"I say that this is a dirty, filthy book, and the test of it is that no human being would allow that book on his table, no decently educated English husband would allow even his wife to have it...." Such was the uncompromising pronouncement of Sir Hardinge Gifford, Her Majesty's Solicitor General, who in 1877 prosecuted Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant for publishing Dr. Charles Knowlton's Fruits of Philosophy.

Knowlton's work was the first American medical handbook on contraception. It had become an incredibly popular book among Britons who believed the neo-Malthusian dictum that the only solution to poverty in Britain was a limit on the growth of its population. They saw effective birth control measures as a way to make such a limit practicable. In 1877, its publisher was hauled into court and pleaded guilty to printing obscene material. Bradlaugh and Besant tested the right of official harassment by bringing out an edition of the Fruits of Philosophy that bore an introduction explaining their motives. The pair was arrested and charged with violating the Obscene Publications Act of 1857.

Their arrest, trial, conviction, and eventual acquittal constitute a landmark in the history of the world birth control movement. The enormous publicity accorded the principals and their cause brought the subject of family planning into the homes of nearly every Briton who read the newspapers' sensational coverage. What followed thereafter is telling: a dramatic, steady decline in the English birthrate. By their simple act of publishing Knowlton's short book, Bradlaugh and Besant helped establish England's pioneering role in the dissemination, democratization, and implementation of birth controlinformation.

This volume contains the writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant on reproductive physiology and birth control and an account of the Bradlaugh-Besant trial. Included also are two of Besant's own pamphlets on birth control, and a comprehensive introductory essay that establishes a context for understanding neo-Malthusianism and the advocacy of birth control in nineteenth-century England. One of a small handful of books that helped stimulate a women's movement in the West, it will interest sociologists and gender studies specialists as well as the general reader interested in the history of birth control.

The potential impact of work being conducted in genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics upon clinical practice for gynecologists is immense but not yet completely appreciated. This groundbreaking text from international experts examines the newest topics on the perinatal agenda and gives clinicians a real look into the future via the newest methodologies.

Fertility preservation has become one of the most important and fast growing fields of reproductive medicine. Although there are several strategies for fertility preservation in female, most of them are still considered experimental. It is important to perfect the existing technologies, but also developing new strategies should be actively sought. The future development of fertility preservation strategies should be based on the sound scientific knowledge and principles. One of the main objectives of fertility preservation in females is prevention of oocyte depletion. The mechanisms of oocyte loss and survival in the ovary are complex, which include genetic control both in germ cells and in somatic cells, DNA damage and repair mechanism, apoptosis and autophagy, and other poorly understood molecular mechanisms. To develop clinically effective and safe strategies for fertility preservation, it is essential to know and understand the fundamentals of oocyte and ovarian biology at the molecular level. Thus, the purpose of this edition is to review the current progress in research related to molecular and genetic control of oocyte development that can be applied to fertility preservation. The main topics that are discussed in this publication include molecular signaling mechanisms of oocyte activation and loss, genomic integrity of oocytes, and epigenetics. "

This book stems from the author's clinical experience working with infertile women in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. It highlights the crucial importance of integrative work of psychotherapists and psychoanalysts with reproductive medical specialists in assisted reproductive technology (ART).

An analysis of cell death in reproductive physiology. It examines topics such as the control of apoptosis in the uterus during decidualization and stern cell factor regulation of apoptosis in mouse primordial germ cells.

This timely resource offers extensive discussions on the pharmacological, environmental, endocrinological, and natural factors that alter reproductive or developmental processes-elucidating the effects of toxicants on mechanisms of reproduction. Describing biological actions common to both genders as well as gender-specific processes, Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology -provides an overview of the basic biology and physiology of organ systems affected by toxicants -furnishes detailed examples of developmental toxicology -analyzes germ cell toxicity and infertility -covers the developmental effects of neurotoxicity -considers periods of exposure and long-term toxicological consequences -explains how gonadal processes may be susceptible to toxicants in other reproductive organ systems -and more! With over 3700 bibliographic citations and more than 100 photographs, drawings, and tables, Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology is a useful reference for toxicologists; reproductive, developmental, cell, and molecular biologists; endocrinologists; biochemists; obstetricians/gynecologists; pediatricians; pharmacists and pharmacologists; physiologists; geneticists; poison control specialists; and upper-level undergraduate, graduate, and medical school students in these disciplines.

