EXASPERATED parents struggling with their teen's unfathomable behaviour may wonder if their adolescent is alone in acting so erratically. The answer, say researchers, is that not only do all human teenagers share similar characteristics, but their typical adolescent behaviour is reflected throughout the animal kingdom in creatures as small as insects to as large as whales.

Now the remarkable way human adolescent behaviour is mirrored in animals has been recorded in the new book Wildhood, written after years of research and travel by Harvard University evolutionary biologist Professor Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and science journalist Kathryn Bowers.

The pair studied the four universal challenges every adolescent of every species faces on the journey to adulthood: safety, status, sex, and survival. Here are four of the traits human and animal adolescents share:

1. Risk-taking:

Human teens aren't the only ones who take more risks and underestimate danger. The 'problematic' teenage brain specifically the late maturation of the prefrontal cortex which by adulthood is able to contain impulses is often used to explain higher adolescent rates of accidents, injuries and worse.

Strikingly similar brain biology during adolescence in other species pushes young wolves, possums, bears, and birds to take the risks needed to leave their dens, burrows and nests.

But this comes at a cost. Adolescent animals are disproportionately road-killed. Adolescent whales are more likely to be struck by shipping-lane traffic. And lacking experience recognising and evading predators on their own, adolescent animals have some of the highest rates of becoming prey.

In several species, adolescent animals exhibit behaviours which look risky but are actually adaptations to help them stay safer in the long run. Adolescent stickleback fish, bats, Thomson gazelles, and meerkats sometimes approach their predators instead of fleeing from them. This behaviour, called 'predator inspection', is at times dangerous, but the experience is crucial. The key is finding a way to gain experience while staying safe.

2. Social status:

Popularity, Instagram followers, 'likes' today's teenagers seem obsessed with status, sometimes acting as if it were a matter of life or death. But they aren't alone. For animal species who live in groups, status is a matter of life or death. In animal hierarchies, high status individuals eat more, live in safer places and reproduce more. They even have stronger immune systems and get better sleep.

Animal brains have evolved to signal when status is gained or lost. Like the physical pleasure which rewards animals for actions which increase survival and reproduction eating and having sex 'status pleasure' rewards animals when they rise up the ladder. The building blocks of the emotional centres in the human brain can be found in the brain status networks in fish, reptiles, birds and other mammals.

Status is one of the most powerful forces in the lives of adolescents across the animal kingdom.

3. Romance:

After young humans go through puberty, their bodies are physically capable of creating babies. However, they are many years away from being ready for parenthood. Remarkably, when wild animals go through puberty many will not have sex for years. In some cases, they must learn complex courtship steps, songs, and sequences before they breed.

Across the animal kingdom, music seems to have a powerful romantic impact. Canary and dove songs performed just right can induce ovulation in females. But it takes a lot of practice. Humpback whale adolescent males are invited to join choruses of males who loudly croon complex music that draws females to them. In the beginning, the adolescent males don't sing properly. With years of experience and practice, these whales become more powerful singers.

The songs and sequences of animal courtship are a complex language that takes time and practice to learn properly. Studies of the sexual lives of young wild animals confirm a species-spanning reality: sex is easy, courtship is hard.

4. Self-reliance:

Before they leave home, adolescent wolves go to 'finishing school', a term wolf biologists use to describe the adult hunts they're invited to join.

Leaving home is dangerous for young birds and mammals. While predators are a significant threat, finding enough food is challenging for animals on their own for the first time. In many species, parents provide preparation cheetah mothers disable gazelles and meerkat adults pull out scorpion stingers as practice prey for young hunters-in-training. But some learning can only happen when a young animal is hungry literally a do-or-die situation.

Across the animal kingdom and as in humans, self-sufficiency doesn't happen automatically. Preparation, practice, and hunger transform dependent young animals into self-reliant adults.

More here:
Four scientifically proven ways teen humans and adolescent animals are similar - The Irish News

Dr Patricia MacCormack, author of The Ahuman Manifesto, is professor of continental philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University

An Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) author believes she has solved the problem of over-population by allowing humanity to become extinct through ending procreation.

Dr Patricia MacCormack, professor of continental philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), has even invented a new term for a post-human world: the ahuman will avoid ecological collapse by going beyond binaries of human and not human, according to The Ahuman Manifesto which is launched in Cambridge this week.

Far from advocating mass death, genocide or eugenics, my manifesto is antinatalist, says Dr MacCormack. It boycotts human reproduction due to the damage humans have perpetrated on the Earth and its other inhabitants.

The manifesto simply asks that humans no longer reproduce no life is lost, no being is mourned. If we no longer reproduce, we can care for all inhabitants already here, human and non-human, as well as care for the Earth itself by mitigating the damage already caused. Its an activism of care.

It questions the value of human exceptionalism, asking are humans really the best forms of life, or should we dismantle our understanding of life as a hierarchy for a more ecological, interconnected scheme of living things?

The fundamental realignment of our future residence on planet Earth means, eventually, self-extinction, but its also intended to be joyful.

My manifesto sees a joy in living the lives we have and developing strategies of care for the Earths next chapter, she says. This is an Earth thats allowed to thrive not in spite of but because of the reduction and eventual absence of humans.

Dr MacCormack suggests that there is an ideological commitment to understanding having children as familial eugenics, ie my DNA is more important than anyone elses is the premise of having children. It is this superiority complex, unchallenged, which is leading us to our demise.

Ahuman is a term I invented which acknowledges we have human residue and accountability but shows we want to refuse human privilege and human-made hierarchies of life, she told the Cambridge Independent. It is a space between human and animal, human and post-human, human and earth. It may be the traitor to the species or the apocalypse of anthropocentrism.

As we wind the clock down, suggests Dr MacCormack, society should allow adoption to be easier, and end the concept of legal and illegal children.

The sensational new term actively embraces issues like human extinction, vegan abolition, atheist occultism, death studies, a refusal of identity politics, deep ecology, and the apocalypse as an optimistic beginning (albeit for other forms of life than humanity).

So how long did it take the book to write?

It took a lifetime, says Dr MacCormack, but the current political global climate quickened its necessity.

The Ahuman Manifesto is published by Bloomsbury at 21.99.

Read this article:
End procreation to save Earth, says ARU author in The Ahuman Manifesto - Cambridge Independent

(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

By John Kemp

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Oil traders are struggling to estimate the severity and duration of the hit to global consumption from the outbreak of coronavirus in China, based on evidence from previous epidemics of coronaviruses and influenza.

Medical researchers recognise three global pandemics of influenza in the course of the 20th century, in 1918/19 (Spanish influenza), 1957/58 (Asian influenza) and 1968/69 (Hong Kong influenza).

Before the advent of modern record keeping, there are other probable candidates for global influenza pandemics, including 1847 and 1889 (Report on the pandemic of influenza 1918-19, British Ministry of Health, 1920).

More recently, there have been coronavirus outbreaks in 2003 (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and 2013 onwards (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus).

And there have been several influenza epidemics and pseudo-pandemics that were quickly confined, including in 1947 (U.S. service personnel in Asia), 1976 (U.S. service personnel at Fort Dix) and 1977/78 (Russian influenza).

Most influenza and coronavirus outbreaks have followed virus mutations as they have passed back and forth between human and animal hosts, which is why Chinas live animal markets have been such a high-risk factor.

By their nature, epidemics tend to spread rapidly through a susceptible population that has never encountered the virus before and has no immunity, but the rate of infections and fatalities then tends to peak and fade quickly.

Most uncontrolled outbreaks have lasted roughly three months, though in some instances there have been multiple waves, such as the three waves of influenza during the summer, autumn and winter of 1918/19.

The transmission and severity of an outbreak is largely determined by two parameters: the basic reproduction number (R0) and the case fatality rate (CFR).

The basic reproduction number is a measure of the expected number of others an individual host with the virus will infect without containment measures.

In practice, the actual transmission rate (R) may be lower than the R0. But as long as the actual value of R is greater than 1, the epidemic will accelerate, as the number of infected individuals grows exponentially.

Eventually, when enough individuals have contracted the disease, developed immunity, recovered, and are no longer susceptible, the transmission rate will decline, which is why epidemics eventually fade out.

R will eventually decline below 1 because there are simply not enough susceptible individuals left in the population for the virus to continue spreading, as many have already been exposed and died or recovered.

Containment measures aim to bring down the transmission rate more rapidly through quarantine, social distancing, cancelling public events, focusing on super-spreaders, such as healthcare workers, and intensified personal hygiene.

The case fatality rate measures the number of infected individuals who eventually die of the disease or complications, such as secondary bacterial infections.

One reason the pandemic of 1918 proved so deadly is that in an era before antibiotics many of those who contracted viral influenza went on to contract bacterial pneumonia.

In most instances, viruses tend to be most lethal to the young, the old, those with already weakened immune systems and those with underlying medical conditions.

Several million deaths around the world each year are directly or indirectly attributable to the ordinary seasonal outbreaks of influenza, most of them in higher-risk categories.

The pandemic of 1918 was unusual because a high proportion of the deaths were prime age individuals, for reasons that are still not fully understood.

Case fatality rates are difficult to estimate because the mildest cases may not be reported or recorded leading to an overestimate of mortality.

In general, there is a trade off between the reproduction rate and the case fatality rate, because the virus needs to keep its host alive long enough to transmit it to others.

The most lethal viruses tend to have relatively low transmission rates, because they kill the host too quickly, while the highly transmissible viruses tend to be less lethal, giving them more opportunity to infect other hosts.

But reproduction rates and case fatality rates are notoriously difficult to estimate accurately even after an outbreak has been controlled.

In any respiratory epidemic, the biggest impact on the economy and oil consumption comes from the containment measures, such as quarantine and social distancing, taken to bring the epidemic under control.

Some measures will be ordered by the government to deal with a public health emergency but others will be taken voluntarily by businesses and individuals concerned about limiting exposure to the disease.

Social distancing measures can have a large negative impact on both business and consumer spending as well as on manufacturing production, services provision and transportation networks.

Like the course of the epidemic, the economic impact tends to be acute rather than lasting, compressed into the space of a few weeks or months.

As the outbreak burns itself out, or is effectively controlled, the need for extreme quarantine and social distancing measures declines and activity returns to normal.

As the outbreak fades, concern about health risks is eventually displaced by commercial pressure to resume normal activities.

Businesses, employees, transport companies, schools are forced to resume near-normal activity in order to earn revenue, get paid, and pass examinations.

If a typical epidemic lasts less than 13 weeks, peaking around half-way through, the impact on economic activity is likely to follow a similar pattern.

The main exception is where the epidemic returns in multiple waves, which is unusual, but happened in 1918/19.

In London, the first wave of deaths peaked in week 28 of 1918 (with most deaths between week 25 and week 33). The second peaked in week 44 (with most deaths occurring between 42 and 51).

The third wave peaked in week 9 of 2019 (with most deaths starting in week six and ending by week 14), according to contemporary statistics compiled by Britains Ministry of Health.

The first wave was comparatively mild with only a few hundred deaths in the capital. The second was much more severe, killing 3,000-4,000 people per week at its peak. The third was somewhere in between.

In the current outbreak, the principal impact on Chinas oil consumption is likely to be concentrated in the first quarter of the year, especially in January and February.

By March and April, the number of new cases and fatalities should start to decline, and more normal business activity and oil consumption should gradually be restored.

There is likely to be some lingering impact on economic activity and oil consumption as businesses and households absorb the loss of revenue and income from the first quarter, but it should fade.

But the biggest economic and oil consumption impact will most likely be felt in the first quarter and should start to fade from the start of the second and largely have disappeared by the end of the third.

The principal risk is fresh outbreaks in other centres in China or overseas, with a second or third epidemic wave later in the year, which would magnify the economic and oil consumption impact.

Chinas oil consumption averaged around 14.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (Short Term Energy Outlook, EIA, Jan. 14).

For the sake of illustration, if coronavirus depresses Chinas consumption by 10% on average in the first quarter, 2% in the second quarter and 1% in the third, the total impact will be the loss of around 450,000 bpd on average in 2020.

BPs chief financial officer said on Friday that coronavirus could reduce oil consumption by about 300,000-500,000 barrels per day, roughly 0.5% of global oil demand, which is in line with this guesstimate.

China, together with India, has accounted for more than 50% of global incremental oil consumption in recent years, so any slowdown would have a major impact on the global production-consumption balance.

