The book Fertility SOS by Daminda Senekal-Griessel is for anyone who may be frustrated, at a loss and feeling unsure if having children is a realistic option. If you desire to start a family, but experience unexplained infertility, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), recurrent miscarriages, secondary infertility, or male factor infertility, then this book will give you a unique insight into understanding why this may be happening and how to solve it.

Infertility is not uncommon nowadays, with up to 20% of couples having difficulty conceiving. Male infertility is at an all-time high, with a 35 to 50 percent share of overall cases. Over-the-counter drugs, chronic medications, inadvertent exposure to dangerous pollutants, epigenetics, blood types and nutrition deficiencies, are some of the causes of infertility. Infertility also has significant negative social consequences for women who face social humiliation, mental anguish, sadness, anxiety, and low self-esteem because of their infertility. As a result, many of these women will go on to develop mental health problems. Increasing maternal age is linked to a higher incidence of miscarriage, which is assumed to be caused by low egg quality, which leads to chromosomal (genetic) abnormalities. In certain cases, the mother or father may have a minor genetic abnormality, but the baby may be more seriously damaged, resulting in miscarriage.

Assisted reproduction like IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) for example continues to remain inaccessible and unaffordable for most couples, especially in the current economic conditions we experience. Thus, people are increasingly turning towards more affordable, natural yet effective therapeutic assistance. It all starts with understanding your own health, what factors may be affecting your ability to conceive, and taking the appropriate steps to ensure a successful pregnancy. Following the guidance provided, will result in optimum fertility, fertilisation and optimal preparation of the uterus for implantation.

Not only do genes play a large role, but some medications can cause infertility and increase the risk of miscarriage. Couples will learn how to increase the health of eggs and sperm, and understand other variables such blood types, PH levels, mucous, hidden PCOS, and many other factors, influencing chances of procreating. Male infertility is also on the rise, so it is important to consider both partners potential influencing factors.

In addition to the book, FertilitySOS is launching Fertility Health Coaching sessions to offer guidance to couples struggling with infertility. By making use of the fertility coaching sessions, couples will achieve their goal to get their bodies into optimal reproductive health, with a tailored personal plan. The Fertility Health coach will uncover the possible root causes of individual cases of infertility.All sessions are available online www.fertilitysos.com

The enormous increase in our knowledge and understanding of diabetes mellitus in recent years has resulted in new management strategies for greatly enhancing care in diabetic pregnancy. Clinicians responsible for the care of women with diabetes need to keep abreast of these advances. Diabetes and Pregnancy: An International Approach to Diagnosis and Management is a comprehensive, yet practical guide to the present state of knowledge regarding diabetic pregnancy. It summarizes published literature, and offers clear and valuable information on the practicalities of providing special care before, during and after pregnancy. This volume will be indispensable to all members of the health care team involved in the care of pregnant diabetic women and their babies, including obstetricians, neonatologists, diabetes physicians, specialist nurses, midwives as well as general practitioners.

