When does a human life begin?

This question should not be hard to answer but in todays culture, the topic is more contentious than ever.

"This is not about opinions, politics, or religion nor should it be. It is about modern, objective, relevant science," Brooke Stanton, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Contend Projects, wrote on her organization's website. Based in Washington, D.C., and founded two years ago, the secular and nonpartisan Contend Projects is working to inform people, based on science, about when life begins.

"Although we live in a secular and scientific society, it's surprising how many intelligent, educated and otherwise informed people don't know fundamental truths about the beginning of human life, sexual reproduction, and human embryology," said Stanton.

She added, "Throughout my research and learning, I kept returning to the idea of taking a step back and separating the objective science from the drama and politics surrounding these issues."

Statisticsabout sex, abortion, and pregnancies can be alarming. "By their 19th birthday, seven in 10 teens have had intercourse," notes the Contend Projects site. And: "A new human being could beginto exist (and pregnancy could begin) within hours of sexual intercourse."

Related:The Newest Planned Parenthood Fetal-Tissue Scandal

Yet 22 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds think human life begins at birth, according to data from market research firm YouGov; 36percent of this demographic believe life begins at conception.

"It's surprising how many intelligent and educated people don't know fundamental truths about human life."

"Nearly half of pregnancies among American women in 2011 were unintended (2.8 million), and about fourin 10 of these were terminated by abortion," according to Contend Projects. "Unintended pregnancy rates are highest among women aged 18-24."

In 2014, there were about926,200 abortions in America, according to research from the Guttmacher Institute.

"These decisions are some of the most important we will make [in] our lives but surprisingly, the basic scientific facts about reproduction are widely misunderstood, or not understood at all," said Contend Projects.

For example, fertilization begins in a woman's fallopian tube. The embryo grows and in about a week implants itself in the uterus.

"As early as 12-24 hours after fertilization begins, pregnancy can be confirmed by detecting a protein called 'early pregnancy factor' or EPF in the mother's blood," said Contend Project. "Just as you and I were once toddlers, we were once embryos. Human development is a continuum, and at any point along this continuum including the very beginning there exists the same whole, individual, integrated human being. He or she is not a 'potential' human being, or a 'possible' human being, or a 'pre-embryo,' or 'just a cell.'"

Related:'Life Doesn't Always Go According to Plan,' Says Pro-Family Ad

"One of the basic insights of modern biology is that life is continuous, with living cells giving rise to new types of cells and, ultimately, to new individuals," according to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute. "The conclusion that human life begins at sperm-egg fusion is uncontested, objective, based on the universally accepted scientific method of distinguishing different cell types from each other and on ample scientific evidence (thousands of independent, peer-reviewed publications)."

As any mother-to-be knows well the growing baby inside the womb is living and active.

In the Bible, the Lord says in Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Continue reading here:
'When Does a Human Life Begin?' Answered by Science | LifeZette - LifeZette

For Jana Schwartz, no two days are alike. Schwartz is a 4-H associate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Center and helps coordinate 4-H projects within Scotts Bluff County.

One day, Schwartz may be helping with entries for the Scotts Bluff County Fair and spend all day in the office and another day, she may be out doing projects or at the Wildcat Hills teaching children about trees.

Schwartz said projects she coordinates vary from helping 4-H members with their own projects, helping them join clubs or entering students in the fair to the extension center taking part in teaching classrooms about agriculture and animal science, agricultural literacy and more.

One of the many projects Schwartz takes to classrooms is an embryology life cycle project where the students hatch chicken eggs within a classroom. They also teach about electricity, robotics and wearable technology.

Ive been in extension for 15 years now and I was a part of the 4-H program for about 8 years as a child. I really loved what the 4-H program did for me, Schwartz said. It gave me the opportunity to try new things and find out what I was good at.

Schwartz said she didnt go to college expecting to go into extension. Schwartz grew up in Chase County on a cattle ranch and thought shed go into something related to agriculture or veterinary medicine.

I started as a vet tech and ended up on this path, Schwartz said. I started with an internship in Dawes County and that lead to the job here in Scotts Bluff County.

