3D-printed ovaries allow infertile mice to give birth

Infertile mice have given birth to healthy pups after having their fertility restored with ovary implants made with a 3D printer.

Researchers created the synthetic ovaries by printing porous scaffolds from a gelatin ink and filling them with follicles, the tiny, fluid-holding sacs that contain immature egg cells.

In tests on mice that had one ovary surgically removed, scientists found that the implants hooked up to the blood supply within a week and went on to release eggs naturally through the pores built into the gelatin structures.

The work marks a step towards making artificial ovaries for young women whose reproductive systems have been damaged by cancer treatments, leaving them infertile or with hormone imbalances that require them to take regular hormone-boosting drugs.

“Our hope is that one day this ovarian bioprosthesis is really the ovary of the future,” said Teresa Woodruff at Northwestern University in Chicago. “The goal of the project is to be able to restore fertility and endocrine health to young cancer patients who have been sterilised by their cancer treatment.”

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Of seven mice that mated after receiving the artificial ovaries, three gave birth to pups that had developed from eggs released by the implants. The mice fed normally on their mother’s milk and went on to have healthy litters of their own later in life.

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists describe how they printed layered lattices of gelatin strips to make the ovary implants. The sizes and positions of the holes in the structures were carefully controlled to hold dozens of follicles and allow blood vessels to connect to the implants. Mature eggs were then released from the implants as happens in normal ovulation.

Chemotherapy and high doses of radiation used in cancer treatment can destroy some or all of a woman’s eggs, putting them at risk of infertility and an early menopause. And while doctors have had some success in restoring women’s fertility from frozen ovarian tissue, an implant could potentially help those who do not bank healthy tissue when they are children.

Monica Laronda, a co-author on the study, said that an ovary implant could also help cancer survivors whose eggs are so damaged that they need hormone replacement therapy to trigger puberty. “We’re thinking big picture, meaning every stage of the girl’s life, so puberty through adulthood to a natural menopause,” she said.

A microscopic image of an immature mouse egg, surrounded by supportive cells, after it has been housed in a bioprosthetic ovary scaffold for six days. Photograph: Northwestern University

Scientists have made artificial ovaries for mice before, but the latest research is believed to be the first time that researchers have used 3D printing to manufacture them. It is not clear if the same approach will work in people because human follicles are much larger and grow rapidly until they are visible to the naked eye.

Other animal experiments performed nearly a decade ago hinted that women who had ovarian tissue transplants later in life might enjoy broader benefits from the procedure than restored fertility. In 2010, scientists at Kato Ladies Clinic in Tokyo found that ovarian transplants extended the lives of old mice, and led older females, who were normally inactive, to seek out mates and have babies. The researchers conceded that far more work was needed to assess the effects in women.

Advances in 3D printing have already transformed some areas of medicine by allowing the doctors to make bespoke body parts that can be directly implanted into patients. Last year, South Korean surgeons printed a titanium heel bone for a man who had a tumour removed from his foot.

Meanwhile, researchers in North Carolina announced that they had made ears, jawbones and skeletal muscles by 3D printing structures laced with living cells. Other groups have printed vascular networks that will be vital for creating large synthetic organs in the lab.

3D-printed ovaries allow infertile mice to give birth

Smartphone app could allow men to test their fertility at home

Men may soon be able to measure their own sperm count and quality at home, using a smartphone app developed by scientists.

In early tests the gadget, designed to clip onto a smartphone, detected abnormal sperm samples with an accuracy of 98%.

In more than 40% of cases where couples struggle to conceive, the underlying fertility issue is linked to sperm abnormalities, but the researchers said that social stigma and lack of access to testing meant than many men never seek evaluation.

Hadi Shafiee, who led the work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, US, said: “We wanted to come up with a solution to make male infertility testing as simple and affordable as home pregnancy tests.”

The team put the device together using spare parts from DVD and CD drives at a total cost of $ 4.45. Using the device simply involves drawing semen into a disposable holder that is plugged into one side of the phone attachment, in a similar way to a USB. In seconds, results of the analysis are displayed on the phone’s screen.

In the study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the research team recruited 10 volunteers with no formal training, including administrative assistants employed at a Boston fertility clinic. They correctly classified more than 100 semen samples using the app.

