Embryology is a very topical subject these days with the Human Genome Project, Cloning, new In Vitro Fertilization Techniques, Developmental Abnormalities, Birth Control and the many Ethical issues associated with the unborn child. News items are listed chronologically and are linked back to both the original source (after the title) and the relevant section(s) of UNSW Embryology as a link at the end of the item.
Go to Current News -> News Links: 2008 | 2007 | 2006 and earlier
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In Vitro Fertilization - Paternal Age Bellver J, Garrido N, Remohí J, Pellicer A, Meseguer M. Influence of paternal age on assisted reproduction outcome. Reprod Biomed Online. 2008 Nov;17(5):595-604.
"There was no significant relationship between male age and implantation rate. So far this is the largest study concerning the relevance of male age in assisted reproduction. As confirmed by the present data, the effect of the age of the male in the range studied is irrelevant."
(More? Week 1 - In vitro Fertilization)
Endocrine - Bosch OJ, Neumann ID. Brain vasopressin is an important regulator of maternal behavior independent of dams' trait anxiety. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Oct 27.
"These findings provide direct evidence for an essential and highly potent role of brain AVP in promoting maternal behavior, which seems to be independent of the dam's trait anxiety."
Adult Stem Cells - Conrad S, Renninger M, Hennenlotter J, Wiesner T, Just L, Bonin M, Aicher W, Bühring HJ, Mattheus U, Mack A, Wagner HJ, Minger S, Matzkies M, Reppel M, Hescheler J, Sievert KD, Stenzl A, Skutella T. Generation of pluripotent stem cells from adult human testis. Nature. 2008 Oct 8.
"Human primordial germ cells and mouse neonatal and adult germline stem cells are pluripotent and show similar properties to embryonic stem cells. Here we report the successful establishment of human adult germline stem cells derived from spermatogonial cells of adult human testis."
(More? Stem Cells | Adult Stem Cells)
Endocrine - Cao G, Gu Z, Ren Y, Shu L, Tao C, Karaplis A, Goltzman D, Miao D. Parathyroid Hormone Contributes to Regulating Milk Calcium Content and Modulates Neonatal Bone Formation Cooperatively with Calcium. Endocrinology. 2008 Oct 1.
"These results indicate that PTH can modulate calcium content of milk and that PTH and calcium can each exert cooperative roles on osteoblastic bone formation in the neonate."
(More? Parathyroid Development | Milk)
Iodine Deficiency - Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) - 22nd Australian Total Diet Study A total diet study of five trace elements: iodine, selenium, chromium, molybdenum, and nickel
"Whilst the majority of Australians had dietary intakes approaching or above the estimated average requirement (EAR) or AI for selenium, molybdenum and chromium, a substantial proportion of the population had iodine intakes below the EAR. FSANZ has subsequently commissioned further analyses of iodine levels in Australian foods and will be introducing mandatory fortification of iodine in bread, from September 2009."
(More? Abnormal Development - Iodine Deficiency | Endocrine Development - Thyroid)
Nobel Prize 2008 Chemistry - "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP" This fluorescent protein has been used in both embryology and cell biology to identify dynamic processes and localizations involving specific proteins in living tissues and cells.
Nobel Prize 2008 Medicine - "human papilloma virus and human immunodeficiency virus"
(More? Womens Health issues - HPV | Abnormal Development - Viral Infection)
Cecil KM, Brubaker CJ, Adler CM, Dietrich KN, Altaye M, Egelhoff JC, Wessel S, Elangovan I, Hornung R, Jarvis K, Lanphear BP. Succimer therapy for congenital lead poisoning from maternal petrol sniffing. Med J Aust. 2006 Jan 16;184(2):84-5. Decreased brain volume in adults with childhood lead exposure. PLoS Med. 2008 May 27;5(5):e112.
"Childhood lead exposure is associated with region-specific reductions in adult gray matter volume."
30 Years of In Vitro Fertilization - Louise Brown (born UK July 25, 1978) the first of 3 million babies ( 80,000 Australian) born to date by IVF techniques. (More? Week 1 - In Vitro Fertilization | Stem Cell Development)
Gastrointestinal Tract Development - Sangiorgi E, Capecchi MR. Bmi1 is expressed in vivo in intestinal stem cells. Nat Genet. 2008 Jul;40(7):915-20.