Every state has an extension program that is tied to a university, here in Nebraska it is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The extension is an outreach program which takes any discoveries by the university that are applicable to the public.

For example, in Nebraska agriculture is the biggest portion of extension and producers are able to learn about the best practices for producing different agricultural products. However, the program also does a lot outside of agriculture such as youth development, 4-H, healthy living and nutrition.

The 4-H program started over 100 years ago in 1902 and its main purpose was to take research that scientists discovered to help producers have higher yields from corn.

They tried to teach the discoveries to the adults, but as adults, we dont maybe want to change the ways we are doing things, so people from the university started the first 4-H youth club and taught them new ways to produce crops, Schwartz said. The kids actually started to out-yield their parents.

Schwartz also said that the main purpose of 4-H is to teach kids life skills, but she said the life skills they taught 100 years ago are quite different from skills youth need to know now. Although things such as responsibility, trust, communication and leadership are still important to the organization, lessons and project categories have been tweaked to fit the times.

There are still projects that have to do with agriculture as well as cooking, sewing, robotics, photography, lots of science, technology, art and math, Schwartz said. Thats what youth are needing today.

Right now, Schwartz and members of the 4-H portion of the extension center are making sure that they are prepared for the Scotts Bluff County Fair.

Its kind of the 4-H members Super Bowl, so were making sure all of the details are taken care of so people and families have the best experience possible, Schwartz said.

Schwartz said her favorite thing about her job is the people and volunteers that she gets to work with.

The kids are amazing to work with and to see them grow and change and meet their potential is great, Schwartz said. Volunteers mean a lot to me because of how much they give to the program and what they do for the kids in their community.

Projects will be shown and judged from Saturday, July 22 through Sunday, Aug. 8 at the Scotts Bluff County Fairgrounds in Mitchell.

Call 308-632-1480 for more information on or questions about the local 4-H program.

Introductory Offer

Get All Access for only $11 per month. That's print, e-edition and website for only $132 a year!

Want just Digital Access? Get it today for only 99 cents a week!

Call 308-632-9010 or email circ@starherald.com to get started.

Visit link:
Jana Schwartz leads local 4-H'ers - Scottsbluff Star Herald

The biological clock ticks not just for women, suggests new research that may overturn conventional thinking about mens virility as they age.

Whereas women undergo menopause as a clear indicator of decreased fertility, a similar biological mechanism in men was previously unknown. But new research into delivery rates among couples undergoing in vitro fertilization found that men hear the clock ticking, too.

The study, assessing nearly 19,000 cycles of in vitro fertilization, showed that, as a mans age increased, the success rate of fertilization went in the opposite direction.

Generally, we saw no significant decline in cumulative live birth when women had a male partner the same age or younger, said study author Dr. Laura Dodge, researcher with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, who presented her findings at the 33rd annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in July.

But the success rate changed when looking at men of different ages, with younger men conferring a significant fertility benefit to their partners.

Related:Smartphone App Claims to Accurately Test Male Fertility

Women aged 35-40 did significantly benefit from having a male partner who is under age 30, in that they see a nearly 30% relative improvement in cumulative incidence of live birth when compared to women whose partner is 30-35 from 54% to 70%, said Dodge.

That trend reverses when women in that age group are paired with similar-aged men.

Where we see significant decreases in the cumulative incidence of live birth is among women with male partners in the older age bands. For women age 30-35, having a partner who is older than they are is associated with approximately 11% relative decreases in cumulative incidence of live birth from 70% to 64% when compared to having a male partner within their same age band, explained Dodge.

While the study results add some nuance to the question of mens impact on fertility, the researchers note that women still add the most to the mix.

Both the results of this study and prior work show that female age has a larger effect on fertility than male age. While the effect of female age on fertility is overwhelmingly due to increased rates of chromosomal abnormality, the proposed mechanisms in the effect of male age on pregnancy are more subtle, said Dodge.

When we looked at the effect of female age alone, we saw a 46% relative decrease from ages under 30 to 40-42, but when we looked at male age alone, we saw a 20% relative decrease over the same age span, she added.

