SpainFertility

Examining the impact of the age at which donor offspring are told of their origin on their attitudes towards their conception. 
 Children born as a result of donor insemination should be told about their origins at an early age in order to reduce feelings of shock and anger, recommend UK investigators.

Vasanti Javda, from the University of Cambridge, and colleagues studied 165 individuals conceived using donor sperm from the US-based Donor Sibling Registry. The participants completed an online questionnaire with multiple choice and open-ended questions.

Children born to mother-only and same-sex parent families were more likely to be told of their origins before 3 years of age than children born to heterosexual parents, at 63 percent, 56 percent, and 9 percent, respectively, the researchers report.

Meanwhile, 0 percent, 0 percent, and 33 percent of individuals with mother-only, same-sex, and heterosexual parents, respectively, were told of their conception after 18 years of age.

When told of their origin at age 4-11 years, 37 percent reported confusion, compared with 52 percent told when aged 12-18 years, and 69 percent told when over 18 years. Feelings of shock were similarly less common among children told of their origin at 4-11 years, compared with those who were told at 12-18 years and older (27 vs 58 and 75 percent), as were those of upset (16 vs 23 and 44 percent).

Relief was reported by 6 percent, 26 percent, and 38 percent of the same three groups, respectively; numbness by 6 percent, 26 percent, and 38 percent, and anger by 12 percent, 13 percent, and 38 percent.

Dr Javda commented: “This study shows that age of disclosure is important in determining donor offspring’s feeling about their conception.”

ORGYN.com

Investigating the feasibility and clinical pregnancy success of repeat vitrification and warming of oocytes and embryos for IVF.

 Repeat vitrification and warming of oocytes and embryos is feasible and may result in clinical pregnancy, a case study suggests.

Vitrification, or rapid cooling, was introduced in order to improve embryo and oocytes after warming. However, it’s still in its early stages as a clinical procedure.

Gary Smith, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues report the case of a 31-year-old woman with polycystic ovary syndrome.

The patient underwent IVF with oocyte and day 3 embryo vitrification, with clinical pregnancy defined as fetal cardiac activity on ultrasound.

All four vitrified embryos survived the warming and hatching procedures and were transferred. Fourteen days later, the patient had a beta-human chorionic gonadotropin level of 632.4 mIU/ml.

Transvaginal ultrasound examination at 7 weeks 6/7 days revealed a single live intrauterine pregnancy with a heart rate of 158 beats/minute.

The team says: “Previous reports indicate that pregnancy and live birth are possible after repeated freezing and vitrification, and our report further substantiates this fact. Though pregnancies have been reported, the effects of dual vitrification on the oocyte and embryo are unknown at this time.”

ORGYN.com

Assessing the psychological implications of polycystic ovary syndrome and the specific effect of infertility on psychological health.

MedWire News: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients have an increased rate of psychosocial and emotional problems, but this is not directly related to infertility, say German researchers.

Sigrid Elsenbruch, from University Hospital Essen, and colleagues administered the Short Form-36 Health Survey, Beck Depression Inventory, Symptom Check List 90, visual analog scales of sexual satisfaction and self-worth, and the FKW questionnaire on the desire to have a child to 115 PCOS patients.

Worry over remaining childless was expressed by 76.1 percent of respondents, while 51.3 said they wished to conceive, a desire that had been present for an average of 27.8 months.

Mild to moderate depression was detected in 23.9 percent of patients, and 25.2 percent had clinically relevant depression. Compared with normative German data, respondents also had significantly lower quality of life.

Interestingly, an unfulfilled desire to conceive had no impact on depressive symptoms, quality of life, or emotional distress versus no present wish for a child. Partnership status was the primary determinant of reduced sexual satisfaction and self-worth, rather than infertility.

“Although the present findings do not support a major role of infertility alone beyond the role of the clinical, sociodemographic, and cultural factors associated with PCOS, methodological limitations call for future studies,” the researchers write.

ORGYN.com

Determining the impact of erythrocyte supplementation on embryo development in young mice exposed to an oxidizing agent and in aging female mice.

 MedWire News: The negative effect of maternal aging on embryo development and blastocyst formation can be counteracted by supplementation with erythrocytes, Japanese study results indicate.

Believing that the low developmental competence of embryos from aging females may be due to oxidative stress, Rie Fukuhara and colleagues from Hirosaki University School of Medicine cultured IVF embryos from young mice in medium supplemented with the oxidizing agent hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase in the presence or absence of erythrocytes.

In a second experiment, the team assessed the development of embryos from young and aging female mice in the presence and absence of erythrocytes.

Hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase significantly inhibited embryo development. In contrast, erythrocyte supplementation increased embryo development in a dose-dependent manner, from zero blastocyst embryos in mice exposed to hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase alone to 10.1 percent of blastocysts supplemented with the highest dose of erythrocytes.

Developmental competence was significantly lower in embryos from aging females than those from young females. However, erythrocyte supplementation significantly increased the development of embryos to the blastocyst stage, from 51.1 to 77.3 percent.

The team says: “Increasing numbers of women are delaying childbearing until the end of the third and sometimes the fourth decade of life, and therefore there is a strong need for the clinical application of this technique.”

ORGYN.com