This is a comprehensive, up-to-date, authoritative research text and clinical reference work the menopause. It contains over 90 contributions covering every conceivable topic in the management of the menopause in women and related issues in the aging male. The book contains many illustrations and a wealth of references.

Female Puberty: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians is a practical reference, covering the full range of issues related to pubertal development. Developed to answer pointed clinical questions and to provide a thorough review of the literature, the book covers both the basics and the complexities of puberty, encompassing psychosocial development to pubertal nuances in highly specialized populations. Comprehensive in scope, this title offers concepts that are concisely conveyed and chapters that complement each other well. Complex subjects such as details of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis are covered in a readily understandable manner and bullet points throughout the text serve as helpful reminders to the reader. An invaluable contribution to the literature, Female Puberty: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians will be of great interest to all health providers concerned with female reproductive health - including obstetrician gynecologists, reproductive endocrine specialists, pediatricians, pediatric specialists, family practitioners and allied health professionals.

In the past, medical researchers and practicing clinicians have lacked a single, comprehensive resource on chromosome disorders, the cause of a wide variety of growth abnormalities and miscarriages. As new syndromes are being defined and known syndromes better described, patients with chromosomal abnormalities and their families are making greater demands on professionals for more extensive information. Consisting of more than 200 chromosomal aneuploidy syndromes, the Handbook of Chromosomal Syndromes is the most up-to-date reference to focus exclusively on clinical syndromes due to chromosomal abnormalities.

This fully illustrated guide is ideal for clinicians to use as a ready reference and for treatment and counseling of families and expectant parents facing abnormal prenatal tests. For each syndrome, this easy-to-use guide offers a complete description of clinical presentation, with illustrations, as well as information on behavioral aspects, life expectancy, diagnosis, and cytogenetics. Features of the text include:

• A section devoted to the nomenclature of chromosome abnormalities
• Pictorial material suitable to be shown to patient populations
• Descriptions of the phenotype in tabular and text form for quick and easy reference
• Ideograms for each entry
• A list of key references

Practicing clinicians–including primary care providers, pediatricians, and obstetricians–genetic counselors, researchers, and clinical and medical geneticists will find the Handbook of Chromosomal Syndromes to be an indispensable resource.

In Reproduction, Technology, and Rights, philosophers and ethicists debate the central moral issues and problems raised by today's revolution in reproductive technology. Leading issues discussed include the ethics of paternal obligations to children, the place of in vitro fertilization in the allocation of health care resources, and the ethical implications of such new technologies as blastomere separation and cloning. Also considered are how parents and society should respond to knowledge gained from prenatal testing and whether or not the right to abort should relieve men of the duty to support unwanted children.
Reproduction, Technology, and Rights illuminates the moral and ethical choices that our society faces because of advances in reproductive technology and helps to make those decisions better informed.

This book outlines the current understanding of how obesity affects female reproductive function across the lifespan. Topics include physiology of the menstrual cycle and early pregnancy, best practices in the delivery of contraceptive and prenatal care and healthcare policy that weighs the evidence in appropriate balance with principles that respect women's rights. Special attention is devoted to the idea that obesity's adverse effects are likely trans-generational; that is, children born to obese mothers are at increased risk for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life. Patients and their physicians need to be aware of the additional risks obesity confers in pregnancy and outline a plan of care that includes counseling preconceptionally, antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum in order to decrease morbidity. Obesity and Fertility provides advice for reproductive medicine physicians and gynecologists to help guide obese patients toward improved reproductive health and outcomes.

This important volume brings together findings in the psychological and medical treatment of sex offenders. It disseminates research from experts around the world in the field of sex offender treatment, making this knowledge available to researchers and clinicians everywhere. Professionals struggling to find effective methods for treating their patients will find Sex Offender Treatment a valuable tool for their daily work. Chapters in Sex Offender Treatment cover a variety of topics. Authors examine such areas as psychodynamic and psychiatric disorders associated with the sex offender, findings on pharmacologic interventions, treatment techniques and the public perception of sex offender treatment, and cautionary notes for those who provide therapy for sex offenders.Within these areas, some specific themes addressed include: types of personality disorders and implications for more effective treatment the effectiveness of antiandrogen treatment and the promising results of other pharmacotherapies techniques for developing insight in incest perpetrators a study of adult male incest offenders'perceptions of the treatment process an adolescent treatment program using a family communication approach hypotheses regarding sexual offenders and men who batter, using psychodynamic and feminist theory Full of practical strategies and useful information, Sex Offender Treatment is a book professionals will reach for again and again.

