concentrate on where the anti-androgens are coming from and the affect on human health.
Lead author on the research paper Dr Susan Jobling at Brunel University's Institute for the Environment, said the group would be working with regulators like the Environment Agency to consider whether levels of the pollutant need to be controlled in order to protect health.
She said: "We have identified a new group of chemicals in our study on fish, but do not know where they are coming from. A principal aim of our work is now to identify the source of these pollutants and work with regulators and relevant industry to test the effects of a mixture of these chemicals and the already known environmental estrogens and help protect environmental health."
SOURCE: telegraph.co.uk
Friday, January 9, 2009
Vietnam has made significant progress in infertility treatment
Right: Luu Ngoc Mai, the first ever baby in Vietnam born from fertilsation with cultured spermatids at the Hanoi-based Military Hospital's Embryo Technology Center and Doctor Quan Huang Lam, head of the center.
Recent achievements in infertility treatment in
Vietnam have not only given fresh hope to childless couples, but also earned the country international recognition, according to local experts.
In the last week of December, the Hanoi-based Military Hospital’s Embryo Technology Center announced its success in culturing spermatids, saying that a baby had been born and six were expected to be born this year using the method.
Although the success rate now stands at 10 percent, it is notable that Vietnam is the first country in Asia to succeed in developing the technique, Vietnam News recently quoted Quan Hoang Lam - head of the center as saying.
Initiated by Doctor Tesarik J. from Turkey in 2001, the new technique helps men who cannot produce sperms.
Men can have their spermatids – the cells that become spermatozoon (sperms) – grown into sperms in culture medium within 24 hours and then injected into their wives’ ovum for fertilization.
Leading IVM nation
“Vietnam is one of the five countries, including Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Italy, which are leading in developing in vitro maturation (IVM),” Ho Chi Minh City Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Association (HOSREM) General Secretary Dr. Ho Manh Tuong told Lao Dong in a recent interview.
Since the first IVM baby was born in 2007, it is estimated that Vietnam has introduced 4 to 5 percent of some 500 IVM babies that are delivered internationally, he says.
“The number of IVM babies in Vietnam has increased sharply thanks to the rather high success rate,” Tuong adds.
According to HORSEM statistics, around 50 pregnancies so far have been achieved using IVM, including more than 10 cases of twins.
Following the success of the Vietnamese program, local scientists and experts have been invited to report their IVM application at international conferences, including the first European IVM meeting held in Monza, Italy, last month, Tuong says.
The association has also been invited to take part in a multi-center study on IVM babies in the world headed by Professor R. Cheng Chian and Professor Seang Lintan of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, he says.
During IVM, immature eggs, or oocytes, are retrieved from the ovary, then matured in the laboratory before being fertilized and implanted in the womb.
The method almost halves the cost of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and has a shorter time of 10 days instead of four weeks.
Moreover, it does not imply a potentially fatal side-effect of injections given to stimulate egg production prior to retrieval, like the IVF. The side-effect, which is very rare, is known as the Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome.
While new achievements are being recorded and newer techniques applied, Vietnam already has a solid base in IVF development, experts say.
The country marked its first achievement in infertility treatment when three babies were born in 1998 using the IVF technology.
Over the past 10 years, 10 IVF centers have been established nationwide and these have introduced nearly 5,000 IVF babies in Vietnam, Tuong told the Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper recently.
Since 2004, Vietnam has also conducted IVF courses for foreign students from countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.
Source: Lao Dong, SGGP
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