Category Archives: Embryology

Embryology

Study suggests sperm donation, like organs, should be allowed post-mortem – Big Think

Can, and should, dead men procreate? Yes and yes, says a recent article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

The UK is facing a sperm donor crisis. According to the article, UK sperm banks only take on a few hundred new donors per year, forcing them to import thousands of sperm samples from the U.S. and Denmark, which dominate the global market for sperm donations due to their high supply.

These countries have a high supply of sperm primarily because of laws and regulations protecting the donor's anonymity in the UK, for instance, babies born from sperm donations are permitted to contact their biological father after they turn 18, an emotional confrontation that dissuades many from donating. In fact, in a 2016 study based in the U.S., 29 percent of current donors said they would have refused to donate if they could not be anonymous.

How can we increase the supply of sperm donors while simultaneously shielding donors from a potentially life-upending confrontation and providing children with the right to know their own ancestry? Allow for post-mortem sperm donations. Men could opt-in to become sperm donors after their death, just like they do as organ donors. So long as they were collected no longer than 48 hours after death, sperm could be collected via surgery or electrical stimulation of the prostate and be frozen for later use.

"If it is morally acceptable that individuals can donate their tissues to relieve the suffering of others in 'life-enhancing transplants' for diseases," wrote the article authors, "we see no reason this cannot be extended to other forms of suffering like infertility."

As it turns out, this idea isn't all that new. The first posthumous sperm retrieval occurred in 1980 after a 30-year-old man suffered a fatal brain injury in a car accident. His family requested that his sperm be preserved, which was done through surgery soon after he had been declared dead.

There have been numerous postmortem sperm retrievals since then, but they've always existed in a legal grey area. For instance, in 1997, a UK man named Stephen Blood caught meningitis, collapsed into a coma, and died soon after. His wife, Diane Blood, had requested that doctors extract two samples of semen from Mr. Blood.

However, the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority had forbidden Mrs. Blood from using those samples to become pregnant, as Mr. Blood had passed away prior to giving written consent to the procedure. In the UK posthumous sperm donation is illegal without written consent. After an appeal, Mrs. Blood was permitted to seek fertility treatment outside of the UK and later gave birth to a son.

Other countries, such as France, Germany, and Taiwan, have a full ban on posthumous fertilization. At the same time, countries like the U.S. and Belgium have no legislation on the subject whatsoever. Given the complex legal, ethical, and medical nature of posthumous fertilization, this range of legislative response is not unexpected. For example, is it ethical to collect sperm from an individual who never wanted to procreate in a country where the young population is dwindling and sperm donors are in short supply? Such is the case in many parts of the UK Is it reasonable to collect sperm from donors who have died and who are, by extension, more likely to be older and with less healthy sperm? Is the offspring of a deceased sperm donor considered to be the donor's legal heir?

These and other issues muddy the waters for countries when crafting policies around posthumous sperm donation. However, the authors of the recent Journal of Medical Ethics article argue that allowing for this procedure is at the very least ethically permissible and likely beneficial for society at large.

"The ability to reproduce matters to people and donated sperm enables many people to fulfill their reproductive desires," write the authors. "It is both feasible and morally permissible for men to volunteer their sperm to be donated to strangers after death in order to ensure sufficient quantities of sperm with desired qualities."

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Study suggests sperm donation, like organs, should be allowed post-mortem - Big Think

Embryology

Im in love with my wifes sister and Ive agreed to be her sperm donor – The Sun

DEAR DEIDRE: MY wife has agreed I should be her sisters sperm donor so she can have the baby she longs for, but she has no idea that I am in love with her sister and have been for years.

I am 45. My wife is 41. We have two boys. My wife got pregnant both times right away, without any problems.

1

We have been careful to use contraception since then, as we feel our family is complete.

My sister-in-law is 37. I told her a while back how I feel about her. She said she was flattered but would never hurt her sister.

Now my wife has come up with this plan for me fathering a child with her sister, I worry where it would all lead.

Get in touch with Deidre today

Got a problem?

Send an email to problems@deardeidre.org. Every problem gets a personal reply, usually within 24 hours weekdays.

