As Louise Brown -- the first baby conceived by in vitro fertilization -- celebrates her 30th birthday, Margaret Marsh and Wanda Ronner tell the fascinating story of the man who first showed that human in vitro fertilization was possible.

John Rock spent his career studying human reproduction. The first researcher to fertilize a human egg in vitro in the 1940s, he became the nation's leading figure in the treatment of infertility, his clinic serving rich and poor alike. In the 1950s he joined forces with Gregory Pincus to develop oral contraceptives and in the 1960s enjoyed international celebrity for his promotion of the pill and his campaign to persuade the Catholic Church to accept it.

Rock became a more controversial figure by the 1970s, as conservative Christians argued that his embryo studies were immoral and feminist activists contended that he had taken advantage of the clinic patients who had participated in these studies as research subjects.

Marsh and Ronner's nuanced account sheds light on the man behind the brilliant career. They tell the story of a directionless young man, a saloon keeper's son, who began his working life as a timekeeper on a Guatemalan banana plantation and later became one of the most recognized figures of the twentieth century. They portray his medical practice from the perspective of his patients, who ranged from the wives of laborers to Hollywood film stars.

The first scholars to have access to Rock's personal papers, Marsh and Ronner offer a compelling look at a man whose work defined the reproductive revolution, with its dual developments in contraception and technologically assisted conception.

The goal of this work was the development of a biomechanical model of the human eye. The research work SEE-KID (Software Engineering Environment for Knowledge based Interactive Eye motility Diagnostics), described in this work, tries to connect aspects of biomechanical modelling with methods of modern Software Engineering. An interactive software system was implemented, called SEE++ which allows physicians to obtain a better understanding of the mechanics of eye movements. This software visualizes and simulates pathologies and eye muscle surgeries, based on the biomechanics of the eye. It can be used in preoperative planning, medical training and basic research, and shows how Medical-Informatics can improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients. The project SEE-KID is based also on the software system Orbit (www.eidactics.com) and on other biomechanics software. The SEE-KID project and the SEE++ software system are meant as extension to Orbit with more clinical relevance while providing essential functionality similar to what Orbit offered. Additionally, SEE-KID tries to extend existing functionality and combine different aspects of modelling into one single system.

Significant advances have been made in treatment strategies in adult and adolescent women's health over the past decade, particularly in relation to reproductive control. The Oxford Handbook of Reproductive Medicine & Family Planning provides practical, evidence-based information on the care and management of adolescents, reproductive age females, and to a lesser extent males. Divided into three main sections, it follows chronological age up to the menopause covering areas such as the embryological development of the reproductive system; puberty and the normal course, and dysfunctions associated with it; dysfunctions of the normal menstrual cycle; the different types of male and female contraceptive methods, and the investigation and management of the infertile couple. This is an essential resource for all practitioners, trainees and students in reproductive medicine.

Entirely revised and updated and with a foreword by John Guillebaud, this is the much anticipated new edition of an invaluable, practical guide which has become an established reference for all those working in reproductive health. As in the previous edition, all forms of contraceptives are covered in detail, with guidance on prescribing, possible complications and advantages/disadvantages. The book continues to provide evidence-based clinical guidance for family-planning providers. Since the last edition was published, family planning and reproductive health has become much more closely linked with genito-urinary (GU) medicine.Reflecting this, the specialty has become known as sexual and reproductive healthcare. Among the many developments since the last edition are new types of progestogen-only pill and a profusion of new strategies and guidelines. This fifth edition is a complete update on developments in the field, integrating the new contraceptives, strategies and guidelines within family planning and reproductive healthcare.