The test is an inexpensive smartphone attachment that quickly and accurately evaluates semen samples for fertility testing. Photograph: [Credit: M.K. Kanakasabapathy et al., Science Translational Medicine (2017)]

Overall, the scientists examined 350 clinic samples and were able to identify those with low sperm counts and inactive or poorly motile sperm with 98% accuracy.

John Petrozza, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center and a co-author, described the device as a “true game-changer”. “Men have to provide semen samples in these rooms at a hospital, a situation in which they often experience stress, embarrassment, pessimism and disappointment,” he said.

“Current clinical tests are lab-based, time-consuming and subjective. This test is low-cost, quantitative, highly accurate and can analyse a video of an undiluted, unwashed semen sample in less than five seconds.”

Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, who was not involved in the research, said that the techniques used for sperm quality assessment have not changed significantly since the 1950s, and that even when carried out at specialist centres can be prone to errors if the laboratory worker has not had sufficient training.

“As such, the development of an easy, cheap and accurate method to evaluate the sperm present in a sample of semen would be very welcome, particularly if it could be carried out by someone without specific training and in any location,” he said.

However, he added that the smartphone device could not replicate all the tests carried out in a specialist lab and did not analyse morphology – sperm size and shape.

“For a small number of men whose sperm are badly made, and have poor morphology, it would be important to get this diagnosed correctly,” he said. “So any man who struggles with infertility for a significant length of time, say more than 12 months, should consider getting their test repeated in a specialist laboratory, regardless of what the phone app might have concluded.”

The team behind the device are planning to perform additional testing and will file for approval from the FDA, the US regulator.

Smartphone app could allow men to test their fertility at home

Half of UK parents allow children to drink alcohol at home, says survey

Half of parents with children under the age of 14 allow them to drink alcohol at home, research by Churchill home insurance has found.

It also found that 34% of parents with children under 14 used alcohol as a bribe to encourage good behaviour, while 11% of parents with children aged five to seven allowed them to drink at home. A quarter of those surveyed who let their children drink said they saw nothing wrong with it.

Related: Should you be worried about your student son or daughter’s drinking?

While it is not illegal for children aged five to 16 to have alcohol at home, the Chief Medical Officer’s report states that children under 14 who drink have increased health risks – including suicide attempts, involvement in violence and alcohol-related injuries.

Almost a third of parents said that allowing their children to drink at home let them monitor their child’s alcohol consumption. The research also suggested that one in five parents would allow minors who are not family members to have alcohol in their house.

Martin Scott, head of Churchill home insurance said: “The relationship between children and alcohol in Britain always seems more fraught than for our continental cousins. Many parents want their children to have a responsible attitude to drinking and introduce alcohol in a safe, controlled environment.

“The challenge any parent will recognise is how to prevent excessive drinking, especially amongst teenagers … Whenever people are drinking in the home, there is a greater risk of injury or property damage as alcohol has a significant impact on co-ordination.”

Joanna Simons, chief executive at Alcohol Concern, said: “We know that many parents start from the best intentions when they introduce children to alcohol at home, but all the research indicates that the younger that children start drinking, the more likely they are to have problems with alcohol in later life.

Related: Alcohol-related deaths in England up 4% in one year

“Parents are really important role models for their children and the more that they can keep an eye on the number of units they’re drinking, and have a few days off drinking each week, the more that their children’s attitude to alcohol will be shaped in a safer way.

“The Chief Medical Officer advises that an alcohol-free childhood is the safest option and that those under 15-years-old, ideally, should not drink at all.”

Rosanna O’Connor, director of alcohol, drugs and tobacco at Public Health England, said: “Advice from the Chief Medical Officer for England is that an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest option.

“Most parents are aware of the dangers of children and young people consuming alcohol from an early age and evidence points to the fact that starting to drink alcohol before the age of 15 can affect their health and wellbeing in the future.”

Half of UK parents allow children to drink alcohol at home, says survey

Do not Allow Summertime Bites Make You Sick

The Polar Vortex that kept so numerous of us indoors for months has finally retreated. This can only imply one particular thing: mosquito season. As humans spend a lot more time outdoors, they are exposed to illness carried by mosquitoes and ticks and there are some not-so-entertaining new ones to understand about. First the oldies but goodies.

