A recent study found a link between clowns and IVF success, or successful planting of an embryo through in-vitro fertilization. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

A recent study has found a link between clowns and IVF success, or a successful in-vitro fertilization. The study found that women undergoing IVF treatment were more likely to become pregnant if visited by a “medical clown” because the clowns reduce stress.

Link discovered between clowns and IVF success

A link was recently found between clowns and IVF treatment success during a study done at a research hospital in Israel, according to Reuters. Results of the study indicated that women undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatments had a higher rate of success and becoming pregnant when they were visited by a “medical clown” while recovering from an implantation procedure. The head of the study, Dr. Shevach Friedler, got the idea after reading about the positive effects of laughter as a natural stress reducer. To see if a reduced-stress environment after embryo implantation would increase the chances of successfully implanting a embryo, Dr. Friedler’s team at Harofeh Medical Center arranged for some patients to be visited by a clown in the recovery room.

Study was not just clowning around

Laughter, apparently seemed the best medicine. A greater percentage of women who received the “clown treatment” successfully became pregnant than those who went without a visit from a clown. The study was done using a total of 209 women that were undergoing in-vitro fertilization. Of those 209 women, the clown group had in-vitro fertilization success rates of 36 percent. The women who did not receive the clown treatment had a success rate of only 20 percent. The study is being published in “Fertility and Sterility,” a reproduction science medical journal. There is an actual medical clown college degree at the University of Haifa, in Israel, as clowns do help reduce stress among patients.

Clown may eventually cost extra

In-vitro fertilization is expensive, somewhat dangerous and does not always work. According to WebMD, the procedure results in a pregnancy in 32 percent of all cases, but only 25.6 percent of treatments resulted in a live birth. Success rates also vary by age group and wide range of factors. The average course of treatment costs $12,400 and is usually the last resort after artificial insemination and natural options have been exhausted.

Sources

Reuters

WebMD

A new technique gives scientists hope they can create a baby woolly mammoth clone from frozen tissue found in Russian permafrost. Image: CC radim99/Flickr

A woolly mammoth clone could be born within six years if an international team of scientists reaches its goal. The scientists will attempt to grow a mammoth clone with cells taken from the carcass of a baby mammoth found preserved in Russian permafrost. Previous attempts to clone a mammoth have failed, but researchers are betting on a new technique pioneered by a Japanese biologist for cloning mammals from frozen tissue.

How to create a mammoth clone

A woolly mammoth clone has a reasonable chance to become reality, according to a team of scientists from Japan, Russia and the U.S. Their optimism is based on the success of a technique developed by Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama for cloning mice from cells frozen for 16 years. Cell nuclei from tissue samples used in previous mammoth clone projects had been damaged by ice crystals. But researchers can now use a technique developed by Wakayama for identifying and extracting viable nuclei using a tissue sample obtained from a Russian mammoth research lab. The mammoth nuclei will be implanted into the fertilized egg of an African elephant to create an embryo with mammoth DNA.

Bringing up a baby woolly mammoth

Scientists working on the mammoth clone expect to have a viable embryo within two years. A female African elephant will then be impregnated with the mammoth embryo by U.S. in vitro fertilization experts. The gestation period for an African elephant is nearly two years. Team leader Akira Iritani, a professor emeritus of Kyoto University, said the baby woolly mammoth would be studied to learn more about why the species became extinct about 10,000 years ago. If the creature survives, it will grow to be about two-thirds the size of a male African elephant.

Russian permafrost a mammoth mother lode

The woolly mammoth inhabited parts of North America and Eurasia before dying out during the most recent ice age about 5,000 years ago. The combination of a warming trend that began about 12,000 years ago, along with a growing population of human hunters are believed to be the reason for the woolly mammoth’s extinction. Most of the preserved carcasses have been discovered in Siberia, where fossils from an estimated 150 million mammoths remain frozen in permafrost.

Sources

CNN

PC World

Yomiyuri Shinbun

Wikipedia

Robert Edwards was given the Nobel Prize. He helped invent I.V.F., or "test tube babies." Image from Wikimedia Commons.

One of earliest pioneers of in vitro fertilization treatments (I.V.F.) has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Dr. Robert Edwards was a member of the team that implanted the first embryo carried to term using I.V.F. fertility treatments. His prize comes with controversy, as the Vatican has condemned the use of I.V.F. treatments. The fertility treatment has expanded over the years.

Robert Edwards awarded Nobel Prize

The winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Medicine was announced as Dr. Robert Edwards, according to CNN. He was instrumental in developing a fertility treatment called in vitro fertilization or I.V.F. In vitro, literally “in glass,” is where an embryo is extracted and fertilized with sperm outside the womb. The embryo is then implanted into the womb, then pregnancy begins. Dr. Edwards worked on the protocol for over 20 years, and was part of the team that carried out the first successful I.V.F. pregnancy. Louise Brown was the first baby carried to term thanks to the treatment. Edwards attended Brown’s wedding, who herself had a son through natural means. Almost 4 million people owe their existence to Dr. Edwards.