Combining attention to lived experience with the critical tools of ethics, Karey Harwood explores why many women who use the tools of high-tech assisted reproduction tend to use them repeatedly, even when the results are unsuccessful. With a compassionate look at the individual decision making behind the desire to become pregnant and the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), Harwood extends the public conversation beyond debates about individual choice by considering the experiences of families and by addressing the broader ethical problems presented by these technologies. Incorporating the personal narratives of women who are members of RESOLVE, the nation's leading organization for people who are infertile, Harwood demonstrates that repeated unsuccessful attempts to use ART may ironically help women come to terms with their infertility. Yet ART is problematic for a number of reasons, including the financial, physical, and emotional costs for women and their families as well as the effects of these technologies on the health and well-being of the children conceived. Issues such as consumerism, workplace norms that encourage delayed childbearing, and narrow definitions of family all come into play. By considering both emotional and ethical dimensions, Harwood offers a humanistic account of infertility and its resolution in a twenty-first-century American context.

Remaking Eden is a fascinating exploration of the future of reprogenetic technologies - a cautiously optimistic look at the scientific advances that will allow us to engineer life in ways that were unimaginable just a few short years ago. Indeed, in ways that go far beyond cloning, and that are at once more thrilling and more frightening. Could a woman give birth to her identical twin sister? Could a child have two genetic mothers? Could a man become pregnant? Could parents choose not only the physical characteristics of their children-to-be, but personalities and talents as well? Will genetic enhancement ultimately change the very nature of our species? The answers will excite some and alarm others. Silver demystifies the science involved in all these possibilities, calmly and efficiently dismantling our preconceptions and misconceptions. Throughout, he examines the profound ethical questions raised by these new technologies. Yet he reminds us that the desire both to have children and to provide them with all possible advantages in life is a uniquely powerful force - a force, he suggests, that will overcome all political and societal attempts to curb the use of reprogenetics.

Whether you're a newly diagnosed patient, or a friend or relative of someone suffering from benign prostate disease, this book offers help. The only text to provide the doctor's and patient's views, 100 Questions & Answers Prostate Disease gives you authoritative, practical answers to your questions about the disease, including diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment options, sources of support, and much more. Written by an expert on the subject, Dr. Kevin R. Loughlin, with actual patient commentary from John Nimmo, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone coping with the physical and emotional turmoil of prostate disease.

New medical technology as reported in Preventing Miscarriage; The Good News pinpoints the causes and latest treatments available to prevent loss of pregnancy. This book presents a great deal of information in a sensitive, accessible and thorough manner. Illustrations.

Personalized medicine is what this book is about-tailoring your lifestyle, food, medicines, treatments, and reproductive choices to your genetic signature. According to Dr. Andrew Y. Silverman, MD, PhD, 'The desire to influence the sex of the next child is probably as old as recorded history."

'Gender selection is possible because of the way in which sex is determined by our chromosomes. Dr. Ericsson devised patented methods by which X and Y sperm can be separated through filtering processes. Sperm are 'layered" over a column of human serum albumin, and they swim down the gradient where they are collected in the bottom layer.

'The fraction of sperm that contains the male (Y) bearing sperm is used for insemination if a boy is desired. It is effective 70-75% of the time.

'The fraction of sperm that contains the female (X) bearing sperm is used for insemination if a girl is desired. It is effective 70-72% of the time."

Use personalized medicine more effectively. Empower consumers by interpreting DNA testing and learning more about infant gender choice by genetics.

"Junaelo Institute Infertility Manual" provides comprehensive infertility information in an easily understood format. It describes the causes of infertility and how they are managed. Couples who have difficulty conceiving will learn how to decide on when to see a physician and what to expect from infertility investigations and treatments. "Junaelo Institute Infertility Manual" helps everyone become more informed partners in the process that is aimed at helping them become pregnant.

Dr. Godwin Meniru is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Medical Director of Junaelo Institute of Reproductive Medicine. His other three books, "A Handbook of Intrauterine Insemination" (ISBN 0 521 58676 3), "Cambridge Guide to Infertility Management and Assisted Reproduction" (ISBN 0 521 01071 3), and "Prevention of Infertility and Complications in Women" (Soft Cover ISBN 0 595 25722 4; Hard Cover ISBN 0 595 65282 4), have received critical acclaim. Dr. Meniru has authored or co-authored more than 120 scientific papers, abstracts and book chapters. Also, visit the Institute's web site at www.JunaeloReproductiveMedicine.com for additional infertility resources.