"We found that Bmi1 is expressed in discrete cells located near the bottom of crypts in the small intestine, predominantly four cells above the base of the crypt (+4 position). ... Unexpectedly, the distribution of Bmi1-expressing stem cells along the length of the small intestine suggested that mammals use more than one molecularly distinguishable adult stem cell subpopulation to maintain organ homeostasis."
(More? Gastrointestinal Tract Development | Stem Cell Development)
Placental Stem Cells - Garbuzova-Davis S, Sanberg CD, Kuzmin-Nichols N, Willing AE, Gemma C, Bickford PC, Miller C, Rossi R, Sanberg PR. Human umbilical cord blood treatment in a mouse model of ALS: optimization of cell dose. PLoS ONE. 2008 Jun 25;3(6):e2494.
"...These results demonstrate that treatment for ALS with an appropriate dose of MNC hUCB cells may provide a neuroprotective effect for motor neurons through active involvement of these cells in modulating the host immune inflammatory system response."
(More? Placental Stem Cells | Placenta Notes)
Lung Development 
Ross J. Metzger, Ophir D. Klein, Gail R. Martin, Mark A. Krasnow
The branching programme of mouse lung development Nature 453, 745-750 (5 June 2008) doi:10.1038/nature07005
"we present the complete three-dimensional branching pattern and lineage of the mouse bronchial tree, reconstructed from an analysis of hundreds of developmental intermediates. ...propose that each mode of branching is controlled by a genetically encoded subroutine, a series of local patterning and morphogenesis operations, which are themselves controlled by a more global master routine."
(More? Respiratory Development)
Gleiberman AS, Michurina T, Encinas JM, Roig JL, Krasnov P, Balordi F, Fishell G, Rosenfeld MG, Enikolopov G.
Genetic approaches identify adult pituitary stem cells.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Apr 29;105(17):6332-7.
"We report the presence (in mouse) of nestin-expressing adult stem cells in the perilumenal region of the mature anterior pituitary and, using genetic inducible fate mapping, demonstrate that they serve to generate subsets of all six terminally differentiated endocrine cell types of the pituitary gland."
Neonatal Deaths United Kingdom neonatal death is due mainly to immaturity (47%), lethal or severe congenital anomalies (23%) and infection (10%). The subsequent neonatal death rate (/1,000 live births) has been decreasing in recent years (3.9 in 2000, 3.5 in 2005, 3.4 in 2006). Stillbirth rate has not changed (5.3 / 1000 total births) as reported in Perinatal Mortality 2006 - Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health 2006. (More? Birth - Stillbirth and Perinatal Death | Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health | Statistics - World Death | Statistics)
IVF/Stem Cells/Law (UK)
Parliament (UK) - Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill introduced 8 November 2007, as a review of the law first announced in January 2004, which included a public consultation in 2005.
"The Bill is intended to update the regulation of assisted reproduction and embryo research (primarily by amending the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990),
to ensure that it is fit for purpose in the 21st Century."
(More? Law - UK | Dept of Health - Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (UK))
Cardiovascular Smooth Muscle
Wasteson P, Johansson BR, Jukkola T, Breuer S, Akyürek LM, Partanen J, Lindahl P.
Developmental origin of smooth muscle cells in the descending aorta in mice. Development. 2008 May;135(10):1823-32.
"Aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) have been proposed to derive from lateral plate mesoderm. ....(these results) suggested that all SMCs in the adult descending aorta derive from the somites, whereas no contribution was recorded from lateral plate mesoderm."
(More? Cardiovascular System - Blood Vessels | Musculoskeletal Development - Mesoderm/Somite)
In Vitro Fertilization
3rd IVI International Congress to be held in Madrid, May 14-16, 2009
addresses cutting edge topics of the continuously evolving field of human reproduction.
(More? Week 1 - In Vitro Fertilization)
Abnormal Development - Heavy Metal Australian mining community (Queensland, Mount Isa) following a Queensland Health test of 400 children detetected elevated blood lead levels that could impact upon neurological development.
