artficial tecnologies

8/12/2019 artficial tecnologies

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Fact or Fiction: Artificial Reproductive

Technologies Make Sick Kids

Assisted reproduction involves many manipulations in an unnatural lab environment. Doesthis handling have a detrimental effect on children?

By Katie Cottingham

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BEGIIGS !F "IFE:Highresolution !D rendering of a blastocyst "early

developmental stage of the fetus#. $mage% iStoc&photo
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stage $=1 embryo for genetic testing to screen for various diseases.

Molecular changes

The )**3 health outcomes 'or&( by biologists /an Huo( @i 7hou and colleagues at the

Chinese Academy of Sciences and an8ing edical 5niversity( involved comparing mice

that had undergone $=1 and >D 'ith those that had undergone $=1 alone. The teamreportedinMolecular and Cellular Proteomicsthat( compared 'ith controls( >D mice 'ere

more forgetful( heavier and had less myelin "a fatty coating on nerves that allo's electrical

signals to move :uic&ly across nerve cells#. They also e0pressed abnormal levels of proteins

involved in neurodegenerative conditions.

Although mouse outcomes do not al'ays parallel those in humans( the lab animal studies are

helpful because 6'hen 'e4re studying humans( 'e can4t separate out the effect of the

procedure versus fertility issues(6 ann says. 1or e0ample( it is hard to say 'hether an A/T

baby has died because of the A/T technology or because one of its parents had a mutation

that mutually contributed to subpar fertility and infant death.

ann4s group( for the )*+* 'or& on A/T and epigenetics( used mice to e0amine changes on

four genes follo'ing a superovulation procedure. The team loo&ed at methylation( in 'hich a

methyl group is placed onto cytosine in DA se:uences. ethylation typically silences genes

so that they are not e0pressed. ann4s team reportedinHuman Molecular Geneticsthat

superovulation affected the establishment and possibly the maintenance of methylation in

mice. essedup methylation early in development can cause disorders( such as Bec&'ith

,iedemann syndrome "an overgro'th disorder#( in humans. Another studyby a different

group in the same 8ournal in -ctober )**3 loo&ed at A/T effects on epigenetics "nonDA

changes in genes# in humans. They found methylation defects on several human genes in the

cord blood and placentas of A/T embryos( suggesting that a similar effect might be

occurring in humans as 'ell.

(ause and effect

olecular studies paint a potentially blea& picture( but researchers 'arn that the effects and

causes of these differences are un&no'n. 6$ thin& it4s hard to ma&e any firm conclusions so

far(6 says iv Bente /omundstad( a fertility doctor and researcher at Saint -lav4s 5niversity

Hospital in or'ay.

To tease out the effects of A/T from the impact of underlying fertilityissues in humans(

/omundstad4s team studied mothers 'ho had one pregnancy 'ith A/T and one naturally.

Because the 'omen had children on their o'n either before or after A/T( the researchersassumed that fertility 'as not a problem. ultiple births 'ere e0cluded because even

naturally conceived multiples have a high ris& of complications( /omundstad says.

,hen A/T babies 'ere compared 'ith the entire population they had a lo'er birth 'eight

and increased ris& of death around the time of birth( but that ris& disappeared 'hen compared

'ith their siblings. The analysis( published in August )** in The Lancet( suggests( 6the

infertility treatment per se for the outcomes 'e have studied does not seem to give any

additional ris&(6 /omundstad says.

But there4s still reason for concern. $n a tal& at the ;uropean Society of Human enetics

conference this month( raldine =iot( a clinical geneticist at the aternity Hospital( >ort/oyal in >aris described her team4s large study of 1rench A/T centers. Although A/T
http://www.mcponline.org/content/8/7/1490.abstracthttp://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ddp465http://www.scientificamerican.com/topic.cfm?id=geneticshttp://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/20/3769?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=sapienza&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIThttp://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/20/3769?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=sapienza&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIThttp://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=common-chemicals-known-as-pfcs-link-2009-01-28http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61041-7/abstracthttp://www.mcponline.org/content/8/7/1490.abstracthttp://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ddp465http://www.scientificamerican.com/topic.cfm?id=geneticshttp://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/20/3769?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=sapienza&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIThttp://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=common-chemicals-known-as-pfcs-link-2009-01-28http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61041-7/abstract


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children had a slightly higher than normal rate of birth defects( their ris& of developing

epigenetic disorders( such as Bec&'ith,iedemann syndrome( 'as E.9 to si0 times higher.

