Cancer of the colon in an egg donor: policy repercussions for donor recruitment

This paper describes the tragic case of a young woman who died of cancer of the colon after successfully donating eggs to her younger sister. Although there is no direct link between her operation and the subsequent development of bowel carcinoma, this case imparts a feeling of unease when seen in conjunction with other cases reported during the last few years. It is a reminder that little is known of the long-term consequences of some aspects of assisted conception. Women undergoing ovarian stimulation for themselves or a matched recipient have the right to be advised, in an agreed format, that there is some concern about unproven potential risks from the stimulatory drugs. The safety of egg donors must assume priority over all other considerations, including lack of donors or any moral position. The recent decision by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to withdraw any form of payment or recompense to egg donors does not seem to us to be based on a balance of scientific advances, patient needs and the ethics of gamete supply. They state that the intention to withdraw payments was implicit in the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act. However the Act was based on the Warnock report made 6 years earlier. Even in 1990 ovum donation was uncommon and fertility drugs had not yet caused any unease. The Act provided the HFEA with discretionary powers to issue directions so that the future policies would be consistent with any emerging new medical evidence. It is imperative that the HFEA provide convincing evidence on how the current policy of payment to donors harms society, donors or recipients, and how in the UK the new policy will improve medical practice in assisted conception. Successful pilot studies must precede the implementation of any new policy. Failure to do this could cause irreversible harm to the practice of assisted conception using donor gametes, which will ultimately be against the basic aims of the 1990 HFE Act.      

Ontogenetic development of chick cerebellar glomeruli

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology -     

Synthetic analog of the thymosinα1 fragment 24–28 alters the coagulating and aggregating activities of α-thrombin

A pentapeptide (EEAEN), which is the 24–28 fragment of the COOH-terminal sequence in the thymosin_α1 molecule highly homologous with the 54–58 region of hirudin (with the complementary anion-binding exosite in the thrombin molecule), was synthesized by a solid-phase method. Preincubation of α-thrombin with EEAEN in concentrations of 0.1 pM to 1 nM reduced its clotting activity while preincubation of this enzyme with EEAEN in concentrations of 0.01 to 1 nM reduced its platelet-aggregating activity. The reaction of EEAEN with thrombin is shown to be similar to the reaction of the entire thymosin_α1 molecule. It is concluded that the COOH-terminal thymosin_α1 peptide EEAEN may be the reactive site responsible for the antithrombin activity of thymosin_α1. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 120, N ^o 7, pp. 26–29, July, 1995 Presented by I. P. Ashmarin, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences     

Growth and adipogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal bone marrow cells during culturing in 3D macroporous agarose cryogel sponges

We studied the possibility of population of macroporous agarose cryogel sponges by mesenchymal stromal bone marrow cells with their subsequent adipogenic differentiation. After 7-day culturing of mesenchymal stromal cells in agarose cryogel, the level of cell proliferation was 35%. After 3-week culturing in a medium inducing adipogenesis we observed accumulation of intracellular neutral lipids positively stained with Oil Red O. These findings can be used for the development of bioengineering constructions of the adipose tissue on the basis of spongy carriers. Translated from Kletochnye Tehnologii v Biologii i Medicine, No. 3, pp. 141–144, August, 2008