Birth control use in three rural areas of Afghanistan increased over an eight-month period after health workers explained the benefits of contraception in individual counseling sessions, according to a report published Monday in the World Health Organization’s journal Bulletin, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. Afghanistan has one of the highest fertility rates in the world, with an average of more than six infants per woman. Awareness and use of contraception remains low among many Afghans, with about 10% of women using some form of birth control, according to UNICEF estimates…

Here’s more evidence that “safe” plastics are not as safe as once presumed: New research published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) suggests that exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy leads to epigenetic changes that may cause permanent reproduction problems for female offspring. BPA, a common component of plastics used to contain food, is a type of estrogen that is ubiquitous in the environment. “Exposure to BPA may be harmful during pregnancy; this exposure may permanently affect the fetus,” said Hugh S. Taylor, Ph.D…

Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Gene Security Network (GSN) announced that they have signed an agreement to conduct a clinical trial of GSN’s advanced preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technology, Parental Support™. The 11-center U.S. trial is designed to evaluate if GSN’s PGD technology helps increase in vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates when using single cell embryo testing for an abnormal number of chromosomes, a condition called aneuploidy…

Few medical differences exist between children conceived using assisted reproductive technology and those who were naturally conceived, researchers reported on Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the AP/Chicago Tribune reports. More than three million children have been born using assisted reproductive technology procedures in which the sperm and egg are joined outside the body. Infants resulting from these procedures account for 4% of live births, the researchers said…

As assisted reproductive technologies advance and become more widely used, Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. are working to clarify options for infertile Catholics, the Religion News Service/Washington Post reports. During a November 2009 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia said there is “great confusion among lay Catholics regarding the church’s teaching on human reproductive technologies…

Fertility Centers of Illinois (FCI) has officially launched their Egg Donor Program, making them the only in house program in Chicago offering third party reproduction options, fertility treatment, fertility counseling and more in one place. Dr. Jane Nani, Director of the FCI Egg Donor Program, is enthusiastic to provide additional fertility services to couples looking to grow their families. “After working with hundreds of couples, we wanted to offer third party reproductive options which adhere to a higher standard and work in the best interests of the patient…

Men with no sperm in their ejaculate-a condition known as azoospermia- may no longer need invasive procedures to determine if they have sperm in their testes according to a new study published in Human Reproduction. Instead, the study found that MR Spectroscopy-a simple metabolic scan that combines the use of 1H Spectroscopy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-can be used to determine the likelihood of finding sperm in men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA)…

Men with no sperm in their ejaculate-a condition known as azoospermia- may no longer need invasive procedures to determine if they have sperm in their testes according to a new study published in Human Reproduction. Instead, the study found that MR Spectroscopy-a simple metabolic scan that combines the use of 1H Spectroscopy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-can be used to determine the likelihood of finding sperm in men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA)…

Most of us probably think of sperm as rather active little cells, swimming with quick movements of their “tail” or flagella. But actually sperm’s motility is in fact short lived. When in the male reproductive tract they have to rest easy, lest they wear themselves out prematurely and give up any chance of ever finding an egg. Scientists have long known that sperm’s activity level depends on their internal pH…

Researchers have identified an elusive molecular regulator that controls the ability of human sperm to reach and fertilize the egg, a finding that has implications on both treating male infertility and preventing pregnancy.