Oil prices have already fallen sharply to force U.S. shale producers and the OPEC+ group of major oil exporters to implement corresponding reductions in production this year. (Editing by Barbara Lewis)

Read the original:
COLUMN-Coronavirus and the impact on oil consumption: Kemp - Reuters

The other week, the Guardian Experience column, which I love because its one of very few places you can read about people being eaten by hippos in a broadsheet newspaper, published an essay by a retired supply teacher called Les Knight, who has dedicated his life to campaigning for the extinction of the human race (the title of the article is, fittingly, Experience: I campaign for the extinction of the human race).

My journey to advocating for voluntary human extinction began at school, Knight writes. As he remembers it, everywhere, throughout his childhood, seemed like it was getting too full up with people:

After a stint in the army, Knight started reading books about how overpopulation would imminently lead to food shortages and famine (a thesis soon disproved, of course, by the Third Agricultural Revolution). He joined a movement called Zero Population Growth, which wanted every couple to stop breeding after they'd had two children, and at 25 he secured himself a free vasectomy by letting a student doctor use him for practice. But eventually, Knight decided that simply limiting human population growth would never be enough: even a much smaller human population would continue to crowd and defile everywhere it occupied. And so, in the late 1980s, after settling in Portland, Oregon, Knight founded the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. Our message is simple, he claims, we encourage people to stop procreating so the biosphere might return to its former glory, and everyone already here will be able to live life more abundantly.

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement has never commanded anything close to mass appeal. Their main output is a newsletter called These Exit Times, which may have as few as 230 subscribers although, to its credit, it does apparently feature a cartoon strip about a voluntarily childless woman raising a bonobo.

To many, Knight's ideas must seem strange, even crazy; in opposition to everything humanity ought to hold dear. But on another perhaps even more accurate level, the message of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement might rightly be claimed as the dominant ideology of our society and culture.

Knight himself has claimed that his movement consists of anyone who supports the idea of humanity going extinct. And it is interesting to consider what this support might plausibly consist of.

For one thing, we could count anyone, at any point in human history, regardless of VHEM membership, who subscribes in some way to Knight's views. Thus the Medieval Cathars, who believed that reproduction was a sin, were unwitting members of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. So too are any followers of the South African philosopher David Benatar, whose anti-natalism is premised on the intuition that it is always bad to bring a new conscious being into existence, since with existence comes the capacity to suffer. Some members of the r/childfree subreddit seem to believe that others should stop having children because it makes it more difficult for them personally to win costume contests.

Knight also appears to be willing to claim as allies people who remain voluntarily childless as a result of concerns over climate change although not wanting to have kids because you're worried about your kids carbon footprint, or the quality of life they might very well be denied in a rapidly warming world, is not the same as thinking it might be better if the whole human race went extinct. More plausibly, it seems motivated by a concern that the planet should be as liveable as possible for those who do happen to be born.

But then in addition to these people, we should probably also think to include those whose actions regardless of what they say, or think, they are doing in fact seem to be helping to bring the extinction of the human race about. (Some theoretical grounding here might be provided by Robert Pippins Hegelian, expressivist theory of intention, on which actions disclose what an agent takes herself to be doing often, indeed, to the agent herself).

And into this category of by-fruits-knowners would fall rather a lot of people, especially those people currently in power. Take the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison. Morrison might not explicitly want his country to be reduced to a permanently blazing apocalyptic hell, he might not make speeches openly in favor of bringing death and punishment to Australia. But his actions, and those of his government, are in fact working to make Australias complete devastation by climate change a lot more likely. It is a similar situation with Brazil President Jair Bolsanaro, and his enthusiasm for burning down his countrys rainforests.

But the very powerful dont only help accelerate the destruction of the planet/the human species by being cartoonish goons or villains. They also do it much more quietly, by producing structures which force us into choices that necessarily make us complicit with the death-spiral: driving cars; eating food farmed on land grown on cleared rainforests, or in monocultures that kill bees; even just going online. As Pippinian, expressivists agents do even we want everything to die?

So why would anyone, powerful or otherwise, want all conscious life to go extinct? It's worth considering what the death of all conscious life on earth would actually mean. Without anyone or anything left to experience it, the planet will yes persist. But not as the Earth not as a planet; for there will be nothing left to conceptualize it as such. Non-existence beckons.

And perhaps non-existence, in all its finality, has a certain sort of libidinal appeal. Freud, for instance, identified the death drive (or death instincts) as being one of the fundamental forces shaping our psychic lives aside from the life instincts (towards survival, sexual pleasure, and so forth), we all share the urge inherent in organic life to restore an earlier state of things, i.e. non-existence. In a sense, then, the aim of all life is death. Which can be fine, since any living species eventually has older generations die off but only if the death instincts are properly balanced with their opposites. If the death instincts ever won out completely, there would be no more life left to speak of (interestingly, Freud speaks of the death drive as a fundamentally conservative drive, which seems about right). Knight's own essay speaks of his desire for a less cluttered world, where everything beautiful beyond human life could finally thrive his own life-instincts seem to have been projected onto the non-human.

Maybe all of this is in fact motivated not by the death drive, but its opposite. Knight claims he wants all human beings now living to live life to its fullest while voluntarily choosing to wind down the human race. In a way then he doesn't really want to eliminate human life as such: What he actually wants to eliminate are future human generations.

And perhaps that's what the powers-that-be want as well. Knight is a Baby Boomer: a generation the members of whom are notorious for having material interests often starkly opposed to those of their children. What if endless, consequence-free life could be secured for all Boomers, with no pesky shape-of-things-to-come emerging to oppose it? (Was this not, in a sense, the desire behind that paradigmatic work of Boomer philosophy, Francis Fukuyamas The End of History?) Perhaps something like the sterile, polymorphically perverse utopia imagined by Michael Moorcock in his series The Dancers at the End of Time. Or the Grand Hotel Abyss Georg Lukcs described in order to zing his Frankfurt School opponents, who stayed to live comfortably complaining about the capitalist West rather than try and build communism in the East:

What if climate disaster is simply a failed attempt to secure this nihilist utopia the elimination of future generations, without yet having secured eternal life for those now living?

When one considers the extreme electoral polarization between old and young people in the UK or the US, it is possible to conclude with a sort of grim hope that the death spiral can only last so long, that eventually socialism will become the inevitable norm. But just as not all Boomers are selfish, pampered landlords who blundered their way through life riding a wave of extreme historical luck, it would seem strange to think of this utopic nihilism as being purely generational: if nothing else, Millennials were raised in a wholly Boomerfied world, and so we carry the seed of this nihilism with us.

In years to come, how might utopic nihilism continue to manifest? As forests blaze, icebergs melt, and oceans rise, will it continue to be a viable electoral force? What might the political settlement of the future be between people who actively want the human species, now perilously threatened, to be some sort of ongoing concern, and people who would be perfectly happy for it to end with themselves, just so long as they can have some fun right now?

Read more from the original source:
Are we all members of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement? - The Outline

Dill (Anethum graveolens) is an herb thats found throughout European and Asian cuisines (1).

Also called dill weed, the plant has slender stems with alternating soft leaves and brown, flat, oval seeds. While the leaves have a sweet, grassy flavor, dill seeds are more aromatic, with a slight citrus flavor thats similar to caraway seeds.

As herb and spice, dill is commonly used to elevate the flavor of various dishes. Its often paired with salmon, potatoes, and yogurt-based sauces.

In addition to culinary uses, dill is rich in several nutrients and has traditionally been used to treat various ailments, including digestive issues, colic in infants, and bad breath (1).

This article reviews the nutritional and health benefits of dill, as well as ways to use it in cooking.

One cup (9 grams) of fresh dill sprigs provides approximately (2):

Fresh dill is very low in calories, yet a surprisingly good source of several essential vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, manganese, and vitamin A (2).

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that is important for maintaining vision and supporting a healthy immune system. It also plays a role in male and female reproduction (3, 4).

Similarly, vitamin C is vital for your immune system and helps with bone formation, wound healing, and metabolism (5, 6).

Additionally, it has been shown to be a potent antioxidant that helps protect your cells against damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals (6, 7).

Dill is also a good source of manganese. While needed in very small amounts, it is an essential mineral that supports normal functioning of your brain, nervous system, and metabolism of sugar and fat (8).

Furthermore, fresh dill provides 12% of the DV for calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, riboflavin, and zinc (2).

However, as fresh dill is usually consumed in smaller quantities than 1 cup (9 grams), the amount of nutrients you get from sprinkling it over your food will be considerably less.

As for dill seeds, they have many similar nutritional benefits. One tablespoon (6.6 grams) of seeds provides 8% of the DV for calcium, 6% of the DV for iron, and 15% of the DV for magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and potassium (9).

Fresh dill is low in calories, yet a good source of many essential nutrients, including vitamin C, magnesium, and vitamin A.

With its name derived from the Old Norse word dilla, which means to soothe, dill has been used since ancient times to treat colic in infants and digestive diseases, as well as to help with breastfeeding (10).

While these more traditional uses have not been supported by research, dill has been shown to have other potential health benefits.

Antioxidants are naturally occurring compounds that help protect cells against damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals (11).

As a result, research suggests that consuming foods rich in antioxidants may help reduce chronic inflammation and prevent or even treat certain conditions, including heart disease, Alzheimers, rheumatoid arthritis, and certain forms of cancer (11, 12)

Both the seeds and leaves of the dill plant have been found to be rich in several plant compounds with antioxidant properties, including (1, 13):

Additionally, dill is a good source of vitamin C, which has also been shown to have powerful antioxidant properties (6, 7).

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. However, the World Health Organization estimates that nearly 75% of heart disease cases could be prevented by reducing risk factors like poor diet, smoking, and lack of exercise (19, 20).

Additional risk factors for heart disease include elevated blood pressure, triglyceride, and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, as well as chronic inflammation (21, 22).

Flavonoids, like those found in dill, have been shown to protect heart health due to their potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties (23).

Furthermore, animal studies have suggested that dill extract may have cholesterol- and triglyceride-lowering effects. However, research in humans in more mixed (10, 24).

One study in 91 people with high total cholesterol and triglyceride levels found that taking 6 dill extract tablets daily for 2 months significantly improved total cholesterol and triglyceride levels but did not change HDL (good) cholesterol levels (25).

Yet, another study in 150 people with high cholesterol and triglyceride levels observed no significant changes in cholesterol or triglyceride levels after 6 weeks of daily dill tablet intake (26).

However, its important to note that most studies looking at the effects of dill on heart health have used extracts. As a result, its unclear how fresh or dried dill in your diet could affect heart health.

Overall, while the antioxidants in dill extracts may benefit overall heart health, more studies in humans are needed to assess the effectiveness of dill on cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Having chronically high blood sugar levels is concerning as they can increase your risk of conditions like insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes (27).

Dill has been suggested to have blood-sugar-lowering effects (10).

In fact, several studies in animals with diabetes have shown a significant improvement in fasting blood sugar levels with daily doses of dill extract. Still, research in humans is limited (10, 28).

Monoterpenes are a class of terpenes, which are naturally occurring plant compounds that are linked to anticancer, antiviral, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties (1, 29).

Theyre commonly found in essential oils of plants like dill and have been associated with anticancer properties (1).

More specifically, d-limonene is a type of monoterpene that studies have shown may help prevent and treat lung, breast, and colon cancer (30, 31, 32).

As dill is high in monoterpenes, particularly d-limonene, it may have anticancer properties. However, theres currently no research on the effectiveness of dill or dill extract on the risk or treatment of cancer.

Dill may benefit your health in the following ways as well:

Dill is rich in a variety of plant compounds that may have numerous benefits for health, including protection against heart disease and certain forms of cancer. Additionally, dill may help lower blood sugar levels, but more human studies are needed.

Dill is generally safe for consumption. However, in rare cases it has been shown to cause allergic reactions, vomiting, diarrhea, an itchy mouth, swollen red bumps on the tongue, and throat swelling (10).

Additionally, its recommended to avoid dill pills or extracts during pregnancy and breastfeeding as theres limited research of their safety.

Culinary uses of dill are considered safe for most individuals, except in rare cases when it could trigger an allergic response. Additionally, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding are recommended to avoid dill pills or extracts.

Dill is a flavorful ingredient thats easy to add to your food.

Here are some ways to add fresh dill to your meals:

Dried dill can also be used to add flavor to dips, marinades, and potato, chicken, or tuna salads.

As for the seeds, dill seeds can be used whole or crushed and added to bread, soups, or vegetable dishes. They can also be used to make dill pickles.

Dill is a versatile herb that can be used in a variety of dishes, such as in a potato salad, tzatziki sauce, or over fish. Dill seeds can be used as a spice to flavor foods like pickles or bread.