The study raises questions about what, if anything, aging men can do to boost conception rates when pairing with younger or same-aged women.

Its hard to say without knowing the precise mechanisms involved, said Dodge. Most preconception advice for men focuses on semen quality, though studies suggest that this likely cannot fully ameliorate the effects of male reproductive ageing. So in the absence of clear evidence of the mechanisms, the best preconception advice we can offer is to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Related:Old Wives Fertility Treatment Proves to Be Scientific Marvel

Richard Scott is a health care reporter focusing on health policy and public health. Richard keeps tabs on national health trends from his Philadelphia location and is an active member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.

Visit link:
Tick-Tock: Men Also Have a Biological Clock - - Vital Updates - Vital Updates

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, July 7, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- There's good news for couples who are struggling to conceive.

Those who are undergo fertility treatment are no more likely to break up, according to a new study. It's been suggested that the disappointment of infertility and the stress of treatment can push relationships to the breaking point.

But a study of more than 40,000 women in Denmark who had fertility treatment between 1994 and 2009 found no link between it and separation or divorce. Researchers said 20 percent split up within 16 years, compared to 22 percent of women who were not treated.

The study was presented this week at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Geneva, Switzerland.

Researcher Mariana Martins said the findings should reassure couples who have had or are considering in vitro fertilization.

"Findings on the security of relationships and parenthood can be particularly helpful in supporting patients' commitment to treatment," said Martins, a psychology faculty member at the University of Porto in Portugal.

"We have previously found that subjects who divorce, re-partner and come back to treatment are the ones that five years before had the most stress," she said in a meeting news release. "We also know that despite all the strain that this infertility can bring, going through [assisted reproduction treatment] can actually bring benefit to a couple's relationship, because it forces them to improve communication and coping strategies."

Studies presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

WebMD News from HealthDay

SOURCE: European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, news release, July 5, 2017

See the article here:
Most Relationships Survive Infertility Challenges - WebMD - WebMD

When companies like Facebook and Apple said in 2014 that they would start covering the cost of egg freezing for women, the backlash was swift.

As Fortune 's Leigh Gallagher reported at the time , critics derided the new benefit as "a self-serving move to encourage women to take their eye off the biological clock so that they could double down and work harder throughout their 30s. It was paternalistic, sexist, and a trick to keep women childless and living at the office, all wrapped in the cloak of concern over womens fertility issues."

But a new study of 150 women who had undertaken elective egg freezing in the United States and Israel found that more than 90% said they were not intentionally postponing their fertility because of education or careers. Rather, they were preserving their fertility because they were single without partners to marry. Women lamented the missing men in their lives, viewing egg freezing as a way to buy time while they continued to search for a committed partner.

"[T]here's been this narrative that career women are putting off having children for the sake of their careers," Marcia Inhorn, the study's lead author and a professor of anthropology and international affairs at Yale University, told me . That's incorrect, she says. "They want to be married or at least partnered [before having a child] and they haven't been able to find anyone." Inhorn's unpublished study was presented at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Geneva this week.

Women in the study were highly educated, with more than 80% having earned at least a graduate degree. Their failure to find a partner, Inhorn surmises, points to the "lopsided college graduation rate," in which more women are graduating from college and advanced degree programs than men.

One way to resolve this mismatch is to "get boys off to a better start" so more of them obtain higher education, Inhorn says. But a more comprehensive solution may be to update gender roles and what's expected of each sex across the board.

An antidote to the 'axis'

All eyes will be on German Chancellor Angela Merkel starting today as she hosts three of the world's most polarizing heads of state at the G-20 meeting: the U.S.'s Donald Trump, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Wall Street Journal quotes a German lawmaker calling the triothe 'Axis of Testosterone.' All three have becomein different waysantagonists of Germany.

Wall Street Journal

A man-free festival

After Sweden's largest music festival, the four-dayBrvalla, was cancelled for next year following reports of sexual assaults at this year's event, Swedish comedian and radio host Emma Knyckare tweeted: What do you think about putting together a really cool festival where only non-men are welcome? It would last until all men have learned how to behave. What seems to have started as a joke quickly turned into a real possibility.

