A pilot study led by Professor Géraldine Delbès, from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in Laval, focuses on the effects of chemotherapy on male fertility. The team analyzed the consequences of treatments conducted before and after puberty.

According to some scholars, chemotherapy has little influence on male fertility, if conducted in the prepubertal age. Up to a certain age, in fact, the testicles are dormant and do not produce sperm. The study in question belies this belief: chemotherapy influences the way in which cells divide, with immediate and long-term effects.

Professor Delbès studied the fertility of 13 patients, all undergoing chemotherapy as children. He compared the data with that of healthy volunteers and boys undergoing treatment after the onset of puberty. In addition, it also took into account the type of drugs used for the treatments.

From what has emerged, the effects of treatments on fertility do not depend on the patient's age. Chemotherapy reduces the quantity and quality of sperm produced in adulthood, even if it was conducted before puberty. There is no time when the testicles are immune to the negative effects of therapy. Anthracyclines appear to be the drugs that damage the sperm most, causing damage to DNA even years after the treatments.

Chemotherapy is often the only treatment available, which makes it almost inevitable in many cases. Understanding the actual consequences on the physique of young people, however, can help prevent and treat any cases of infertility.

Source: inrs.ca

An international team from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is testing an experimental Zika vaccine. For the time being, the vaccine has proven effective on macaques used as animal models.

The vaccine reduced the virus levels in pregnant monkeys, improving the health conditions of the young. Now scientists are evaluating Phase 2 of the trial, the one on humans. The vaccine uses a small piece of DNA, inside which there are genes encoding the proteins present on the surface of the Zika virus. In this way they induce a response by the host's immune system, which manages to counteract the devastating effects of the virus on fetuses.

According to the authors, this would be enough to avoid the transmission of the virus and the consequences on development. To prove the effectiveness of the system, scientists compared 12 unvaccinated and 13 vaccinated guinea pigs before gestation. All guinea pigs were exposed to the Zika virus three times during the first and second trimester. Vaccinated animals showed far fewer traces of the virus in the blood.

Most importantly, the vaccine appears to have reduced the chances of passing the virus on to the fetus. None of the 13 children in the second group showed congenital defects. If the vaccine also proved effective on humans, it could be used to counter the epidemic raging in South America. Scientists suggest administration to adolescents and adults of childbearing age, so as to immunize them before any gestation.

Source: nih.gov

Dr. Federica Sammali has developed a system to measure uterine contractions. Based on these data, it would be possible to predict the outcome of the IVF cycle.

The researcher has in fact used mathematical models and algorithms to analyze uterine activities in non-pregnant women. Then he used the data to develop a system that distinguishes favorable and adverse uterine conditions. In fact, the role of uterine contractions in in vitro fertilization was already known. It is known that precise interventions can raise the IVF success rate. Unfortunately, precise measurement techniques are lacking, which distinguish harmful from favorable contractions.

The only ones available are invasive and not very effective. That is why Dr. Sammali intervened in this regard. The solution introduced by the doctor is non-invasive and precise. The clinical study conducted at the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven confirmed this.

The researcher measured the electrical activity of the human uterus not in pregnancy, thanks to a grid of electrodes resting on the abdomen. In this way he collected the electrical signals and connected them to the different phases of the menstrual cycle. Ultrasound technology has also allowed us to quantify the mechanical activity of the uterus.

Dr. Sammali has extracted the uterus movements starting from the larger ones generated by the surrounding organs. Starting from all these data, the researcher has developed a method to predict the outcome of IVF. To test it, it involved a group of women who were undergoing IVF cycles. He predicted the outcome with an accuracy of 94%.

Source: tue.nl