To store fresh dill, you first want to lightly spritz the leaves with fresh water, wrap the sprigs loosely in a paper towel, and then place them in a zip-top plastic bag.

Store the dill in the vegetable drawer of your fridge for up to 1 week. For longer storage, you can also freeze fresh dill by rinsing and then placing the sprigs in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer.

Once frozen, transfer the sprigs to a freezer-safe bag and return to the freezer for up to 6 months for best flavor.

Frozen dill can be used in cooking without thawing first. Dried dill and dill seeds should be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for 6 months to 1 year (39).

When stored properly, fresh dill will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge and up to 6 months in the freezer. Dried dill and dill seeds should keep for 6 months to 1 year.

Rich in antioxidants and a good source of vitamin C, magnesium, and vitamin A, dill may have several benefits for health, including protection against heart disease and cancer.

However, its important to keep in mind that most studies looking at the benefits of dill use dill extracts. Therefore, its unclear whether dietary use of fresh or dried dill would have the same effects.

In any case, both the seeds and leaves of dill can add flavor and a pop of color to a variety of dishes. When stored properly, fresh dill can keep for up to 1 week in the fridge and several months in the freezer.

Overall, dill is a flavorful herb and spice that can add a nutritional boost to your diet.

Excerpt from:
Dill: Nutrition, Benefits, and Uses - Healthline

NEW DELHI :Fears that the mysterious coronavirus would prove hard to contain have heightened with scientists being unable to determine how far the deadly disease could spread even as the toll rose to 107 and the infection reached 18 countries.

The total number of cases confirmed by China until Tuesday rose to 4,500, around double the 2,830 reported a day before with 26 new deaths. The virus has spread to Germany, Australia, Cambodia and the US, as well as Indias immediate neighbours Sri Lanka and Nepal. At least 64 confirmed cases have been reported outside mainland China, but most of them have been travel-associated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the disease may spread further, but steered clear of declaring it a public health emergency of international concern" given its restrictive nature, as most human-to-human transmission is limited to China.

The global health body estimated the transmissibility of the virus-R0 (reproduction rate) ) to be 1.4 to 2.5, which means that an infected person on average is transmitting the disease to 2-3 people at the current contagion rates.

However, researchers from Imperial College London estimated the rate to be in the range of 1.5-3.5, assuming 40 people were infected by the original source, which remains unknown. At least 4,000 people were infected by 18 January in China, much more than what was actually reported by the Chinese authorities, according to the researchers.

It is highly likely that the human-to-human transmissibility of 2019-nCoV is sufficient to support sustained human transmission unless effective control measures are implemented," said Professor Neil Ferguson, one the co-authors who led the study.

The reproduction number, or R, is the indicator epidemiologists use to measure the transmissibility of a virus based on the average number of new infections generated by each infected person. If R is more than 1, it means the outbreak will sustain itself, unless control measures are introduced to slow transmission. If it is less than 1, new cases decline over time and eventually stop.

There is no information on the transmission dynamics of the virus or its clinical spectrum. What fraction of it is asymptomatic, mild, severe or fatal? What makes the virus pathogenic?" asked professor G. Arunkumar, director, Manipal Institute of Virology.

There is no confirmed answer to how long an infected person takes to show symptoms, which WHO said could range from 2-10 days.

The virus is infectious even during the incubation period. This means a person can infect other people, even before he/she starts showing symptoms, the Chinas National Health Commission said.

As of now, researchers are keeping a close watch on the number of infections each day and how the number varies, with increasing restrictions and containment. In the absence of antiviral drugs or vaccines, the control of the outbreak relies upon early detection and isolation of infected cases.

Read more here:
Virus spreads to 18 nations amid fears contagion will prove hard to contain - Livemint

lt started innocently enough. Late last week, TikTok user cryinginthecar logged onto the popular video app and shared an eyebrow-raising scientific finding with her followers.

Did yall know that if a dude puts his balls in something, he can taste it? He can taste it! she asked, showing a screenshot of a 2013 Daily Mail article that seemingly proved as much.

If you have testicles please dip your balls in something, its for science and I must know, said cryinginthecar, whose name is actually Regan.

Naturally, guys on TikTok, an app embraced by the Gen Z set, were up for the challenge.

Alx James who has more than 1 million followers on the app was one of the first people to claim theyd given their testicles the soy sauce treatment. Appearing to do a quick dab while parked in his car, James claimed that he had indeed tasted something.

Stop. Hold on now, oh my God, I can taste the salt! James shouted. Thats ridiculous.

Hold on now indeed. While the soy sauce challenge has plenty of guys claiming theyve tasted something, testicles do not have taste buds. Sorry, everyone. (However, big congrats to Kikkoman and other soy sauce producers! This could be a boon for their sales.)

The actual study, which was published in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction in 2013, found that male testes do indeed have taste receptors. These receptors can also be found in the digestive system, respiratory system, brain and spermatozoa.

But taste receptors arent the same thing as taste buds. In other words, your testicles cant taste a damn thing, said Emma Beckett, a food and nutrition scientist who works at the University of Newcastle in Australia.

Ive weighed in on all kinds of fad diets and Ive been asked lots of very interesting questions about my research and food in general, but it never crossed my mind that one day, I would have to explain to people that taste is not a reason to dip your testicles in food, Beckett told HuffPost. (The researcher also posted a pretty helpful thread on Twitter demystifying the study.)

I never thought I would have to explain that the taste receptors in the testes do not connect to the taste centre in the brain, Beckett said in an email. Theyre called the gustatory cortex, if you want the proper term!

As the site IFLScience pointed out, attempting this challenge would be like trying to taste soy sauce by dabbing it on the outside of your cheek. Pretty futile.

And to be quite honest, you probably wouldnt want your testicles to have a sense of taste, said Aaron Spitz, a urologist and author of The Penis Book: A Doctors Complete Guide to the Penis.

Ive seen guys balls covered in pretty nasty stuff things like fungal infections and their owners dont have a bad taste in their mouth, he told HuffPost. Not to mention, all the awake vasectomies I perform without my patients complaining of tasting soap from the surgical scrub nor a burnt flavor when I sear their tubes with cautery. (Ick.)

OK, but why do testicles even have taste receptors?

The studys actual findings beget more questions. For starters, why in the world do testicles need taste receptors anyway?

Apparently, the receptors function inside the balls to sweet and savory tastes like and umami that are important in identifying and compounding proteins in sperm production. taste.

Theres a tricky little difference between taste receptors on the tongue and those in the testicle: the tongue responds to tastes and we decide whether food is edible, explained Paul Turek, a urologist who runs the Turek Clinic in Los Angeles and San Francisco and is not affiliated with the study. The testicle responds to tastes as chemical substances to decide whether to make more or less sperm and testosterone.

Thats just another thing the testicles are responsible for, Turek said. Apparently, theyre quite the little multitaskers.

It may have just been my senses becoming heightened due to the fact I was putting my balls in an unfamiliar place.

- Stuy Lewis, a real estate agent who took the soy sauce challenge

Remember the testicle is an incredibly active factory making 1,000 sperm every heartbeat. The testicles job is to protect and nurture sperm production at all costs, Turek said. They have to monitor exposures such as substances to keep things safe and running.

Why did so many guys report tasting something?

Did those who claimed they tasted soy sauce experience something like a placebo effect? Were they just overly optimistic? To answer that question, we went straight to the source: a dude who dipped his balls in soy sauce.

It may have just been my senses becoming heightened due to the fact I was putting my balls in an unfamiliar place, but I did feel a strange sensation as soon as they touched the sauce, said Stuy Lewis, a real estate agent and TikTok user, describing his original response. It was different than normal tasting but I could absolutely tell I was sensing something with my balls. My body could tell it was soy sauce.

Now, after digging into the studys findings a little more, Lewis is pretty sure it was probably just sensory overload. (Sticking your genitals in cold condiments will do that to you.)

The smell alone may have tricked me into thinking I could taste it and I think the temperature change on my ball skin may have been a confounding variable as well, he said.

Whatever the case, Lewis is glad to have learned a little bit more about what goes down down there. The testicles are pretty impressive in the role they play. And the experts we spoke to were happy to provide a little online sex education to people intrigued by the social media experiment.

Moral of this incredibly weird, incredibly viral story? Dip your testicles in salty, cold substances all you want, but dont expect the little guys to do even more heavy lifting and actually taste something.

There might be a subset of people who use any excuse to dip their balls in something weird, said Beckett, the food and nutrition scientist. Im not going to kink or dip shame, but dont do this in the name of taste receptor science!

Read more here:
No, Your Testicles Don't Have Taste Buds. Stop Dipping Them In Soy Sauce. - HuffPost

Manatees do not form permanent pair bonds like some animal species. During breeding, a single female, or cow, will be followed by a group of a dozen or more males or bulls, forming a mating herd. They appear to breed indiscriminately during this time; however, age experience of some males in the herd probably plays a role in breeding success. Although breeding and birth may occur at any time during the year, there appears to be a broad spring-summer calving peak.

The reproductive rate for manatees is low. The age of sexual maturity for females and males is about five years. On average, one calf is born every two to five years and twins are rare. Intervals between births range from two to five years. A two-year interval may occur when a cow loses a calf soon after birth. The gestation period is about a year.

Males assume no responsibility for raising the calf. Mothers nurse their young for one to two years, so a calf may remain dependent on its mother during that time. Calves nurse underwater from teats located behind the mothers flippers and begin to eat plants a few weeks after birth. Newborn manatee calves are capable of swimming to the surface on their own and vocalize at or soon after birth.

Video from Save the Manatee Clubs webcams of Amber and her calf, when the calf was just six to seven weeks old. The As on Amber are freeze brands, which are used when a manatee is being tracked and has no other identifying markings. Amber was rescued as a calf, raised at SeaWorld for several years, and then released at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida. (Video Save the Manatee Club.)

Oh Baby! Manatee Mothers and Calves

Female manatees usually seek quiet areas in which to give birth. In Florida, newborn calves can be seen at any time of the year, although more seem to be born in the spring and summer.

Most births are of a single calf about 120 centimeters (about 47 inches) long and weighing 30 kilograms (66 pounds), although a few cases of twins have been documented. The details of the birth process remain unclear but observations of calving in captive manatees have shown that the offspring can be born either head- or tail-first.

In the few cases in which births have been observed in captivity, the newborn calf is capable of swimming to the surface on its own, although the attentive behavior of the mother may give the impression that she is assisting the calf. Calves vocalize at or soon after birth and this is probably an important part of the mother-calf bonding process.

The calf begins to nurse within a few hours after birth, and nursing frequency and duration increases as the calf becomes more proficient. Calves nurse underwater from teats located behind the mothers flippers and begin to eat plants a few weeks after birth.

The precocious calves are able to swim with their mothers within minutes of birth. A young animal commonly remains close to its mothers side. Adult manatees typically swim in single file, but a calf always travels parallel to its mother, directly behind her flipper. It is possible that the animals can communicate most effectively in this position, or the formation is advantageous if the calf experiences less draft from the water.

Female manatees do not attack other manatees or humans that approach their young. Instead, they attempt to keep other manatees and human divers away from their calves by swimming between the intruder and their offspring. If the danger is perceived as severe, the female and calf will flee. A fleeing female calf pair produces a duet, with one animal vocalizing and the other emitting an answering call.

A manatee calf may stay with its mother for one to two years, even though it is probably nutritionally independent by the end of its first year. The calf gets information on feeding and resting areas, travel routes and warm water refuges from its mother.

From Manatees and Dugongs 1991 by John E. Reynolds III and Daniel K. Odell. Special thanks to the authors for granting permission to use this material.

Mating Herds

When a female manatee goes into estrus, she is soon detected and pursued by numerous male manatees throughout the cycle (perhaps for a duration of up to three weeks). During that time, the female can mate with one or more males in what is known as an estrous or mating herd.

Many times, we will get phone calls at Save the Manatee Club notifying us that a group of manatees are playing. Sometimes people also call because they are concerned that the manatees in the estrous herd are injured, stranded, or in distress. In actuality, a mating herd is sort of a free-for-all. In shallower waters, the effect can be quite dramatic with churning waters and flailing flukes and flippers.

Manatee researchers are currently taking genetic samples of manatees (the animals are not harmed). Someday they hope to be able to establish paternity, which will help in determining the genetic health of the manatee population.