You can also send a private message on the DearDeidreOfficial Facebook page.

Follow me on Twitter @deardeidre.

DEIDRE SAYS: You are right to worry.

There are all sorts of drawbacks to being a sperm donor without proper checks, let alone all the tangled feelings you would inevitably have here.

Be firm that this is not a sensible way for your sister-in-law to find a father for a child.

Suggest she check out the information available on sperm donation, through the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (hfea.gov.uk). Meanwhile, focus on strength-ening your marriage.

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Im in love with my wifes sister and Ive agreed to be her sperm donor - The Sun

Embryology

Madgdalena Abakanowicz: The godmother of installation art – Christie’s

Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930-2017) was born into a landed family of rich, Polish gentry. The familys fortunes were transformed by the Second World War, with the Abakanowiczes forced to flee their country estate once Communist rule was imposed on Poland by the Soviet Union. They took with them only the coins they could sew into their clothing.

The family settled in a tiny apartment in Warsaw, the city where Magdalena would enrol in the Academy of Fine Arts aged 20. Discouraged by her professors from pursuing painting, she turned to weaving instead then deemed a more appropriate practice for women.

In later life, Abakanowicz reflected that this had actually been a positive thing. The state-approved painting style, Socialist Realism, would have been limiting for her artistically, demanding as it did scenes glorifying Communist life. Works in fabric, by contrast, came under little scrutiny, meaning she had considerable creative freedom.

In the 1960s, the artist found success with a radical set of tapestries that were unlike anything previously seen. Known as Abakans, these tapestries were not flat, genteel offerings intended to tell a story or decorate a wall, but roughly-woven, abstract tangles of sisal fibre, imposingly hung from the ceiling. They won her the Grand Prize at 1965s So Paulo Biennial.

Abakanowiczs fame soon spread far beyond Poland, and she began to move away from weaving her own structures, using burlap instead, which she gnarled and stretched. From the mid-1970s, her work also became characterised by groups of intriguing, frequently unsettling, humanoid figures known as Alterations. The series culminated in the landmark sequence Embryology, shown in the Polish Pavilion at the 1980 Venice Biennale.

When examining man, I am in fact examining myself, she said. My forms are the skins I strip off myself one by one, marking the milestones along my road.

Over time, her figures would proliferate in bronze, stone, wood and clay, while invitations came to exhibit in museums and public spaces worldwide, including Edinburgh Cathedral; the roof garden of the Metropolitan Museum; and Grant Park in Chicago (where her piece, Agora, is permanently installed).

This summer, a major Abakanowicz retrospective opens at Londons Tate Modern. Its curator, Ann Coxon, agreed to give us a sneak preview.

Why is Magdalena Abakanowicz such an important artist?

Ann Coxon: She was a pioneer of what we now call installation art. There wasnt a name for it back in Abakanowiczs heyday, for the simple reason that it was something very new at the time.

You can call her works tapestries, but what she was creating, above all, were experiential environments. Weve become used to installation today [through works by everyone from Yayoi Kusama to Olafur Eliasson], but it once was an extraordinary development. And Abakanowicz was a godmother of that. Her pieces create a reaction not just because of what they are, but because of where they are.

So you prefer not to focus on the part she played in the so-called Fibre art movement of the 1960s and 1970s?

AC: Thats certainly the way that many, over the years, have seen her [alongside Sheila Hicks and Claire Zeisler] as one of a group of female artists who created textile works in connection to gender politics. Abakanowicz wasnt a feminist, though, or she wouldnt have identified as one. She didnt want her art to be defined solely in terms of female practice. Her concerns were richer and broader than that.

Given her privileged background, did she have many run-ins with the Soviet Bloc authorities?

AC: She actually seems to have been well-supported by the state. They granted her a decent-sized studio in Warsaw, for example, as well as a visa to travel, neither of which were easily come by. I think it helped that she played down her well-to-do background. At art school, she chose to assume the fake identity of a clerks daughter.

What can visitors expect from the Tate exhibition?

