Lower IVF Success Rates Widely Reported In Patients Of African Origin May Be Consequence Of Genetic Predisposition Towards Autoimmunity

In vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancy rates, also known as "IVF success rates" are related to specific genotypes and races/ethnicities, according to new research conducted by a New York City-based IVF center. It has long been known that IVF success rates differ amongst different races/ethnic groups. This new study suggests that predisposition to autoimmune disease may be the cause for these differences.

Despite general improvement in outcomes of fertility treatments, disparities between races/ethnicities have actually increased. Prevalence of infertility also differs in that African women experience infertility more frequently than Caucasians and Asians. Causes for these differences have remained largely unknown.

This new study, just published in the prestigious medical journal PLoS One, was conducted by the Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) in New York, NY, and involved 339 Caucasian, Asian and African women. As previously widely reported in the medical literature, African patients demonstrated significantly lower IVF pregnancy rates, compared to Asian and Caucasian patients, even after controlling for age and BMI. African patients also demonstrated the highest rates of the recently described FMR1 (fragile X mental retardation) gene sub-genotype het-norm/low, which the same group of researchers previously reported to be statistically highly associated with autoimmunity. Asian women, with lowest prevalence of het-norm/low experienced the highest pregnancy rates after IVF.

"We have previously associated this specific FMR1 sub-genotype with an approximately 50% reduction in IVF pregnancy chances," explains David Barad, MD, MS, one of the study's senior authors, and Clinical Director of ART at CHR. "This new finding is in line with our previous studies on this specific FMR1 sub-genotype."

"The association of FMR1 genotypes and risk for autoimmunity presents evidence that autoimmunity may be associated with lower pregnancy rates in IVF in general," adds Norbert Gleicher, MD, the study's second senior author, and Medical Director of CHR. "Autoimmunity may, thus, also be at least partially responsible for the racial/ethnic disparities in infertility prevalence and treatment outcomes."

Soya- egg yolk mix helps UK mum give birth after 3 miscarriages, failed IVF

A UK couple, who struggled to have a baby after three miscarriages and failed IVF treatments, are now proud parents of twins-thanks to a mix of soya and egg yolk.
According to Stacy and James Bodle, an experimental fertility treatment using egg yolks and soya oil cured the condition causing the miscarriages and they are now celebrating the arrival of twins Libby and Harry.

"I've hardly slept for the 13 weeks since they were born but I'm not complaining," the Daily Mail quoted Stacy, as saying.
"They have been the happiest weeks of our lives. We were trying for three years for a family and we started to think this day would never come. There were so many awful times and to sit here and see our lovely twins staring back at us is wonderful," she added.
The treatment involved a combination of natural fats made up from egg yolks and soya oil.
Doctors believe this intralipid liquid, a calorie-rich potion normally used in tube-feeding sick patients, could help more women achieve their dream of motherhood.
Studies show a remarkable success rate at overcoming an immune system problem in which "killer cells" attack a fertilised embryo.
"It's basically just a lot of calories, but research suggests that it can suppress the natural killer cells," said Dr Adel Shaker, medical director at CARE fertility clinic in Sheffield.

Don't Kiss & Tell

Watch How the Police Raid a Cellphone

Everyone knows the cops have tools to get inside your phone. But what do they do? They suck your iPhone's entire soul in 15 minutes. With one single click. This is what it looks like.
Lantern 2 is an incredibly powerful piece of software. Plug your iPhone in. Click "Acquire." Wait for a progress bar to complete. After about fifteen minutes, I had the entire contents of my phone in an extremely user-friendly interface—even with a lock screen activated. Anything you would want to know—or didn't even know you'd want to know—about my phone is easy to tap. An entire minute by minute chronology of my text exchanges. Every picture I'd ever taken. My bookmarks. My cookies. Every Skype call I've ever placed. My entire Facebook friend list. Every cell tower my phone has touched, with longitude and latitude coordinates. All there. Lantern 2 is awesome—and must be a stellar thing to have in any cop's arsenal (and for those wondering, no, you can't download it—Lantern's only available to government agencies researchers, and security firms). We just hope it (and our phones) never get into the hands of anyone on the other side of the law.

Highway through a building

Gate Tower Building is a 16-storey office building in, Osaka , Japan . And what makes it notable is the highway that passes through the 5th-7th floors of this building. The highway is part of the Hanshin Expressway, a network (239.3 km) of expressways surrounding Osaka , Kobe and Kyoto , Japan . The Gate Tower Building is Japan 's first building to have a highway pass through it. And it had been nicknamed "beehive" referring to its appearance as a "bustling place". The Umeda Exit of the Ikeda Route of the Hanshin Expressway system passes through this building.

The expressway is the tenant of these floors. The elevator doesn't stop on floor 5th-7th, floor 4 being followed by floor 8. These floors consist of elevators, stairways, machinery and other stuff. The highway passes through the building as a bridge, held up by supports next to the building making no contact with the building itself. The building has a double core construction, with a circular cross section and special care is taken by providing surrounded structure to the highway to protect the building from noise and vibration. Generally expressways are built underground, and passing through a building is an extremely rare occasion. It dates back to 1983, when the redevelopment of this area was decided upon, "building permits were refused because the highway was already being planned to be built over this land. The property rights' holders refused to give up, and negotiated with the Hanshin Expressway corporation for approximately 5 years to reach the current solution."

Your hands give away your hotness

The ratio of length between a man's second and fourth fingers (2D:4D) is thought to be linked to the amount of testosterone he received in the womb. According to new research, it also shows something else: How attractive a man's face will be to women.

The research looked at the relationship between the 2D:4D ratio, how attractive women thought the face was, and other signs associated with attraction and testosterone production: body smell and voice.

Men with a lower 2D:4D ratio (shorter pointer and longer ring fingers) were thought by the subjects to be more attractive, have more "masculine" features, and have more symmetrical faces.

However, the men's smell and voices — both of which are linked to testosterone levels and attraction — didn't correlate with the ratio. Scientists say this implies that facial structure is influenced by the hormone during pregnancy, and voice and odor by testosterone levels later in life.

Which "gut type" do you have, and what does it say about you?

We all have flourishing bacterial ecosystems in our intestines filled with thousands of microbes. But these gut ecosystems only come in three types. And the type you have may influence the kind of life you lead.

Bacteria are a crucial part of human digestion. Hundreds of billions of them live in our stomachs and intestines, many helping us digest food. With the many different kinds of bacteria, and the many different types and habits of people, it would seem like each stomach and intestines would be unique - a less poetic metaphor for human individuality than a snowflake, but a more apt one. This, however, is not the case. We're far more uniform inside than we are outside. Human gut bacteria ecosystems fall into three different types: Bacteroides, Prevotella and Ruminococcus, each named for the bacteria that rules the roost.

Scientists believe that the reason for this conformity is that our guts can only configure themselves into a limited number of habitats for bacteria. In one habitat, one type of bacteria can dominate - in another, they are forced into a more niche group. Three different gut types is all that humanity can muster.

The ruling bacteria may influence our bodies, too. Gut types have been associated with different physical and medical conditions in people. A recent study found some bacteria process food more efficiently than others - this leaves more calories for their human hosts, and so they may have trouble losing weight. Another study found a correlation between certain bacterial strains and diabetes.

So do our stomachs create us or do we create them? Scientists aren't sure yet. All they've found is correlation - with no word on cause. They also don't know if people could change their gut ecosystems through diet, exercise, or medication.