Continue reading here:
Reproduction - Save the Manatee Club

Neanderthals have contributed approximately 1-4% of the genomes of non-African modern humans, although a modern human who lived about 40,000 years ago has been found to have between 6-9% Neanderthal DNA (Fu et al 2015). The evidence we have of Neanderthal-modern human interbreeding sheds light on the expansion of modern humans out of Africa. These new discoveries refute many previous hypotheses in which anatomically modern humans replaced archaic hominins, like Neanderthals, without any interbreeding. However, even with some interbreeding between modern humans and now-extinct hominins, most of our genome still derives from Africa. Neanderthals could not have contributed to modern African peoples genomes because Neanderthals evolved and lived exclusively in Eurasia and therefore could not have bred with the humans living in Africa at that time.

For many years, the only evidence of human-Neanderthal hybridization existed within modern human genes. However, in 2016 researchers published a new set of Neanderthal DNA sequences from Altai Cave in Siberia, as well as from Spain and Croatia, that show evidence of human-Neanderthal interbreeding as far back as 100,000 years ago -- farther back than many previous estimates of humans migration out of Africa (Kuhlwilm et al 2016). Their findings are the first to show human gene flow into the Neanderthal genome as opposed to Neanderthal DNA into the human genome. This data tells us that not only were human-Neanderthal interbreeding events more frequent than previously thought, but also that an early migration of humans did in fact leave Africa before the population that survived and gave rise to all contemporary non-African modern humans.

We previously mentioned the lack of genetic contributions by Neanderthals into the modern human mtDNA gene pool. As we have shown that Neanderthal-human interbreeding did occur, why wouldnt we find their DNA in our mtDNA as well as our nuclear DNA? There are several potential explanations for this. It is possible that there were at one point modern humans who possessed the Neanderthal mtDNA, but that their lineages died out. It is also highly possible that Neanderthals did not contribute to the mtDNA genome by virtue of the nature of human-Neanderthal admixture. While we know that humans and Neanderthals bred, we have no way of knowing what the possible social or cultural contexts for such breeding would have been.

Because mtDNA is passed down exclusively from mother to offspring, if Neanderthal males were the only ones contributing to the human genome, their contributions would not be present in the mtDNA line. It is also possible that while interbreeding between Neanderthal males and human females could have produced fertile offspring, interbreeding between Neanderthal females and modern human males might not have produced fertile offspring, which would mean that the Neanderthal mtDNA could not be passed down. Finally, it is possible that modern humans do carry at least one mtDNA lineage that Neanderthals contributed to our genome, but that we have not yet sequenced that lineage in either modern humans or in Neanderthals. Any of these explanations could underlie the lack of Neanderthal mtDNA in modern human populations.

Fast Facts:

Neanderthals have contributed between 1-4% of the DNA of humans of Eurasian descent

Neanderthals have not contributed to the genome of African modern human populations because they never lived there and could not have interbred with the ancestors of those populations

While we dont have evidence of Neanderthal mtDNA in the modern human gene pool, there are several possible explanations for this

See original here:
Ancient DNA and Neanderthals | The Smithsonian Institution ...

Few topics arouse as much interest and controversy as sex. This is hardly surprising. The biological continuance of the species hinges on it if human beings stopped having sex, there would soon be no more human beings. Popular culture overflows with sex, from cinema to advertising to, yes, even politics. And for many, sex represents one of the most intimate forms of human connection.

Despite its universality, sex and its purpose have been understood very differently by different thinkers. I teach an annual course on sexuality at Indiana University, and this work has provided opportunities to ponder sex from some provocative angles, including the body, the psyche, and the spirit.

Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956) was an insect biologist whose alarm at widespread ignorance of sexual structure and physiology led him to become perhaps the first major American figure in the study of sex. The Kinsey Reports, published in 1948 and 1953, presented a highly statistical taxonomy of sexual preferences and practices. Despite draining sex of virtually all eroticism, the books managed to sell about three-quarters of a million copies.

The intellectual climate for Kinseys studies of sex had been powerfully shaped by the work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Physician and founder of psychoanalysis, Freud created a model of the human psyche that placed libido or sex drive at its core and postulated that psychological and social life are powerfully shaped by its tensions with the conventions of civilized behavior. According to Freud, failure to adequately resolve such tensions could manifest in a variety of mental and physical ailments.

The stage for psychoanalysis had in turn been set by Charles Darwin (1809-1882). In Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), Darwin argued that human beings are animals, likening differences between males and females in body and behavior to those seen among species such as peacocks and emphasizing female choosiness and direct competition among males. From Darwins vantage point, and later that of Freud, even some of the most sophisticated trappings of human civilization reflect basic biological imperatives. The subject of non-heterosexual attraction requires a different account.

At first glance, sexual reproduction is a puzzle, since each member of an asexually reproducing species can produce its own genetically identical young at a lower biological cost. However, sexual reproduction allows a more rapid reshuffling of the genetic deck, increasing the probability that some individuals will be well-adapted to environmental changes. Because human beings reproduce sexually, the foundation is laid for sexual selection, the competition for mates of which Darwin wrote in such detail.

The writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) presents a more broadly humanistic understanding of the purpose of sex. In Anna Karenina, often ranked as the greatest of all novels, sex provides the foundation for the family. Characters who treat sex as an adventure with no regard to family come to bad ends, while those who devote themselves to family happiness fare well. In Tolstoys view, the seemingly mundane joys of family life, made possible by sex, constitute the truest joys accessible to human beings.

Consider Tolstoys description of the life of a devoted mother, Dolly, troubled by the illnesses of her children:

Though hard it was for the mother to bear the dread of illness, the illnesses themselves, and the signs of evil propensities in her children the children themselves were even now repaying her in small joys for her sufferings. These joys were so small they passed unnoticed, like gold in sand, and at bad moments she could see nothing but the pain, nothing but sand; but there were good moments too, when she saw nothing but the joy, nothing but gold.

In the first book of Anna Karenina, two men discuss the theories of love in Platos (428-348 B.C.) dialogue, The Symposium. One of its characters, the comic poet Aristophanes, grounds sex in our desire for completeness. Aristophanes tells the story of once-whole creatures, who, because of their pride, were cut in two, creating human beings who now wander the Earth seeking completion in their other half. For Aristophanes, sex represents above all a desire for wholeness.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430), a saint in Catholicism, also subordinates sex to other purposes in human life. As a young man, Augustine had relished the pleasures of sexual life, even taking a concubine who bore him a son. Later in his Confessions, he describes his former self as a slave to his sexual impulses. He recognized that such impulses could find appropriate expression in marriage and family, but he treated his own preoccupation with sex as evil, because it prevented him from orienting his life around his ultimate purpose, God.

One of the most extraordinary books in the Bible is the Song of Songs. Unlike the other books, it does not mention the God of Israel or covenant, contains no prophecy, and does not represent a wisdom text, like Proverbs. Instead, it celebrates the mutual yearning of two lovers, each of whom waxes erotically on the others charms and the sexual intimacy they enjoy. More than any other text discussed here, this is love poetry in which lovers revel in one anothers allure and embrace.

In an era in which sex and religion are often portrayed as antagonists, it can be a bit hard to fathom the view of some rabbis that the Song of Songs represents the Holy of Holies, capturing the flow of divine love and the restoration of harmony between God and creation. Likewise, Christian interpreters have often read the Song of Songs as an analogy for the love between God and man, in which the two exist in full accord. In both traditions, sex is seen as an earthly sign of a higher union.

Today, we doctors take for granted that sex and health are linked. Sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HIV/AIDS, immunization against human papillomavirus (HPV), and the health implications of pregnancy are rightly regarded as essential topics in sex education. Likewise, there is increasing interest in the health benefits of sex sex as a form of exercise good for the heart, intimacy as a way of relieving tension, and the benefits of sex for immune function and general sense of healthiness.

Yet the biologists, psychologists, and theologians of sex invite us to think more deeply about the purposes of sex. From a biological point of view, sex enables each human being to participate in the perpetuation of the species, interweaving each generation with its forebears and progeny. Psychologically speaking, sex brings us together in a way that makes 1 + 1 = 3, rendering us co-creators. And spiritually, sex serves as a rich metaphor for the union of earthly and higher orders.

How we see sex depends on our vantage point. Athletic and hedonistic perspectives offer relatively limited accounts of sex. If, on the other hand, we view sex as an opportunity to participate in something beyond ourselves, it may unexpectedly enrich our whole lives.

This article was originally published on The Conversation by Richard Gunderman. Read the original article here.

See original here:
What is sex really for? - Inverse

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

As in all animals, the adaptations for reproduction in humans are complex. They involve specialized and different anatomies in the two sexes, a hormone regulation system, and specialized behaviors regulated by the brain and endocrine system.

The reproductive tissues of male and female humans develop similarly in utero until about the seventh week of gestation when a low level of the hormone testosterone is released from the gonads of the developing male. Testosterone causes the primitive gonads to differentiate into male sexual organs. When testosterone is absent, the primitive gonads develop into ovaries. Tissues that produce a penis in males produce a clitoris in females. The tissue that will become the scrotum in a male becomes the labia in a female. Thus the male and female anatomies arise from a divergence in the development of what were once common embryonic structures.

Sperm are immobile at body temperature; therefore, the testes are external to the body so that a correct temperature is maintained for motility. In land mammals, including humans, the pair of testes must be suspended outside the body so the environment of the sperm is about 2 C lower than body temperature to produce viable sperm. If the testes do not descend through the abdominal cavity during fetal development, the individual has reduced fertility.

The scrotum houses the testicles or testes (singular: testis), and provides passage for blood vessels, nerves, and muscles related to testicular function. The testes are a pair of male gonads that produce sperm and reproductive hormones. Each testis is approximately 2.5 by 3.8 cm (1.5 by 1 inch) in size and divided into wedge-shaped lobes by septa. Coiled in each wedge are seminiferous tubules that produce sperm.

The penis drains urine from the urinary bladder and is a copulatory organ during intercourse (Figure 13.12; Table 13.1). The penis contains three tubes of erectile tissue that become engorged with blood, making the penis erect, in preparation for intercourse. The organ is inserted into the vagina culminating with an ejaculation. During orgasm, the accessory organs and glands connected to the testes contract and empty the semen (containing sperm) into the urethra and the fluid is expelled from the body by muscular contractions causing ejaculation. After intercourse, the blood drains from the erectile tissue and the penis becomes flaccid.

Semen is a mixture of sperm (about five percent of the total) and fluids from accessory glands that contribute most of the semens volume. Sperm are haploid cells, consisting of a flagellum for motility, a neck that contains the cells energy-producing mitochondria, and a head that contains the genetic material (Figure 13.11). An acrosome (acrosomal vesicle) is found at the top of the head of the sperm. This structure contains enzymes that can digest the protective coverings that surround the egg and allow the sperm to fuse with the egg. An ejaculate will contain from two to five milliliters of fluid and from 50120 million sperm per milliliter.

Sperm form in the walls of seminiferous tubules that are coiled inside the testes (Figure 13.12; Table 13.1). The walls of the seminiferous tubules are made up of the developing sperm cells, with the least developed sperm at the periphery of the tubule and the fully developed sperm next to the lumen. The sperm cells are associated with Sertoli cells that nourish and promote the development of the sperm. Other cells present between the walls of the tubules are the interstitial cells of Leydig, which produce testosterone once the male reaches adolescence.

When the sperm have developed flagella they leave the seminiferous tubules and enter the epididymis (Figure 13.12; Table 13.1). This structure lies along the top and posterior of the testes and is the site of sperm maturation. The sperm leave the epididymis and enter the vas deferens, which carries the sperm behind the bladder, and forms the ejaculatory duct with the duct from the seminal vesicles. During a vasectomy, a section of the vas deferens is removed, preventing sperm (but not the secretions of the accessory glands) from being passed out of the body during ejaculation and preventing fertilization.

The bulk of the semen comes from the accessory glands associated with the male reproductive system. These are the seminal vesicles, the prostate gland, and the bulbourethral gland (Figure 13.12; Table 13.1). The secretions from the accessory glands provide important compounds for the sperm including nutrients, electrolytes, and pH buffering. There are also coagulation factors that affect sperm delivery and motility.

Which of the following statements about the male reproductive system is false?

A. The vas deferens carries sperm from the testes to the seminal vesicles.

B. The ejaculatory duct joins the urethra.

C. Both the prostate and the bulbourethral glands produce components of the semen.

D. The prostate gland is located in the testes.

The breasts consist of mammary glands and fat. Each gland consists of 15 to 25 lobes that have ducts that empty at the nipple and that supply the nursing child with nutrient- and antibody-rich milk to aid development and protect the child.