Washington Post

All's fair in love and leadership

South African President Jacob Zuma has given the surest sign yet that he'll endorse his ex-wifeNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as his successor as leader of the country's ruling African National Congress party ahead of a December election. Dlamini-Zuma, a veteran of the former liberation movement and former minister, is a frontrunner in the race, yet Zuma's critics suspect he's backing the mother of four of his children because hebelieves she won't pursue 783 counts of fraud, corruption, and racketeering that he faces.

Financial Times

Highly charged

A female engineer who filed claims of harassment against Tesla says she was fired in retaliation. They just want to absolutely crush anyone who speaks up, says A.J. Vandermeyden. I spoke up, and I was made a sacrificial lamb for it. Its a scary precedent. (Tesla says she falsely attacked the company in the press.) She also says that other women at the carmaker have voiced similar concerns.

Guardian

Beginner's luck?

The New York Times examines how a series of high-profile interruptions catapulted Sen. Kamala Harris (DCalif.), elected in November, into the position of Democrats' "the Great Freshman Hope, a telegenic object of daydreaming projectionjustified or notfor a party adrift and removed from executive power."

New York Times

Taking stock

Campbell Soup yesterday agreed to buy Pacific Foodsmaker of organic broth, soup, and plate-based beverages like almond milkfor $700 million as consumer tastes continue to shift. Campbell's CEO Denise Morrison told Fortune that the acquisition allows the company " to expand into faster-growing spaces."

Fortune

Courage to come forward

Tech entrepreneur Cheryl Yeoh, a native of Malaysia, tells the BBC why she came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against 500 Startups co-founder Dave McClure, who'd by then resigned his post. "People don't want to be judged and if their names that are going to be linked to a sexual harassment case online, very few people are willing to let that tarnish their name," she said."I'm in a different position, I've done previous work before, I've had publicity online for other good things I've done, so I know my record goes far beyond this and I certainly don't need the publicity for this for myself."

BBC

Not even Plan B

The Metropolitan Assembly election in Tokyo on Sunday that dealt a heavy blow to PM Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party also left a mark on Renho, the leader of the Democratic Party, which won just 5 of the 127 seats up for grabs. Rather than voting for her party as an alternative to the Shinzo regime, city residents turned toTokyoites First, the party headed by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

Japan Times

Grace Coddington, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, and Steve McQueen are new 'BritishVogue' new contributors

The Cut

How Christene Barberich, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Refinery29, gets it all done

New York Magazine

To escape sexual violence at home, female migrants must risk sexual violence on the way to Europe

Washington Post

Trump went to Poland and was met by women dressed as handmaids

Huffington Post

Sheila Michaels, who brought Ms. to prominence, dies at 78

New York Times

Read this article:
The World's Most Powerful Women: July 7 - Fortune

Everyone who studied middle-school chemistry recognizes the prominent chart that hangs in classrooms and laboratories around the world: The Periodic Table of Elements contains the ingredients that make up the material universe and addresses the scientific question of what we are made of.

The fact that there is a popular chart that displays what the material universe is made of is powerful and illuminating. Even people who don't consider themselves science types remember some of the more popular compounds, such as H2O.

The Periodic Table reminds us that even some of the most profound questionssuch as what is the universe made ofhave simple, well-established answers.

There is another internationally established scientific chart that accurately addresses an equally essential matter: the question of when the life of a human being begins.

When the physical material dimension of a human beingan individual member of the human speciesnormally begins via sexual reproduction is a fundamental, relevant, and important scientific fact that everyone should know. While the details that human embryologists study are complex, the upshot is remarkably simple and has been documented for decades in the Carnegie Stages of Early Human Embryonic Development and the Carnegie Chart.

Carnegie Stage 1a marks the beginning of a human life.

While understanding the Periodic Table may have few practical applications for the average person, knowing about the Carnegie Chart is relevant to everyone. This empowering information is the very starting point for making informed decisions about human reproduction, about a human embryo and a human fetus, on an individual leveland more broadly speaking in terms of public policies and laws.