(More? Environmental Effects - Lead | Environmental Effects - Heavy Metals | ABC News - Fri Apr 11 Xstrata faces suits over lead levels)
Stem Cells USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first public hearing on the safety of therapies that use human embryonic stem cells. "Cellular Therapies Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells –Considerations for Pre-Clinical Safety Testing and Patient Monitoring, April 10, 2008" The biotech company Geron plans to trial a stem cell based therapy for patients with acute spinal-cord injury.
(More? Stem Cells | FDA Briefing Document PDF )
Hearing A research paper in the J of Neuroscience identifies continued postnatal development of the auditory brainstem in humans. Krista L. Johnson, Trent Nicol, Steven G. Zecker, and Nina Kraus Developmental Plasticity in the Human Auditory Brainstem J. Neurosci. 2008 28: 4000-4007
"Whereas all children exhibited identical neural activity to a click, 3- to 4-year-old children displayed delayed and less synchronous onset and sustained neural response activity when elicited by speech compared with 5- to 12-year-olds. These results suggest that the human auditory system exhibits developmental plasticity, in both frequency and time domains, for sounds that are composed of acoustic elements relevant to speech."
(More? Hearing Development)
Endocrine Development Hyperthyroidism occurs in 2/1000 pregnancies in the United Kingdom Marx H, Amin P, Lazarus JH. Hyperthyroidism and pregnancy. BMJ. 2008 Mar 22;336(7645):663-7 | BMJ Link
"Pregnant women with hyperthyroidism need careful management as some may be at increased risk of fetal loss, pre-eclampsia, heart failure, premature labour, and having a low birthweight baby"
Ectopic Implantation Recent findings suggest that in tubal ectopic pregnancy expression of similar factors (LIF) occurs as in those seen in normal uterine implantation sites Güney M, Erdemoglu E, Oral B, Karahan N, Mungan T. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is immunohistochemically localized in tubal ectopic pregnancy. Acta Histochem. 2008 Feb 6;
(More? Week 2 Abnormalities | Week 2 Notes)
Fertilization Wong JL, Wessel GM. Free-radical crosslinking of specific proteins alters the function of the egg extracellular matrix at fertilization. Development. 2008 Feb;135(3):431-40. Epub 2007 Dec 19.
"All animal embryos begin development by modifying the egg extracellular matrix. This protein-rich matrix protects against polyspermy, microbes and mechanical stress via enzyme-dependent transformations that alter the organization of its constituents. ... four of the six major extracellular matrix components are selectively crosslinked, discriminating even sibling proteins from the same gene. Thus, specific free-radical chemistry is essential for establishing the embryonic microenvironment of early development."
(More? Week 1 - Fertilization)
Muscle Development Du SJ, Li H, Bian Y, Zhong Y. Heat-shock protein 90alpha1 is required for organized myofibril assembly in skeletal muscles of zebrafish embryos. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jan 15;105(2):554-9
"Heat-shock protein 90alpha (Hsp90alpha) is a member of the molecular chaperone family involved in protein folding and assembly specifically expressed in developing somites and skeletal muscles of zebrafish embryos ... and is essential for myofibril organization in skeletal muscles of zebrafish embryos. ...likely through facilitating myosin folding and assembly into organized myofibril filaments."
(More? Muscle Development | Zebrafish Development)
Endocrine Development Wang Q, Elghazi L, Martin S, Martins I, Srinivasan RS, Geng X, Sleeman M, Collombat P, Houghton J, Sosa-Pineda B. ghrelin is a novel target of Pax4 in endocrine progenitors of the pancreas and duodenum. Dev Dyn. 2008 Jan;237(1):51-61.
"Pax4-deficient mice have a severe gastrointestinal endocrine deficiency: they lack most pancreatic cells that produce insulin or somatostatin and various duodenal endocrine cell types."
(More? Endocrine Development - Pancreas | Gastrointestinal Tract Development)
Bat Development Cretekos CJ, Wang Y, Green ED; NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Martin JF, Rasweiler JJ 4th, Behringer RR. Regulatory divergence modifies limb length between mammals. Genes Dev. 2008 Jan 15;22(2):141-51.