Lyme ailment is the greatest-identified tick-borne illness in the US. It is endemic to the Northeast, components of the Upper Midwest, and some elements of the Pacific Northwest. It causes a characteristic “bulleye” rash named erythema migrans, and if untreated can lead to fever, joint pains, and sometimes more severe signs. It is very effortlessly taken care of with antibiotics. Regardless of the hype coming from some sufferers and physicians, after Lyme is treated it is cured. There is no this kind of issue as “chronic Lyme disease”.

Erythema migrans, the rash of Lyme disease (Photograph credit score: Wikipedia)

Mosquito bites are a great deal more typical than tick bites and can cause some remarkably horrid conditions. The worst of these is malaria which kills about 627,000 individuals each yr close to the globe. Thankfully, it’s very unusual in the US (but it wasn’t always). The greatest chance to Americans is with travel to endemic locations. Malaria classically causes quite high relapsing fevers, and any fevers following travel to a malarial spot must be evaluated by a physician.

Gaining a more substantial foothold in North America is Dengue Fever, also recognized as “breakbone fever” for the remarkable pain it triggers.

English: Stegomyia aegypti (formerly Aedes aegypti) mosquito biting a human. (Photograph credit score: Wikipedia)

Dengue is uncommon in the continental US, but is extremely widespread in the Caribbean, which includes Puerto Rico. It leads to fever and incredible joint and muscle discomfort, but normally no lasting damage. It is typically confined to tropical and sub-tropical areas, but international travel and climate alter are placing the continental US at better danger. In 2009 there was an outbreak in Crucial West, FL that was not imported from abroad.

The most recent player, and the one with the best identify, is chikungunya. This mosquito-borne virus has not too long ago created its way to the western hemisphere and is turning out to be a substantial dilemma in the Caribbean. So far there haven’t been an situations transmitted within the continental US,  but this could simply adjust as vacationers have returned with the ailment, and there are native mosquitoes that can carry it. “Chick” is really considerably like dengue, the identify coming from a Makonde word which means “it bends up”, presumably referring to the contortions of pain suffered by its victims.

The excellent news is that all of these conditions are preventable. Public well being measures can remove or deal with standing water exactly where mosquitoes breed, and individuals can cover up, use DEET-based mostly insect repellent, and restrict exposed skin, specially at dawn and dusk when a lot of mosquitoes prefer to feed. (Ticks are a bit trickier, but they cannot bite by way of clothes, so tuck in individuals pant-legs).

Your danger of getting a bug-borne sickness in the US is nonetheless quite lower, but if you want to steer clear of ruining your day, verify your regional health department’s site for updates on nearby outbreaks and prevention measures.

Do not Allow Summertime Bites Make You Sick

In their personal words: Jimmy Savile"s victims "badly allow down" by the NHS

“However Savile then French kissed me … for about ten seconds.

“This created me feel very uncomfortable and I went red with embarrassment. I remember individuals had been laughing at him they seemed to uncover it funny. Savile then stood up straight and he looked at me with his eyebrows up and a grin on his face.

“He did not say anything at all to me. I remember putting my hand on his shoulder as he kissed me to brace myself, but he was like a brick wall.”

In the early 1990s, G was a medical professional working at Leeds Basic Infirmary on a paediatric ward.

She was on the ward on a Christmas Day when Savile entered the ward accompanied by two other men.

As she walked in the direction of Savile to welcome him, he lunged forward, grabbed her hand and kissed her forcibly on the mouth. He then rubbed her breasts.

Savile then turned and left the ward quickly with out speaking, leaving the doctor “stunned and repulsed”.

She recalls being supported by the ward Sister, but did not feel about making a formal complaint.

“The Sister came more than to me and mentioned ‘are you all correct?’ and I said ‘no’ and I informed her what happened… I can don’t forget the nurses saying ‘why do you feel we stayed behind here?’ [which means the nurses’ desk].

“It was nearly an acknowledgement that that was the way he behaved and it was identified by the nursing personnel, the female workers, that you hold away from that man… I do bear in mind the consultant came on [the ward] and I remember telling him as in not ‘I am reporting it to XXX’, but telling him as in ‘you’ll by no means guess what occurred to me’… once again it was extremely sympathetic… not ‘I need to have to escalate it up and speak about it’.