Internal female reproductive structures include ovaries, oviducts, the uterus, and the vagina (Figure 13.13; Table 13.2). The pair of ovaries is held in place in the abdominal cavity by a system of ligaments. The outermost layer of the ovary is made up of follicles, each consisting of one or more follicular cells that surround, nourish, and protect a single egg. During the menstrual period, a batch of follicular cells develops and prepares their eggs for release. At ovulation, one follicle ruptures and one egg is released. Following ovulation, the follicular tissue that surrounded the ovulated egg stays within the ovary and grows to form a solid mass called the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum secretes additional estrogen and the hormone progesterone that helps maintain the uterine lining during pregnancy. The ovaries also produce hormones, such as estrogen.

The oviducts, or fallopian tubes, extend from the uterus in the lower abdominal cavity to the ovaries, but they are not in contact with the ovaries. The lateral ends of the oviducts flare out into a trumpet-like structure and have a fringe of finger-like projections called fimbrae. When an egg is released at ovulation, the fimbrae help the nonmotile egg enter into the tube. The walls of the oviducts have a ciliated epithelium over smooth muscle. The cilia beat, and the smooth muscle contracts, moving the egg toward the uterus. Fertilization usually takes place within the oviduct and the developing embryo is moved toward the uterus. It usually takes the egg or embryo a week to travel through the oviduct.

Sterilization in women is called a tubal ligation; it is analogous to a vasectomy in males in that the oviducts are severed and sealed, preventing sperm from reaching the egg.

The uterus is a structure about the size of a womans fist. The uterus has a thick muscular wall and is lined with an endometrium rich in blood vessels and mucus glands that develop and thicken during the female cycle. Thickening of the endometrium prepares the uterus to receive the fertilized egg or zygote, which will then implant itself in the endometrium. The uterus supports the developing embryo and fetus during gestation. Contractions of the smooth muscle in the uterus aid in forcing the baby through the vagina during labor. If fertilization does not occur, a portion of the lining of the uterus sloughs off during each menstrual period. The endometrium builds up again in preparation for implantation. Part of the uterus, called the cervix, protrudes into the top of the vagina.

The vagina is a muscular tube that serves several purposes. It allows menstrual flow to leave the body. It is the receptacle for the penis during intercourse and the pathway for the delivery of offspring.

Gametogenesis, the production of sperm and eggs, involves the process of meiosis. During meiosis, two nuclear divisions separate the paired chromosomes in the nucleus and then separate the chromatids that were made during an earlier stage of the cells life cycle. Meiosis and its associated cell divisions produces haploid cells with half of each pair of chromosomes normally found in diploid cells. The production of sperm is called spermatogenesis and the production of eggs is called oogenesis.

Spermatogenesis occurs in the wall of the seminiferous tubules, with the most primitive cells at the periphery of the tube and the most mature sperm at the lumen of the tube (Figure 13.14). Immediately under the capsule of the tubule are diploid, undifferentiated cells. These stem cells, each called a spermatogonium (pl. spermatogonia), go through mitosis to produce one cell that remains as a stem cell and a second cell called a primary spermatocyte that will undergo meiosis to produce sperm.

The diploid primary spermatocyte goes through meiosis I to produce two haploid cells called secondary spermatocytes. Each secondary spermatocyte divides after meiosis II to produce two cells called spermatids. The spermatids eventually reach the lumen of the tubule and grow a flagellum, becoming sperm cells. Four sperm result from each primary spermatocyte that goes through meiosis.

Visit this site to see the process of spermatogenesis.

Oogenesis occurs in the outermost layers of the ovaries. As with sperm production, oogenesis starts with a germ cell. In oogenesis, this germ cell is called an oogonium and forms during the embryological development of the individual. The oogonium undergoes mitosis to produce about one to two million oocytes by the time of birth.

The primary oocytes begin meiosis before birth (Figure 13.15). However, the meiotic division is arrested in its progress in the first prophase stage. At the time of birth, all future eggs are in prophase I. This situation is in contrast with the male reproductive system in which sperm are produced continuously throughout the life of the individual. Starting at adolescence, anterior pituitary hormones cause the development of a few follicles in an ovary each month. This results in a primary oocyte finishing the first meiotic division. The cell divides unequally, with most of the cytoplasm and organelles going to one cell, called a secondary oocyte, and only one set of chromosomes and a small amount of cytoplasm going to the other cell. This second cell is called a polar body and usually dies. Cell division is again arrested, this time at metaphase II. At ovulation, this secondary oocyte is released and travels toward the uterus through the oviduct. If the secondary oocyte is fertilized, the cell continues through meiosis II, producing a second polar body and haploid egg, which fuses with the haploid sperm to form a fertilized egg (zygote) containing all 46 chromosomes.

The human male and female reproductive cycles are controlled by the interaction of hormones from the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary with hormones from reproductive tissues and organs. In both sexes, the hypothalamus monitors and causes the release of hormones from the anterior pituitary gland. When the reproductive hormone is required, the hypothalamus sends a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) to the anterior pituitary. This causes the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) from the anterior pituitary into the blood. Although these hormones are named after their functions in female reproduction, they are produced in both sexes and play important roles in controlling reproduction. Other hormones have specific functions in the male and female reproductive systems.

At the onset of puberty, the hypothalamus causes the release of FSH and LH into the male system for the first time. FSH enters the testes and stimulates the Sertoli cells located in the walls of the seminiferous tubules to begin promoting spermatogenesis (Figure 13.16). LH also enters the testes and stimulates the interstitial cells of Leydig, located in between the walls of the seminiferous tubules, to make and release testosterone into the testes and the blood.

Testosterone stimulates spermatogenesis. This hormone is also responsible for the secondary sexual characteristics that develop in the male during adolescence. The secondary sex characteristics in males include a deepening of the voice, the growth of facial, axillary, and pubic hair, an increase in muscle bulk, and the beginnings of the sex drive.

A negative feedback system occurs in the male with rising levels of testosterone acting on the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary to inhibit the release of GnRH, FSH, and LH. In addition, the Sertoli cells produce the hormone inhibin, which is released into the blood when the sperm count is too high. This inhibits the release of GnRH and FSH, which will cause spermatogenesis to slow down. If the sperm count reaches a low of 20 million/mL, the Sertoli cells cease the release of inhibin, and the sperm count increases.

The control of reproduction in females is more complex. The female reproductive cycle is divided into the ovarian cycle and the menstrual cycle. The ovarian cycle governs the preparation of endocrine tissues and release of eggs, while the menstrual cycle governs the preparation and maintenance of the uterine lining (Figure 13.17). These cycles are coordinated over a 2232 day cycle, with an average length of 28 days.

As with the male, the GnRH from the hypothalamus causes the release of the hormones FSH and LH from the anterior pituitary. In addition, estrogen and progesterone are released from the developing follicles. As with testosterone in males, estrogen is responsible for the secondary sexual characteristics of females. These include breast development, flaring of the hips, and a shorter period for bone growth.

The ovarian and menstrual cycles are regulated by hormones of the hypothalamus, pituitary, and ovaries (Figure 13.17). The ebb and flow of the hormones causes the ovarian and menstrual cycles to advance. The ovarian and menstrual cycles occur concurrently. The first half of the ovarian cycle is the follicular phase. Slowly rising levels of FSH cause the growth of follicles on the surface of the ovary. This process prepares the egg for ovulation. As the follicles grow, they begin releasing estrogen. The first few days of this cycle coincide with menstruation or the sloughing off of the functional layer of the endometrium in the uterus. After about five days, estrogen levels rise and the menstrual cycle enters the proliferative phase. The endometrium begins to regrow, replacing the blood vessels and glands that deteriorated during the end of the last cycle.

Which of the following statements about hormone regulation of the female reproductive cycle is false?

A. LH and FSH are produced in the pituitary, and estrogen and progesterone are produced in the ovaries.

B. Estradiol and progesterone secreted from the corpus luteum cause the endometrium to thicken.

C. Both progesterone and estrogen are produced by the follicles.

D. Secretion of GnRH by the hypothalamus is inhibited by low levels of estrogen but stimulated by high levels of estrogen.

Just prior to the middle of the cycle (approximately day 14), the high level of estrogen causes FSH and especially LH to rise rapidly then fall. The spike in LH causes the most mature follicle to rupture and release its egg. This is ovulation. The follicles that did not rupture degenerate and their eggs are lost. The level of estrogen decreases when the extra follicles degenerate.

Following ovulation, the ovarian cycle enters its luteal phase and the menstrual cycle enters its secretory phase, both of which run from about day 15 to 28. The luteal and secretory phases refer to changes in the ruptured follicle. The cells in the follicle undergo physical changes and produce a structure called a corpus luteum. The corpus luteum produces estrogen and progesterone. The progesterone facilitates the regrowth of the uterine lining and inhibits the release of further FSH and LH. The uterus is being prepared to accept a fertilized egg, should it occur during this cycle. The inhibition of FSH and LH prevents any further eggs and follicles from developing, while the progesterone is elevated. The level of estrogen produced by the corpus luteum increases to a steady level for the next few days.

If no fertilized egg is implanted into the uterus, the corpus luteum degenerates and the levels of estrogen and progesterone decrease. The endometrium begins to degenerate as the progesterone levels drop, initiating the next menstrual cycle. The decrease in progesterone also allows the hypothalamus to send GnRH to the anterior pituitary, releasing FSH and LH and starting the cycles again.

A reproductive endocrinologist is a physician who treats a variety of hormonal disorders related to reproduction and infertility in both men and women. The disorders include menstrual problems, infertility, pregnancy loss, sexual dysfunction, and menopause. Doctors may use fertility drugs, surgery, or assisted reproductive techniques (ART) in their therapy. ART involves the use of procedures to manipulate the egg or sperm to facilitate reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization.

Reproductive endocrinologists undergo extensive medical training, first in a four-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology, then in a three-year fellowship in reproductive endocrinology. To be board certified in this area, the physician must pass written and oral exams in both areas.

Pregnancy begins with the fertilization of an egg and continues through to the birth of the individual. The length of time of gestation, or the gestation period, in humans is 266 days and is similar in other great apes.

Within 24 hours of fertilization, the egg nucleus has finished meiosis and the egg and sperm nuclei fuse. With fusion, the cell is known as a zygote. The zygote initiates cleavage and the developing embryo travels through the oviduct to the uterus. The developing embryo must implant into the wall of the uterus within seven days, or it will deteriorate and die. The outer layers of the developing embryo or blastocyst grow into the endometrium by digesting the endometrial cells, and healing of the endometrium closes up the blastocyst into the tissue. Another layer of the blastocyst, the chorion, begins releasing a hormone called human beta chorionic gonadotropin (-HCG), which makes its way to the corpus luteum and keeps that structure active. This ensures adequate levels of progesterone that will maintain the endometrium of the uterus for the support of the developing embryo. Pregnancy tests determine the level of -HCG in urine or serum. If the hormone is present, the test is positive.

The gestation period is divided into three equal periods or trimesters. During the first two-to-four weeks of the first trimester, nutrition and waste are handled by the endometrial lining through diffusion. As the trimester progresses, the outer layer of the embryo begins to merge with the endometrium, and the placenta forms. The placenta takes over the nutrient and waste requirements of the embryo and fetus, with the mothers blood passing nutrients to the placenta and removing waste from it. Chemicals from the fetus, such as bilirubin, are processed by the mothers liver for elimination. Some of the mothers immunoglobulins will pass through the placenta, providing passive immunity against some potential infections.

Internal organs and body structures begin to develop during the first trimester. By five weeks, limb buds, eyes, the heart, and liver have been basically formed. By eight weeks, the term fetus applies, and the body is essentially formed (Figure 13.18a). The individual is about five centimeters (two inches) in length and many of the organs, such as the lungs and liver, are not yet functioning. Exposure to any toxins is especially dangerous during the first trimester, as all of the bodys organs and structures are going through initial development. Anything that interferes with chemical signaling during that development can have a severe effect on the fetus survival.

During the second trimester, the fetus grows to about 30 cm (about 12 inches) (Figure 13.18b). It becomes active and the mother usually feels the first movements. All organs and structures continue to develop. The placenta has taken over the functions of nutrition and waste elimination and the production of estrogen and progesterone from the corpus luteum, which has degenerated. The placenta will continue functioning up through the delivery of the baby. During the third trimester, the fetus grows to 3 to 4 kg (6.58.5 lbs.) and about 50 cm (1920 inches) long (Figure 13.18c). This is the period of the most rapid growth during the pregnancy as all organ systems continue to grow and develop.

