Mobiles 'could cut male fertility'/Ovary transplant pregnancy first

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Mobiles 'could cut male fertility'

 

By Caroline Ryan

BBC News Online health staff in Berlin

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3844871.stm

 

 

Sperm numbers were cut by a third, researchers said

Carrying a mobile phone could significantly affect a man's fertility,

scientists have suggested.

Radiation from the phones could cut the number of sperm a man has by a

third, researchers from the University of Szeged, Hungary, said.

 

The research, presented to the European Society of Human Reproduction and

Embryology (ESHRE) meeting in Berlin, studied over 200 men.

 

But other experts have criticised their research, saying it did not take any

other aspects of the men's lives into account.

 

The Hungarian study is the first to look at how electromagnetic radiation

from mobiles could affect sperm.

 

The men who had their phone on standby throughout the day had about a third

less sperm than those who did not.

 

You can explain the difference by completely other ways than the use of a

mobile phone

 

Professor Hans Evers, former chairman of ESHRE

And, of the remaining sperm, high numbers were found to be swimming

abnormally, reducing the chances of fertilisation.

 

The researchers say their findings suggest that mobiles do have a " negative

effect " on male sperm and fertility.

 

But other experts at the ESHRE conference said the Hungarian study did not

allow for other factors which could have affected the men's fertility.

 

Professor Hans Evers, the former chairman of the European Society of Human

Reproduction, said it " raises more questions than it answers " .

 

Other factors

 

He said the study had not taken into account the " many potential confounding

factors which could have skewed the results " .

 

These could include whether the men who had affected sperm came from a

different social class or age range than those who did not.

 

It was also unclear whether the men were carrying their phones in their

trouser pockets, close to their bodies, or in briefcases away from them.

 

He said: " These factors would have a considerable effect on the outcome of

the research. "

 

Professor Evers added: " Mobile phones are related to a certain lifestyle and

they may be related to stress, to a heavily occupied business man rushing

around from one office to another, having a lot of concerns in the life;

there's all kind of things.

 

" And it is known that this decreases sperm counts and if you compare that to

farmers living in the open air, on the land and not carrying a mobile phone

at all you can explain the difference by completely other ways than the use

of a mobile phone. "

 

He said the only way to get a clearer picture would be for scientists to

carry out a study which was carefully designed only to look at the effect of

mobile phones on sperm.

 

 

Ovary transplant pregnancy first

 

By Caroline Ryan

BBC News Online health staff in Berlin

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3850381.stm

 

Ovarian tissue was transplanted into the woman

A woman has become pregnant after having an ovary tissue transplant for the

first time, it has emerged.

The breakthrough gives hope to thousands of cancer patients whose treatment

can make them infertile.

 

It may also potentially help women who want to give themselves another

chance at motherhood after the menopause.

 

Doctors from Universite Catholique de Louvain in Brussels are treating the

woman. News of her pregnancy was revealed at the European Fertility

Conference in Berlin.

 

The baby, a girl, who was conceived naturally, is due at the beginning of

October.

 

Doctors across the world have been working to achieve a successful pregnancy

in ovarian transplant patients.

 

A landmark finding

 

Professor Kutluk Oktay, Cornell University, New York

 

 

Q & A: Ovarian transplant

Other teams have been able to create embryos, and have attempted to help

women become pregnant through using IVF.

 

But this is the first time a successful pregnancy has occurred in a woman

who has had an ovary transplant.

 

Positive test

 

The patient, who is 32, was diagnosed with advanced Hodgkin's lymphoma in

1997.

 

It has huge implications for a lot of women around the world.

 

Dr Yding Andersen

Prior to chemotherapy, some of her ovarian tissue was removed and frozen.

One ovary was left inside her body.

 

When she was declared cancer-free in April 2003, the ovarian tissue was

transplanted back into her body, just below her existing ovary.

 

Four months later, she was found to be menstruating and ovulating normally.

She is now around 25 weeks pregnant.

 

However, it is not yet clear if the egg which was fertilised came from the

grafted tissue, or from her ovary which could have begun to work again

independently.

 

Professor Jacques Donnez, who led the research, told RTBF Radio 1 in

Brussels: " She is pregnant. She lives a life which she could never hope she

would have been able to live.

 

" It's her child genetically, growing from her tissue, and she fell pregnant

completely naturally. "

 

'Offers hope'

 

Professor Kutluk Oktay, of Cornell University, New York, who has pioneered

work in this field told BBC News Online: " We need to see more details about

this work, but it would be a landmark finding.

 

He added: " If you leave women alone, there is a chance of spontaneous

recovery of ovarian function.

 

" But there is a viable possibility that the pregnancy came from this graft. "

 

He said many patients found facing up to the possibility they may never have

children was almost as hard to come to terms with as the news of their

diagnosis - so the possibilities offered by this treatment were " tremendous "

 

" It helps them to cope with cancer and to have a much more positive attitude

to the circumstances that they are in. It takes some of the burden away. "

 

Dr Oktay said the approach could also help other women with blood, kidney

and joint diseases who were also treated with cancer drugs.

 

He said there was still too little evidence to recommend healthy woman

should freeze ovarian tissue which they could have transplanted back into

their bodies after their menopause to give them another chance of having a

baby.

 

But he added: " I wouldn't recommend it now. But if you found out that there

was a 30% pregnancy rate - as with IVF - why not? "

 

Dr Yding Andersen, from the University Hospital of Copenhagen, who is

waiting to see if an ovarian transplant patient he has treated becomes

pregnant, said: " It's definitely a breakthrough, absolutely a breakthrough,

and it has huge implications for a lot of women around the world. "

 

Simon Davies, spokesman for the Teenage Cancer Trust, said: " It's great

news, it's fantastic.

 

" This is a new option and it's going to be worthwhile for cancer patients,

particular young ones, and will give them more choices in the future. "

 

But Josephine Quintavalle of the Centre for Reproduction Ethics, said: " This

technique should not be used lightly.

 

" I sincerely hope it is not used as a lifestyle choice for deciding when you

want to have children. "

 

Professor Jack Scarisbrick, of the charity Life, added: " It is likely this

technique will be misused.

 

" It is an important development. But trying to defer the menopause is not

the right way for it to be used. "

 

 

 

 

 

EU faces fertility tourism threat

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3853237.stm

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