“It was quite supportive and that was the culture at the time. ”

In their personal words: Jimmy Savile"s victims "badly allow down" by the NHS

Families allow down by poor care at scandal-hit children"s heart surgical procedure unit

The report outlined the experiences of sixteen families who complained of poor care at the unit, prompting apologies from each NHS England and the Leeds Educating Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital.

One mom described how she felt pressurised into getting an abortion, which was towards her Muslim beliefs.

Others complained about a lack of compassion following the death of their child.

NHS England explained in its overview of the report: “We conclude that these households did not get the degree of care or support that they deserved and for this we are truly sorry.”

Operations at the LGI unit were temporarily suspended final 12 months following NHS England raised issues about data on death charges at the centre.

The move provoked an outcry, particularly as mother and father and clinicians from the unit linked it to the ongoing controversy about which children’s heart surgical procedure units were to be closed as portion of a nationwide rationalisation of the service.

Surgery resumed on April ten final yr and NHS England announced it was implementing the full review.

The 1st portion of the report report analysed mortality prices, focussing on the 35 kids who died following surgical procedure at the unit from 2009 to March final year.

A 2nd portion examined the experiences of sixteen families who felt they had been let down by the unit, prompting 6 to have their child’s treatment transferred to another centre.

Michelle Elliott mentioned the unit had been treating her daughter Jessica for eleven many years, and two many years ago explained she needed a transplant.

“My problem was that it took 7 months to get her to the transplant centre, by which time they informed us it was virtually too late,” she advised BBC Radio 4′s Right now programme.

“We acquired there on April 2 for what we believed was a second opinion, only to be taken to the tiny area to be told that actually you are not right here for a 2nd viewpoint, she is very sick and she wants a transplant straight away.”

She received her new heart 27 days later, but in the meantime she had a stroke.

It is the stroke now that is impacting on Jessica’s existence, not the heart.

Ms Elliott stated: “Our argument is that these seven months were wasted, and we could have got her there sooner if I had not been blocked in asking for her to go…

“From the heart stage of view she is doing brilliantly properly, but from the stroke stage of view she is nevertheless not back in mainstream college and she is nevertheless using a wheelchair. But her mind is there.

“We are the lucky ones. There are several mother and father in the group whose infants and children have died.

“We want to operate now with the believe in to make sure other households do not suffer in the way that our family members have suffered.”

Ms Elliott added: “The mortality report says yes, it is protected, but it is not a clean bill of health. There had been quite a few suggestions produced for the heart unit that they have to fulfil more than the coming months.”

An additional mother or father told the investigators: “We had been offered no assistance by the workers after Annie died. We have been provided a leaflet. Nobody asked how we were receiving residence in the early hours of the morning.”

Another described how a book had gone missing in which their son had been creating about his experiences prior to his death.

“It was like shedding an additional element of him,” the parent explained. “We asked the personnel to uncover it. They informed us they could not discover it. They didn’t appear bothered. They didn’t appear to realise what it meant to us.

“We had been going to Leeds for ten many years and no-one particular has rung to see how we are.”

The LGI unit had been earmarked for closure, along with two other individuals in Leicester and the Royal Brompton in west London as portion of a nationwide prepare to streamline children’s cardiac surgical treatment into fewer, far more specialised units.

But, following a fierce campaign by some mothers and fathers whose youngsters have been treated at the LGI and two legal issues, Wellness Secretary Jeremy Hunt halted the prepare and ordered NHS England to re-evaluate the complete approach.

Sir Roger Boyle was head of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Study (Nicor) when it raised concerns about outcomes at Leeds final 12 months, and later on explained he would still not send his daughter for treatment method there.

He informed BBC Radio 4′s Today programme the behaviour of MPs who campaigned to keep the unit had been “downright disgraceful”.

Sir Roger stated: “The concepts that I was fighting for remain completely the identical.

“I wanted to minimise danger to these very sick youngsters and make certain that they were cared for in an atmosphere that was caring and compassionate.

“That is what the secure and sustainable programme was aiming to supply.”

Sir Roger insisted there had been an “overpowering consensus” in about 2006 that the NHS needed fewer larger youngster surgical centres that could give a “comprehensive and risk-free services”.