AC: Our show-stoppers will be the Abakans. Well have somewhere between 15 and 20 displayed together in one gallery, which should be quite something, given that just 30 exist.

Politics are bound up in her work, but Abakanowicz was never overtly political, either as a person or an artist curator Ann Coxon

Its often said that the Abakans are named as such because thats a contracted version of Abakanowicz. But the point is that there really were no words around at the time to describe these stunning, hanging structures [which the artist hand-wove and hand-dyed, and are an average of 15 feet tall and five feet wide]. Abakans seemed as good a name as any. Theyre big, spectacle-hungry things that usually were exhibited in sets [rather than individually, so as to create a sense of both monumentality and penetrability, as visitors walk under and around them].

After the Abakans, Abakanowicz moved onto series in which she surveyed the human body: such as Heads (1973-75), Seated Figures (1976) and Backs (1976-82), which consisted of a group of anonymous figures, arranged in geometric order and depending on the series distinguished by being headless, limbless, sexless or expressionless. Might we interpret these figures politically as victims of totalitarian oppression and the death of individuality under Communism?

AC: I think politics are certainly bound up in her work, but Abakanowicz was never overtly political, either as a person or an artist. She couldnt afford to be initially; but even after the fall of Communism in the early 1990s she refused to attach explicit, political meaning to her art. Just as she refused to attach explicit, autobiographical meaning either.

By autobiographical, are you referring to incidents like that during the Second World War when a drunk German soldier burst into the family home and shot Magdalenas mothers arm off?

AC: Yes, or the fact that she never had children, which some critics have used as the prism through which to view her Embryology series. The installations in Embryology feature multiple, rounded forms of different sizes: forms that, to those critics eyes, look like cocoons or embryos or kinds of new-born creatures. Even though, to other eyes, they look more like potatoes!

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Magdalenas works are ambiguous and highly evocative and all the more powerful for not being literal depictions of actual people or things. They evoke humankind in general, humankind in its entirety.

Magdalena Abakanowicz at Tate Modern, London, runs from 17 June to 13 September

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Madgdalena Abakanowicz: The godmother of installation art - Christie's

Embryology

It’s OK for dead men to donate their sperm, according to medical ethics study – Yahoo Lifestyle

A new study argues that men should be allowed to donate sperm to strangers after their death.

The January 20 study in the Journal of Medical Ethics raises similarities to organ donation, which allows people to donate life-saving tissue to those in need of transplants. If it is morally acceptable that individuals can donate their tissues to relieve the suffering of others in life-enhancing transplants for diseases, wrote the study authors, we see no reason this cannot be extended to other forms of suffering like infertility, which may or may not also be considered a disease.

The study suggests that allowing men to donate after death would help address the U.K. sperm donor shortage: between 2011 and 2013, the average number of newly-registered sperm donors per year was 586 (an increase of about 300 from 2004). But a portion of that increase also reflects donations used directly by mens partners, not strangers.

Postmortem sperm can be collected after death through surgery (by extracting sperm through a cut in the scrotum) or electroejaculation, aprocedure that delivers electric shocks to the prostate and stimulates ejaculation. Collected sperm would be cryopreserved in fertility clinics and thawed when ready for use.

Sperm harvesting after death has been technically possible for many years, and there is evidence that it can be used in reproduction, wrote the study authors. Case series have demonstrated that sperm retrieved from dead men can result in a viable pregnancies and healthy children, even when retrieved 48 hours after death.

Study co-author Joshua Parker, an education fellow in ethics and law at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, England, tells Yahoo Lifestyle: Were suggesting that men could voluntarily donate their sperm to fertility clinics to alleviate pain for those suffering from infertility. But it raises ethical questions what preferences should people have when choosing donors? Whats the psychological impact on a child knowing that he or she was born from a deceased donor? And how does postmortem sperm donation affect grieving families and their relationship with a potential child?

Organ transplants benefit recipients with conditions that are life-threatening or life-enhancing, says the study, pointing to corneal transplants as an example of the latter. Infertility is not life-threatening, however, wrote the authors. There is also debate over whether infertility is a disease,which we cannot settle here and so will set aside. Nevertheless, as we argue below, infertility certainly causes suffering, some of which can be ameliorated by access to donor sperm....