Intended as a tool for use by public health officials, research and regulatory scientists and risk managers, this publication seeks to provide a scientific framework for the use and interpretation of reproductive toxicity data from human and animal studies. It also discusses emerging methodology and testing strategy in reproductive toxicity. The text focuses on approaches to assessing reproductive toxicity in males and females, including sexual dysfunction and infertility, and many aspects of developmental toxicity (following both prenatal and postnatal exposure), from conception to sexual maturation. It is an overview of the major scientific principles underlying hazard identification, testing methods and risk assessment strategies in human reproductive toxicity. It also discusses the evaluation of reproductive toxicity data in the context of the extensive risk assessment methodology that has emerged over the past 10-15 years.

This Medical thriller opens with the birth of a severely disfigured child the details the history of the main characters starting from their meeting at one of the most historic footraces in the world - The Dipsea Race. Their courtship begins with conflict but grows into one that will inspire readers to achieve in their own relationships. The novel encompasses three decades and dramatically unfolds after a seemingly small error occurs in a frozen sperm sample. As we embark on the 21st century sometimes ethical issues lag behind the swift pace of medical technology. Readers will grasp the premise of Frozen Identity and enjoy the ride. The main characters are competitive athletes, adding texture, drama and a common bond held by all who strive for physical accomplishment

This pioneering text formally introduces an all-inclusive approach to preventive health care that is targeted at female factor associated infertility. All female factor problems and related issues are examined critically. This is followed by the proposal of preventive strategies that are based on the three tiers of preventive health care (primary, secondary and tertiary prevention). This exceptional book is currently the only available comprehensive text on the subject. It is an invaluable resource guide for a wide range of medical, health and allied professionals. You will find:

The author of this book has a vast experience of teaching Medical and Midwifery students both in Tanzania and abroad. He has also worked as a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in public hospitals both in Tanzania and abroad. This book is a testimony of the vast experience of the author. This book describes the management of a woman during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum as well as care of the newborn. The book gives useful guidlines in the management of normal as well as 'High risk' women during this critical period of their lives. The book has been written in a style which makes it easy to read and understand. It is a book that medical/midwifery students and the practitioners working in health centres will find useful.

Chronicling the shifts in public attitudes towards reproduction, this book traces attitudes from colonial times to the 1990s. In colonial days barrenness was associated with sin, from here the progression is traced to the laws of compulsory sterilization in the early twentieth century, the baby craze of the 1950s, the rise in voluntary childlessness in the 1990s, and the increasing reliance on reproductive technologies. The author reveals the intersection between public life and the most private part of life - sexuality, procreation, and the family.

..". extremely valuable. This book] addresses exactly the right questions in a balanced, nuanced way." Journal of the American Medical Association

"Cohen s book is a major contribution to the literature of the inevitable." Medical Humanities Review

"This book provides readers with an insightful overview of the practice of oocyte donation, the broader issues raised by this innovative yet problematic technology and, given the recommendations of NABER, how these issues mights be resolved.... Well written, structured, researched, and thought-provoking, this book makes a timely, important, and worthwhile contribution to the growing body of reproductive technology scholarship." Doody s Health Sciences Book Review Home Page

"Detailed notes; extensive references; comprehensive research... Recommended..." Choice

Leading scholars investigate the difficult ethical, legal, and policy issues that surround egg donation and the new reproductive technologies as a whole. In addition, the book describes procedures at four egg-donation centers and presents a new set of guidelines from the National Advisory Board on Ethics in Reproduction."