"...Prx1 expression directed by the bat enhancer results in elevated transcript levels in developing forelimb bones and forelimbs that are significantly longer than controls because of endochondral bone formation alterations. Surprisingly, deletion of the mouse Prx1 limb enhancer results in normal forelimb length and Prx1 expression, revealing regulatory redundancy. These findings suggest that mutations accumulating in pre-existing noncoding regulatory sequences within a population are a source of variation for the evolution of morphological differences between species and that cis-regulatory redundancy may facilitate accumulation of such mutations."
(More? Bat Development | Musculoskeletal - Limb Development)
Menstral Cycle
Nunez-de la Mora A, Chatterton RT, Choudhury OA, Napolitano DA, Bentley GR.
Childhood Conditions Influence Adult Progesterone Levels. PLoS Med. 2007 May 15;4(5):e167
"This research demonstrates that human females use an extended period of the life cycle prior to reproductive maturation to monitor their environment and to modulate reproductive steroid levels in accordance with projected conditions they might encounter as adults. ...This research is the first, to our knowledge, to demonstrate a postuterine developmental component to variation in reproductive steroid levels in women."
Menstral Cycle - The USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Lybrel, the first continuous use drug product for prevention of pregnancy.
FDA News Release May 22, 2007 (More? Human Menstrual Cycle - Birth Control | Human Menstrual Cycle)
"The new contraceptive, Lybrel, comes in a 28 day-pill pack with low-dose combination tablets that contain 90 micrograms of a progestin, levonorgestrel, and 20 micrograms of an estrogen, ethinyl estradiol, which are active ingredients available in other approved oral contraceptives. Continuous contraception works the same way as the 21 days on-seven days off cycle. It stops the body's monthly preparation for pregnancy by lowering the production of hormones that make pregnancy possible."
Mesoderm Differentiation Holley SA. The genetics and embryology of zebrafish metamerism. Dev Dyn. 2007 May 7 (More? Zebrafish Development)
"The segmental pattern influences the development of the somite derivatives such as the myotome, and the myotome reciprocates to affect the formation of segment boundaries. While somites appear to be serially homologous, there may be variation in the segmentation mechanism along the body axis. Moreover, whereas the genetic architecture of the zebrafish, mouse, and chick segmentation clocks shares many common elements, there is evidence that the gene networks have undergone independent modification during evolution."
Sexual Differentiation Quinn AE, Georges A, Sarre SD, Guarino F, Ezaz T, Graves JA. Temperature sex reversal implies sex gene dosage in a reptile. Science. 2007 Apr 20;316(5823):411.
Laifer-Narin S, Budorick NE, Simpson LL, Platt LD. Fetal magnetic resonance imaging: a review. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2007 Apr;19(2):151-156. (More? Abnormal Development - MRI)
"Recent studies have shown that magnetic resonance imaging can add significantly to the prenatal diagnosis and management of congenital abnormalities. In addition, placental abnormalities have been diagnosed with greater accuracy."
Bukowski R, Smith GC, Malone FD, Ball RH, Nyberg DA, Comstock CH, Hankins GD, Berkowitz RL, Gross SJ, Dugoff L, Craigo SD, Timor-Tritsch IE, Carr SR, Wolfe HM, D'Alton ME. Fetal growth in early pregnancy and risk of delivering low birth weight infant: prospective cohort study. BMJ. 2007 Mar 13; (More? Embryo Stages | Abnormal Development - Fetal Origins Hypothesis)
"The risk of delivering a small for gestational age infant decreased with increasing size in the first trimester ...Variation in birth weight may be determined, at least in part, by fetal (embryonic) growth in the first 12 weeks after conception through effects on timing of delivery and fetal growth velocity."
Balchin I, Whittaker JC, Patel RR, Lamont RF, Steer PJ. Racial variation in the association between gestational age and perinatal mortality: prospective study. BMJ. 2007 Mar 2 (More? Normal Development- Birth - Stillbirth and Perinatal Death)
"Prospective study using logistic regression analysis. ...The most important factor associated with antepartum stillbirth among white women was placental abruption, but among South Asian and black women it was birth weight below 2000 g."
