Building a Brighter Kid- Consider IVF

Most parents-in-waiting like to daydream that their unborn child might develop a cure for cancer or improve upon the theory of relativity — in short, save the world. Now, new research indicates that your best shot of birthing a brainy baby might be to first conceive via in vitro fertilization (IVF).
According to a University of Iowa (UI) study published in the October issue of the journal Human Reproduction, IVF babies scored better than age- and gender-matched peers on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills – a widely used test that evaluates students' abilities — and the Iowa Test for Educational Development (ITBS/ED), which is generally considered an objective measure of educational outcomes. Researchers found that children conceived by IVF score at least as well as their peers on academic tests at all ages from grade 3 to 12.
The study should soothe parents who are concerned about adverse effects of fertility treatments on babies' cognitive skills. Although IVF is considered safe, there isn't much in the way of long-term data on health outcomes. The Iowa study tracked children to an older age than previous research.
"Our findings are reassuring for clinicians and patients as they suggest that being conceived through IVF does not have any detrimental effects on a child's intelligence or cognitive development," says lead study author Bradley Van Voorhis, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the Center for Advanced Reproductive Care at UI Hospitals and Clinics.
Van Voorhis and his fellow researchers measured the academic performance of 423 Iowa children, ages 8 to 17, who were conceived by IVF against the performance of 372 age- and gender-matched children from the same schools. The researchers also took into account whether different characteristics of the children, parents or IVF methods had an effect on children's test scores.
The study found that IVF children scored above average on standardized tests compared to their peers. The research also linked other factors to higher test scores, namely older age of the mother, higher education levels of both parents and lower levels of divorce.
“The likelihood is this has to do with nature and not nurture,” says Robert Stillman, medical director at Shady Grove Fertility Center in Rockville, Md., which has the country's largest fertility program. “Those fortunate enough to be able to afford IVF in an arena where there's little insurance coverage may very well have the means to provide a high level of education for their children.”
Would-be parents relying on assisted reproduction techniques are sometimes concerned that using frozen rather than fresh embryos is less than ideal. After all, aren't fresh veggies better than frozen ones? Yet the Iowa study debunked that, showing that children's test scores didn't fluctuate as a result of various methods of insemination or reliance on fresh vs. frozen embryos.
Deliberating between transferring one or more embryos? You might be interested to learn that the researchers found that single babies performed better than twins, who performed better than triplets — if only every so slightly. But even the triplets performed better than the average score of children conceived the old-fashioned way.
Still, that's no reason to rush into IVF if you don't have to. Says Stillman: “This is an argument not for doing IVF to have brighter kids but for having insurance coverage so everyone can have a child if they're having trouble getting pregnant.”

Anger at IVF treatment for jailed terrorist couple

Fernando Garcia Jodra, 40, and his girlfriend Nerea Bengoa Zarisolo, 39, are hoping to become parents despite the fact that both have been condemned to minimum jail terms of 30 years after being found guilty in 2004 of four murders.

They are held in separate prisons and are not allowed physical contact, communicating only by letters, which are checked and censored. It is their right, however, under Spanish law, to apply to have IVF treatment in jail.

If the couple conceive a child it will remain with the mother in prison until it is at least 3 years old. Angeles Pedraza, the president of the Victims of Terrorism Association, said the treatment was unacceptable.

“This is a kick in the face for the victims,” she said. “How many families have been destroyed by Eta’s barbarity? The only family unity they can enjoy is to go to the cemetery to remember their dead.”

Media reports in Spain suggested that the treatment could cost as much as $8260. Prison authorities refused to comment.

Wal Mart, Are you Kidding Me

So I went to WalMart and saw that they had Obama Chistmas Tree ornaments....



Now ain't that a bitch??? Suddenly it's OK to hang a black man from a tree again?

Psychology ka practical ho raha tha

Professor ne 1 Chuhe k liye 1 taraf cake aur dusri taraf chuhe ki biwi (chuhia) rakh di.

Chuha foran Cake Ki taraf lapka.

Dusri baar Cake ko badal kar Roti rakhi.

Chuha Roti ki taraf lapka.

Is tarah kai baar food item badle.

Chuha har baar food ki taraf bhaaga.