There is renewed interest in lifestyle medicine - the focus on food, physical activity, stress management, high-quality connections, restorative sleep, and avoidance of toxic substances - in the prevention, treatment, and sometimes reversal of chronic disease, but very little information exists on its application for improving specific women's health issues across the lifespan. Consequently, there is a growing need among health professionals who care for women for a textbook that addresses evidence-based lifestyle solutions to manage the health challenges they face every day in their offices. This book begins with a review of the fundamentals of Lifestyle Medicine through the lens of a woman's lifespan. It provides information about lifestyle interventions to improve gynecologic and sexual health and to manage and sometimes reverse gynecologic diseases. It clarifies the importance of lifestyle and behaviors before and during pregnancy to address infertility, reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes, and to lower non-communicable diseases in children along with emerging epigenetic evidence. The use of Lifestyle Medicine to prevent and manage breast and gynecologic cancers, enhance health as part of cancer survivorship, and decrease the risk or reduce many of the symptoms and diseases experienced during menopause including vasomotor symptoms and osteoporosis are also discussed. Additionally, the text covers cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, dementia and mental health from the perspective of gender specific differences. This book provides practical resources on implementing the components of lifestyle medicine. Some of the topics covered include models of care for women and families, reimbursement, health coaching and behavioral change, community engagement and health equity for under-resourced settings. The electronic version of the book presents supplemental material featuring in-depth reading, as well as online and digital resources for implementing Lifestyle Medicine. The book is an evidence-based source of information on women's health issues for health professionals already practicing lifestyle medicine, as well as an entry level textbook for those new to the field of lifestyle medicine. The collective expertise of each of the editors along with content provided by leaders within the American College of Lifestyle Medicine fills a much-needed void within the specialty of Lifestyle Medicine and is for providers of women's health globally. Features: Provides a basic overview of Lifestyle Medicine (nutrient-rich diet, exercise, stress resilience, sleep, and high-quality connections) in the care of women across the lifespan. Provides lifestyle-focused treatment recommendations for specific women health issues. Includes strategies for implementing Lifestyle Medicine with vulnerable populations and in communities. Summarizes key points at the close of each chapter and includes supplemental material with in-depth reading. Features additional resources for implementing lifestyle medicine into practice. "This women's health book is evidence based and comprehensive. There is nothing like it. Women need up to date information about physical activity, nutrition, sleep, stress resilience, social connection and substance use. In addition, there is a desire to better understand the power of these pillars throughout a woman's life including pregnancy, menopause and the golden years. This book fills that need." Elizabeth Pegg Frates, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, President Elect of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine "Healthy aging begins at pre-conception. Evidence overwhelmingly shows that it's we women who-through our lifestyle behavior choices-can take far greater control of our own health destinies, as well as the health destinies of our children and generations to come. We cannot underestimate the power of what we eat, how we move, and what we think in regard to our optimal health or lack thereof. This book is a must-read for all medical professionals!" Susan Benigas, Executive Director of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Lifestyle Medicine is the science of taking core principles and customizing how they're applied to each individual and each situation to achieve positive health behavior change. This book sets the evidence based foundation for how that process happens, and why it needs to happen, with the most important segment of health consumers - women. It is the next for all who are passionate about changing how health care is delivered." Wayne S. Dysinger, MD, MPH, Physician, Founder and Chair, Lifestyle Medical "Lifestyle factors have a powerful role in chronic disease prevention, underscoring the profound control we have over our health. Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan applies lifestyle medicine to women's health, empowering women and their clinicians with the tools to transform their lives, and fostering a legacy of health for future generations." JoAnn E. Manson, MD, MPH, DrPH, Professor of Medicine and the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women's Health, Harvard Medical School Chief, Division of Preventive Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital, Professor, Harvard Chan School of Public Health

Scientists investigating germ cells have, over the past 15 years, originated discoveries and innovations that give us valuable insights into the mechanisms that regulate not just stem cell function, but human development in its widest sense. With contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field, Male Germline Stem Cells: Developmental and Regenerative Potential assesses the implications of these discoveries for understanding the fundamental biology of germline stem cells as well as their potential for human stem cell-based therapies. This monograph covers many of the fundamental issues now being explored by today's generation of stem cell researchers, including the field's potential for regenerative medicine. Ranging from an assessment of the pluripotency of primordial germ cells and their possible applications in treating testicular cancer, to the recovery of once-mordant fertilization-competent sperm, this volume has it all. It is a reference point for any scientist involved in related research as well as being a timely summation of what could prove to be a hugely exciting and very fruitful area of inquiry.

Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) is now well established as a valuable treatment option for patients wishing to start or continue a family, for a range of indications from advanced maternal age to high risk of transmitting inherited disease. This text brings together contemporary thinking from international opinion leaders and will be an invaluable guide for practitioners in Reproductive Medicine wishing to keep pace with the latest developments and clinical data.

This book, by two of the most distinguished figures in fertility and reproduction research, answers all the most common questions about menaupause and andropause, and hormone resupplement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women. It offers explanations of all aspects of this subject, presenting balanced and reliable information about benefits, risks, and prospects for this field. Segal invented Norplant, the first long-term implantable contraceptive, and as the leader of Reproductive Biology at the Population Council, he orchestrated and coordinated the research and trials leading to basically every new contraceptive introduced over a period of about 25 years. Mastroianni did more than anyone else to develop in vitro fertizilation as a viable treatment option, and was for many years the chairman of the largest department of obstetrics and gynecology, and the director of the most successful IVF clinic. This book is unique in including coverage of the climacteric in men.

