IVF funding cut in Warrington

Funding of IVF treatment has been suspended by Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT) following a review to assess whether the service matched agreed health priorities and offered the best value for money. Warrington is the only PCT in the North West, of which there are 24, to cut the funding of IVF, reports say...[Read More]

Isle of Man 'halves' fertility treatment funding

Isle of Man couples wishing to undergo IVF will only have funds to complete one cycle of treatment following a review of fertility care, the Manx government has announced...[Read More]

Overseas artificial insemination outlawed in Turkey

Turkish women who go abroad to get pregnant via insemination by donor sperm face up to three years in prison after new regulations were passed by the country's Ministry of Health earlier this month....[Read More]

HFEA updates its clinic ratings website

The UK's fertility industry regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has published new data on the success rates of fertility clinics across the country, enabling patients to find out the likely result of their treatment....[Read More]

Scientists make fat in flower-shaped moulds

Whether a stem cell develops into bone or fat can be determined by the type of mould it is grown in, scientists at the University of Chicago have found...[Read More]

IVF boys have shorter fingers, may have fertility problems

Boys conceived through IVF tend to have short fingers - a trait linked to infertility, say researchers in a study published in the journal of Reproductive Biomedicine Online...[Read More]

Leading geneticist knighted

A leading UK geneticist has received a knighthood in the New Year's Honours list for services to medicine. Professor John Burn, director of the Institute of Human Genetics, helped to establish the International Centre for Life in Newcastle.Last July, researchers at the Centre for Life grew human sperm from stem cells and created the first human-animal hybrid embryos in 2008....[Read More]

Gene mainly responsible for curly hair identified

A 'curly hair gene' has been discovered by scientists at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), paving the way for advances in hair treatments and forensic science....[Read More]

Company markets 'over-the-counter' paternity test to the UK

Over-the-counter paternity tests have become available in more pharmacies across the UK, despite concerns being raised about the dangers of making this information available without medical supervision. Last week 'International Bioscience', a leading DNA analysis company, began marketing its paternity testing service to the UK through 'Clockwork pharmacies'. The UK's first over-the-counter paternity tests went on sale in pharmacies earlier this year, marketed by the company 'Anglia DNA ', spa...[Read More]

Circadian clock gene linked to bipolar disorder in children

A new study has linked a gene implicated in regulating how much sleep a child needs to bipolar disorder in children. Variations in a gene called RORB, which is known to affect sleeping patterns through disrupting the regulation of the body's internal 'circadian' rhythm, are likely more common among children with bipolar disorder, according to research published online in the journal BMC Psychiatry. But more research is needed to validate the findings, said the researchers....[Read More]