Notochord This paper is studying the signaling mechanisms involved with growth of the notochord, a developmental transient structure which regulates development of surrounding tissues. Kida YS, Sato T, Miyasaka KY, Suto A, Ogura T. Daam1 regulates the endocytosis of EphB during the convergent extension of the zebrafish notochord. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Apr 5; (More? Zebrafish Development)
"Convergent extension (CE) movement of cells is one of the fundamental processes that control the organized morphogenesis of tissues and organs. We show that subcellular localization of Daam1 (Dishevelled-Associated Activator of Morphogenesis 1), an essential component of noncanonical Wnt signaling, changes dynamically during notochord formation."
Neural Crest Ota KG, Kuraku S, Kuratani S. Hagfish embryology with reference to the evolution of the neural crest. Nature. 2007 April 5;446:672-5. (More? Notes - Neural Crest)
"We propose that the neural crest emerged as a population of de-epithelialized migratory cells in a common vertebrate ancestor, and suggest that the possibility of classical and molecular embryology in hagfish opens up new approaches to clarifying the evolutionary history of vertebrates."
Integumentary Development - Epidermal Stem Cells Clayton E, Doupe DP, Klein AM, Winton DJ, Simons BD, Jones PH.
A single type of progenitor cell maintains normal epidermis. Nature. 2007 Mar 8;446(7132):185-9. (More? Notes - Integumentary Development)
"According to the current model of adult epidermal homeostasis, skin tissue is maintained by two discrete populations of progenitor cells. ...Here we show that clone-size distributions are consistent with a new model of homeostasis involving only one type of progenitor cell. These cells are found to undergo both symmetric and asymmetric division at rates that ensure epidermal homeostasis."
Human Embryo Development -
Hill MA.
Early human development. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2007 Mar;50(1):2-9.
"Human development in the first 8 weeks is potentially one of the most exciting areas of biological research. Beyond historic staging of fixed human embryos, it is also one of the least understood. In contrast, detailed information exists for the embryonic period of several other species, from which human development information is extrapolated. This period is also the most sensitive to system abnormalities generated by teratogens. This review combines the human embryo Carnegie stages, available online at UNSW Embryology (http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au), with teratogen-sensitive information. Integrating this data with current molecular, imaging, and online tools will provide insights to this period."
Abnormal Development - Smoking Jaddoe VW, Verburg BO, de Ridder M, Hofman A, Mackenbach JP, Moll HA, Steegers EA, Witteman JC.
Maternal Smoking and Fetal Growth Characteristics in Different Periods of Pregnancy: The Generation R Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2007 Feb 28 (More? Abnormal Development - Smoking)
"The authors concluded that maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with reduced growth in fetal head circumference, abdominal circumference, and femur length. The larger effect on femur length suggests that smoking during pregnancy affects primarily peripheral tissues. "
In Vitro Fertilization - ABC News Baby born from frozen embryo
(AM - Tuesday, 27 February , 2007 08:18:00) (More? Week 1 - In Vitro Fertilization)
"In what's thought to be a world first, a baby has been born in Melbourne using a woman's frozen egg and a donor's frozen sperm which created an embryo that was also frozen, then thawed and implanted into the mother"
Blood Vessel Development - the signals regulating both growth and inhibition vessels growth are being uncovered.
Hellstrom M, Phng LK, Hofmann JJ, Wallgard E, Coultas L, Lindblom P, Alva J, Nilsson AK, Karlsson L, Gaiano N, Yoon K, Rossant J, Iruela-Arispe ML, Kalen M, Gerhardt H, Betsholtz C.
Dll4 signalling through Notch1 regulates formation of tip cells during angiogenesis.
Nature. 2007 Feb 15;445(7129):776-80. (More? Cardiovascular System - Blood Vessels)
"In sprouting angiogenesis, specialized endothelial tip cells lead the outgrowth of blood-vessel sprouts towards gradients of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A. ...suggest that Dll4-Notch1 signalling between the endothelial cells within the angiogenic sprout serves to restrict tip-cell formation in response to VEGF, thereby establishing the adequate ratio between tip and stalk cells required for correct sprouting and branching patterns."
