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Health Check: 06/07/2011

06/07/2011

BBC World Service - Health Check, 06/07/2011

A new method of reducing the number of twins born to women having fertility treatment

News from top fertility experts meeting in Sweden – and how some of the older HIV drugs, which have saved millions of lives, are responsible for signs of premature ageing

FERTILITY NEWS
Thousands of the world’s top experts in reproductive medicine met in Sweden this week. Research unveiled at the European Society for Human Reproduction meeting included a formula which can help to predict which women would still end up with a healthy baby – even if only one embryo was implanted. In the past some doctors implanted numerous embryos, to improve the chances of pregnancy. But twins (or more) increase the risk of complications in pregnancy for both the mother and baby. Now just four criteria can be used to calculate the chance of success with just one embryo: the mother’s age; whether she has had fertility treatment before and if it resulted in pregnancy; the quality of the embryo; and the number of eggs released when the ovary is stimulated with hormones. Other research included how brushing her teeth properly can help a woman to conceive more quickly


BLOATING AND PEPPERCORNS
Can eating peppercorns cure a bloated stomach, as some people from Sri Lanka believe? London-based gastro-enterologist Professor Ray Playford explains what is usually behind bloating – Irritable Bowel Syndrome 

HIV DRUGS AND AGEING
Some of the older HIV drugs – which have saved millions of lives around the world – are now found to be responsible for premature ageing. A study published in the journal Nature Genetics by Professor Patrick Chinnery showed how muscle cells in HIV positive people showed the same characteristics you’d expect to see in an 80 year old without HIV.  Garry Brough was just 23 when he was given a diagnosis of HIV.  He’s taken anti-retrovirals since 1997 and has experienced fat-loss as well as osteopoenia, where the bones become less dense. He’s doing his best to keep healthy – and Professor Chinnery agrees it’s important to value these life-saving drugs and now turns efforts towards limiting these side effects

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