So( is A/T safe? 61or some of these children( 'e still don4t &no' 'hat the longterm results

of the A/T 'ill be( in that a lot of these children are not yet reproductive age(6 ann points

out. /omundstad says that although it4s possible that health effects could surface later on( she'ill continue to offer fertility treatment in her practice. 6$ don4t thin& the timing is right to

start to scare the population( but $ thin& it4s important to focus on this and continue 'ith

studies(6 she says.

/ights F >ermissions

T'eet

$) (o**ents

Add Comment

Sho' All G 2ump To% ++* G ++)* G )+!* G e0t

=ie'

+. +. ;lieople 'ho have trouble conceiving should adopt. There are literally $$-S of

un'anted children in the 'orld. ,hy ta&e drastic measures to ma&e ne' ones 8ust so

they can share the parent4s genes it4s selfish.

/eply G /eport Abuse G in& to this). ). $=1om *!%)J > I+I+*

et4s 8ust list them all on ebay and bid on them. Those millions of un'anted children

all over the 'orld are -T available to those 'ho 'ant them. >eople 'ho don4t 'ant

&ids shouldn4t have them. Have you heard of birth control?

/eply G /eport Abuse G in& to this

3. !. margie9! in reply to ;li I+I+*

;li I+I+*

$- it4s not easy to be uncompassionate( but $ strongly suspect that if $ adopted all ofthose millions and brought them all home( in a short time there4d be another bunch of
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suffering millions. $ thin& those seemingly un'anted millions are the product more of

regional socialIeconomicIenvironmental failures that are most li&ely beyond anyone4s

control. 5nfortunately( babies 'ill be born into all but the most intolerable conditions.

1eeding starving millions in an unproductive environment 'ill not produce a

functioning society to support them. $t hurts to be cruel...


9. 9. ;li I+I+*

$ personally have never understood the intense need to breed that some people

apparently feel( so e0cuse me if my previous post seemed insensitive to the

;D$CA C-D$T$- of infertility. 1act is( 'e are multiplying at rates that 'ill

cause mass e0tinctions and starvation 'ithin a fe' decades( but hey( $ guess everyone

has the right to do that. After all( it4s our planet and if 'e 'ant to cause all the other

species( and then ourselves( to become e0tinct( then that4s our prerogative. $ agree

'ith a previous poster if $ adopted all the $$-S of starving children in the'orld( they 'ould 8ust be replaced by ne' ones. Could that be because certain

religious leaders go to places li&e Africa and actually tell them they4ll burn in hell if

they practice birth control? ,ith that sort of irresponsible behavior( and the belief that

'e are all entitled to breed out of control( our species and the entire planet is probably

doomed already.


J. J. hotblac& *J%!J > I+I+*

5gh. Breeders. $ can find t'o reasons to &eep creating ne' people in the face of the

millions going 'ithout parents in this 'orld. -ne is a gigantic ego trip( the other is an

inability to elevate oneself even over the lo' hurdle of ones most base primal

instincts.

-h hey( 8ust &eep ma&ing more. ,e4ll 8ust &eep paying for them so everyone else can

starve to death. Selfish pigs.


. . >amcie ++%E > I+I+*

-ur planet is vast and natural resources 'ell managed 'ith improved technology 'illprovide for the increasing population. Another problem is the global 'arming that is

causing sea level to rise( 'hich 'ill displace millions of people from their coast lands

to higher lands. Humans are so fragile( a natural cathastrophe can &ill many. -n the

other hand( violence and nuclear 'ars could lead to mass e0tinction( the product of

human selfishness and pride( and the human 6instinct6 for po'er control. $n contrast(

follo'ing the desires of our hearth to fullfill life 'ith love 'ill allo' spiritual gro'th

and progress.

1amily is the pillar of society( the driver of the human species. Try all means to have

your family( is that4s 'hat you feel deep inside.

Adoption is a 'onderful personal option.

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8. . 2ohnay in reply to hotblac&+)%+) A I)I+*

Hotblac&( $ feel for you. on6breeders6 are( evolutionarily spea&ing( the 'al&ing

dead.

/eply G /eport Abuse G in& to this3. 3. >alolololo *!%9! A I)I+*

aybe 'e don4t understand the part about out of millions of sperm cells one is

selected to fertilialolololo+*%!) A I)I+*

$n $=1.....one egg is placed in a petri dish 'ith a couple million sperm. The best

s'immer or 'hichever one gets inside the egg first 'ins and fertili

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