Studies on the ovarian antigens and its corresponding specific antibodies have showed the relationship between the incidences of antiovarian autoantibodies and the clinical mani-festation of ovarian dysfunction and infertility in women. The human ovary can be the target for autoimmune attack and clinically the ensuing ovarian dysfunction often results in premature ovarian failure, but other pathologies involving the ovaries, such as unexplained infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis have been associated with antiovarian autoimmunity, too…

In 1989 a 29-year-old Michael Schrader had it all: steady job, a wife, and two wonderful children - daughter Courtney and son Cameron. He couldn’t envision wanting more - that is, more children. Taking steps to keep his nuclear family intact, he underwent vasectomy - a procedure so routine he was back on the golf course the next afternoon. Divorce later frayed this family portrait, but in the years that followed Schrader would ultimately revisit the issue of having children with his soon to be second wife Liz…

During the release of its five-year plan to help drive down high maternal death and fertility rates in low-income countries, the World Bank on Tuesday said “that family planning and other reproductive health services have fallen off the radar of many governments, donors and aid agencies,” Reuters reports. Under its Reproductive Health Action Plan (…

Three media outlets recently examined the birth control pill’s role in societal changes of the last half century. ~ USA Today: There are several “misconceptions” about the pill, including that it was a catalyst for the sexual revolution and caused a sudden decline in the U.S. fertility rate, USA Today reports. Nonetheless, the pill’s “influence has been lasting and pervasive,” and it “became a symbol of women’s rights and generational change,” according to USA Today…

Two independent groups of researchers have identified distinct roles for two proteins in a family of proteins known as PLA2s as crucial for sperm function and fertility in mice. These data identify proteins that could underlie causes of infertility and provide potential targets for the development of new contraceptive agents and new approaches to treating infertility. In addition, these data provide a caution to those developing drugs that target members of this closely related group of proteins to treat hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and inflammation…

NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Friday examined how the new health reform law could “improve women’s experiences” with health insurance in the individual and small group markets. Under the current system, many health insurers deny or refuse to offer individual or small group coverage for gender-specific conditions, such as female infertility or having a previous caesarean section. Health insurers also frequently charge women higher premiums than men for the same coverage…

IntegraMed America, Inc. (NASDAQ: INMD), the leader in developing and managing specialty healthcare networks in fertility and vein care, launched web portal AttainFertility.com, a new destination site offering comprehensive fertility information. AttainFertility.com is an interactive web platform that offers trusted fertility information from experts regarding everything from fertility issues and treatment options to cost and planning. The website also offers community support to help patients better cope with the transition to being parents…

Women delaying childbearing, Conceptions Reproductive Associates of Colorado is proud to announce our new egg donor website: http://www.EggDonorColorado.com. Egg donation has become a mainstay of infertility therapy in the United Sates. With women delaying childbearing for professional, financial, educational, or personal reasons - or a combination of all four - many women who are ready to start a family find out their eggs have a poor prognosis in establishing a pregnancy…

A scientifically-based tool developed by researchers from Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health to help women prevent pregnancy naturally, is now being used by a growing number of women to help plan pregnancy. An estimated twenty percent of women who wish to become pregnant are unsuccessful because they do not know when they are fertile, according to the American Infertility Association…

UK scientists have developed a fertilization procedure that uses the nuclear DNA of the father and the mother, but the mitchondrial DNA of a third person, an egg donor, that potentially offers couples where the mother has a family history of mitchondrial diseases, a way to have healthy children via IVF (in vitro fertilization). You can read about how the researchers at Newcastle University in the UK developed this technique in a scientific paper published in an early online issue of the journal Nature on 14 April…