Human embryo research touches upon strongly felt moral convictions, and it raises such deep questions about the promise and perils of scientific progress that debate over its development has become a moral and political imperative. From in vitro fertilization to embryonic stem cell research, cloning, and gene editing, Americans have repeatedly struggled with how to define the moral status of the human embryo, whether to limit its experimental uses, and how to contend with sharply divided public moral perspectives on governing science. Experiments in Democracy presents a history of American debates over human embryo research from the late 1960s to the present, exploring their crucial role in shaping norms, practices, and institutions of deliberation governing the ethical challenges of modern bioscience. J. Benjamin Hurlbut details how scientists, bioethicists, policymakers, and other public figures have attempted to answer a question of great consequence: how should the public reason about aspects of science and technology that effect fundamental dimensions of human life? Through a study of one of the most significant science policy controversies in the history of the United States, Experiments in Democracy paints a portrait of the complex relationship between science and democracy, and of U.S. society's evolving approaches to evaluating and governing science's most challenging breakthroughs.

Within 10 chapters this book addresses the whole gamut of questions that may arise in the context of pregnancy resulting from assisted reproduction. Incidence of abortion, extrauterine pregnancy or chromosomal abnormalities, pregnancy complications, problems regarding mode of delivery and the health status of children at birth are covered as well as the further development of the children and the social structure of the families. Topics such as follow-up of families in lesbian relationships and following gamete donations are also discussed.

Substantial Relations examines global reproductive medicine in India, focusing on in vitro fertilization. Since the 1970s, India has played a central but shifting role in shaping global reproductive medicine-from a provider of raw material, to a producer of knowledge and technology, to a creator of a thriving medical market that attracts patients from all over the world. Relying on archival material and oral history, Substantial Relations traces the path of this transnational historical trajectory. This book also examines the contemporary making of IVF in Delhi. Drawing on ethnographic research in homes, hospitals, and laboratories, Sandra Barnreuther provides deep insights into the intricacies of clinical life and everyday experience by depicting IVF users' quest for offspring and their fears of establishing unwanted ties, as well as the minute engagements of clinicians and laboratory staff with reproductive substances. Thinking through substances-metaphorically and materially-Sandra Barnreuther provides a novel and rich analysis of the various relations that the burgeoning IVF sector in India has relied on and generated. Substantial Relations contributes to a broader understanding of reproductive medicine as a global phenomenon constantly in the making, situating India in the midst of, rather than peripheral to, this process.

Many health problems are unique to, more common in, or more severe in women than men. This book examines the underpinnings of these gender differences. Sections deal with biological (hormonal, anatomic, immunologic, and pregnancy-related), social, behavioural/psychological, and lifestyle influences. Chapters are heavily referenced, packed full with data, and they provide methodological insights that will guide future women's health research.

Male infertility is a clinician-orientied book aimed at the clinician dealing with the infertile couple because rational, effective management is only possible if the couple are considered together. The aim of the work is to provide advice to the clinician and to give reference to the underlying science. This will not only enable clinicians to understand the underlying science but will also give scientists an insight to clinical work. This blend of science and clinical work is reflected in the contributors who are experts drawn from both fields.

Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women is a crucial resource for all therapists who treat women. Not only will the information further the well-being of women clients, but it could literally save lives. Interesting, readable, and well-organized, this book belongs on the shelf next to the DSM-IV. The case examples will grip the reader whether professional or lay audience. --Natalie Porter, Ph.D., California School of Professional Psychology "I am greatly impressed with the book. It is a brand new idea, one that is long overdue." --Hannah Lerman, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Los Angeles Some clients don't respond to a therapist's chosen treatment for a specific mental disorder. Could there be a physical disorder that is causing psychiatric symptoms? How can a therapist distinguish between similar psychiatric and physical disorders to arrive at the correct diagnosis, refer on, and/or suggest appropriate treatment? Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women gives the therapist the foundation for identifying those physiological disorders that may be at the root of the mental problems presented by women clients. Hyperthyroidism, for example, can result in depression and anxiety, and temporal lobe epilepsy can manifest itself with the same symptoms as bipolar disorder. This special guidebook sorts out potential mix-ups by providing detailed cases and illustrations, a quick reference table for checking symptoms, and a glossary. Making technical information clear and concise, the authors cover endocrinological--including thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, and parathyroid systems--and brain seizure problems as well as other diseases--such as multiple sclerosis, mitral heart valve prolapse, and lupus erythematosus. They offer a basic overview of the systems and organs involved and focus on how particular malfunctions can result in serious behavioral problems. A guide to providing the best and most effective care to women clients, Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women presents important information about assessment and interfacing with medical professionals. All mental health and helping professionals will find this book invaluable, as will students in clinical/counseling psychology, health psychology, social work, and gender studies. "This book is informative and interesting to read. This is a text that can be read more than once and be that much more helpful in subsequent readings. . . . Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women will certainly have an impact on feminist assessment, theory, and therapy. In a broader context, it provides a foundation to spawn research hypotheses on women's health and to reconnect the mind and body. Written accessibly even for reader without a background in physiological psychology, it fills a gap in the clinical and counseling literature. This text has far-reaching implications about the origin of psychiatric symptoms and possibly for explaining some differential rates in sex ratios for prevalence of certain psychologically based clinical syndromes. I found the text a humbling reminder of how easy it can be to miss the obvious and how easy it can be to attribute psychological explanations to symptom clusters one doesn't understand. This book could easily become a 'required' text for graduate students in mental health professions and mental health professionals. . . . This text will undoubtedly have an impact." --Maria P. P. Root, Ph.D., University of Washington "Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women is very good and will make an important contribution to the field. . . . The book's message--that it is critical that differential diagnosis include consideration of both psychiatric disorders--is convincing and important to emphasize to students in graduate programs." --Helene Jackson, Ph.D., The Columbia University School of Social Work

Despite France and Belgium sharing and interacting constantly with similar culinary tastes, music and pop culture, access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies are strikingly different. Discrimination written into French law acutely contrasts with non-discriminatory access to ART in Belgium. The contributors of this volume are social scientists from France, Belgium, England and the United States, representing different disciplines: law, political science, philosophy, sociology and anthropology. Each author has attempted, through the prism of their specialties, to demonstrate and analyse how and why this striking difference in access to ART exists.

Fibrin sealant is used for numerous indications in gynecology, especially for the McIndoe Operation and Cohn biopsy, the Marshall-Marchetti-Krantz-Hirsch-Stoll-Operation, urethrocysopexy, or in vitro fertilization for embryo transfer. The use of fibrin sealant in urology has also been extended, especially in operations of the spermatic cord, reconstruction of the urethra and closing of nephrotomies.

In Manufacturing Babies and Public Consent, Jose Van Dyck sketches a map of the public debate on new reproductive technologies as it has evolved in the USA and Britain since 1978. Many people have participated in heated discussions on test-tube babies and in vitro fertilization, particularly medical researchers and feminists. The new technologies have been both embraced as the cure to infertility and condemned as the exploitation of women's bodies. Reconstructing this debate, Van Dyck juxtaposes a variety of textual material, from scientific articles to newspaper articles and works of fiction.

The examination for Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (MRCOG) remains one of the most internationally recognised postgraduate examinations in the specialty. Over the years, the examination has evolved in keeping with changes in medical education; the Part 2 examination now consists of two papers made up of Single Best Answer (SBA) questions and Extended Matching Questions (EMQ). This invaluable resource consists of 400 SBA questions (200 in Obstetrics and 200 in Gynaecology), followed by 400 EMQs (200 in Obstetrics and 200 in Gynaecology), grouped into papers, to provide enough material to guide preparations and to give some practice experience of the examination formats. All the questions have answers with explanations and sources of evidence. In preparing for the examination, candidates should make repeated references to these sources of evidence. There is also general advice on how to prepare for the examination and discussion of the reasons why trainees fail the examination.

