Raise your hand if you looked under rocks as a kid. What’dya remember finding? Moist dark soil and interesting little critters skedaddling away is what I recall. Earth’s underbelly, teeming with life. Infertility Awareness The theme of this year’s National Infertility Awareness Week is “Flip the Script.” Be a voice, break the silence, advocate, pledge and help build awareness...Continue reading
At-home genetic testing kits can be fun—as long as you know the risks Perhaps 2017 might be remembered as the first holiday season when at-home genetic testing kits received the same billing as the latest version of Amazon’s electronic assistant Alexa. These kits, which allow consumers to submit a saliva sample via mail and...Continue reading
Andrology is a branch of medicine that is concerned with diseases that are specific to males, in particular, the reproductive organs. Andrology focuses on androgen use and abuse, prostate diseases such as prostate cancer, sexual dysfunctions, and testicular disorders such as testicular cancer. Below are some of the ways andrology nurses track their patients’ fertility...Continue reading
If you’re around my age (not telling), you’ve probably had your blood drawn, maybe even regularly. Electrolytes, sugars, cholesterol, liver and kidney stuff, HIV testing and the like. But imagine that that same blood sample could tell you whether or not you have any one of 40 cancers? The future is upon us. Written in...Continue reading
For how long have women been taking “prenatal” vitamins? Maybe a decade? Nope. A link between vitamin deficiency and pregnancy outcomes was postulated 70 years ago! And studies showing fewer neural tube defects in babies following maternal folic acid supplementation are now almost 40 years old. Indeed, prenatal vitamins have become a clutch player in the world of preventative medicine....Continue reading
You share 99.5% of your DNA with the person sitting next to you. In fact, you share 97.5% of your DNA with mice. And, believe it or not, 50% of banana DNA is identical to yours! So what makes you so special? Epigenetics. The New Plastics Remember the scene in “The Graduate” when the smug, older businessman...Continue reading
You know about what happened to oil prices last year. And you know about the Paris and San Bernardino shootings. There was also the marriage equality ruling by the Supreme Court and the Baltimore protests. All newsworthy by any measure. But did you know that it was also a big year for sperm?
DNA is the genetic information contained in all cells, including sperm. Intact sperm DNA is necessary for normal egg fertilization (1, 2). Sperm that has DNA with breaks in the strands is abnormal, and is called “DNA fragmentation” This may cause sperm to function poorly and is not measured by the standard semen analysis. There...
Remember the expression, “there’s an app for that”? That’s soooo 2014. Sure, apps are still everywhere, but new expression we’ll be hearing a lot in the years to come is, “there’s a test for that.” A new test invented by scientists at the University of Queensland (Australia) uses a single drop of fluid to detect...Continue reading
Do you believe in evolution? Apparently, over 6 in 10 Americans do. Since described by Darwin over 150 years ago, every aspect of evolution has been, and continues to be, hotly debated. But what fascinates me most about evolution is not who runs the show, but how it actually might happen. Microevolution To many in the field,...Continue reading