Prenatal Cocaine Exposures addresses the timely problem of maternal cocaine abuse and its effects on exposed infants, including growth retardation, learning, cardiovascular effects, and seizures. The impact of substance abuse on this and future generations presents an ongoing challenge to medical science. This comprehensive and authoritative volume reviews both animal and clinical studies to explain implications for treatment and long-term outcomes of early exposure.
Prenatal Cocaine Exposures investigates the specific role of cocaine in altering fetal development. Discussions of current studies and state-of-the-art techniques provide a basis for informed clinical decisions. Pediatricians, medical specialists, basic scientists, educators, and policy makers will all benefit from the comprehensive research gathered in this volume.

Published in 1998, this book is a collected volume of papers from the first conference of the European Network for Biomedical ethics. The main subject of this conference is the ethical assessment of IVF in view of its concrete application as an infertility treatment and the consideration of possible alternatives for use. Twenty years after the introduction and the establishment of this therapy a more concrete evaluation of its medical indications, social conditions and consequences, the psychological consequences for the women involved and the parent-child relationship becomes possible. The legal and ethical evaluation of the reproduction technology as regards for example the legal and moral status of supernumery embyos in cryo-conservation has also to be considered in a European perspective. The ethical evaluation concentrates today on the new evolution that IVF technology takes in relation to the extension of diagnostics possibilities due to genetic research. Little work has been done on the connection between IVF and genetic diagnostics and therapy, so the medical and ethical evaluation of the connecting lines are also included in the book.

How do men react to diagnosis of male infertility and how, if at all, are all their lives affected by it? Male infertility is commonplace yet the male experience of it has been woefully neglected. "Male Infertility - Men Talking" explores these issues by gathering together men's stories and seeing what common strands, if any, exist between them. Mary-Claire Mason explores the past and present medical management of male infertility as this forms an essential backdrop to the men's stories but the main emphasis is on how men's lives are affected. In the first half of this book, the discovery of sperm and the man's role in reproduction is considered together with a review of how the past affects the present medical management of male infertility and the problems that bedevil it. The male voice predominates in the second half, speaking of painful events and relationships with families and friends, their feeling of isolation, their medical experiences, the importance of biological fatherhood, and their hopes for the future.

This collection of essays, with an extended commentary by the editor, is concerned with developments in reproductive technology and the possibilities of genetic engineering. The volume provides a forum for debate between science and society. Leading scientists in the field explain the nature and goals of "test tube" reproduction and genetic engineering, and their eugenic implications. Other papers draw out the legal and ethical problems raised by these developments. The ethical dilemmas are discussed both from the point of view of secular moral philosophy and from a theological perspective. The extended commentary attempts to place these questions in the context of a social ethic, rather than an individualist one, in contrast to the approach adopted by the Warnock Report.

What does modern medical science know about menstruation? The menstrual cycle is less well understood by physicians than is commonly assumed and medical understanding of disorders associated with it are also limited. This study challenges the orthodox thinking in both society and medicine on menstruation. The authors base their study on women's own experiences and accounts of menstruation and menstrual disorders, drawing on a wide range of studies including their own. The book shows that women are often socialized to interpret the menstruum in negative terms and as something essentially private to be contained within the female domain. Taking an unorthodox approach, the authors incorporate a discussion of how menstruation is perceived within male culture and how the perspective of the medical profession has remained discernibly patriarchal. They show the significance of this in relation to women's experience within the family and at work. They end the book by focusing on the medicalisation of menstruation and the advantages and disadvantages for women of the greater access to the sick role this development implies.

Compiled by two experts in Reproductive Medicine, with contributions from internationally respected specialists, this innovative text lets the whole team in Reproductive Medicine get literally on the same page. Taking a cook-book approach to the operational procedures in the laboratory and in the clinic, it details what needs to be prepared in advance, what needs to be prepared earlier the same day, and what steps to take before, during, and after the procedure itself. This is an essential tool for ensuring all staff - whether experienced or starters - can be confident in their tasks and are in touch with what is expected of them and their colleagues.