This open access edited book brings together new research on the mechanisms by which maternal and reproductive health policies are formed and implemented in diverse locales around the world, from global policy spaces to sites of practice. The authors - both internationally respected anthropologists and new voices - demonstrate the value of ethnography and the utility of reproduction as a lens through which to generate rich insights into professionals' and lay people's intimate encounters with policy. Authors look closely at core policy debates in the history of global maternal health across six different continents, including: Women's use of misoprostol for abortion in Burkina Faso The place of traditional birth attendants in global maternal health Donor-driven maternal health programs in Tanzania Efforts to integrate qualitative evidence in WHO maternal and child health policy-making Anthropologies of Global Maternal and Reproductive Health will engage readers interested in critical conversations about global health policy today. The broad range of foci makes it a valuable resource for teaching in medical anthropology, anthropology of reproduction, and interdisciplinary global health programs. The book will also find readership amongst critical public health scholars, health policy and systems researchers, and global public health practitioners.

Epigenetics is the study of how certain genes are activated without modification at the DNA sequence level, resulting in genetically similar individuals having different clinical outcomes. As contemporary medicine increasingly aims to personalize the medical approach to a patient's genetic profile, the factors that can affect which genes are expressed also increase in importance and relevance to the clinician. This text from experts will give the clinician in Reproductive Medicine a reliable grounding in current thinking and research on this fast-moving topic, with many clinical implications.

1. 1 Historical Perspective In the nineteenth century, knowledge of the events leading to ovulation, fertilization, and implantation was very limited, so much so that Seiler (1832), in his book The Uterus and the Human Egg, wrote: ." . . in the left ovary the first signs of fertilization, namely a Graaf vesicle could be seen. The right ovary shows proof of a second successful copulation: a fresh scar from the ovulated egg and the beginning of a corpus luteum. " In fact all nineteenth century authors strictly divide the female cycle into two phases: the menstrual period and the intermenstruum (ct. Hitschmann and Adler 1908). The generally accepted histology of the endometrium in those days was that of the late proliferative phase. Deviations from this were considered to be pathological (Von Ebner 1902). As Gebhard (1899) expressly put it: "As a rule, it can be said that in the mature woman the endometrial glands run straight; an irregular course of the glands is to be regarded as pathological. " The same author describes the changes occurring during the secretory phase of the cycle as "endometritis glandularis" which he believed to arise from a local nutritional disturbance. The uterine stroma was believed to be lymphoid (Toldt 1877), and the uterine glands were compared to the crypts of Lieberkiihn (Von Ebner 1902).

In the USA, severe psychiatric illness after childbirth strikes one woman for every 1000 births, or about 3500 women each year. An unrecorded number of new mothers experience lesser degrees of postpartum illness, and two distinct forms of severe illness can be distinguished. One form, called postpartum psychosis, is an agitated, very changeable condition, often characterized by confusion, hallucinations, delusions and sometimes episodes of violent behaviour. The other condition, major postpartum depression, begins two or three weeks after childbirth, and is characterized by confusion, depression of mood, and often with exhaustion, headache and digestive upset. Mixtures of the two severe disorders occur frequently. This volume contains a number of essays which support the position that postpartum disorders are primarily organic and are mainly disorders of hormonal deficit. They develop as the endocrine system falls back from the hyperactivity of pregnancy toward or beyond the levels of the prior non-pregnant state. Tremendous therapeutic opportunities exist or are imminent for both the organic and the psychological components of postpartum mental illness.

Endorphins and other endogenous opioids appear to be the connecting link between reproductive functions and stress adaption of the human organism. This book contains the con- tributions of an international group of biologists, bioche- mists, and endocrinologists on the opioidergic control me- chanisms in reproduction and stress physiology. Main topics covered are: endogeneous opioids and the pituitary-gonadal system; ovarian endorphinsecretion; pregnancy-associated changes of plasma endorphin; and opioid control of the hypo- thalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. Although all chapters give an excellent review on various studies in basic opioid re- search, there are numerous clinical implications mentioned in this book.