Vatican official condemns Prize

A Vatican official has released a statement condemning the Prize being awarded to Edwards, according to the BBC. The statement calls to question the ethical concerns raised by I.V.F. treatments. The statement asserts that as a result of the treatment’s development, viable embryos are never used to create life, but instead end up on ice. The object is also raised that the market for human embryos would not exist had Dr. Edwards not engaged in his research.

10 percent of pregnancies through I.V.F.

Up to 10 percent of all pregnancies worldwide are accomplished via I.V.F. treatments. The treatment is a wildly popular option for couples who are having problems conceiving. Various objections have been raised over the years about certain aspects of the treatment and the ethical questions that are raised.

Sources

BBC News

CNN

(Photo: pregnancy-bliss.co.uk)

Once a woman approaches 40 years of age, conventional medical wisdom states that if she wants to conceive children, the risk of said children having birth defects increases dramatically. Thus, conventional family planning strategy would dictate getting an earlier start on giving birth. Cash advance and cheap loans can help with only a tiny portion of the hospital bills an extended stay in ICU for malformed infants can rack up.

It’s a potential tragedy most would avoid

But Maria del Carmen Bousada was not like most women. At 66 years and change, the Spaniard became the oldest verified mother in documented history. I say documented history because Omkari Panwar of India claimed to be 70 years old when she had twin boys and a girl just this month; she had no birth certificate to verify her claim.

She vowed that she would see her two infant sons live into adulthood, yet she already knew that she had a tumor that could be like threatening, according to the Spanish newspaper Diario de Cadiz.

Her twin sons are orphaned

Cancer has taken the life of Maria del Carmen Bousada at 69 years of age. According to the London Times, she died in a hospital near Cadiz. Think of it; her children are so young that they are unlikely to have many lasting memories of their birth mother. Bousada’s family, who will now take care of the twins, will have to provide the children with a strong emotional base if they are to avoid any future identity crisis.

And she had the kids in vitro!

Let me remind you, this is after she discovered she had a tumor. Bousada went to the U.S. and paid over $49,000 in order to have the children. She even had to lie to the doctors in order to avoid their age limit policy. She claimed she was only 55.

I will not pretend to know exactly what was running through Maria del Carmen Bousada’s mind when she decided to have children. Was there a feeling of emptiness, fear that life would soon be over and she wanted to check this off her bucket list? Or was her motivation less selfish and more loving? Considering her health condition, hindsight is an absolutely clear 20/20: her decision was ill-conceived.

Spanish media and Bousada’s family agree with me

“My mother would turn in her grave if she knew what my sister has done,” said Manuel Bousada de Lara, 73. He is Maria’s brother. “Mother would ask: ‘How are you going to bring up two boys at your age?”

The family was definitely taken by surprise with this Cesarean birth. Maria had told them she went to California, but not because she was going to undergo in vitro fertilization therapy. Which generation will raise the babies? Not Maria del Carmen Bousada’s brother Manuel, who is four years older. Thankfully there are cousins that range in age from their 30s to 40s.

But she already knew!

Maria del Carmen Bousada told News of the World of her desire, but only after a period in which she refused to speak with the media: “I have always wanted to be a mother all my life, but I have never had the opportunity or met the right man. My mother lived to 101 years-old and I have every reason to believe longevity runs in my family.”

Unfortunately, Maria herself suspected that the drugs she used during her fertility treatments caused her cancer to spread.

Yet she claims she has “no regrets”

Here's the world's oldest father: Nanu Ram Jogi, 90. He is NOT involved with Maria Carmen del Bousada in any way. (Photo: dailymail.co.uk)

No regrets? NO REGRETS! Reproductive rights are one thing, but what was this woman’s main problem? The welfare of these two children supersedes any respect Maria del Carmen Bousada may deserve upon her death. She comes across as a selfish, brainless fool.

Here are some reactions from readers in the Spanish press. In El Mundo:

This woman for her own ego and lack of common sense did not think that these two children would have to defend themselves very soon. I hope they do not suffer the consequences of such an irresponsible decision.

And another:

Most women live to 80. It wasn’t likely she was going to live to see her sons over the age of about 13. It is barbarous what she has done.

The children of Maria del Carmen Bousada deserved a mature mother, not an impulsive 66-year-old adolescent. The children deserved better. Here’s hoping the family will provide them with a happy, healthy life. And who knows: a cash advance here, some cheap loans there, and emergency child expenses can be taken care of if there’s a budget emergency.

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