Contraceptives are any means of stopping the union between an ovum and a spermatozoon from taking place
and, therefore, avoiding pregnancy.
There are a number of available contraceptives for men and for women and their impact on fertility varies.
So-called ‘natural’ contraceptives (the rhythm or Knaus-Ogino method, basal temperature or […]
A person’s blood group is determined by a number of proteins
that are found on the surface of red blood cells. There are 4 main blood groups
depending on if these proteins are present or not: A, B, AB and 0. An
additional protein known as factor Rh has also been located on the surface. If
a person has […]
What is cryopreservation of
the ovarian cortex?
Cryopreservation in the field of assisted reproduction treatment has clearly been a revolution on all levels. It has changed strategies in cases in which fertility has been compromised for any one of a number of reasons.
This revolution began with freezing both male and female gametes over the course of the latter half of […]
Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome – or simply MRKH syndrome – is a congenital disorder (birth defect), the main characteristic of which is that the women who suffer from it do not have a uterus.
The cause of this infrequent condition (1 in 5,000 female births) is an abnormality during development of the internal genitalia during the embryo/foetus stage. As well as an […]
From an immunological point of view, pregnancy is a unique set of circumstances because a woman’s body has to ‘withstand something that is foreign to it’. The mother has to carry the embryo and, in order to do so, her immune system needs to accept co-existence with cells that are at least half foreign in origin. Using a […]
Personalising courses of treatment is undoubtedly currently the
most important area of change in the field of medicine. A specific strategy should be designed
depending on each patient’s individual characteristics.
One of the key areas for developing personalised medical healthcare is the use of pharmacogenetics. A patient needs different doses or types of pharmaceutical drugs depending on certain genetic variations. […]
It is common knowledge that a seminogram is one of the basic tests that couples who are having issues getting pregnant. In other words, the male partner’s semen needs to be analysed in order to check certain parameters such as the quality of spermatozoa in ejaculate, their motility, their morphology and so on. The aim is to […]
The risk of contracting HIV during unprotected sexual intercourse is estimated to be between 0.5 and 1%. For serodiscordant couples (one partner is a carrier), trying for a child naturally can entail an elevated risk of transmission. In cases such as these, assisted reproduction techniques are an excellent choice for getting pregnant without the risk […]
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis(PGD) consists of studying chromosomalabnormalities and genetic abnormalities in the embryo prior to transfer to the mother. Itspurpose is to ensure that children are healthy and to bring thetransmission of a given condition to an end.
Significant progress that has revolutionised this area ofreproductive medicine has been made over the last few years and specificallywith regards to one type […]
The extent of the issue
Obesity is a public health issue both in the general population and in women of childbearing age. The figures are a proof of this and, far from improving, the problem has been getting progressively worse over the last few years.
Maternal obesity in the United States of America was calculated to be 7% in 1980 and had risen up to 24% by 1999. If we take into account both obesity and excess weight, the available data indicates that the figures were 37.1% in 1999 and 40.5% in 2003.
The NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) reveals obesity figures (BMI or body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2) in women of reproductive age (20 to 39 years of age) of 31.9%.
In other words, one in every three women of a fertile age is obese. […]
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