reproductive health

Gonorrhoea is the second most common sexually transmitted disease in the world, with 80 million cases each year. There is no effective vaccine, and the bacteria responsible are becoming resistant to common antibiotics. Some studies have suggested that the meningococcal B vaccine, a unrelated bacterium, may offer partial protection against gonorrhoea. Now, an Italian team has identified 17 antibodies that could explain this cross-immunity, which, according to the authors, could be used to develop treatments and vaccines. The results are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Research analysing 53 samples of human breast milk found that silica and metal nanoparticles were present in 42 of them. The study, published in PNAS, identified the mechanisms of nanoparticle infiltration from oral or respiratory exposure into blood vessels and subsequent accumulation in breast milk.

The role of midwives goes far beyond monitoring pregnancies and attending births. We explain why they are such a crucial part of the National Health System, what obstacles they face and what their main demands are.

A team of researchers has used embryonic stem cell engineering to create a bipaternal mouse - a mouse with two male parents - that lived to adulthood. Their results, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, show how targeting a particular set of genes involved in reproduction enabled this breakthrough in unisexual reproduction in mammals.

The relative risk of being born with a major heart defect is 36% in babies conceived using assisted reproductive techniques, such as in vitro fertilisation, compared to newborns not using these techniques, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal. The absolute risk was 1.84% versus 1.15%. The research, which included more than seven million babies born in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, also shows that the increased risk is especially associated with multiple births, which are more common in assisted reproduction.
 

Canadian research analysing more than 863,000 births over almost a decade, including 806 surrogacy deliveries, concluded that the risk of severe maternal morbidity was 7.8% in gestational carriers, more than three times the risk of conception without assisted reproductive techniques and almost twice the risk in IVF pregnancies. The three most frequent complications were severe postpartum haemorrhage, severe pre-eclampsia and puerperal sepsis. The study is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

A new technique developed at the Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC) has succeeded in assessing the health of mouse oocytes and embryos in a non-invasive way, according to a study published in PNAS. The method generates 3D images to visualise the metabolism of oocytes and embryos obtained by in vitro fertilisation and makes it possible to select those that are most likely to implant and develop, say the authors.

The ovarian cycle is regulated by internal circadian rhythms rather than external processes, says a study published in Science Advances. Using menstrual cycle data from some 3,000 women in Europe and North America, the authors add that the influence of the lunar cycle on women's menstrual cycle is weak, but significant.

A French study involving more than 100,000 women has found a link between long-term use of some progesterone hormone analogues - used for contraception or hormone replacement therapy - and an increased risk of developing meningioma, a generally benign type of brain tumour. The results are published in The BMJ. 

Sperm from older fathers are more likely to pass on new mutations that would cause congenital disorders to their babies, while other mutations are independent of paternal age, says a study published in Genome Biology and Evolution. The team analysed the frequency of ten FGFR3 gene variants in semen samples from anonymous donors aged 23-59 years in Austria. Two pathogenic mutations of this gene do occur more frequently in older fathers: those associated with achondroplasia and with thanatophoric dysplasia, a rare and very fatal disease. Other mutations have no correlation with paternal age and may occur in the testes before sexual maturation, according to the study.