Standards for postmortem sperm donations should equal those applied to living donations, says Parker, with quality of sperm being a high priority. However, that speaks to the quality of consent, he adds. Men would need to be aware of the possibility that their donations may not result in a pregnancy after they die.

A spokesperson from the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, which regulates fertility clinics in the U.K., did not return Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment. A spokesperson told CNN that donors must be medically screened, counseled and give consent. "None of these requirements could be satisfied if donation was only undertaken after death. Essentially, this means that harvesting sperm from a donor after death is currently illegal," the spokesperson said.

Some might feel that using sperm from a dead person is disturbing, a notion acknowledged by Parker. But we dont decide whats right or wrong based on that gut reaction, he tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Medical ethics are determined by reason, argument and evidence not whether we feel sick about it.

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Embryology

What are the laws for sperm donation in the UK? – The Independent

A recent report published in the Journal of Medical Ethics has argued that doctors should be able to take sperm from men who have passed away if they have consented to becoming post-mortem donors.

The authors state that doing so is both feasible and morally permissible, as it may help to ensure that sufficient quantities of sperm are made available to individuals who wish to become parents through sperm donation.

So where does the law in the UK currently stand with regards to sperm donation? Here is everything you need to know.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), sperm donors are usually aged between 18 and 41.

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What are the laws for sperm donation in the UK? - The Independent

Embryology

Should Fertility Patients Be Given What They Want, or What They Need? – BioNews

20 January 2020

The final session of the Progress Educational Trust (PET)'s annual conference 'Reality Check: A Realistic Look at Assisted Reproduction' asked: 'Should Fertility Patients Be Given What They Want, or What They Need?'

Sally Cheshire, Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said that what fertility patients want most of all is a baby, or at least the chance to have a baby. She explained that many patients will do anything to achieve their aim, and that the regulator's job is to help them achieve this in the best way possible, as part of good care. She went on to explain that many patients won't (at least initially) get what they want, raising the point that 60 percent of patients self-fund their treatment, so the HFEA must help ensure that all patients get what they need.

As part of what patients need, Cheshire spoke about the information available to patients and the fact that honest, unbiased opinion about what might work needs to be published and transparent. She explained that it is difficult to regulate new and emerging treatments (not least the 'add-ons' discussed in earlier conference sessions), and that many of these treatments are not, in fact, currently regulated by the HFEA. However, the HFEA can offer information allowing patients to make informed choices about potential treatments, especially when it is sometimes hard for patients to find uncontradictory and unbiased information for themselves.

Overall, Cheshire's message was that the HFEA does not support patients spending money on (often unnecessary) 'add-on' treatments, citing an HFEA survey from last year, showing that three-quarters of patients had at least one add-on with their treatment. The HFEA rates 11 add-ons using a traffic light system. The green rating is reserved for procedures or techniques that have been shown to be effective and safe by at least one good-quality, randomised clinical trial. It was reported in the survey that none of the most common add-ons used were rated green.

Cheshire argued that clinicians selling add-ons without evidence do the fertility sector, and patients, a disservice. The HFEA will continue, as part of the inspections process, to look at information available on clinics' websites and at claims made by these clinics, as well as keeping an eye on some advice coming from the non-regulated sector.

In the next presentation, Dr Jane Stewart, chair of the British Fertility Society (BFS), asked what was difficult about taking medical advice. She said that the role of 'Dr Google' and events like the Fertility Show has both good and bad aspects. It is good that there is much up-to-date information available that can usefully stimulate debate, but this is mixed with out-of-date and commercially influenced information. How might patients tell the difference?

Dr Stewart went on to explain how the doctor-patient relationship has evolved over time, towards a spirit of mutual co-operation and patient-centred care, describing the doctor as a 'bridge between the world of medicine and the expectations and needs of patients'. She pondered whether reproductive medicine had redefined patients as consumers (she insisted on using the word 'patient') and asked what the harm is in giving all patients what they want. The harm, she said, can come from the fact that many patients are vulnerable, some are ill-informed, and most will do anything (including pay) to have the chance of having a child. Thus, the doctor has a duty to help the patient come to the right decisions for them, even if that means challenging their expectations and assumptions. 'It's OK to say no', she argued.