Proffesor: Isse ye saabit ho gaya ke bhukh mei hi sabse badi taqat hai.

Itne mei last row se ek awaz ayi =
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"Sir, ek bar chuhiya bhi badal ke dekh lete"

British fertility device as effective as IVF

The DuoFertility system, pioneered by former students at Cambridge University, measures the tiny changes in body temperature that indicate when ovulation occurs. The scientists claim the £495 device is more accurate than current prediction methods and produces results comparable with much more expensive IVF fertility treatments.
The findings were delivered a the World Association of Reproductive Medicine Congress by Dr Oriane Chausiaux, chief scientific officer for DuoFertility, developed by Cambridge Temperature Concepts.
She told the conference how the DuoFertility programme of research resulted in a pregnancy success rate of 19.5 per cent after six months, which is as effective as IVF.
The device works by placing a patch, which is about the size of a £1 coin and is worn night and day, under the arm which records the minute changes in the woman's temperature.
It measures body temperature 20,000 times a day to identify a woman's fertile days with 99 per cent accuracy.
The device, dubbed the SatNav of the fertility world, is claimed to be statistically as good as IVF but at a fraction of the cost, with the added bonus of your money back if there is no pregnancy in a year.
Dr Shamus Husheer, the inventor of DuoFertility, said: “We are delighted that Oriane has been given the opportunity to present our significant findings at this event.
“What we now know, as a result of our work, is that for certain causes of infertility, DuoFertility is as effective as IVF.
“Clearly there are some infertility issues where the use of the device is unable to aid pregnancy, such as a complete lack of sperm.
“However, for a range of common causes such as moderate male factors, cycle irregularity and secondary or unexplained infertility, our monitoring device is achieving great results.”
Raj Mathur, Consultant in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge says: "It has been recognised for a long time that women experience a small rise in body temperature that occurs around the time they release an egg from the ovary.
“However, present techniques for recording this do not appear to be of clinical value.
"The Reproductive Medicine Department at Addenbrooke’s hospital is examining whether body temperature measurements taken by the Duo Fertility sensor are able to identify cycles where ovulation occurs.”
Duo Fertility, which is sold online and not available on the NHS or High Street, is the only monitor on the market that allows users to enter in other personal fertility parameters, such as period length, the quality of cervical mucus or the position of you cervix.
Studies have shown that including this information increased the accuracy of detecting fertile days by 99.7 per cent.
Andrew Sharkey PhD, Associate lecturer, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge said: “There is a big social and clinical need for a method to predict ovulation and hence potential fertility.
“The concept seems sound- ie measuring temperature rise as a surrogate for the hormonal changes induced at around the time of ovulation.
"The limited data I have seen suggests that it is robust, simple to use and non-invasive and relatively cheap. All of this is good.”
A recent fertility survey showed that one in 10 women has had fertility treatment and that some were so desperate for a child they were prepared to pay up to £50,000 for IVF.

How IVF 'skews the ratio of boys to girls': Male embryos appear better equipped to survive

