Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified the role of a gene in regulating molecular signals involved with ovarian follicle development, which may one day help shed light on some of the causes of fertility issues in humans. The steps involved with conception and pregnancy are delicate and complex - particularly the process of folliculogenesis.

Scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick have shed new light on how sperm navigate the female reproductive tract, 'crawling' along the channel walls and swimming around corners; with frequent collisions. Research results published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS) provide ...

A University of Adelaide study has identified the risk of major birth defects associated with different types of assisted reproductive technology. In the most comprehensive study of its kind in the world, researchers from the University's Robinson Institute have compared the risk of major birth defects for each of the ...

A paper published in Biology of Reproduction's Papers-in-Press describes the effects of brief prenatal exposure to plant estrogens on the mouse oviduct, modeling the effects of soy-based baby formula on human infants. The results suggest that exposure to estrogenic chemicals in the womb or during childhood has the potential to ...

Experts from Durham University have identified a new gene that could help the development of fertility treatments in humans in the future. Scientists from Durham University, UK, and Osaka University, Japan, looking at fertility in mice, have discovered for the first time that the gene, which makes a protein called ...

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have found that adolescents newly diagnosed with cancer have strong concerns about their ability to have children as cancer survivors. They also found that standard health-related quality-of-life survey tools used to elicit answers from teens with cancer did not accurately reflect these concerns. ...

Frida Kahlo's many haunting self-portraits have been studied by experts for decades, have attracted worldwide attention and have sold for millions of dollars at auction. Yet, despite the fact that Kahlo's work focuses largely on anatomy and failed reproduction attempts, relatively little attention has been paid to Kahlo's own body ...

Ninety-six per cent of women who attended a preconception clinic before undergoing IVF had three or more lifestyle problems and risk factors, according to a study in the May issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. Half of the obese women lost weight and nearly a third of the smokers ...