Visit this website to see the stages of human fetal development.

Labor is the muscular contractions to expel the fetus and placenta from the uterus. Toward the end of the third trimester, estrogen causes receptors on the uterine wall to develop and bind the hormone oxytocin. At this time, the baby reorients, facing forward and down with the back or crown of the head engaging the cervix (uterine opening). This causes the cervix to stretch and nerve impulses are sent to the hypothalamus, which signals the release of oxytocin from the posterior pituitary. Oxytocin causes smooth muscle in the uterine wall to contract. At the same time, the placenta releases prostaglandins into the uterus, increasing the contractions. A positive feedback relay occurs between the uterus, hypothalamus, and the posterior pituitary to assure an adequate supply of oxytocin. As more smooth muscle cells are recruited, the contractions increase in intensity and force.

There are three stages to labor. During stage one, the cervix thins and dilates. This is necessary for the baby and placenta to be expelled during birth. The cervix will eventually dilate to about 10 cm. During stage two, the baby is expelled from the uterus. The uterus contracts and the mother pushes as she compresses her abdominal muscles to aid the delivery. The last stage is the passage of the placenta after the baby has been born and the organ has completely disengaged from the uterine wall. If labor should stop before stage two is reached, synthetic oxytocin, known as Pitocin, can be administered to restart and maintain labor.

The reproductive structures that evolved in land animals allow males and females to mate, fertilize internally, and support the growth and development of offspring. Gametogenesis, the production of sperm (spermatogenesis) and eggs (oogenesis), takes place through the process of meiosis.

The male and female reproductive cycles are controlled by hormones released from the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary and hormones from reproductive tissues and organs. The hypothalamus monitors the need for FSH and LH production and release from the anterior pituitary. FSH and LH affect reproductive structures to cause the formation of sperm and the preparation of eggs for release and possible fertilization. In the male, FSH and LH stimulate Sertoli cells and interstitial cells of Leydig in the testes to facilitate sperm production. The Leydig cells produce testosterone, which also is responsible for the secondary sexual characteristics of males. In females, FSH and LH cause estrogen and progesterone to be produced. They regulate the female reproductive cycle, which is divided into the ovarian cycle and the menstrual cycle.

Human pregnancy begins with fertilization of an egg and proceeds through the three trimesters of gestation. The first trimester lays down the basic structures of the body, including the limb buds, heart, eyes, and the liver. The second trimester continues the development of all of the organs and systems. The third trimester exhibits the greatest growth of the fetus and culminates in labor and delivery. The labor process has three stages (contractions, delivery of the fetus, and expulsion of the placenta), each propelled by hormones.

Answers

bulbourethral gland: the paired glands in the human male that produce a secretion that cleanses the urethra prior to ejaculation

corpus luteum: the endocrine tissue that develops from an ovarian follicle after ovulation; secretes progesterone and estrogen during pregnancy

clitoris: a sensory and erectile structure in female mammals, homologous to the male penis, stimulated during sexual arousal

estrogen: a reproductive hormone in females that assists in endometrial regrowth, ovulation, and calcium absorption

follicle stimulating hormone (FSH): a reproductive hormone that causes sperm production in men and follicle development in women

gestation: the development before birth of a viviparous animal

gestation period: the length of time of development, from conception to birth, of the young of a viviparous animal

gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH): a hormone from the hypothalamus that causes the release of FSH and LH from the anterior pituitary

human beta chorionic gonadotropin (-HCG): a hormone produced by the chorion of the zygote that helps to maintain the corpus luteum and elevated levels of progesterone

inhibin: a hormone made by Sertoli cells, provides negative feedback to hypothalamus in control of FSH and GnRH release

interstitial cell of Leydig: a cell type found next to the seminiferous tubules that makes testosterone

labia majora: the large folds of tissue covering inguinal area

labia minora: the smaller folds of tissue within labia majora

luteinizing hormone (LH): a reproductive hormone in both men and women, causes testosterone production in men and ovulation and lactation in women

menstrual cycle: the cycle of the degradation and re-growth of the endometrium

oogenesis: the process of producing haploid eggs

ovarian cycle: the cycle of preparation of egg for ovulation and the conversion of the follicle to the corpus luteum

oviduct: (also, fallopian tube) the muscular tube connecting uterus with ovary area

ovulation: the release of an oocyte from a mature follicle in the ovary of a vertebrate

penis: the male reproductive structure for urine elimination and copulation

placenta: the organ that supports the transport of nutrients and waste between the mothers and fetus blood in eutherian mammals

progesterone: a reproductive hormone in women; assists in endometrial regrowth and inhibition of FSH and LH release

prostate gland: a structure that is a mixture of smooth muscle and glandular material and that contributes to semen

scrotum: a sac containing testes, exterior to body

semen: a fluid mixture of sperm and supporting materials

seminal vesicle: a secretory accessory gland in male; contributes to semen

seminiferous tubule: the structures within which sperm production occurs in the testes

Sertoli cell: a cell in the walls of the seminiferous tubules that assists developing sperm and secretes inhibin

spermatogenesis: the process of producing haploid sperm

testes: a pair of male reproductive organs

testosterone: a reproductive hormone in men that assists in sperm production and promoting secondary sexual characteristics

uterus: a female reproductive structure in which an embryo develops

vagina: a muscular tube for the passage of menstrual flow, copulation, and birth of offspring

Continued here:
13.3 Human Reproduction Concepts of Biology 1st ...

An Act to prohibit human cloning for reproduction and other unacceptable practices associated with reproductive technology, and for related purposes

Part1Preliminary

1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002.

2 Commencement

(1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, on the day or at the time specified in column 2 of the table.

Commencement information

Column 1

Column 2

Column 3

Provision(s)

Commencement

Date/Details

1. Sections1 and 2 and anything in this Act not elsewhere covered by this table

The day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent

19December 2002

2. Sections3 to 26 and Schedule1

The 28th day after the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent

16January 2003

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally passed by the Parliament and assented to. It will not be expanded to deal with provisions inserted in this Act after assent.

(2) Column 3 of the table is for additional information that is not part of this Act. This information may be included in any published version of this Act.

3 Object of Act

The object of this Act is to address concerns, including ethical concerns, about scientific developments in relation to human reproduction and the utilisation of human embryos by prohibiting certain practices.

4 Operation of Act

(1) This Act applies as follows:

(a) to things done, or omitted to be done, by constitutional corporations;

(b) to things done, or omitted to be done, in the course of constitutional trade or commerce;

(c) to matters within the legislative power of the Commonwealth under paragraph51(xxix) of the Constitution;

(d) to the Commonwealth and Commonwealth authorities;

(e) for purposes relating to the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of statistics;

(f) to matters within the legislative power of the Commonwealth under paragraph51(xxxix) of the Constitution, so far as it relates to the matters mentioned in paragraphs(a) to (e) of this subsection.

(2) In this section:

constitutional corporation means a trading, foreign or financial corporation within the meaning of paragraph51(xx) of the Constitution.

constitutional trade or commerce means trade or commerce:

(a) between Australia and places outside Australia; or

(b) among the States; or

(c) by way of the supply of services to the Commonwealth or to a Commonwealth authority.

5 Act to bind the Crown

(1) This Act binds the Crown in each of its capacities.

(2) Nothing in this Act renders the Crown liable to be prosecuted for an offence.

6 External Territories

This Act extends to every external Territory.

8 Definitions

(1) In this Act:

animal does not include a human.

chimeric embryo means:

(a) a human embryo into which a cell, or any component part of a cell, of an animal has been introduced; or

(b) a thing declared by the regulations to be a chimeric embryo.

Commonwealth authority means the following:

(a) a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under an Act;

(b) a company in which a controlling interest is held by any one of the following persons, or by 2 or more of the following persons together:

(i) the Commonwealth;

(ii) a body covered by paragraph(a);

(iii) a body covered by either of the above subparagraphs.

excess ART embryo means a human embryo that:

(a) was created, by assisted reproductive technology, for use in the assisted reproductive technology treatment of a woman; and

(b) is excess to the needs of:

(i) the woman for whom it was created; and

(ii) her spouse (if any) at the time the embryo was created.

human embryo means a discrete entity that has arisen from either:

(a) the first mitotic division when fertilisation of a human oocyte by a human sperm is complete; or

(b) any other process that initiates organised development of a biological entity with a human nuclear genome or altered human nuclear genome that has the potential to develop up to, or beyond, the stage at which the primitive streak appears;

and has not yet reached 8 weeks of development since the first mitotic division.

human embryo clone means a human embryo that is a genetic copy of another living or dead human, but does not include a human embryo created by the fertilisation of a human egg by human sperm.

human sperm includes human spermatids.

hybrid embryo means:

(a) an embryo created by the fertilisation of a human egg by animal sperm; or

(b) an embryo created by the fertilisation of an animal egg by human sperm; or

(c) a human egg into which the nucleus of an animal cell has been introduced; or

(d) an animal egg into which the nucleus of a human cell has been introduced; or

(e) a thing declared by the regulations to be a hybrid embryo.

licence means a licence issued under section21 of the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002.

NHMRC Licensing Committee means the Committee established under section13 of the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002.

precursor cell means a cell that has the potential to develop into a human egg or human sperm.

spouse, in relation to a person, includes adefactopartner of the person within the meaning of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

State includes the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

woman means a female human.

(2) For the purposes of establishing that a human embryo clone is a genetic copy of a living or dead human:

(a) it is sufficient to establish that the set of genes in the nuclei of the cells of the living or dead human has been copied; and

(b) it is not necessary to establish that the copy is an identical genetic copy.

(3) For the purposes of the definition of human embryo in subsection(1), in working out the length of the period of development of a human embryo, any period when the development of the embryo is suspended is to be disregarded.

(4) For the purposes of the definition of human embryo clone in subsection(1), a human embryo that results from the technological process known as embryo splitting is taken not to be created by a process of fertilisation of a human egg by human sperm.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph(b) of the definition of excess ART embryo, a human embryo is excess to the needs of the persons mentioned in that paragraph at a particular time if:

(a) each such person has given written authority for use of the embryo for a purpose other than a purpose relating to the assisted reproductive technology treatment of the woman concerned, and the authority is in force at that time; or

(b) each such person has determined in writing that the embryo is excess to their needs, and the determination is in force at that time.

(6) A reference in this Act to an embryo (including a human embryo) is a reference to a living embryo.

(7) A reference in this Act to a human egg is a reference to a human oocyte.

(8) A reference in this Act to a human embryo does not include a reference to:

(a) a hybrid embryo; or

(b) a human embryonic stem cell line.

Part2Prohibited practices

Division1Practices that are completely prohibited

9 Offenceplacing a human embryo clone in the human body or the body of an animal

A person commits an offence if the person intentionally places a human embryo clone in the body of a human or the body of an animal.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 15 years.

Note: The development of a human embryo (including a human embryo clone) outside the body of a woman for more than 14 days is prohibited by section14.

10 Offenceimporting or exporting a human embryo clone

(1) A person commits an offence if the person intentionally imports a human embryo clone into Australia.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 15 years.

Read the original:
Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002

Human Reproduction features full-length, peer-reviewed papers reporting original research, concise clinical case reports, as well as opinions and debates on topical issues.

Papers published cover the clinical science and medical aspects of reproductive physiology, pathology and endocrinology; including andrology, gonad function, gametogenesis, fertilization, embryo development, implantation, early pregnancy, genetics, genetic diagnosis, oncology, infectious disease, surgery, contraception, infertility treatment, psychology, ethics and social issues.

The highest scientific and editorial standards are maintained, along with a rapid rate of peer review and publication.

Human Reproduction is covered by the following major indexing services:

Abstracts on Hygiene and Communicable Diseases Abstracts in Anthropology Agbiotech News and Information Animal Breeding Abstracts Biological Abstracts BIOSIS Previews British Nursing Index CAB Abstracts Current Contents /Clinical Medicine Current Contents /Life Sciences Dairy Science Abstracts Derwent Drug File EMBASE Environmental Science and Pollution Management Excerpta Medica Abstract Journals Forest Products Abstracts Forestry Abstracts Global Health Horticultural Abstracts Index Veterinarius Journal Citation Reports /Science Edition Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome News PROQUEST DATABASE : Magazines PROQUEST DATABASE : MEDLINE with Full Text PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest 5000 PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest 5000 International PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest Central PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest Discovery PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest Health & Medical Complete PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest International Academic Research Library PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest Medical Library PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest News & Magazines PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest Pharma Collection PROQUEST DATABASE : ProQuest Research Library

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This information is taken from the Journal Citation Reports, published annually as part of the Science Citation Index by ISI.

