Though sperm are generally considered pretty wriggly little guys, before they are launched into action, so to speak, they aren’t racing around. While researchers have long known that what gets them swimming is a change in internal pH level—the more alkaline their pH, the more aggressively they swim—until now, the mechanism by which
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The (possibly apocryphal) advice given to Victorian women who weren’t fond of sex to “lie back and think of England,” may actually be useful to increase the odds of conception, at least following intra-uterine insemination (IUI).
A new study found that 27% of women who were advised to lie still for 15 minutes after insemination …
More good news on fertility: three new studies presented at a recent meeting of fertility doctors found that frozen eggs are as good as fresh– and that babies conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) appear to be smarter than those conceived the old-fashioned way.
The research was presented at the latest meeting of the American …
Pregnant women with significant signs of depression may react more strongly to the seasonal flu vaccine than women with milder cases of the common mood disorder, according to a new study slated to appear in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. The study was small but carefully designed. Researchers had 22 pregnant women fill out …
Couples having difficulty conceiving may want to skip one item that is ordinarily considered helpful to the process—alcohol—at least if they are using in-vitro fertilization (IVF). A new study of 2,574 couples undergoing 5,363 IVF cycles between 1994 and 2003 found that couples in which both partners drank four or more alcoholic …
Republicans suffered a set back last November in more ways than one. A new study appearing today in the medical journal PLOS One shows that, in the hours after Obama was announced the 44th president of the United States, male, college-aged McCain fans experienced an immediate drop in testosterone. For the study, 183 people offered up …
Women lucky enough to live in 1 of the 8 states that mandates insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be even more lucky than they realize. According to the latest research presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at this week’s annual American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference, those mom-wannabes are …
A hospital mix-up last January forced would-be mom Carolyn Savage and her husband Sean to make a heartrending decision. Ten days after the Savages went to a fertility clinic to have embryos transferred in hopes of conceiving, they got a devastating phone call. Savage had successfully gotten pregnant, but the baby wasn’t hers—the embryo
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