Abnormal Development - Bech BH, Obel C, Henriksen TB, Olsen J.
Effect of reducing caffeine intake on birth weight and length of gestation: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2007 Jan 26;
(More? Abnormal Development - Maternal | Human Fetal Resources)
"Randomised double blind controlled trial: decaffeinated coffee women group, mean caffeine intake was 182 mg lower than women in the caffeinated coffee group. ...A moderate reduction in caffeine intake in the second half of pregnancy has no effect on birth weight or length of gestation."
Stem Cells - Li J, Greco V, Guasch G, Fuchs E, Mombaerts P.
Mice cloned from skin cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Feb 13 (More? Stem Cells | Week 1- Cloning)
"It has been widely speculated, but largely untested, that their undifferentiated and quiescent state may make stem cells more efficient as donors for cloning by nuclear transfer (NT). Here, we report the use of nuclei from hair follicle stem cells and other skin keratinocytes as NT donors."
Bone Development - Liu X, Bruxvoort KJ, Zylstra CR, Liu J, Cichowski R, Faugere MC, Bouxsein ML, Wan C, Williams BO, Clemens TL.
Lifelong accumulation of bone in mice lacking Pten in osteoblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Feb 7; (More? Musculoskeletal Development - Bone |
OMIM - Pten)
"Bone formation is carried out by the osteoblast, a mesenchymal cell whose lifespan and activity are regulated by growth factor signaling networks. Growth factors activation.... is negatively regulated by the Pten phosphatase. ...Mice deficient in Pten in osteoblasts were of normal size but demonstrated a dramatic and progressively increasing bone mineral density throughout life."
Abortion - Villanueva T. Portugal is ready to decriminalise abortion. BMJ. 2007 Feb 17;334(7589):332.
"Portugal has taken a decisive step towards decriminalising abortion, after 59% of people who voted in a national referendum last week backed reforming the law so that abortion can be carried out until the 10th week of pregnancy in registered premises."
Cord Blood Stem Cells - Mayor S.
World's first public-private cord blood bank launched in UK. BMJ. 2007 Feb 10;334(7588):277.
(More? Stem Cells - Cord Blood | Virgin Health Bank)
"The Virgin Health Bank will provide parents with the facility to store their child's umbilical cord blood in two portions—one as a private sample (about 80%) for the sole use of the child and his or her family and the second as a public sample (20%), available free of charge to anyone requiring stem cell transplantation."
Stem Cells - Sydney Uni bans stem cell research on church land. (ABC News story - 6 February , 2007 | Audio Podcast)
"A deal between Sydney University and the Catholic Church means that Australia's largest medical research centre, due for completion in 2012, won't be allowed to do any work on embryonic stem cell research."
Endometriosis - Masuda H, Maruyama T, Hiratsu E, Yamane J, Iwanami A, Nagashima T, Ono M, Miyoshi H, Okano HJ, Ito M, Tamaoki N, Nomura T, Okano H, Matsuzaki Y, Yoshimura Y. Noninvasive and real-time assessment of reconstructed functional human endometrium in NOD/SCID/{gamma}cnull immunodeficient mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jan 29 (More? Human Menstrual Cycle)
"singly dispersed endometrial cells have potential applications for tissue reconstitution, angiogenesis, and human-mouse chimeric vessel formation, providing implications for mechanisms underlying the physiological endometrial regeneration during the menstrual cycle and the establishment of endometriotic lesions."
Transgenic Chickens - Why did the chicken cross the genome? Lillico SG, Sherman A, McGrew MJ, Robertson CD, Smith J, Haslam C, Barnard P, Radcliffe PA, Mitrophanous KA, Elliot EA, Sang HM. Oviduct-specific expression of two therapeutic proteins in transgenic hens. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jan 26;
"We report the generation of transgenic hens that synthesize functional recombinant pharmaceutical protein in a tightly regulated tissue-specific manner, without any evidence of transgene silencing after germ-line transmission.
Trisomy 21 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists New Recommendations for Down Syndrome Call for Screening of All Pregnant Women (January 2, 2007) (More? Abnormal Development - Trisomy 21)
"This new recommendation says that the maternal age of 35 should no longer be used by itself as a cut-off to determine who is offered screening versus who is offered invasive diagnostic testing"
Menstral Cycle - Brandes JL.