He said he even now believed there were as well a lot of this kind of units, incorporating: “That principle I consider is even now adhered to by numerous but it seems as if the establishment has turned their encounter against it, largely I consider influenced by the power of views of families who have had very good outcomes in each of these centres… but also by way of political intervention.

“The behaviour of some of the MPs was downright disgraceful.

“Notably some of the West Yorkshire MPs vying for position to be the MP who saved the Leeds surgical programme.”

Dr Yvette Oade, the chief medical officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, stated: “We are pleased for our patients, households and staff that the Mortality Situation Review has confirmed the health-related and surgical care provided by the children’s heart surgical treatment unit in Leeds is protected.

“We are very sorry nevertheless that the sixteen households who shared their stories with the Loved ones Experience Review felt we did not provide the care they had a appropriate to count on.

“We sincerely apologise to these households and will, of program, make certain we learn from what they had to say and improve our services as a outcome of this.”

NHS England’s deputy health-related director Dr Mike Bewick said: “I am happy to say, on the basis of the proof we at the moment have, that solutions in Leeds are risk-free and are working nicely.”

Dr Bewick thanked the sixteen families whose experiences had been outlined in the assessment.

He mentioned: “This kind of experiences are not able to be defended and I would appear to the believe in to respond positively to this report.”

Mothers and fathers who have campaigned to conserve the Leeds unit welcomed the conclusion the centre was “safe”.

Sharon Cheng, the director of the Children’s Heart Surgical treatment Fund, said: “Leeds’ outcomes and high quality of care are in line with national needs and these of other units, and mother and father can truly feel 100% reassured in the remedy that their youngsters will receive at Leeds.”

Mrs Cheng mentioned: “While 1 complaint is too numerous, the vast majority of households and individuals beneath Leeds’ care inform us on a every day basis what a superb services they get from Leeds and that they come to feel the group has gone above and past to care for their kids.”

But the group Fragile Hearts, which represents dad and mom who have lost their kids or seen them suffer medical harm as a consequence of their heart surgical procedure, stated the report “is proof that the culture which exists at LGI heart unit takes no account of the emotional, psychological or spiritual demands of children or mothers and fathers”.

In a statement, Fragile Hearts mentioned: “We do not believe that the changes instigated by NHS England inside of the unit go far enough as we think that the adjustments necessary are not only in the talent and care supplied but in the mindset of these care providers.

“We as a result get in touch with for systemic changes within the unit, but over all we hope that nobody else ever has to stroll in our shoes.”

It mentioned: “It is our belief that the information provided for the mortality evaluation is flawed and we get in touch with for accessibility to the data by an independent physique a public overview of this data and, indeed, the method followed when a unit fails to meet these targets.”

Anne Keatley-Clarke, chief executive of the Children’s Heart Federation, welcomed “the report’s suggestions that address the unacceptable care obtained by the households”.

But she additional she was “concerned that troubles we raised with the CQC back in 2011 have been totally missed”.

“These contain the top quality of heart surgery and repeat operations, along with the morbidities of children who had received remedy at Leeds Basic Infirmary,” she said.

“We search forward to seeing the third strand of the review which investigates issues that have been raised by other clinicians in relation to inter-unit transfers and patient pathways and hopes that the potential report will deal with our issues.”

Families allow down by poor care at scandal-hit children"s heart surgical procedure unit

Allow them eat cake for breakfast? The most recent fad in dieting | Emma Brockes

Cake for breakfast? Photograph: Alamy

Dieting is boring. Performing it, talking about it, calculating the maths. Hearing other people’s diet plan stories is rivalled only by hearing about their dreams for sheer conversational agony. Consume the muffin, don’t eat the muffin but although we stand right here in line at Starbucks, do we have to have a 3-act perform about whether or not or not you’re going to eat the muffin?

The psychodrama of whether or not to consume the muffin is not trivial to the dieter, of program, and it is in this area – amongst boredom and despair – that the diet regime industry lives and exploits us. Every 12 months, it dumps yet another January publication schedule of ridiculous titles on a pliant marketplace, depressed by obtaining “failed” at the earlier year’s regime.