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About | Human Reproduction | Oxford Academic

The human reproductive system usually involves internal fertilization by sexual intercourse. During this process, the male inserts his erect penis into the female's vagina and ejaculates semen, which contains sperm. A small portion of the sperm pass through the cervix into the uterus, and then into the fallopian tubes for fertilization of the ovum. Only one sperm is required to fertilize the ovum. Upon successful fertilization, the fertilized ovum, or zygote, travels out of the fallopian tube and into the uterus, where it implants in the uterine wall. This marks the beginning of gestation, better known as pregnancy, which continues for nine months as the foetus develops. When the foetus has developed to a certain point, pregnancy is concluded with childbirth or labor. During labor, the muscles of the uterus contract and the cervix dilates over the course of hours, and the baby passes out of the vagina. Human infants are nearly helpless and require high levels of parental care. Infants rely on their caregivers for comfort, cleanliness, and food. Food may be provided by breastfeeding or formula feeding.[1]

The female reproductive system has two functions: The first is to produce egg cells, and the second is to protect and nourish the fetus until birth. The male reproductive system has one function, and it is to produce and deposit sperm. Humans have a high level of sexual differentiation. In addition to differences in nearly every reproductive organ, numerous differences typically occur in secondary sexual characteristics [reproduction].

The male reproductive system is a series of organs located outside of the body and around the pelvis region of a male that contribute towards the reproduction process. The primary direct function of the male reproductive system is to provide the male sperm for fertilization of the ovum.

The major reproductive organs of the male can be grouped into three categories. The first category is sperm production and storage. Production takes place in the testes which are housed in the temperature regulating scrotum, immature sperm then travel to the epididymis for development and storage. The second category are the ejaculatory fluid producing glands which include the seminal vesicles, prostate, and the vas deferens. The final category are those used for copulation, and deposition of the spermatozoa (sperm) within the male, these include the penis, urethra, vas deferens, and Cowper's gland also called bulbo-urethral gland.

Major secondary sexual characteristics includes: larger, more muscular stature, deepened voice, facial and body hair, broad shoulders, and development of an adam's apple. An important sexual hormone of males is androgen, and particularly testosterone.

The testes release a hormone that controls the development of sperm. This hormone is also responsible for the development of physical characteristics in men such as facial hair and a deep voice.

The human female reproductive system is a series of organs primarily located inside of the body and around the pelvic region of a female that contribute towards the reproductive process. The human female reproductive system contains three main parts: the vulva, which leads to the vagina, the vaginal opening, to the uterus; the uterus, which holds the developing fetus; and the ovaries, which produce the female's ova. The breasts are involved during the parenting stage of reproduction, but in most classifications they are not considered to be part of the female reproductive system.

The vagina meets the outside at the vulva, which also includes the labia, clitoris and urethra; during intercourse this area is lubricated by mucus secreted by the Bartholin's glands. The vagina is attached to the uterus through the cervix, while the uterus is attached to the ovaries via the fallopian tubes. Each ovary contains hundreds of egg cells or ova (singular ovum).

Approximately every 28 days, the pituitary gland releases a hormone that stimulates some of the ova to develop and grow. One ovum is released and it passes through the fallopian tube into the uterus. Hormones produced by the ovaries prepare the uterus to receive the ovum. The lining of the uterus, called the endometrium, and unfertilized ova are shed each cycle through the process of menstruation. If the ovum is fertilized by sperm, it attaches to the endometrium and the fetus develops.

The development of the reproductive system and the development of the urinary system are closely tied in the development of the human fetus. Despite the differences between the adult female and male are derived from the intermediate mesoderm. The three main fetal precursors of the reproductive organs are the Wolffian duct, Mllerian ducts, and the gonad. Endocrine hormones are a well known and critical controlling factor in the normal differentiation of the reproductive system.[2]

The Wolffian duct forms the epididymis, vas deferens, ductus deferens, ejaculatory duct, and seminal vesicle in the male reproductive system and essentially disappears in the female reproductive system. For the Mllerian Duct this process is reversed as it essentially disappears in the male reproductive system and forms the fallopian tubes, uterus, and vagina in the female system. In both sexes the gonad goes on to form the testes and ovaries, because they are derived from the same undeveloped structure they are considered homologous organs. There are a number of other homologous structures shared between male and female reproductive systems. However, despite the similarity in function of the female fallopian tubes and the male epididymis and vas deferens, they are not homologous but rather analogous structures as they arise from different fetal structures.

The production of gametes takes place within the gonads through a process known as gametogenesis. Gametogenesis occurs when certain types of germ cells undergo meiosis to split the normal diploid number of chromosome(n=46) into haploids cells containing only 23 chromosomes.[3]

In males, this process is known as spermatogenesis and takes place only after puberty in the seminiferous tubules of the testes. The immature spermatozoon or sperm are then sent to the epididymis where they gain a tail and motility. Each of the original diploid germs cells or primary spermatocytes forms four functional gametes which is each forever young. The production and survival of sperms require a temperature that is lower than the normal core body temperature. Since the scrotum, where the testes is present, is situated outside the body cavity, it provides a temperature about 3C below normal body temperature.

In females, gametogenesis is known as oogenesis which occurs in the ovarian follicles of the ovaries. This process does not produce mature ovum until puberty. In contrast with males, each of the original diploid germ cells or primary oocytes will form only one mature ovum, and three polar bodies which are not capable of fertilization It has long been understood that in females, unlike males, all of the primary oocytes ever found in a female will be created prior to birth, and that the final stages of ova production will then not resume until puberty.[3] However, recent scientific data has challenged that hypothesis.[4] This new data indicates that in at least some species of mammal oocytes continue to be replenished in females well after birth.[5]

Like all complex organ systems the human reproductive system is affected by many diseases. There are four main categories of reproductive diseases in humans. They are: 1) genetic or congenital abnormalities, 2) cancers, 3) infections which are often sexually transmitted diseases, and 4) functional problems cause by environmental factors, physical damage, psychological issues, autoimmune disorders, or other causes. The best known type of functional problems include sexual dysfunction and infertility which are both broad terms relating to many disorders with many causes. The human reproductive system usually involves internal fertilization by sexual intercourse. During this process, the male inserts his erect penis into the female's vagina and ejaculates semen, which contains sperm. The sperm then travels through the vagina and cervix into the uterus or fallopian tubes for fertilization of the ovum. Upon successful fertilization and implantation, gestation of the fetus then occurs within the female's uterus for approximately nine months, this process is known as pregnancy in humans. Gestation ends with birth, the process of birth is known as labor. Labor consists of the muscles of the uterus contracting, the cervix dilating, and the baby passing out the vagina (the female genital organ). Human's babies and children are nearly helpless and require high levels of parental care for many years. One important type of parental care is the use of the mammary glands in the female breasts to nurse the baby.[1]

Specific reproductive diseases are often symptoms of other diseases and disorders, or have multiple, or unknown causes making them difficult to classify. Examples of unclassifiable disorders include Peyronie's disease in males and endometriosis in females. Many congenital conditions cause reproductive abnormalities but are better known for their other symptoms, these include: Turner syndrome, Klinefelter's syndrome, Cystic fibrosis, and Bloom syndrome.[6]

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Human reproductive system - Wikipedia

In a breakthroughannouncedWednesday, scientists successfully edited the genes of a human embryo to eliminate a dangerous gene mutation. This hasnt yet produced the birth of an actual baby with genes selected by technological means, but that is on the way and soon. Science and technological capacity are racing ahead of ethics, safety regulations and our understanding of risks and societal implications.

The potential for designer babies has been circulating for years, not just in science fiction but in exciting new research and real-world effects. Already, in-vitro fertilization offers parents assistance in conception and, together with other technologies, allows parents to select healthy embryos, choose the sex of their children and manage a variety of aspects of human reproduction once thought simply to be matters of nature or divine action.

Sex selection, made possible by cruder technologies, has remade the marriage and life prospects of a generation of young Chinese, Indians and others. Now, these capacities have been taken to a new level by advances in technology that allows scientists to manipulate individual genes. The technology is called CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). The power of this approach was already clear in 2015 when Science magazine named it breakthrough of the year.

What makes the new research just announced another breakthrough is that it is a demonstration that this technique can safely remedy defective (mutated) genetic makeup, producing embryos in which cells are free of the mutation and no new, unwanted mutations are introduced. The specific mutation that was eliminated caused a dangerous heart condition. But there are some 10,000 potentially problematic medical conditions known to be caused by specific inherited mutations. The benefits of successful genetic engineering could be enormous and the attractions to potential parents are obvious.

Use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology in real life, as opposed to a research setting, is currently forbidden in the U.S. However, genetic modification of other organisms has been permitted (albeit within a complex regulatory regime) for several years, sparking controversies over genetically modified organisms and foods. Researchers can manipulate real human embryos at the point of fertilization but not implant them or facilitate their growth into viable fetuses. The main objection to this until the new research has been safety. This has centered on the worries that fetuses would not prove viable or would suffer new mutations.

A recent National Academy of Sciences report suggested that once these safety concerns were allayed, then clinical that is, real life use of the genetic engineering techniques should be allowed. It is already allowed in China, and some U.S. researchers worry this is giving the Chinese an unfair advantage. China is also backing some claims to patents for CRISPR-Cas9 while others are litigated in U.S. courts, with implications regarding who can control the technology and its future use.

But safety,in the sense of the well-being of the embryo and potential fetus, is not the only concern. Religious leaders have raised objections over physicians and others playing God. The Catholic Church insists that human beings are or must be begotten, not made. But there are concerns not only about the ultimate questions of the nature and meaning of life.There is also worry that IVF raises challenging ethical questions for young men and women who donate sperm and eggs, without adequate care for what it will mean to them to be anonymous, undisclosed parents. Pope Francis called artificial reproduction technologies a false compassion.

Secular thinkers also worry that technology is giving some decision makers a degree of control over human lives, and indeed the human future for which they are not adequately prepared. Are doctors prepared to help make fundamental ethical choices about which babies should receive which benefits or to assess risks? Are prospective parents? The premier bioethics research organization, the Hastings Center, asks: What does it mean to be a good parent in the genomic age?As children are genetically altered, what may this mean for natural family bonds?

It is hard to object to sparing newborn children the burden of inherited diseases. But consider the question: Which newborn children should get that benefit? Is it to be distributed on the basis of parents ability to pay? Should it be distributed by the state on the basis of some combination of considerations, like who is likely to be useful to the state and who has connections to those in power? Will the new technology only be available to parents in rich and scientifically advanced countries? Whatever the regulations developed in one country, in the absence of international agreements, will parents with enough money simply go to other countries as medical tourists? What will be the legal status of genetically modified offspring? Do parents own their children, and is this the basis for a right to decide their basic biological makeup?

Any new technique of enormous power raises questions about how to allocate access, about unintended consequences, and about social and moral responsibility.In a democratic country, it demands public debate. We are short of both. In his bookPlaying God?,the sociologist John H. Evans argues that our public debate is thin partly because we ask only about what techniques are legitimate, not what goals we should embrace. The potential benefits of gene editing do not stop with reducing the risk of heart disease or cancer. Parents could choose genetic modifications intended to boost intelligence, athletic ability or longevity. The social implications of genetic engineering could be dramatic. As is often the case, how big the impacts are and whether benefits exceed costs and damages depend on how the technologies are used.

Genetic modification produces inheritable differences among human beings. Parents could make their children taller or blonder, more often male, or less likely to get cancer. Governments could engineer children to win Olympic medals, be better soldiers, be compliant workers or be brilliant scientists. Could this reinforce old racial divisions or create new ones? Could this be, as the sociologist Troy Duster put it,the backdoor to eugenics?

Genetic modification challenges our very idea of human nature. It suggests that we can make human beings into what we want them to be. Thats a little less new than it sounds. Humanity has already been reshaped by the development of language, literacy and education. It has been reshaped by better nutrition and sanitation, with enormously positive consequences for human life expectancy. But the capacity to consciously alter human beings gene by gene is new.

What does this mean for the notion that all human beings are members of a single species and thus members of a common community of fate? This idea is basic to the notion of human rights. It is basic to the way citizenship is understood in most countries. Is it possible that genetic engineering could create such marked differences about human beings that they couldnt all be considered citizens even if they all descended from people who are citizens today?