The influence of estrogen on migraine: a systematic review. JAMA. 2006 Apr 19;295(15):1824-30. (More? Human Menstrual Cycle)
"The influence of estrogen on migraine is evident by a 3-fold greater prevalence among women compared with men, and by significant changes in migraine incidence with changes in female reproductive status. ...Epidemiological, pathophysiological, and clinical evidence link estrogen to migraine headaches."
Pregnancy after Breast Cancer -
Ives A, Saunders C, Bulsara M, Semmens J. Pregnancy after breast cancer: population based study. BMJ. 2007 Jan 27;334(7586):194.
Within the (Australian) study group "...pregnancy is uncommon after breast cancer; only 4.8% of women aged 15-44 diagnosed with breast cancer became pregnant during the study period and 2.6% had a live birth. ...The study adds to the limited body of evidence showing that women with breast cancer who become pregnant or have a live birth seem to have comparable or better survival than those who do not."
Menstrual Cycle
Smellie WS.
Cases in primary care laboratory medicine: testing pitfalls and summary of guidance on sex hormone testing. BMJ. 2007 Jan 13;334(7584):91-4.
"Hormone testing has very limited use in diagnosing the menopause ... Monitoring patients on hormone replacement therapy relies on clinical response in most situations ... Early investigation of subfertility is recommended only in specific groups of patients ... A detailed menstrual history is essential to interpret gonadotrophin results ... A luteal progesterone concentration above 20-30 nmol/l seven days before onset of menses effectively excludes endocrine related subfertility; intermediate concentrations may necessitate a repeat test"
Kidney A meeting to synthesize an integrated view of the normal development and function of the kidney from the genetic standpoint.
Forefronts Symposium on Nephrogenetics: from development to physiology March 8-11, 2007 Danvers, MA
Kidney Development
Gastrulation A recent study has looked at how gastrulation occurs in the chicken embryo by tracking dye-labeled mesodermal cells as they migrate through the primitive streak.
Zamir EA, Czirok A, Cui C, Little CD, Rongish BJ.
Mesodermal cell displacements during avian gastrulation are due to both individual cell-autonomous and convective tissue movements.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Dec 26;103(52):19806-11. Epub 2006 Dec 18.
"Our results reveal the following: (i) Convective tissue motion contributes significantly to total cell displacement and must be subtracted to measure true cell-autonomous displacement; (ii) Cell-autonomous displacement decreases gradually after egression from the primitive streak; and (iii) There is an increasing cranial-to-caudal (head-to-tail) cell-autonomous motility gradient, with caudal cells actively moving away from the primitive streak faster than cranial cells." Week 3 - Gastrulation | PNAS Link | PubMed Link
Skin - Hair Follicle there are two stage dependent ways of regulating how hair pattern formation occurs in development.
Wang Y, Badea T, Nathans J. Order from disorder: Self-organization in mammalian hair patterning.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Dec 26;103(52):19800-5. Epub 2006 Dec 15.
"These experiments define two systems for hair orientation: a global orienting system that acts early in development and is Fz6-dependent, and a local self-organizing system that acts later and is Frizzled 6 (Fz6) independent." Integumentary Development - Hair | PNAS Link | PubMed Link
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For those wanting to see dynamic processes of development (and have a reasonably quick connection) then the Movies pages are good for watching changes occur.
The study of human development has relied extensively on studying the process in other model animals. For those wanting to see the process of development in other species then the other embryos pages are a good start.
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This page has a selection of recent articles and references to Embryology in the News.
Numerous topics are complex and involve many issues, some external to the actual biological process of embryological development.
Note that many of the issues discussed in the media follow on after the scientific research breakthrough that has been recently published. Some current news links may no longer function, you will need to search achives to find the original articles.
See also Stem Cells and Brief History of Embryology
This page is only updated when time permits. Contact me if you have any recent topics or links that may be relevant.
Note that most links are to external news, government and information resources and require internet connection.
Please email Dr Mark Hill if you wish to make a comment about this current project.