Certain types of IVF treatment may increase the odds of having a boy, research revealed last month.
Some methods tip the gender balance to as many as 128 boys being born for every 100 girls. The balance for natural births is 105 boys to 100 girls.
The discovery was made by Australian researchers, who believe that the IVF process may be affecting the sex ratio.
Certain types of IVF treatment may increase the odds of having a boy, research has revealed.
Although the reasons remain unclear, the researchers suggested it could be because male embryos may in some way be better equipped to survive the process.
They warned more research is needed to ensure a serious imbalance of male to female children does not develop as IVF becomes increasingly common
Study leader Professor Michael Chapman, from the University of New South Wales, said there was no question of the ratio being manipulated by IVF clinicians. Deliberate sex selection is banned in Australia, as it is in Britain except in very specific circumstances, such as to avoid gender-related hereditary disease.
Professor Chapman said laboratory methods may be responsible for the imbalance, particularly the substance in which embryos develop in the test tube.
‘It could be that fitter embryos are male and it may be the female embryos which fall away at the various hurdles,’ he added.
Some methods tip the gender balance to as many as 128 boys being born for every 100 girls.
‘If we can discover which techniques are responsible for the difference, and why, we may be able to ensure the sex ratio returns to normal.’
Researchers studied all live births following fertility treatment in clinics in Australia and New Zealand between 2002 and 2006. Standard IVF was compared with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), an IVF variant where the sperm are injected directly into the eggs, normally because the sperm may be too weak or few in number to penetrate the egg naturally.
They also took into account exactly when the embryo was implanted into the womb – either two to three days after fertilisation when the egg splits into two cells, or after five days, when it has developed into up to 100 cells in the lab.
In total, 13,368 babies were born to 13,165 women who underwent the transfer of a single embryo, says the study, reported in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
The overall male ratio of babies born was 51.3 per cent, not far off the figure of 51.5 per cent for the general Australian population from natural conception.
However, the study found specific IVF regimes changed the balance.
Compared with natural conception, ICSI produced a lower ratio of male babies (50 per cent) and standard IVF a higher ratio (53 per cent).
The stage at which the embryo was transferred had even more effect, with 49.9 per cent male births from embryos transferred after two days, compared with 54.1 per cent at five days.
However, the combination of the two factors led to the greatest alteration in sex ratio.
After standard IVF where the embryo was implanted after five days, 56.1 per cent of births were boys. This represents 128 boys for every 100 girls.
But when ICSI embryos were implanted at two to three days, 48.7 per cent of babies were male – 94 boys for every 100 girls.
Professor Philip Steer, BJOG editor-in-chief, said the use of IVF to help childless couples may have health and social implications.
In 2007, the latest year for which there are official figures, there were more than 13,000 babies born through IVF in the UK – around 1.5 per cent of all births.

Darpa Wants Remote Controls to Master Troop Minds

The Pentagon's research arm wants to trick out troops' brains, from the areas that regulate alertness and cognition to psychiatric well-being. And they want to do it all from the outside in, with a gadget installed inside the troops' helmets.

"Remote Control of Brain Activity Using Ultrasound," the Defense Department's Armed with Science blog promises.

It's the latest out-there project in the military's growing arsenal of brain-based research. In recent months alone, the Pentagon's funded projects to optimize troop's minds, prevent injuries and even preemptively assess cognitive ability and vulnerability to traumatic stress. Now, Darpa's funding one lab that's trying to do it all - from boosting troop smarts to preventing traumatic brain injuries.

Arizona State University neuroscientist William Tyler has been working with funding from the Army Research Laboratory for years. That neurotechnology work has now caught the eye of Darpa, which awarded his lab a Young Faculty Award to improve upon non-invasive approaches to brain stimulation.

"When people ask what this kind of device could do, I ask them what their brain does for them," Tyler tells Danger Room. "The brain serves all the functions of your body, and if you knew the neuroanatomy, then you can start to regulate each one of those functions."

Already, scientists have devised cutting-edge brain stimulation methods to treat medical disorders, like Parkinson's disease or severe depression. But current deep-brain approaches require invasive surgery to implant electrodes and batteries, and external ultrasound stimulation can't penetrate "the deep brain circuits where many diseased circuits reside," Tyler writes at Armed With Science.

Now, Tyler and his research team have created a "transcranial pulsed ultrasound" that's able to stimulate a myriad of brain circuits from the outside in. The device has already proven capable of targeting deep brain regions, unlike existing methods. And it's capable of zeroing in on extremely specific brain zones, as small as two or three millimeters. Plus, prototype devices are small enough to be fitted inside a typical helmet.

"Going deep beneath the skull and having extremely specific spatial resolution are two huge advantages over existing approaches," Tyler says. "Depth and specificity are what allow the ultrasound to do what other methods can't."

With Darpa's funding, Tyler plans to expand the uses of the ultrasound and improve the device's spacial resolution even more, making it a veritable all-in-one brain stimulation device. Using a microcontroller device, the ultrasound would stimulate different brain regions to boost troop alertness and cognition, relieve stress and pain, and protect them against traumatic brain injuries.

"The really damaging part of a TBI isn't the initial injury," Tyler says. "It's the metabolic damage, the free radicals and the swelling that are happening in the hours afterward. If you can flick your remote and trigger an immediate intervention, you'd be curbing what might otherwise be lifelong brain damage."