Gene editing is one of the most promising medical technologies in years. But unless there is much more attention to the ethical and social choices before us, we risk seeing that promise mired in controversy or turned into a disaster.

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Human Gene Editing Is Leaving Ethics Dangerously Far Behind - HuffPost

American and Korean scientists have published in Nature the details of how they successfully edited a single gene in human embryos. A team of American, Chinese and Korean scientists led byShoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University used gene-editing CRISPR/Cas9 technology to eliminate a gene, MYBPC3,linked to a heart disorder.

Stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler said that the highly-anticipated paper was technically strong, innovative and rigorous which suggests that other scientists will soon be building on Mitalipovs achievements. Perhaps one of the most significant of these was its safety. The paper claims that there were no off-target mutations and no mosaic embryos.

The potential for the technique is immense. The article focuses on curing diseases. About 10,000 harmful single-gene mutations have been identified from breast cancer to Tay-Sachs. Interest in eliminating these will be intense.

However,when other less competent, less experienced and less ethical scientists scale up the number of embryos, safety could obviously suffer.

Nearly every observer stated the obvious: a technique for safely and effectively editing the human genome has significant ethical implications. It can be used not only for curing diseases but for enhancing embryos with better genes.

Therefore, Mitalipovs team took great care to dot their ethical is and cross their ts. Even though this preliminary effort was found to be safe and effective, it is crucial that we continue to proceed with the utmost caution, paying the highest attention to ethical considerations," said corresponding author Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte.

As Vivek Wadhwa, a technology expert from Carnegie-Mellon, wrote in the Washington Post, CRISPRs seductiveness is beginning to overtake the calls forcaution. For some scientists and bioethicists, the danger of haste can be averted with more reports and more ethics committees.

For others, creating and destroying human embryos for research is itself anathema. In this experiment, dozens of embryos were created, and all were destroyed before they had grown beyond a few days. But everyone recognised the potential for a new generation of eugenics, which has so long been under the shadow of the Nazis discredited ideology.

David Albert Jones, of the UKs Anscombe Institute, penned a withering critique, Unethical research with eugenic goals. The whole rationale for this experiment is to take a step towards genetic modification as an assisted reproductive technology, he writes. We are manufacturing new human beings for manipulation and quality control, and experimenting on them with the aim of forging greater eugenic control over human reproduction. This is not a case of using bad means for a good end, but of bad means to a worse end.

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Human embryos modified to eliminate a single-gene disease - BioEdge

Maize is a cultigen of global economic importance, but when it first became a staple grain in the Americas, was unknown and contested. Here, we report direct isotopic dietary evidence from 52 radiocarbon-dated human skeletons from two remarkably well-preserved rock-shelter contexts in the Maya Mountains of Belize spanning the past 10,000 years. Individuals dating before ~4700 calendar years before present (cal B.P.) show no clear evidence for the consumption of maize. Evidence for substantial maize consumption (~30% of total diet) appears in some individuals between 4700 and 4000 cal B.P. Isotopic evidence after 4000 cal B.P. indicates that maize became a persistently used staple grain comparable in dietary significance to later maize agriculturalists in the region (>70% of total diet). These data provide the earliest definitive evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.

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Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas - Science Advances

18 May 2020

The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) working group on COVID-19 (ESHRE COVID 19 WG) was constituted in early March as a group of assisted reproductive technology (ART) experts (clinicians and embryologists) working to investigate and offer updates on the possible consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic upon human reproduction and fertility in general. The main goals of the working group are to keep track of emerging data and to make recommendations and guidance documents mainly for professionals but also for patients. The President of Fertility Europe, the European patients' association and a long-term partner of ESHRE, was invited to participate in order to guarantee that the voice of the patients is taken into account.

Two different guidance documents have been produced and updated by the WG, corresponding to the different phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The first document, released in early March and in its final version on 1 April, was prepared as a cautionary measure during the continuously increasing prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Europe.This 'Guidance document in Fertility Services during the pandemic' was based on the limited information existing on COVID-19 and pregnancy, most of it coming from third trimester pregnancies with no data on early pregnancy. The group recommended at that time a precautionary approach to assisted reproduction, advising that ART treatments should not be started, consistent with the position of other scientific societies in reproductive medicine and subjected to local and national governmental advice. The main arguments were to avoid possible complications in pregnancies arising in SARS-CoV-2 positive women, to avoid the potential risk of vertical transmission of the virus to the fetus and new-born and to protect the limited healthcare resources, under a very high level of pressure, especially in more severely affected countries.

The second document, 'Guidance for recommencing ART treatments' (23 April), was written when a return to non-urgent medical activities commenced in most European countries. Safety and risk minimisation for both patients and professionals were the main objectives. Triage and testing strategies were detailed together with adaptation of ART services including sanitation, staff and patient education and measured access to the centre. Specific guidance was given with respect to ovarian stimulation monitoring, oocyte retrieval, the IVF and cryopreservation laboratories and embryo transfer procedures. A Code of Conduct was suggested to avoid unnecessary exposure both in a work environment and at home.

In order to measure the ART activity in centres across Europe, the ESHRE COVID-19 WG contacted the members of the Committee of National Representatives in each European country with a focused questionnaire. The replies and the constant contact with the representatives allowed the creation of multiple timed EU ART activity maps, at present spanning six weeks.

As mentioned before, most of the information about COVID 19 and pregnancy has been reported in third-trimester pregnancies and at delivery. There is an urgent need to assess the impact and possible consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection at the time of implantation and in early pregnancy. For this reason, the WG has also initiated a live, detailed survey to collect such information in COVID-19 positive pregnant women who became pregnant through ART.

As new data are being reported through peer-reviewed and also non-peer reviewed articles, the group are constantly monitoring and updating the scientific literature relevant to reproductive medicine. Information regarding the presence or absence of SARS CoV-2 in reproductive tissues and gametes is essential in understanding the potential for infectivity and such data are still scarce. It is of utmost importance to promote research in COVID-19 and human reproduction. Scientific societies should encourage professionals to pursue such research and lobby for funding.

Finally, the ESHRE COVID-19 website page has a dedicated area for Frequently Asked Questions both from professionals (ESHRE members) and patients, providing a platform for quick and accurate response to emerging questions.

As the pandemic is constantly evolving, periodic updates of the guidance documents, ART activity reports and literature are conducted.

ESHRE COVID-19 working Group members: Baris Ata (TR), Luca Gianaroli (IT), Kersti Lundin (SE), Edgar Mocanu (IRL), Satu Rautakallio-Hokkanen (FI, Fertility Europe), Juha Tapanainen (FI), Anna Veiga (ES) supported by Nathalie Vermeulen (ESHRE Senior Research Specialist).

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COVID-19 and reproduction: ESHRE COVID-19 working group update - BioNews

Recent findings point to BET protein and ACE2 inhibition as possible means to slow and reduce the impact of COVID-19

CALGARY, Alberta, March 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Resverlogix Corp. (Resverlogix) (TSX: RVX) announces that it is seeking to collaborate with organizations currently testing therapies for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for COVID-19) in pre-clinical or clinical models. Apabetalone prevents specialized proteins called bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) proteins from activating the expression of disease-associated and other genes, potentially disrupting SARS-CoV-2 reproduction while also limiting the entry of the virus into human cells.

In a recent New York Times article published on March 17th, 2020, researchers at the Quantitative Biosciences Institute Coronavirus Research Group, University of California, San Francisco, identified the human bromodomain-containing protein (BRD2) a direct target of apabetalone as a critical interaction partner for SARS-CoV-2. Publications are pending. BRD2 binds to the E (envelope) protein of the virus particles and is believed to participate in the viral reproduction process. Furthermore, apabetalone is known to inhibit expression of Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the receptor utilized by the novel coronavirus particles to gain entry into human cells. Together, these observations suggest apabetalone treatment may potentially reduce viral entry into cells, and limit virus particles ability to replicate.

Resverlogix is prepared for immediate action to help address the global pandemic of COVID-19, to which there is no current effective treatment. We must act quickly, said Donald McCaffrey, President and CEO of Resverlogix. Apabetalone is the only BET inhibitor with a proven clinical safety record as shown by the results of the Phase 3 trial, BETonMACE. No other therapies in this class are prepared to directly enter late stage clinical trials and we would like to collaborate quickly with anyone who is testing drugs for COVID-19 in preclinical and clinical studies. To help expedite development in this space, interested stakeholders such as patient advocacy groups, government health bodies, pharmaceutical companies, and/or non-government research organizations are encouraged to contact Resverlogix to further the research and development of apabetalone as a therapeutic for COVID-19.

Interested COVID-19 collaborators can contact:

Donald McCaffrey, President & CEOdon@resverlogix.com1-587-390-7888

About Resverlogix

Resverlogix is developing apabetalone (RVX-208), a first-in-class, small molecule that is a selective BET (bromodomain and extra-terminal) inhibitor. BET inhibition is an epigenetic mechanism that can regulate disease-causing genes. Apabetalone is a BET inhibitor selective for the second bromodomain (BD2) within the BET proteins. This selective inhibition of apabetalone on BD2 produces a specific set of biological effects with potentially important benefits for patients with high-risk cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis, neurodegenerative disease, Fabry disease, peripheral artery disease and other orphan diseases, while maintaining a well described safety profile.

Resverlogix common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:RVX).

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Investor RelationsEmail: ir@resverlogix.comPhone: 403-254-9252Or visit our website: http://www.resverlogix.com

This news release may contain certain forward-looking information as defined under applicable Canadian securities legislation, that are not based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words "believes", "anticipates", "plans", "intends", "will", "should", "expects", "continue", "estimate", "forecasts" and other similar expressions. In particular, this news release includes forward looking information related to the potential benefit of apabetalone through its known mechanism of action in the treatment of patients with COVID-19, the ability for the Company to quickly utilize apabetalone in future late-stage clinical trials with collaborators who are currently testing drugs for COVID-19 in preclinical and/or clinical models and the potential role of apabetalone in the treatment of patients with cognitive disorders, high-risk cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis, Fabry disease, peripheral artery disease and other orphan diseases. Our actual results, events or developments could be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We can give no assurance that any of the events or expectations will occur or be realized. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions and risk factors including those discussed in our Annual Information Form and most recent MD&A which are incorporated herein by reference and are available through SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and are made as of the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Resverlogix Invites Collaborations for use of Apabetalone in Trials and Studies to Combat the Spread of COVID-19 Based on New Research - BioSpace

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill 2020, which would eventually pave the way to regulate in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics that mushroomed all over the country.

Once the bill is enacted, it would lead to the creation of a national board to lay down and implement a code of conduct for people working at such clinics besides determining the minimum standards of physical infrastructure, laboratory, diagnostic equipment and expert manpower to be employed by ART clinics and banks.

According to a registry maintained by the Indian Council of Medical Research, there are 1,269 ART clinics in India (as on November, 2019). The number swells up to 1,846 when ART clinics and ART banks are taken together.

Maharashtra has the maximum number of ART clinics (266) followed by Tamil Nadu (164), Delhi (113), Karnataka (102), Uttar Pradesh (92) and Gujarat (80). The number rises when ART banks too are taken into account.

However, registration with the ICMR is a voluntary exercise at the moment because of which many clinics don't take the trouble and prefer opacity while offering infertility treatment.

The need to regulate the ART services is to protect the affected women and children from exploitation. The oocyte (egg) donor needs to be supported by an insurance cover, protected from multiple embryo implantation while children born through ART should be provided all rights equivalent to biological children.

The bill intends to make genetic testing of the embryo mandatory before implantation for the benefit of the child born through ART, besides streamlining the cryo-preservation processes for sperm, oocytes and embryo.

The major benefit of the act would be regulation of the assisted reproductive technology services in the country. Consequently, infertile couples will be more ensured and confident of the ethical practices in ART clinics, said a government statement issued after the meeting.

Seeking to form a national registry and registration authority to maintain a central database and assist the national board in its functioning, the bill proposes stringent punishment for those practising sex selection, sale of human embryos or gametes and running agencies/rackets/organisations for such unlawful practices.

Over the last 12 years, the proposed legislation underwent several twists and turns. One of the major changes is dropping of surrogacy from the original draft as a new law has been readied to deal with such issues.

When a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha reviewed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020 passed by the Lok Sabha last year it suggested bringing out the ART bill before the surrogacy legislation so that technical issues related to artificial reproduction were sorted out before surrogacy happened in an ethical and legal fashion.

The ART bill may be introduced in the second half of the budget session beginning on March 2.

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Cabinet clears Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, aims to regulate IVF clinics - Deccan Herald