"I still cannot believe the contrasts between the two births. Every day was filled with relief and joy that the terrible unhappy time before had not come back...I now feel cheated of the closeness and happiness I could have enjoyed with my first baby."--From a letter written by a woman given progesterone therapy before the birth of her second child.
It is estimated that eight out of ten mothers go through a period of post-baby blues' and that one in ten suffer from a more serious form of postnatal depression. It is never easy for the mother or for her family and friends to understand exactly what is happening, and to distinguish between the relatively mild blues' and the more severe cases of depression. In this book Katharina Dalton, an international authority on premenstrual syndrome and postnatal depression and pioneer of hormone therapy, describes the whole spectrum of symptoms, discusses the social and psychological as well as the hormonal factors, and shows how this debilitating and sometimes deadly disease can not only be treated but also prevented. This book is designed to serve the information needs of women who have suffered or are suffering from postnatal depression, their families and friends, and can also be valuable for physicians, midwives, health visitors, community psychiatric nurses, obstetricians, and psychiatrists.

There is a forgotten history to our current debates over reproductive technology - one interweaving literature and science, profoundly gendered, filled with choices and struggles. We pay a price when we accept modern reproductive technology as a scientific breakthrough without a past. Babies in Bottles retrieves some of that history by analyzing the literary and popular science writings of Julian Huxley, J.B.S. Haldane, Charlotte Haldane, Aldous Huxley, and Naomi Mitchison - writings that include representations of reproductive technology from babies in bottles to surrogate mothers. It is to these images, fantasies, practices, and narratives of scientific intervention in reproduction that we must look if we want to understand what acts of ideological construction have been carried out, and are currently being performed, in the name of reproductive technology. Susan Merrill Squier shows how the imaginative construction of reproductive technology helps to shape our contemporary practices. Susan Merrill Squier is Julia Gregg Brill Professor in Women's Studies and English at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park. She is the author of Virginia Woolf and London: The Sexual Politics of the City, editor of Women Writers and the City: Essays in Feminist Literary Criticism, and co-editor of Arms and the Woman: War, Gender, and Literary Representation.

A Guide for Women and Those Who Love Them
Revised Edition

The most up-to-date and authoritative guide for women on the change of life. Includes the latest information on hormone replacement therapy; cancer and heart disease; sexuality in the menopausal years; nutrition; exercise; and much more.

Here is a comprehensive guide to the changes, in lifestyle as well as in body, that menopause brings. When the first edition of the book was published in 1983, reviewers hailed it as the most authoritative and accessible bolume ever written on menopause and the general health and well-being of menopausal women.

Now in paperback for the first time, the completely updated Revised Edition includes several new chapters exploring such crucial women's health topics as the importance of good nutrition and exercise, overcoming smoking and obesity, and improving cardiovascular health. Information on the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), as well as advice for women who cannot take hormones, is included, as is advice on osteoporosis and on when surgery such as hysterectomy is and is not warranted. Throughout the book, in their own candid words, menopausal women relate their experiences going through this transition. Menopause is a guide to living a long, health life and understanding the natural course of the female body.

"Extraordinary depth of information that is beautifully easy to read. A necessity for every health care provider or woman who is approaching menopause."—Isaac Schiff, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Harvard Medical School

"Provides readable information and anticipates many of the questions that a woman might ask or should ask . . . Practical and useful, it is a wonderful book."—Florence P. Haseltine, M.D., National Institutes of Health

Written by experts in their respective fields, this book reviews the expanding knowledge concerning the mechanisms regulating male reproduction at the molecular and cellular levels. It covers the development of the testes and regulatory controls for spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis, and it considers aspects of Sertoli cell function. Areas of emphasis include communication between the various cell types involved in reproduction by hormone and growth factors and the mechanisms by which these factors regulate gene expression. A number of mammalian systems, including humans, are covered. The carefully selected authors provide a clear synopsis of the concepts in each area as well as the latest references, enabling the reader to investigate the topic further. This book is of interest to those seeking an understanding of the regulatory mechanisms in male reproduction and is written for the graduate and postgraduate levels.
Key Features
* Provides up-to-date reviews of the molecular and cellular biology of male reproduction
* Includes chapters on the developmental biology of the testes
* Links conventional hormonal control of testicular function with the evolving role of growth factors and proto-oncogenes

For counselor Nancy Wainer Cohen, this book is the sibling to "Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention and Vaginal Birth after Cesarean "(Bergin & Garvey, 1983) her critically-acclaimed expose on America's growing reliance on cesarean sections. "Open Season "provides fresh insights and new information on the subject, offering guidance to childbearing couples, educators, health professionals, and scholars who value the natural path of childbirth.