Yet, unlike the Periodic Table of Elements, the Carnegie Stages are not being taught in secondary schools and the Carnegie Chart is not hanging on the wall in science classrooms throughout America. And so, unless you are fortunate enough to be a scientist, you have probably never even heard of the Carnegie Chart.

For more than 70 years the field of human embryology (the branch of biology that specializes in the beginning of life and early development) has documented when a human life begins in the Carnegie Chart. Human embryologists view the Carnegie Stages and Chart as physicists view the Periodic Table, its their gold standard.

The Carnegie Chart contains the 23 Stages of development of the early human being during the embryonic period, beginning at fertilization and through slightly more than 8 full weeks post-fertilization. The Chart is based on the Carnegie Stages of Early Human Embryonic Developmentthe accurate, objective, and empirical scientific facts of human embryology that were instituted in 1942 by the National Museum of Health and Medicines Human Developmental Anatomy Center (a secular government organization that is a part of the National Institutes of Health). The Carnegie Stages are verified annually by a global committee of experts (called FIPAT) and are required to be included in every genuine human embryology textbook worldwide.

Human embryologists know that in normal human sexual reproduction a new, whole, individual, living human being begins to exist at the beginning of the process of fertilization (first contact between the plasma membrane of the sperm and the plasma membrane of the oocyte/"egg"), in a womans fallopian tube, and that the new human organism/human being is called a human embryo. This simple scientific fact is documented as Carnegie Stage 1a in the Carnegie Chart. (*The zygote is Stage 1c, by the way and is not when a human life starts).

When a human life begins is a fact that the scientific experts have known and documented for a very long time, and all of us should and can know too, because the Carnegie Stages and Chart are available to everyone, not just to human embryologists.

Brooke Stanton is the CEO of Contend Projects, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to spreading accurate scientific information about the start of a human life.

Read this article:
Every Pro-Lifer Should Know This One Scientific Chart - The Weekly Standard

July 7, 2017

The research, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) annual conference, which ends today in Geneva, Switzerland, describes for the first time the use of an experimental technique that has made it possible to analyze the functioning of human sperm in contact with the cytoplasmic content of the eggs in vitro. By doing so, it was possible to verify in the laboratory, and before fertilization occurred, whether in this medium the sperm cell fulfilled its functions before being inseminated into an egg.

The research, led by Dr. Isabelle Vernos, ICREA research professor at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, and Eugin Group, has been jointly carried out by a group of researchers in the laboratory at the Barcelona Science Park (BSP) and at the CRG. "The aim of the research was to develop a technique prior to the use of male gametes in an assisted reproduction cycle in order to verify whether their functions were developing correctly," explains Dr. Montserrat Barragan, co-author of the study and head of the Eugin's research laboratory at the BSP.

"The results are preliminary and we have to see more cases, but it seems that there is a relationship between the characteristics of the selected sperm cells and their ability to correctly generate an embryo," Barragan adds. "The first results open the way for further research in this direction," she says.

After a study with 20 semen samples, the researchers, by means of this novel technique, were able to observe the relationship between the visible characteristics of sperm cells detected in the usual seminograms - such as morphology, concentration and motility - and their functional capacity in the first processes of cell division, namely, the first stages of embryo development.

Pioneering Methodology

"The methodology of the study has been novel," says Farners Amargant, the first author of the research and pre-doctoral researcher at CRG and Eugin. "Twenty samples of human sperm - with different morphological characteristics and levels of concentration and motility - were analyzed and incubated ex vivo (outside a living organism) in the eggs of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), a model organism widely used in biomedical research". The sample of human sperm is brought into contact with the cytoplasm of the frog oocyte and from here we analyze its ability to construct the bipolar mitotic spindle and other functions involved in cell division.

30% of fertilized eggs in assisted reproduction processes stop developing in the early stages of cell division. This leads scientists to think that functional defects in the sperm cell, such as a defect in pronuclear fusion, or in the construction of the so-called bipolar mitotic spindle - phases subsequent to DNA duplication - could be responsible for these failures. "The technique developed will allow us to observe more closely the incidence of this type of defect in order to understand if they influence the proper development of the embryo," Farners concludes.