It’s funny how absurd these factors appear on initial viewing, and how swiftly they get absorbed by the culture. Do you bear in mind how, in 2010, when the New York Instances Design Segment ran that first trend piece about the Paleo diet program, everybody mocked it for going so far beyond parody that it threatened to support one more trend piece by truly spelling the death of one thing?

This January, there are at least 4 straight-faced Paleo cookbooks in the diet part of the bookstore (Paleo for Newcomers, 40 Best Paleo Recipes, The Paleo Diet regime Revised and, leaving no stone unturned, Paleo Dessert Recipes), and the word has been practically fully stripped of its ridiculousness.

Its place in the lifestyle-cycle – as a repository for scorn that by some means props up the legitimacy of the whole technique – has been filled by one thing else that will, for a brief although, be considered even much more ludicrous, until finally it is itself replaced following January. There is a metaphor in right here about capitalism that I cannot quite fish out, but never thoughts. What a bumper yr for new diet plan books it is!

How we consume is a measure of our wider fears and securities and in the last couple of many years, well-known diet programs have centred close to re-workings of the classic model of cutting something out, the gimmick in this situation being entire meals groups, sometimes under the auspicious of allergy symptoms, with liberal use of the word “intolerance” and triggering fight-backs from these food industries most impacted – wheat and dairy in distinct.

This 12 months, recessionary diet program plans centering on denial appear, at a marketing and advertising level at least, to have given way to what may be named indulgence-primarily based programmes. If the Paleo diet program restricts you to items you could only find in the Stone Age, this year’s over-correction comes in the form of the deal with-by yourself diet program, wherein you place back all the things you’ve been informed to stay away from. (Spoiler alert! The trick is in portion control).

It is, as ever, Oprah’s way of life guru Deepak Chopra who lays the broad, cultural bones of this shift with a guide known as What Are You Hungry For? in which he suggests that we are asking ourselves the incorrect concerns. To wit: not what need to I eat, or how significantly of it, but “what are you hungry for? Foods? Adore? Self-esteem? Peace?” The suggestion, writes Chopra, is that “fat reduction based mostly on a deeper awareness of why individuals overeat” is a lot more successful than the metrics of calorie counting.

This is not insane. Bodyweight is usually a symptom not a lead to of unhappiness, and there are excellent wellness reasons for taking the holistic mind/physique technique.

There are also excellent marketing and advertising causes. Phase forward the Marie Antoinette Diet program, published this month, in which you are invited to be “inspired by Marie Antoinette’s eating routines,” in certain, “a recipe for the wellness-boosting ‘wonder’ soup that the queen ate for dinner every evening.”

It’s not about the soup, naturally. As the book blurb has it, “the French queen ate cake for breakfast and was fond of hot chocolate, but appears to have known instinctively what scientific scientific studies have just lately shown: for illustration, it is not what you consume, but when you consume it.” This is not, you’ll be stunned to hear, written by Andy Borowitz or Craig Brown but by Karen Wheeler, a trend and beauty journalist who lives in France and located herself, whilst reading a biography of the French queen, pondering just how far she could run with the let-them-consume-cake trope.

This is how far: “Why eating cake for breakfast promotes weight loss.”

It tends to make the claims of The No Excuses Diet program by Jonathan Roche, published last week and promising excess weight reduction “without dieting and with no lengthy workouts!” (by assisting you “determine what truly motivates you”) appear positively restrained.

There are very good philosophical underpinnings to some of this, and you could possibly create a lively university thesis entitled All Great Diets are Anti-Diet programs. Study suggests that it is the smaller, attainable goals that reward, rather than radial alterations that may prove unsustainable.

The problem is that a massive portion of the diet sector would like you to fail and come back following 12 months for far more. The very best-vendor lists know us too well – our lack of consideration span, our need to be teased and bullied into a regimen – and reward us with built-in obsolescence.

The cycle of excess weight reduction and acquire that characterizes most person diet plans, applies to the sector as a entire. You purchased Atkins, you failed at Atkins and now, right here it is, the title you’ve been waiting for, published this month and announcing a new chapter in the whole sorry cycle: Mirsad Hasic’s Atkins Diet program Problems You Want You Knew.

If that isn’t getting your cake and consuming it, I don’t know what is.

Allow them eat cake for breakfast? The most recent fad in dieting | Emma Brockes