Professor Bobbie Farsides then told us about the power of words, explaining that 'wants' are something that we feel we would like to have, do or be. Simply, a preference. By contrast, 'needs' are things we require, because they are essential or important, not just desirable. She explained that it is easier to claim support for needs as they have more societal endorsement, whereas some wants are not seen as acceptable (though some individual assertions of needs are also deemed unacceptable). 'What starts as a dream becomes a project that's all-consuming', she said, adding 'for example the desire to become a mother turns into a need'.

Structural issues shape expectations in this domain, including the way society thinks and talks about parenthood and about what women are expected to do. Professor Farsides said that given these significant pressures, we (including the fertility sector) must ask whether there is a particular form of vulnerability in patients wanting what others want them to want. She argued that professionals must present a 'fair offer', for patients to consider and maybe accept, that is not against the patients' interests.

PET's head of communications Dr Catherine Hill then gave a personal response to the wants-versus-needs question, telling her story of infertility and the phone call, when she was 21, that changed the course of her life. What she wanted was a large family, though what she needed after that call was help and support, but she was offered none. She described this time as traumatic, leaving her needing to try to forge a new identity as a potential fertility patient.

On starting fertility treatment at 37years of age, she was shocked to find that she was not eligible forIVF on the NHS, but pleased to be told she 'had the eggs of a 30-year old'. This turned out not to be true the test she was given only measured quantity, not quality. A new clinic told her to use an egg donor, and, when she used her own eggs, the clinicsuggested preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) (itself a contentious 'add-on'). This resulted in two embryos, and led to her having a daughter.

Dr Hill said she wished she had been better informed throughout this process. She argued that fertility patients' needs include emotional support, fair access to NHS-funded IVF, fertility education (which becomes more pressing as more and more procedures are offered), and better fertility preservation options. She added that funding of NHS fertility services, as well as monitoring of the funding situation, is incredibly important.

In the discussion chaired by Fiona Fox, chief executive of the Science Media Centre, there was generally much agreement with the speakers. Cheshire, responding to a point from the audience, said that fertility education was not a key responsibility of the HFEA but that they try to do it anyway. She added that the BFS has an ongoing education project, and suggested that perhaps the HFEA could be a conduit for information in new ways in future. Dr Hill added that it was hard to fathom why fertility educationand the Fertility Fairness campaign lacks funding, when the fertility industry is worth so much.

Professor Farsides said that the old-fashioned view that the regulator was something to push against no longer holds true. She argued that clinics, and the fertility industry more widely, should work with the regulator to ensure that patients get both what they want and what they need.

The Progress Educational Trust (PET) would like to thank the sponsors of its conference - the Anne McLaren Memorial Trust Fund, Edwards and Steptoe Research Trust Fund, CooperSurgical, the European Sperm Bank, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, the London Women's Clinic, NGA Law and the Institute of Medical Ethics.

PET's next public events will be:

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Should Fertility Patients Be Given What They Want, or What They Need? - BioNews

Embryology

Amy Hart tells Loose Women she will be freezing her eggs due to early menopause concerns – Worthing Herald

Former Love Island contestant Amy Hart from Worthing said she will be freezing her eggs due to fears she may be facing early menopause.

The 27-year-old appeared on Loose Women this afternoon (January 17) to raise awareness about her situation, which many women in the UK face, and the fertility options open to them as part of the show's fertility week.

Amy said she recently went for a fertility 'MOT', in which the doctor did an internal scan of her ovaries and a blood test to check her Anti-Mllerian hormone, or AMH, levels. While her ovaries were normal, her hormone levels came back at 8.5 - with 20 being the optimum level.

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Love Island: Amy Hart cheers on fellow Worthing contestant Connor Durman

As her mother Sue went through the menopause aged 44, and her grandmother and aunt at 42 - all classified as early menopause by the NHS - Amy decided she will have her eggs frozen in the coming months, despite saying she had never had any problems with her periods.