Readers will find this book timely, informative, shocking, irreverent, and extremely readable. Cohen's intimate writing style presents a compendium of knowledge on childbirth in the fashion of a personal letter. Her aim is to lower America's alarming reliance on cesarean section, which is currently at 25 percent of all births, and to return the responsibility for childbirth to women by encouraging them to choose the kind of birthing experience they wish to have. In addition to cesarean section, Cohen discusses many other generally unnecessary interventions performed on women during pregnancy and childbirth--such as fetal monitoring and routinized hospital procedures.

Personnel working in assisted reproductive technology often lack the opportunities for dedicated training in the specialized techniques and technologies required for the procedures. As such, success in the form of live birth rates can range from over 50% to less than 10% per treatment cycle. This comprehensive introductory textbook is an essential resource for trainee embryologists, medical students and nurses. The recent revolutions in biotechnology and molecular biology involved in delivering assisted reproductive services are thoroughly discussed. Basic knowledge such as the development and physiology of both male and female reproductive systems is covered, with practical aspects of IVF including gamete and embryo manipulation, cryopreservation and genetic testing explained in detail. A full description of the optimal structure and management of the IVF laboratory is given, helping ensure procedures are safe and effective. Extensive and highly detailed colour illustrations bring the content to life and aids readers in their understanding.

..". glimpses of intriguing changes in social arrangements and cultural understandings in relation to surrogacy. Disturbing motherhood indeed." New Scientist

"Larry Gostin has put together the definitive collection of essays on one of the most perplexing and titillating topics in contemporary medical ethics. This book includes contributions from some of the leading scholars on the legal, ethical, and social aspects of surrogacy, as well as several critical perspectives on the famous Baby M case must reading for understanding the surrogate motherhood controversy." Robert M. Veatch

"Highly recommended... " Choice

..". a valuable resource for those concerned with an exceedingly difficult ethical, legal, and political problem." Ethics

"There is a wealth of information here on the current status questionis in the United States, and anyone involved in the surrogacy debate, in the U.S. or otherwise, will find working through this material very worthwhile." Canadian Philosophical Review

..". an excellent sample of some of the best and most varied thinking so far on the numerous conceptual, moral, social, and policy questions raised by contract motherhood." The Journal of Clinical Ethics"

The creation of 'test--tube babiesa acted as a spur to public debate about the implications of research on embryos, in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, and the whole range of technologies concerned with human reproduction. The scope of reproductive technologies examined in this volume -- from techniques for the medical 'managementa of childbirth, to genetic engineering -- is such that few women in the western world, and smaller and smaller numbers in the third world, escape their influence. What then is their impact: on the process of reproduction, on family life and particularly on women? 'Reproductive Technologiesa is a remarkable collection of original essays which attempts to place the current controversy over reproductive technologies in a political, legal and economic context. Contributors -- including Lesley Doyal, Ann Oakley, Ros Petchesky, Carol Smart, Hilary Rose, and Naomi Pfeffer -- examine systematically the technologies that have sparked off these debates. They explore the problem of infertility which is used to validate reproductive technologies; the way assumptions about the family and about biological parenthood continue to structure the arguments for and against; the impact of the medicalization of childbirth; the way debates are embedded in changing conceptions of paternal rights, maternal rights and embryo rights; the problems of providing adequate health care for women; and, above all, the urgency with which these issues raise problems about the accountability of science.