Successful case: from basic science to clinical practice

This research project began in 2014 following an internal initiative of the CRG to promote multidisciplinary research aimed at both patients and society. It constitutes a successful case that has given rise to a fruitful scientific partnership between the Eugin group and Isabelle Vernos's laboratory at the CRG. The first author of the paper, the pre-doctoral researcher Farners Amargant, is taking part in an industrial doctorate, which is an initiative by the Generalitat de Catalunya aimed at capturing talent, training scientists and contributing to the competitiveness and internationalization of the business fabric.

More:
Novel technique analyzes sperm morphology and motility in embryo formation process - News-Medical.net

A weekly round-up of news affecting your health.

CANCER AND PREGNANCY

Girls and women who survive cancer are more than a third less likely to fall pregnant, British researchers have found.

A study of girls and women aged under 39 and who were diagnosed with cancer in Scotland between 1981 and 2012 were found to be 38 per cent less likely to conceive than women in the general population.

"The major impact on pregnancy after some common cancers highlights the need for enhanced strategies to preserve fertility in girls and young women," Professor Richard Anderson from the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh said.

The study looked at 23,201 female cancer survivors and found 6627 pregnancies among them.

The researchers said nearly 11,000 pregnancies would have been expected in a comparable matched control group from the general population.

Cancer treatments are known to affect fertility for several reasons, with some chemotherapy causing damage to the ovary, while radiotherapy can affect the ovary, uterus and potentially parts of the brain controlling reproduction.

Prof Anderson presented the results of the study, which have not been published, at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Geneva this week.

HIVES MYSTERY

The long-running medical mystery about why some people develop recurring itchy hives for no apparent reason could soon be solved.

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and the Royal Melbourne Hospital have discovered how the condition, known as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), develops and begun working on a treatment.

Using samples from CSU patients they found in most developed itchy hives when a certain type of white blood cells known as T cells reacted to a specific protein found in skin cells.

The researchers have begun work on new studies to investigate whether the T cells that trigger CSU can be "switched off" using new targeted treatments.

"People with CSU develop recurring hives for periods of at least six weeks - and often for many years - but with no apparent trigger," said Dr Priscilla Auyeung, a clinical immunologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

"Our patients often think that they're allergic to their washing powder, soap or shampoo, and sometimes even wonder if it is all in their mind."

UNUSED MEDICINES

A new campaign has been launched to encourage parents to get rid of millions of out-of-date medicines sitting in their homes because of the risk they pose to children.

The federal government-funded Return Unwanted Medicines (RUM) project tells parents how they can safely dispose of expired and unwanted medicines in order to prevent their children getting poisoned.

More than 5000 children end up in hospital due to medicine poisonings each year.

"Last year alone, over 700 tonnes of medicines were collected and safely disposed of by the RUM project, preventing it from ending up in waterways or landfill," RUM project manager Toni Riley said.

"If that's only medicines collected from around 20 per cent of the population, imagine how many more are hiding in bathroom cabinets and kitchen drawers across the country."

Parents wanting more information can go to returnmed.com.au or ask their local pharmacist.

SLEEPY TIME

Employers are being urged to swap older fluorescent lights for more efficient LED bulbs to help their workers become more alert.

The Sleep Health Foundation and Cooperative Research Centre for Alertness, Safety and Productivity say Australia has a worrying rate of sleep disorders and improving lighting in workplaces could help.

Alertness CRC sleep specialist Professor Steven Lockley said using blue-enriched white light bulbs can help increase alertness and performance in the workplace.

"Many companies are considering changing their lights to save energy and we would like businesses to understand that if they choose the right light, they can add additional benefits to their bottom line with improved productivity and safety," he said.

More:
Checkup Medical column for July 7 - SBS

Josh Disbrow, Chief Executive Officer of Aytu BioScience, stated, "These latest research findings continue to add to the clinical and scientific evidence supporting use of our MiOXSYS System, which we've already demonstrated to be a useful clinical tool for assessing oxidative stress levels in semen as it relates to male infertility. These seven presentations at ESHRE, presented by leading andrologists and urologists from infertility centers around the world, demonstrate the broad interest and significant potential for clinical use of the MiOXSYS System as an aid in the diagnosis of male factor infertility."