She said the intensive treatment involved ten days of injections 'to make your hormones go into overdrive' and being put under general anaesthetic for them to be harvested.

She said: "I did always think I could do whatever I want, my 20s are for me and my 30s are for having kids. Lovely. And then you go, 'oh actually, that isn't my decision, that is my body's decision'.

"I would love to meet someone, get married, have kids naturally, fine. That is my dream idea. But if that doesn't happen, I have got my insurance policy."

According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the whole process for egg freezing and thawing costs an average of 7,000 to 8,000, and it has a fairly low level of success; in 2017, 19 per cent of IVF treatments using a patients own frozen eggs resulted in a baby being born.

Loose Women anchor Kaye Adams questioned Amy's decision. She said: "The NHS doesn't provide this service and they don't particularly recommend it. Look: you are 27, maybe you just need to chill out and let things go a little bit."

But fellow panellist Stacey Solomon, who also had a family history of early menopause, supported Amy's decision. She said she had considered having the treatment herself, and that there was an argument that the NHS should provide egg freezing treatments to women with a proven family history of early menopause.

According to the NHS website, early menopause happens when a woman's periods stop before the age of 45.

If you are experiencing symptoms of the menopause, such as hot flushes or night sweats, it recommended seeing a GP. For further advice, click here.

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Amy Hart tells Loose Women she will be freezing her eggs due to early menopause concerns - Worthing Herald

Embryology

Reflections on the Development of Fascial Tissue: Starting from Embryo | AMEP – Dove Medical Press

Bruno Bordoni, 1, 2 Bruno Morabito 3

1Foundation Don Carlo Gnocchi IRCCS, Department of Cardiology, Institute of Hospitalization and Care with Scientific Address, S Maria Nascente, Milan 20100, Italy; 2Department of Osteopathy, Asomi, Torino, Italy; 3Foundation Polyclinic University A. Gemelli University Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Correspondence: Bruno Bordoni Tel +39 02 3496300617Email bordonibruno@hotmail.com

Abstract: A great many articles discuss the histological aspects of fascial tissue in detail, but at the same time, there are many contradictions within the literature. In addition, there is a paucity of scientific data that allow straightforward classification of what tissue the fascia truly is. More precise classification of fascial tissue is essential in improving clinical care and effectively framing patient needs. Embryology is an indispensable starting point for understanding the many functions of the fascial tissue. This scientific discipline allows us to observe the relationships and adaptability of fascia both at local and systemic levels. This article reflects on modern scientific knowledge concerning the classification of fascia from an embryological standpoint with the aim of improving our understanding of connective tissue.

Keywords: fascia, myofascial, embryology, anatomy, surgery, fibroblast

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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Reflections on the Development of Fascial Tissue: Starting from Embryo | AMEP - Dove Medical Press

Embryology

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Investigation is over; on extending grace; representing us well – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Investigation is over

Surprise! The Justice Department's investigation into Hillary Clinton's everything under the sun has finally concluded with a whimper and a big old nothing-burger. What once was a screaming front-page headline for years is now delegated to a quiet inside-page article that tells of her vindication.

Yet, the "Crooked Hillary" characterizations remain a prominent part of President Trump's repertoire at his rallies, as his cult followers continue to mindlessly chant "lock her up," sounding like a frenetic vigilante.

These cult members, the meat and potatoes of Trump's base, seem to have a Hillary chip implanted in their brains, and there it will probably remain, perhaps forever, along with a Barack Obama chip and some Joe and Hunter Biden fragments.

JACK ALBERT

Eureka Springs

On extending grace

December's Voices Letter of the Month comes from William Spilman. Mr. Spilman informs us he is a graduate of a well-respected seminary. He also informs he is more defined by his theological beliefs than political beliefs. I believe these credentials and beliefs are provided as a basis for his defense of the Christianity Today editorial by its editor Mark Galli.

It's appropriate to recognize Christianity Today was founded by Billy Graham, probably the greatest evangelist ever. Mr. Graham advised many presidents of both political parties over the years regarding spiritual matters. Some of those presidents, it was later revealed, embraced and committed immoral acts. Some routinely slandered their former colleagues and opponents with profane and hateful remarks.

