Dr. John Richburg, associate professor of pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin, has received a five-year $1.5 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study the adverse effects of environmental toxicants on male fertility and disease. Richburg is investigating a class of compounds, called phthalates, used in the manufacturing of plastics and other common consumer products.

Male infertility and tackling falling birth rates across Europe will be among the topics addressed at this year's British Andrology Society's annual conference at Queen's University in Belfast. World leaders in the field of andrology - the study of male reproduction - will meet at Queen's this week (Thursday and Friday) to discuss the latest developments in the field of fertility including the potential to create artificial sperm from stem cells.

With 900,000 assisted reproduction treatments annually such as IVF and intrauterine inseminations in Europe the Commission's proposal to screen both partners before each treatment could lead to costs of over EUR 140 million annually. These figures do not include the additional overhead costs such as administration, personnel and documentation that the hospitals would have to carry on top of that.

Are you a female athlete or just someone who likes challenging workouts -- who also wants to get pregnant? It may make sense to ease off a bit as you try to get pregnant. New research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shows that the body may not have enough energy to support both hard workouts and getting pregnant.

Fertility expert Professor Richard Flemming from Glasgow and Fetal Medicine Consultant Dr Bryan Beattie advised all women over 30 at a packed seminar at the Fertility Show in London on Friday 6th November to check their fertility by having a Body Clock Test based on a blood test (AMH) and an ovarian scan. They said that with nearly 20% of women leaving it until after 35 to start trying for a baby, many have left it too late even with help from treatments like IVF.

The December issue of European Urology, the official journal of the European Association of Urology, features an article entitled 'Are Infertile Men Less Healthy than Fertile Men? Results of a Prospective Case-Control Survey' by Dr. Andrea Salonia et al. The conclusion is that male factor infertility is associated with a number of medical comorbidities, as objectively scored with the hospital-based Charlson Comorbidity Index. Dr.

Just one in three women gives birth after a single IVF attempt, but the cumulative chance of a live birth increases with each cycle - where women are offered three cycles nearly two thirds go on to have babies, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Around three per cent of all children born in Sweden are test-tube babies resulting from IVF (in vitro fertilisation).

The sexual function of male rodents can be impaired by in utero and/or neonatal exposure to external molecules that disrupt normal hormone functioning, giving rise to concerns that low-level exposure to such molecules might cause similar effects in humans. Examples of such molecules include the synthetic nonsteroidal estrogen DES, which was used as a treatment for various diseases until the mid 1990s, and BPA, which is found, among other places, in some plastic containers.

Women undergoing in vitro fertilization who receive only one embryo are as likely to give birth as women who receive two embryos, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Reuters/MSNBC reports. The study is a follow-up to a similar 2004 study.

Research published today on bmj.com reports that women who lie on their backs for fifteen minutes after artificial insemination have a "significantly higher" chance of getting pregnant than women who move around straight after treatment. Lead author Dr Inge Custers from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam and colleagues are now recommending that all women undergoing intrauterine insemination should be offered fifteen minutes of immobilization after the procedure.