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Fertile Couples (fertile + couple)
Selected AbstractsEconomic aspects of human cloning and reprogeneticsECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 36 2003Gilles Saint-Paul SUMMARY While most discussions of human cloning start and end with ethics, this paper analyses the economics of human cloning. I analyse the incentives for cloning and its implications for the long-run distribution of skills and income. I discuss models of human cloning for different motives, focusing on those that tend to produce new human beings with improved ability. I distinguish three cases: cloning as a means of assisted reproduction for infertile couples, cloning by fertile couples aimed at producing high ability offspring and, finally, financially motivated cloning. The third case supposes that the creator of a clone can appropriate some fraction of the clone's future income. Even if this fraction is small, the possibility of producing exceptionally talented clones with correspondingly high incomes might make it profitable, and thus turn cloning into a form of financial investment. An important consequence of these models is that to the extent that ability is genetically determined and cloners prefer to make high-ability clones, cloning will act as a form of what might be called ,unnatural selection'. Following standard Darwinian logic, such selection will tend to increase the proportion of high ability people in society. Indeed, under some assumptions the distribution of ability eventually converges to a mass point at the highest possible ability level. Under weaker assumptions, it is shown that ability-reducing genes are eventually eliminated. These results do not depend on cloning displacing sexual reproduction or even being widespread; they hold even if a small, or even negligible number of top ability workers are cloned at a small (but not negligible) number of copies. The paper discusses the plausibility of the models and their results in light on the evidence on marriage markets, child selection, human assisted reproduction and animal husbandry. Finally, it is shown how the analysis can be used to help formulate policies toward cloning, whether they aim at preventing it or managing its external effects. , Gilles Saint-Paul [source] Infertility, infertility treatment and psychomotor development: the Danish National Birth CohortPAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Jin Liang Zhu Summary Babies born of infertile couples, regardless of treatment, have a higher risk of preterm birth and low birthweight, conditions associated with delayed development. We examined developmental milestones in singletons as a function of parental infertility [time to pregnancy (TTP) > 12 months] and infertility treatment. From the Danish National Birth Cohort (1997,2003), we identified 37 897 singletons born of fertile couples (TTP , 12 months), 4351 born of infertile couples conceiving naturally (TTP > 12 months), and 3309 born after infertility treatment. When the children were about 18 months old, mothers reported 12 developmental milestones by responding to structured questions. We defined a failure to achieve the assessed milestone or the minimal numbers of milestones in a summary (motor, or cognitive/language skills) as delay. Naturally conceived children born of infertile couples had a pattern of psychomotor development similar to that of children born of fertile couples, but increasing TTP correlated with a modest delay. When the analysis was restricted to infertile couples (treated and untreated), children born after treatment showed a slight delay in cognitive/language development (odds ratio 1.24, [95% confidence interval 1.01, 1.53]) for not meeting at least three out of six cognitive/language milestones); children born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) had the highest estimated relative risk of delay for most milestones, especially motor milestones. These results suggest that a long TTP may be associated with a modest developmental delay. Infertility treatment, especially ICSI, may be associated with a slight delay for some of these early milestones. [source] ORIGINAL ARTICLE: A Prospective Case,Control Study Analyzes 12 Thrombophilic Gene Mutations in Turkish Couples with Recurrent Pregnancy LossAMERICAN JOURNAL OF REPRODUCTIVE IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Gonca Imir Yenicesu Citation Yenicesu GI, Cetin M, Ozdemir O, Cetin A, Ozen F, Yenicesu C, Yildiz C, Kocak N. A prospective case,control study analyzes 12 thrombophilic gene mutations in Turkish couples with recurrent pregnancy loss. Am J Reprod Immunol 2010; 63: 126,136 Problem, Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a heterogeneous disorder. The contribution of specific thrombophilic genes to the pathophysiology of RPL has remained controversial. We evaluated the prevalences of 12 thrombophilic gene mutations among homogenous Caucasian couples with RPL and fertiles. Method of study, This was a prospective case,control study evaluating 272 women with RPL and 152 of their male partners, and a control group of 56 fertile couples. We investigated mutations including FV Leiden, factor V H1299R, factor II prothrombin G20210A, F XIII V34L, ,-fibrinogen ,455G>A, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, GPIIIa L33P (HPA-1 a/b L33P), MTHFR C677T, MTHFR A1298C, ACE I/D, Apo B R3500Q, and Apo E. Results, Overall, heterozygous mutations of FV Leiden, FXIII V34L, GPIIIa L33P, Apo E4, and prothrombin G20210A and homozygous mutations of PAI-1and MTHFR C677T were associated with RPL. There was no meaningful association between RPL and other studied genes. Conclusion, In contrast to the other mutations and polymorphisms, FV Leiden, FXIII V34L, GPIIIa L33P, Apo E, prothrombin G20210A, PAI-1 and MTHFR C677T gene mutations may help to identify the couples at risk for recurrent pregnancy loss. [source] ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Activating Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor Genes' Association with Recurrent MiscarriageAMERICAN JOURNAL OF REPRODUCTIVE IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Rafael Gustavo Vargas Problem, Natural killer (NK) cells are regulated through NK cell receptors such as killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). KIRs are suspected of being involved in the causes of recurrent miscarriage (RM) as a higher proportion of activated NK cells were observed in women with RM when compared with that in controls. The aim of this study was to investigate if KIR genes coding for receptors known to have as ligands HLA class I molecules are correlated with RM. Method of study A matched case,control study was carried out in 68 south Brazilian Caucasian patient couples with RM and 68 control fertile couples. KIR genes were typed by PCR-Reverse SSO method. Results The rate of possession of an elevated number of activating KIR genes (positive for five or six activating KIR genes out of six different activating KIR genes analyzed) in RM patient women was significantly higher (P = 0.0201) when compared with that in control fertile women. These data suggest that women carrying a high content of activating KIR genes have about threefold increased probability to develop RM [OR = 2.71; 95% CI (1.23,6.01)]. Conclusion Our results indicate that RM could be associated with NK cell activation mediated by a profile rich in activating KIR genes. [source] Alterations in sperm protein phosphorylation in male infertilityANDROLOGIA, Issue 5 2001M. L. Hortas Summary. Protein phosphorylation is involved in sperm capacitation, so the effect of protein phosphatase inhibitors on the capacitation of spermatozoa of males with unexplained infertility was investigated. d -mannose ligand specific receptor expression in fresh, living spermatozoa, capacitated or treated with calyculin A (an inhibitor of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A), was studied in three groups of men: pre-vasectomy (fertile) males, males in couples with male infertility, and males in couples with infertility of unknown aetiology. Flow cytometry showed significant differences between infertile couples with a male factor and fertile couples (P < 0.05), both after capacitation and after treatment with calyculin A. In the group of couples with infertility of unknown aetiology (n = 15), d -mannose receptor expression was diminished in six cases after classical capacitation. However, when the spermatozoa of these six men were treated with calyculin A, five showed an increased specific d -mannose receptor expression. From these results it is suggested that in vitro treatment of spermatozoa with inhibitors of protein phosphatases may be of great value in some cases of unexplained infertility. [source] | ||||||||||