Mr. Graham's son and other evangelical leaders now advise our current president. However, in today's political environment, human weakness is used as a tactic in a political strategy to gain advantage. Mr. Spilman believes Franklin Graham and others are guilty of hypocrisy by associating themselves with a man of moral failures. I am reminded of the Jewish leaders who accused Jesus of violating God's law by associating, even dining, with known sinners. I'm certain both Mr. Spilman and Mr. Galli are not sinless. Might they be hypocritical?

Mr. Spilman seems vindicated in his opinion when he points out Mr. Trump admits his immorality and, Spilman says, is proud of it. That I'm not able to know.

Mr. Spilman is concerned Graham and other evangelicals will damage Christian thinking and witness. He believes evangelicals are giving Trump cheap grace. God's grace extended to us all at Calvary was provided for the immoral, the wicked and the evil in all of us. Is it cheap grace to model that to the powerful or even to the weak?

MICHAEL SANDERS

Little Rock

Representing us well

Mr. Franklin Furlough chastised our congressman for not representing his constituents (the ones protesting his support of our president). Well, I feel Congressman Hill continues to represent the views of the majority who voted for him very well!

HAP PETERSON

Hot Springs Village

Protecting the unborn

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is Jan. 19. We need to pause and consider how abortion devalues this precious gift of life. The taking of the life of an innocent human baby--abortion--is a crime against humanity. How can we or our government officials turn a blind eye to protecting the most vulnerable in our society, even condoning it?

We now know (even as we really did in 1973) that life begins at conception. My college and graduate classes in embryology showed that the "size" of the child (one day or 40 weeks) makes no difference. It doesn't instantly become a human being at "first viability" or when it "takes its first breath" or if the parents "decide to let it live after its birth." It is a distinct person with its own DNA from the moment it was conceived.

And we know that abortion is not "women's health care or rights"--that the baby is a totally separate life from its mother. We know abortion can hurt women both psychologically and physiologically. We know pain can be felt by the baby as early as eight weeks in utero, and there's a measurable heartbeat within two months.

But most importantly, abortion is a terrible sin against our creator God. God has given us a conscience to know right from wrong (culture doesn't give this). Deep down, though some would try to deny it, we know abortion is wrong. Abortion is perhaps the greatest moral sin of our generation.

We need to support those in a position to make a difference and who are definitely pro-life. C.S. Lewis said pain is God's "megaphone to rouse a deaf world." We should be shouting out against the pain and death of unborn babies. Do you hear them?

DON ECKARD

Bentonville

In The Twilight Zone

A friend of mine asked me if I quit writing letters to the editor because he has not seen any lately. I told him that besides having moved and dealing with some health issues, I really didn't know what to write.

It seems that we have crossed over into The Twilight Zone in this country. Nothing makes sense anymore. Up is down, right is wrong, lies and deceit are perfectly acceptable. So is maligning the character of and threatening respectable witnesses who have served our country honorably and testified during the House hearings. We have a president who thinks he can get away with anything because he has so far, thanks to his defenders in Congress and his base.

So instead or worrying and driving myself crazy, I decided to ignore it ... for a while, anyway!

ROSE GOVAR

Maumelle

If he cast a ballot ...

Would Jesus vote for Donald Trump?

HOWARD GARRISON

Hot Springs Village

Editorial on 01/14/2020

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Investigation is over; on extending grace; representing us well - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Embryology

2020 is full of 4-H opportunities for youth – Salisbury Post – Salisbury Post

By Laura Allen

Rowan County 4-H Agent

Happy New Year! 4-H enrollment begins annually in January of each year, so now is a great time to join Rowan County 4-H.

4-H offers a broad range of opportunities for youth ages 5-18 (as of Jan. 1). Through 4-H, youth explore their interests and participate in leadership and citizenship development opportunities offered at the local, district, state and/or national levels. 4-H provides a positive environment for youth to learn by doing, while having guidance from adult mentors.

