(Press-News.org) A novel system for processing embryos during IVF treatment has been shown to significantly improve the chances of pregnancy – by more than a quarter.
Pioneered by a Newcastle team of fertility experts at the University and within the NHS, the innovative design of interlinked incubators provides a totally enclosed and controlled environment within which every step of the IVF process can be performed.
Research published today in the journal PLoS ONE reveals that the introduction of the new system into the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, part of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, resulted in a 27% increase in pregnancy rate compared with conventional equipment used in IVF treatment labs.
Traditionally, in IVF procedures embryos are cultured in incubators, which provide a controlled environment. However, it is necessary to check embryo development under the microscope.
This generally involves removing them from the controlled environment of the incubators, which may be harmful. The system developed by the Newcastle team overcomes this problem by enabling all procedures to be conducted within an enclosed and controlled environment.
Initially the new system was tested extensively to make sure that it maintained stable environmental conditions (for air quality and temperature). Subsequent studies on embryos donated to research showed a significant increase in the proportion of embryos developing normally over a period of 6-7 days.
After introduction into the laboratories at Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, the team were able to compare the treatment outcomes over a period of three years. The study, found that 45% achieved a clinical pregnancy compared to 32% and 35% in each of the preceding two years. This represents a minimum increase of 27% in the clinical pregnancy rate; a clinical pregnancy means that a heart beat was seen on the scan at 7 weeks gestation.
The study, which took account of variability between patients, included women aged 37 or less, undergoing their first cycle of IVF or ICSI, and who had more than ten ovarian follicles (the structures which contain a mature egg).
This is the first and only system of its kind to be installed in the UK, however, based on the innovative design from the Newcastle team, similar systems have already been exported to IVF clinics in the Netherlands, Canada and Thailand.
This positive benefit to IVF patients came from investment into cutting edge research in embryonic stem cell research and was funded by the Medical Research Council and One North East.
Newcastle University's Professor Mary Herbert who led the research team at Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, part of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and based at the Centre for Life, said: "Our aim was to keep eggs and embryos in conditions similar to those they would experience naturally - inside a woman's body. This led our team to design and develop a system in which it is possible to perform all of the technical procedures while maintaining stable conditions throughout the IVF process."
Alison Murdoch, Professor of Reproductive Medicine who leads the clinical service at Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life said: "Growing good embryos is the key to IVF success and everyone, even those who have a very small prospect of success, deserve to have the best possible chance. Since installing this new technology over 850 babies have now been born."
INFORMATION:
Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life (Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) is based at the Centre for Life in Newcastle. Most couples can be treated on the NHS by referral from the GP. Private referrals are also accepted.
Reference: Hyslop L, Prathalingam N, Nowak L, Fenwick J, Harbottle S, et al. (2012) A Novel Isolator-Based System Promotes Viability of Human Embryos during Laboratory Processing. PLoS ONE 7(2): e31010. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031010
Website contacts:
Newcastle Fertility Centre @ Life:
http://www.newcastle-hospitals.org.uk/services/fertility-centre.aspx
Isolator system:
http://www.vitrosafe.co.uk/
END
COLUMBIA, Mo. – In 2007, a controversial pesticide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use on fruit and vegetable crops, mainly in California and Florida. Farm workers and scientists protested the approval of the pesticide because its active ingredient, methyl iodide, is a known carcinogen. Now, MU researchers are studying the molecular structure of the pesticide to determine if the product could be made more efficient and safer for those living near, and working in, treated fields.
Methyl iodide is the active ingredient used in a pesticide known commercially ...
Yellow Ribbon Tree Experts, an Atlanta tree services company, reminds Atlanta homeowners to have their trees pruned before the spring growing season begins.
"Atlanta tree trimming is best done in late winter, before warm spring weather encourages trees to grow," notes Gary Robertson, owner of Yellow Ribbon Tree Experts. "We are already seeing signs of spring weather coming, so it is important for Atlanta homeowners to have an Atlanta tree service come and prune their trees soon."
Proper pruning can both maintain tree health and enhance a tree's ...
Language barriers could deter more than 100,000 Californians from enrolling in the Health Benefit Exchange, according to a study released today by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.
The study presents findings from a UC Berkeley–UCLA micro-simulation that estimates the likely enrollment in health care reform programs in California. Specifically, the study projects that more than 1 million limited–English proficient (LEP) adults will be eligible to receive ...
Toronto, February 29, 2012 - Scientists at the Toronto Western Research Institute (TWRI), Krembil Neuroscience Center, have developed a drug that protects the brain against the damaging effects of a stroke in a lab setting. This drug has been in development for a few years. At this point, it has reached the most advanced stage of development among drugs created to reduce the brain's vulnerability to stroke damage (termed a "neuroprotectant"). Over 1000 attempts to develop such drugs by scientists worldwide have failed to be translated to a stage where they can be used in ...
Propulsion by a novel jet engine is the crux of the innovation behind a University of Colorado Boulder-developed aircraft that's accelerating toward commercialization.
Jet engine technology can be small, fuel-efficient and cost-effective, at least with Assistant Professor Ryan Starkey's design. The CU-Boulder aerospace engineer, with a team of students, has developed a first-of-its-kind supersonic unmanned aircraft vehicle, or UAV. The UAV, which is currently in a prototype state, is expected to fly farther and faster -- using less fuel -- than anything remotely similar ...
Monitoring the construction of wells, avoid over-exploiting cold groundwater close to hot groundwater, and controlling mineral water extraction. These are the recommendations from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, after analysing the contamination of La Selva geothermal system, above all by arsenic pollution. In this region, which is known for its spa resorts and bottling plants, as well as in other Catalan coastal mountain ranges, uranium levels higher than what is recommended by the WHO have been detected.
The groundwater in La ...
Atlanta pest control company Team Pest USA has opened a new location offering pest control services in Gainesville, GA. This latest expansion is the most recent example of the continued growth that Team Pest USA has maintained over the past four decades.
Since 1971, Team Pest USA has been providing outstanding pest control in Atlanta, and that dedication to reliable pest control services has, in large part, been a reason for the company's continued success and current expansion in Gainesville. Team Pest USA offers an extended list of services, including mosquito control, ...
It's one of life's special moments: a child finds a fat caterpillar, puts it in a jar with a twig and a few leaves, and awakens one day to find the caterpillar has disappeared and an elegant but apparently lifeless case now hangs from the twig.
Then, when the jar has been forgotten, soft beating against its glass walls calls attention to a new wonder: the jar now holds a fragile-winged butterfly or dusky moth with fringed antennae.
These transformations are so startling that a child's awe seems a more appropriate response than an adult's calm acceptance.
How is it, ...
A recent decline in ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla), a ground-nesting migratory songbird, in forests in the northern Midwest United States is being linked by scientists to a seemingly unlikely culprit: earthworms.
A new survey conducted in Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest and Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest by a research team led by Scott Loss of the University of Minnesota and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has revealed a direct link between the presence of invasive European earthworms (Lumbricus spp.) and reduced numbers of ovenbirds in mixed ...
Employees at Atlanta granite countertop fabricator Premier Surfaces have shaved their heads to support one of their own. When a beloved team member learned that she would be undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, she made the brave decision to shave her head instead of letting the chemo take her hair. The men at Atlanta granite counters supplier Premier Surfaces felt it was important to lend her moral support, and roughly 20 of them shaved their heads with her.
The employee was diagnosed with breast cancer in December of 2011, and began her first chemotherapy ...
