Bollywood ad by Israel arms firm dubbed 'most atrocious ever'

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel's armament development authority, has launched a Bollywood-style promotional film dubbed "the most atrocious defense video of all time" by popular technology magazine Wired. The video, aired last month for the Indian annual air show, features sari-clad women dancing between flower-draped missiles, as a man in a leather jacket promises them "security and protection" to the sound of a sitar-tinted version of the famous pop song Together Forever.
The video cost $15,000 to produce, and was directed by the independent director Avishai Kfir in Israel. The actors are Israelis of Georgian and Indian origin.A Rafael spokesperson said that the video had been received with much acclaim in India."Rafael is constantly trying to demonstrate innovation and creativity not only in the field of defense technology," he said. "In every international fair we launch a film that corresponds with the local culture. In Brazil, for example, our clip revolved around soccer. Over the past few years, we have won first prize for design and production almost annually."

Here Is A Pill For You

Awesome T-Shirt

With the provocative nature of women's dressing, men are hitting back

What a Family

The Duggar family are an Arkansas family, headed by Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar, who have been repeatedly featured in the news and entertainment media for having seventeen children. The family has been filmed for Discovery Health Channel and The Learning Channel television. On May 9, Michelle Duggar announced on the Today Show that she is pregnant with their 18th child and is due on New Years Day 2009.This man and his wife both sell real estate for a living. Although, I doubt she sells much as she also homeschools all the kids!! What a job. Notice how neat their house is kept. The folks on the Today Show said that when this family left their green room (the place they go before they are on the show), it was cleaner than it was when they came. Shows it can be done with organization and I'm sure they have lots of that with a family that big. They also built their own home.
The Duggars' ten sons and seven daughters (including two sets of fraternal twins: one boy/girl set and one boy/boy set), all of whom have names which begin with the letter J, are as follows:




Family life

Jim Bob Duggar and his wife Michelle, who was named Young Mother of the Year in Arkansas in 2004, are conservative Baptists who endorse the Quiverfl movement and the teachings of Bill Gothard. Mr. Duggar is a former state legislator who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. He is now a real estate agent.
Jim Bob Duggar and his wife report that their children are blessings from God, since his wife miscarried while on birth control and was able to conceive many more times once she stopped taking birth control!
The Duggars live debt-free, which Mr. Duggar has said is "the fruit of Jim Sammon's Financial Freedom Seminar" he attended years ago.
The Duggars raise their children using the buddy system, in which an older sibling raises a younger sibling, instead of the parents doing it themselves. The older buddy "will get the younger ones' meals." According to Mrs. Duggar, "They help them with their little phonics lessons and games during the day and help them practice their music lessons. They will play with them or help them pick out the color of their outfit that they want to wear that day, and just all of those types of things."

WOW What a Family? !

Engineering bouncing babies, 1 at a time

As hopeful moms-to-be learn, there are important considerations to the successful implantation of a fertilized human egg. A calm environment, regular hormonal injections and the timing of the implantation can all affect the outcome of an in-vitro procedure.

Now a Tel Aviv University researcher is suggesting that prospective parents and their obstetricians also look at the role that gravity and other biomechanical processes play in its success. New studies by Prof. David Elad from TAU's Department of Biomedical Engineering could help desperate couples give birth to healthy single babies - and avoid the risk of multiple births at the same time.

"I am specifically studying how the uterus contracts before the embryo implants itself onto the uterine wall," he says. These contractions play a vital role in keeping the embryo in the uterus, and knowledge of its mechanics can indicate the optimal time and site for implantation. Physical positioning of the woman and the shape and size of her uterus also affect the results of IVF implantation, Prof. Elad says.

His recent publication in the journal Fertility and Sterility suggests methods to enhance the success rate of fertility treatments.

The Gravity of the Situation

"We are all subject to the Earth's gravity forces, and all biological process must also obey Newton's basic laws of physics," says Prof. Elad, who has been studying the biomechanical engineering of pregnancy for over 15 years. "Uterine contractions push the fluid inside a woman's womb in a peristaltic fashion, which helps sperm reach the ovum in the fallopian tube. And after fertilization, this same peristalsis propels the embryo to its implantation site in the uterine wall. It's a fluid mechanics issue.

"By thinking about these biomechanical processes during IVF treatments, we can help physicians, and prospective parents, see better outcomes," he says. The chance of finding an optimal uterine position could be improved through Prof. Elad's recommendations.

"There is no such thing as a standard uterus," Prof. Elad adds. "Our research offers best practices for women of all shapes and sizes."

Avoiding Multiple Birth Dangers

To increase the chances of a successful IVF implantation, women can opt for three or more viable embryos to be implanted in the womb during one cycle. Many, emotionally and financially exhausted, take this chance even if it means an embryo will need to be sacrificed to ensure the health of another. Prof. Elad's research may spare women from having to make this difficult ethical decision.

"Besides recent reports that IVF babies are slightly more prone to genetic diseases, there is a general notion that when there is more than one embryo in the uterus, all the fetuses are subjected to risks of mild and sometimes severe medical problems in the future," says Prof. Elad. "Parents naturally want to avoid this circumstance."