There are lots of 4-H events coming up soon that will be great opportunities for the youth in your life. I challenge you to find a way to get involved with 4-H in 2020.

Speak-Up

The Speak-Up workshop series focuses on developing public speaking skills in youth. There are four workshops: Jan. 27, Feb. 3, 10 and 17. Session 1 is for youth ages 7-11 as of Jan. 1 and is from 4:30-5:45 p.m. Session 2 is for youth ages 12-18 as of Jan. 1 and is from 6-7:15 p.m.. Total cost is $40 per child (covers all four workshops).

Participants must pre-register by Jan. 17. A limit of 10 youth per session. Workshop leader is Cheryl Kane of Barton & Kane Consolidated who has years of experience with public speaking and leadership development. Workshops are held at Rowan County Cooperative Extension.

Embryology

This school enrichment program is open to second-grade and seventh-grade classrooms within public, private and charter schools in Rowan County, as well as home-school families.

Teachers will be trained and provided with an incubator, fertilized eggs and curriculum/materials to allow their students to have a hands-on opportunity to learn about the life cycle of chicks. Those who participate will have to supply a tote/box to use as a brooder box, shavings and heat lamp. The cost is $10 per classroom. Supplies are limited to 30 participants per cycle listed below. Pre-registration is required. Those interested can register by emailing laura_allen@ncsu.edu. The embryology cycles offered this year are:

Private/Charter/Home-School Cycle: Feb. 4 at 3:30 p.m. (training and pick up); Feb. 28 (return chicks and materials by 4:30 p.m.); must pre-register by Jan. 17.

Public School Cycle 1: March 3 at 3:30 p.m. (training and pick up); March 27 (return chicks and materials by 4:30 p.m.); must pre-register by Feb. 7.

Public School Cycle 2: April 14 at 3:30 p.m. (training and pick up); May 8 (return chicks and materials by 4:30 p.m.); must pre-register by Feb. 7.

4-H Clubs

Rowan County has nine 4-H clubs. We have two clubs that focus on a variety of topics. The additional clubs have more focused topics and include a cooking club, a livestock club and a plant/nature homeschool club, two horse clubs and two shooting sports clubs.

These clubs are made up of at least one approved adult volunteer and youth who join the club. The clubs allow youth to learn how to run a business meeting and provide additional educational opportunities for youth. Youth in these clubs are involved in the total 4-H program and participate in 4-H achievement plans, project record books, presentations and other opportunities and competitions offered through 4-H.

Clubs meet at least once per month. Any youth ages 5-18 as of Jan. 1 can join and new adult volunteers are welcome, too. There is also the opportunity to start a new 4-H club, if you desire.

4-H Camp

Rowan County 4-H will be attending 4-H Camp at Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Educational Center in Reidsville June 28-July 3. The camping facility offers lots of opportunities for youth to learn new skills and make new friends. Activities include high ropes courses, rock climbing, arts and crafts, cooking, horses, archery, nature exploration, campfires, canoeing, swimming, team building and more.

4-H Camp is accredited through the American Camp Association. Total cost for youth is $420. Any Rowan County youth can attend, regardless if they are in 4-H. Active Rowan County 4-Hers are offered a discounted price. Scholarship opportunities may be available.

We are also seeking any donations from local citizens or companies to help offset costs for youths who need financial assistance. To attend, a $150 non-refundable deposit and registration form are due to Rowan County 4-H by March 25. The remaining balance is due by June 2.

Competitions

4-H provides competitions in the following areas: presentations, project record books, expressive arts, photography, horse shows, dairy/poultry/livestock/horse judging and quiz bowl, shooting sports and more. Youth have many opportunities to learn and practice their skills.

If you/your children are interested in any of these opportunities, please email 4-H Agent Laura Allen at laura_allen@ncsu.edu or call 704-216-8970. You can also check out the most recent Rowan County 4-H newsletter at https://rowan.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2020/01/January-4-H-Newsletter.pdf?fwd=no.

Rowan County Cooperative Extension is located at 2727-A Old Concord Road Salisbury, NC 28146.

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2020 is full of 4-H opportunities for youth - Salisbury Post - Salisbury Post