Although impotence may be the most widely recognized manifestation of male sexual dysfunction, many other forms of sexual disorders do not involve the erectile mechanism, from deficiencies of desire to disturbances in ejaculatory function to the failure of detumescence. With such a myriad-and often co-existing-number of disorders, the successful treatment of male sexual dysfunction requires not only a thorough understanding of the underlying physiology and pathophysiology, but also the coordinated efforts of multiple specialties, including endocrinology, andrology, urology, radiology, sex therapy, and even sometimes psychiatry, cardiology, or oncology. Male Sexual Dysfunction: Pathophysiology and Treatment presents the collective expertise of more than 60 international authorities in a single landmark text. From foundations in the anatomy of the male genital tract to the latest neuroimaging data, readers will appreciate the comprehensive information detailing the tremendous advances made in the delineation of sexual function and its disorders as well as the expert descriptions of practical and cost-effective medical, surgical, and psychological strategies for the treatment of all forms of male sexual dysfunction.

During the past 20 years, endometrial carcinoma has continued to increase in frequency and it is quite possible that this carcinoma will become the major gynecologic malignancy in the future. For many years, endometrial carcinoma was considered less malignant than other gynecologic malignancies, simple hysterectomy and bil ateral salpingo-oophorectomy or surgery combined with radiation being effective in certain circumstances. It is unfortunate to note that the global 5-year survival rate for patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial carcinoma has improved only slightly. Therefore any complacency regarding this 'benign malignancy' should be reconsidered. There is a growing awareness of the nature of end ometrial carcinoma, with advances in our knowledge ranging from its etiology through its epidemiology to its clinical findings. This volume has been designed to fill a hiatus in the literature in China. To achieve this aim, we have attempted to review the world-wide advances on endometrial carcinoma and summarize systematically and comprehensively this common gynecologic malig nancy, including the clinical experiences gathered at the Cancer Institute (Hospital) of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences since 1958 as well as a brief description of the psychological problems in patients with gyneco logic cancers."

Doppler ultrasound is a hot topic at the present time. This is because studies of the uteroplacental and fetal circulation give fundamental information as to the physiology or pathology of placental function and the response of the fetal circulation to hypoxaemia. Dr. Arabin's clinical studies which are described in this book are an important contribution to knowledge in this field and will be of enormous interest not only to researches but also to clini cians interested in learning how this latest technology can be integrated into their clinical practice. London STUART CAMPBELL Foreword Although only three decades old, the field of perinatal medicine is marked by continuous new advances. Ultrasound diagnostic techniques comprise an important element of this new field. Dr. Arabin has taken the initiative to investigate the functional-diagnostic aspects of ultrasound. Among other things, she has further developed and refined the concept of "oxygen-con serving adaptation of fetal circulation" which originated in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Neukolln Hospital Center in 1966. She thus has been able to show that the most reliable Doppler blood flow meas urement predictors of a high risk to the fetus are (1) a decrease in the flow volume of the descending thoracic aorta and the umbilical artery and (2) an increase in the flow volume of the common carotid arteries."

The Project on Reproductive Laws for the 1990s began in 1985 with the realization that reports of scientific developments and new technologies were stimulating debates and discussions among bioethicists and policymakers, and that women had little part in those discussions either as participants or as a group with interests to be considered. With the help of a planning grant from the Rutgers University Institute for Research on Women, the Women's Rights Litigation Clinic at Rutgers University Law School-Newark held a planning meeting that June attended by approximately 20 theorists and activists in the area of reproductive rights. Project purposes, methods, and general shape took form at the meeting. Two goals have characterized the Project's work since then: first, to generate discussion, debate, and, where possible, consensus among those committed to reproductive autonomy and gender equality as to how best to respond to the questions raised by re ported advances in reproductive and neonatal technology and new modes of reproduction; and second, to ensure that those shaping reproductive law and policy appreciate the ramifications of these developments for gender equality. In meeting this twofold agenda, the Project focused on six areas: time limits on abortion; prenatal screening; fetus as patient; reproductive hazards in the workplace; interference with reproductive choice; and alternative modes of reproduction. The Project identified individuals to take respon sibility for drafting model legislation and position papers in the six areas (for the drafters, see the Appendix)."