The poster presentations were as follows:

Title: ORP: A Reliable and Reproducible Method of Evaluating Oxidative Stress - A Multicenter Study Poster Number: G17-0526 Session: 36 Presenter: Ashok Agarwal, Ph.D., Director of the Andrology Center and Director of the American Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH Conclusion: Although other semen parameters showed significant differences between the two centers, sORP remained consistent in both data sets individually or in combined data. This proves its reproducibility and reliability. sORP is a measure of semen quality which adds more weight to semen testing in identifying fertile from infertile semen samples.

Title: Effect of Seminal ORP Value on Embryo Quality and Clinical Pregnancy Rate Poster Number: G17-1357 Session: Andrology Presenter: B. Balaban, VKF American Hospital Assisted Reproduction Unit stanbul, Turkey Conclusion: These findings may have important diagnostic and prognostic implications for couples experiencing male factor infertility and undergoing assisted reproductive technique (ART). Further studies are warranted to explore the mechanism of increased ORP in a subset of couples (male factor, no female factor) undergoing ART to corroborate the significance of these findings.

Title: Oxidation-Reduction Potential and Sperm DNA Fragmentation Levels in Sperm Morphologic Anomalies Poster Number: G17-0075 Session: 36 Presenter: A. Majzoub, Urology Department Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; Conclusion: Results were obtained from semen samples of patients presenting with primary or secondary infertility and hence were not compared with a control group or with men of proven fertility. Studying the correlation between sperm morphology indices and advanced sperm function tests is important as this would help in resting the controversy surrounding its clinical implication on fertility potential. It may also provide insights for developing novel sperm selection techniques that can be utilized during assisted reproduction.

Title: Oxidation-Reduction Potential: A Valuable Tool for Male Fertility Evaluation. Poster Number: G17-0182 Session: 4 Presenter: A. Majzoub, Urology Department Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; Conclusion: ORP measurement with the MiOXSYS System is a simple, quick and user friendly method that can reliably measure OS in biologic samples. The significant correlation between ORP and total motile sperm count allows its use as a predictor of fertility potential.

Title: High Levels of Seminal Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP) in Infertile Men with Clinical Varicocele Poster Number: G17-0995 Session: Andrology Presenter: R. Saleh, Director, Ajyal Hospital, Sohag, Egypt Conclusion: These findings may have important diagnostic and therapeutic implications. Further studies are warranted to explore the mechanism of increased ORP in a subset of infertile men with clinical varicocele. In addition, future studies may help determine those patients who would benefit from antioxidant therapy and/or surgical repair of varicocele.

Title: Oxidation-Reduction Potential Can Help Distinguish Semen Samples Under Oxidative Stress Poster Number: G17-0954 Session: Andrology Presenter: S. Roychoudhury, Assam University, Silchar, India Conclusion: Measuring sORP can help a clinician understand if comparatively one semen sample is under higher state of oxidative stress than another.

Title: Correlation of Sperm DNA fragmentation and Seminal Oxidation Reduction Potential in Infertile Men Poster Number: G17-0055 Session: Andrology Presenter: H. Elbardisi, Urology Department Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; Conclusion: Sperm DNA fragmentation and seminal oxidation reduction potential should be included in assessment of male infertility. Using ORP testing can help in detecting the target patients for antioxidant therapy.

Selection of the abstracts for publication in the press program does not imply endorsement of the MiOXSYS System by ESHRE.

About Aytu BioScience, Inc.