This work is based on the proceedings of the seventh conference of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research held at the University of Michigan in Arbor in June 1987. It discusses such topics as the experience of menstruation, perimenstrual symptoms and premenstrual syndrome and menopause.

This book discusses the nature of meiotic chromosome pairing effects which may play a role in the determination of fertility. In particular, data and illustrations from the application of recently developed electron microscopic spreading techniques will allow researchers in related fields to come to grips with the recent advances in the cytogenetics of meiotic chromosome pairing behavior. Topics dealt with include meiotic and synaptonemal complex behavior in humans and mice with a variety of chromosomal and genetic abnormalities, sex chromosome pairing in mammals and birds, the significance for fertility or pairing in mammals and birds, the significance for fertility of XY pairing and crossing over, the effects of hybridity on pairing and fertility in plants, and the genetic control of synaptonemal complex formation and crossing over in polyploids. This is a timely reference book for graduate level medical and veterinary students, and scientists in the field of genetics and cell biology.

A comprehensive survey of the use of ultrasound in management of infertile patients is presented in this publication. Particular atten-tion is given to recently developed techniques such as assessment of endometrial changes, ovarian blood flow measurements, and per-cutaneous oocyte retrieval for in vitro fertilization. The very re-cent technique of transvaginal sonography is presented and richly illus-trated with original results obtained in biopsy-guided oocyte re-trieval, and in the precise delineation of follicle size and number for infertility treatment. Guidance in the interpretation of ultrasonic findings, which include potential limitations and pitfalls, is provided in each chapter. Researchers and practitioners interested in the management of infertile patients will find this volume indispensable.

Compiled by two experts in Reproductive Medicine, with contributions from internationally respected specialists, this innovative text lets the whole team in Reproductive Medicine get literally on the same page. Taking a cook-book approach to the operational procedures in the laboratory and in the clinic, it details what needs to be prepared in advance, what needs to be prepared earlier the same day, and what steps to take before, during, and after the procedure itself. This is an essential tool for ensuring all staff - whether experienced or starters - can be confident in their tasks and are in touch with what is expected of them and their colleagues.

Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the Global South and North critically analyses the political and social frameworks of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), and its impact in different countries. In the context of a worldwide social pressure to conceive - particularly for women - this collection explores the effect of the development of ARTs, growing globalisation and reproductive medicalization on global societies. Providing an overview of the issues surrounding ART both in the Global South and North, this book analyses ART inequalities, commonalities and specificities in various countries, regions and on the transnational scene. From a multidisciplinary perspective and drawing on multisite studies, it highlights some new issues relating to ART (e.g. egg freezing, surrogacy) and discusses some older issues regarding infertility and its medical treatment (e.g. in vitro fertilisation, childless stigmatisation and access to treatment). This book aims to redress the balance between what is known about Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the Global North, and how the issue is investigated in the Global South. It aims to draw out the global similarities in the challenges that ARTs bring between these different areas of the world. It will appeal to scholars and students in the social sciences, medicine, public health, health policy, women's and gender studies, and demography.

This collection examines enduring and topical questions in sexual and reproductive health in a range of contemporary Asian cultures. Beliefs and practices surrounding conception, pregnancy, birth, and confinement are studies in culturally specific contexts in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Important and widely applicable health issues are also addressed, including the perception and management of HIV/AIDS, experiences of menopause and the interaction of cosmopolitan ("western'') medicine with traditional healthcare.

Vitrification in Assisted Reproduction presents standard and new cryopreservation techniques in detail, outlining those that have resulted in success, and providing recommended means for overcoming typically encountered problems. This new edition provides a much broader range of clinical application and data to demonstrate its contribution to the use of vitrified oocytes and embryos. The book also discusses new areas in the field of assisted reproductive technology such as oocyte banking, preimplantion diagnostics at the blastocyst stage, and the burgeoning adoption of elective single embryo transfer. Written by expert scientists and clinical embryologists, this book will help you to consistently and predictably apply vitrification as an important therapeutic strategy in assisted reproduction.