New Tools for IVF Specialists

Through advanced bioengineering research, Prof. Elad, who is currently a visiting professor at New York's Columbia University, is continuing to provide "stimulating evidence" to the IVF medical community. He is working on a computer simulation program on embryo transport in the uterus, in both natural conception or after IVF procedures, to model how and when artificially inseminated embryos should be implanted in the uterus.

Who’s the IVF daddy? Anyone you care to name

SINGLE women undergoing fertility treatment will be able to name almost any other adult as their child’s second parent on the birth certificate, under laws coming into force next month.

A man being named as the “father” or even a woman as the second parent will not need to be biologically related to the baby and will not even need to be the mother’s boyfriend or girlfriend.

Guidance issued last week by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) states that, as long as a second parent agrees to take on legal rights and responsibilities, they can be named on the birth certificate and consent forms in IVF clinics. The only exclusions are close blood relations.

The arrangements come into force from April 6 and critics claim they are a further erosion of family values. Advocates say they will provide more support for one-parent families. The rules state: “The woman receiving treatment with donor sperm (or embryos created with donor sperm) can consent to any man or woman being the father or second parent.”

Critics say the laws allow single women to choose random individuals and will lead to genetically incorrect information on the birth certificate.

They say legal parents will be nominated in the way godparents have traditionally been chosen, often based on transient friendships. They fear that, if the second parent has no biological link to the child and is not the boyfriend or girlfriend of the mother, the arrangement will be fragile.

Opponents also argue the legal changes further dismantle the traditional family.

David Jones, professor of bioethics at St Mary’s University College in southwest London, said: “These fathers or second parents sound more like godparents. I wonder how wise it is to encourage people to do this because the ‘father’ or second parent will have legal rights and responsibilities.”

He added: “This sounds like social engineering on the hoof. This is now arbitrary.” Baroness Ruth Deech, a former chair of the HFEA, said: “What I object to is the falsification of the birth certificate. It is supposed to be a true record of the genetic origins of birth.

“This is putting the rights and wishes of the parents way above those of the child. It is absurd that anyone can be named as the father or the second parent.”

The HFEA points out that, for the first time, when donated sperm is used, an unmarried woman will be asked who she consents to being named as the child’s “father” or second parent. The chosen parent will also need to give specific consent.

Clinics will be obliged to offer counselling before the agreements are signed. It would be unlikely for the donor to be
named on the birth certificate because the sample is normally obtained from a sperm bank.

The health department says the new laws, set out in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, clarify the legal identity of parents who are not married or in civil partnerships.

For women who are married or in a civil partnership and who use donor sperm, the husband or lesbian girlfriend will automatically be named unless they make a written objection.

The laws also remove the need for clinics to consider a child’s “need for a father” when offering fertility treatment, a move to prevent discrimination against lesbian couples.

Supporters of the changes deny random individuals will be named as parents because they will need to give formal consent to legal obligations, including potentially being pursued for financial contributions to the upbringing of the child.

Evan Harris, a Liberal Democrat MP, said: “This is a big step and is unlikely to be taken by someone who does not take their responsibilities seriously.”

by Sarah-Kate Templeton

Men urged to make sperm will

Increasing numbers of women are asking hospitals to harvest the sperm of their dead or dying partner for IVF.

Experts have called for young men to make special wills recording their consent (or otherwise) for the use of their sperm if they die unexpectedly.

Michael Buist, director of intensive care at Dandenong Hospital, said requests for sperm harvesting were becoming more frequent.

"When I was first confronted with it, I thought 'this is right out of left field, I have got no idea (what to do)'," Associate Professor Buist said. "It's certainly something we have seen a bit more of recently. For people who practise in (intensive care or hospital emergency departments) it's a request that takes most people by surprise."

He is co-author of a paper in the latest Medical Journal of Australia examining the issue.

The paper found a glaring paradox in Victorian law. In many circumstances sperm may be legally harvested; for instance, by consent of the coroner in case of death, or through consent of next of kin if a patient is unconscious.

But harvested sperm cannot lawfully be used in IVF in Victoria without the explicit written consent of the man. The partner must take it to another state in which implied consent is enough.

Co-author Sarah Middleton, a lecturer at the Monash University Law Faculty, said the safest option was to insist on written consent.

Dr Middleton said sperm donation was different from organ donation. In organ donation, doctors could rely on the word of a family member about the deceased's wishes.

But in sperm donation, the person giving evidence of consent was likely to be the woman wanting access to the sperm, she said. "She may have a conflict of interest. It's about the man's reproductive rights, and I think they should survive your death."

She said the idea of taking something from a corpse to create new life was a difficult issue. "It would be good if people were encouraged to record their wishes — (but) people in this reproductive age group aren't usually going to make their intentions clear in writing."

Others have challenged the role of consent in posthumous reproduction.

In the Journal of Law and Medicine last year, Sarah Jones, of the University of Otago, wrote in a paper consent should be considered along with a fuller picture including the values of the sperm donor, the future prospects of the child and the needs and motivations of the mother.

"The interests of deceased and permanently unconscious patients are notoriously difficult to ascertain," the paper said.

Another MJA paper reported that women were freezing their eggs as a form of insurance against their decline in fertility.

The report by the Queensland Fertility Group found success rates with thawed eggs were now close to fresh IVF.

The authors said egg freezing was still an expensive and not always reliable option.


* Nick Miller