Aytu BioScience is a commercial-stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on global commercialization of novel products in the field of urology, with a focus on products addressing vitality, sexual wellness, and reproductive health. The company currently markets two prescription products in the U.S.: Natesto, the first and only FDA-approved nasal formulation of testosterone for men with hypogonadism (low testosterone, or "Low T") and ProstaScint (capromab pendetide), the only FDA-approved imaging agent specific to prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) for prostate cancer detection and staging. Additionally, Aytu is developing MiOXSYS, a novel, rapid semen analysis system with the potential to become a standard of care for the diagnosis and management of male infertility caused by oxidative stress. MiOXSYS is commercialized outside the U.S. where it is a CE Marked, Health Canada cleared product, and Aytu is planning U.S.-based clinical trials in pursuit of 510k medical device clearance by the FDA. Aytu's strategy is to continue building its portfolio of revenue-generating products, leveraging its focused commercial team and expertise to build leading brands within growing markets. For more information visit aytubio.com. Aytu also now owns wholly-owned subsidiary Aytu Women's Health (formerly Nuelle, Inc.), a personal health and wellness company focused on women's sexual wellbeing and intimacy that markets Fiera, a personal care device for women that is scientifically proven to enhance physical arousal and sexual desire. Fiera is a consumer device and is not intended to treat, mitigate, or cure any disease or medical condition. For more information about the Fiera personal care device visit fiera.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this presentation, including statements regarding our anticipated future clinical and regulatory events, future financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are generally written in the future tense and/or are preceded by words such as "may," "will," "should," "forecast," "could," "expect," "suggest," "believe," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," or similar words, or the negatives of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. These statements are just predictions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual events or results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among others: risks relating to gaining market acceptance of our products, obtaining reimbursement by third-party payors, the potential future commercialization of our product candidates, the anticipated start dates, durations and completion dates, as well as the potential future results, of our ongoing and future clinical trials, the anticipated designs of our future clinical trials, anticipated future regulatory submissions and events, our anticipated future cash position and future events under our current and potential future collaborations. We also refer you to the risks described in "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of Aytu BioScience, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the other reports and documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

Investor contact:

Amato and Partners, LLC

Investor Relations Counsel

admin@amatoandpartners.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aytu-bioscience-presents-clinical-findings-for-its-mioxsys-system-at-33rd-annual-meeting-of-the-european-society-of-human-reproduction-and-embryology-300482828.html

SOURCE Aytu BioScience, Inc.

Home

Continued here:
Aytu BioScience Presents Clinical Findings for its MiOXSYS System at 33rd Annual Meeting of the European Society ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to help predict which embryos will result in IVF success. In a new study, AI was found to be more accurate than embryologists at pinpointing which embryos had the potential to result in the birth of a healthy baby. Experts from Sao Paulo State University in Brazil teamed up with Boston Place Clinic in London to develop the technology in collaboration with Dr Cristina Hickman, scientific adviser to the British Fertility Society. They believe the inexpensive technique has the potential to transform care for patients and help women achieve pregnancy sooner. During the process, AI was "trained" in what a good embryo looks like from a series of images. AI is able to recognise and quantify 24 image characteristics of embryos that are invisible to the human eye. These include the size of the embryo, texture of the image and biological characteristics such as the number and homogeneity of cells. During the study, which used cattle embryos, 48 images were evaluated three times each by embryologists and by the AI system. The embryologists could not agree on their findings across the three images, but AI led to complete agreement. Stuart Lavery, director of the Boston Place Clinic, said the technology would not replace examining chromosomes in detail, which is thought to be a key factor in determining which embryos are "normal" or "abnormal". He said: "Looking at chromosomes does work, but it is expensive and it is invasive to the embryo. What we are looking for here is something that can be universal. Instead of a human looking at thousands of images, actually a piece of software looks at them and is capable of learning all the time. As we get data about which embryos produce a baby, that data will be fed back into the computer and the computer will learn. "What we have found is that the technique is much more consistent than an embryologist, it is more reliable. It can also look for things that the human eye can't see." He said work was under way to look back at images from parents who had genetic screening and became pregnant. Applying AI to those images will help the computer learn, he said. Mr Lavery added: "This is an innovative and exciting project combining state of the art embryology with new advances in computer modelling, all with the aim of selecting the best possible embryo for transfer to give all our patients the best possible chance of having a baby. Although further work is needed to optimise the technique, we hope that a system will be available shortly for use in a clinical setting."

Read the original:
Artificial intelligence better than scientists at choosing successful IVF embryos - Independent Online