Fertility Books - Page 5

Digit Ratio: A Pointer to Fertility, Behavior, and Health (A volume in the Rutgers Series in Human Evolution, edited by Robert Trivers.)

John T. Manning

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Editorial Review:

Could the length of your fingers predict a predisposition to breast cancer? Or musical genius? Or homosexuality? The author posits that relative lengths of the second and fourth digits in humans (2D:4D ratio) provides a window into fertility- and sex-related traits. It has been known for more than a century that men and women tend to differ in the relative lengths of their index and ring fingers, which upon casual observation seem fairly symmetrical. Men on average have fourth digits longer than their second digits, while women typically have the opposite. Digit ratios are unique in that they are fixed before birth, while other sexually dimorphic variables are fixed after puberty, and the same genes that control finger length also control the development of the sex organs. The 2D:4D ratio is the only prenatal sexually dimorphic trait that measurably explains conditions linking testosterone, oestrogen and human development, the author argues. The study of the ratio broadens our view of human ability, talent, behaviour, disposition, health and fertility. In this book, Manning presents evidence for how 2D:4D correlates with genetic traits ranging from sperm counts, the likelihood of having male versus female offspring, musical genius, homosexuality and sporting prowess, to autism, depression, heart attacks, or breast cancer, traits that are all linked to sex hormones.

The Fertility Sourcebook, Third Edition

M. Sara Rosenthal, M. S. Rosenthal MS, Masood A. Khatamee MD

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Outdated and Jaded 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is a nice overview of various options available to those having difficulty conceiving. Unfortunately, this field changes quickly, and since it's publication it's very outdated. Techniques she discusses are now rarely used because newer/more effective treatments have been established. Also, her slant against fertility treatments (as she admits in the preface)is obvious throughout the book. Finally, the author's understanding of research appears limited. Specifically, she fails to consider that IVF pregnancies are not at higher risk of miscarriage - maternal age is the risk factor. It just so happens that those who receive IVF treatments are generally older.

Editorial Review:

At last! This hard-to-find information presented sensitively and accurately

One out of every five North American couples experiences difficulty in conceiving, and finding the source of infertility can be a frustrating and time-consuming process. If you are grappling with the complexity of this situation, The Fertility Sourcebook will be a welcome source of information and comfort. This thoroughly updated edition includes hard-to-find information on fertility planning for same-sex couples and a foreword by Masood A. Khatamee, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Offspring: Human Fertility Behavior in Biodemographic Perspective

Panel for the Workshop on the Biodemography of Fertility and Family Behavior, National Research Council

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Despite recent advances in our understanding of the genetic basis of human behavior, little of this work has penetrated into formal demography. Very few demographers worry about how biological processes might affect voluntary behavior choices that have demographic consequences even though behavioral geneticists have documented genetics effects on variables such as parenting and divorce. Offspring: Human Fertility Behavior in Demographic Perspective brings together leading researchers from a wide variety of disciplines to review the state of research in this emerging field and to identify promising research directions for the future.

Pro & Con: Should in vitro fertilization be done for the sole purpose of nonmedical gender selection? (Opinion).(Brief Article): An article from: Family Practice News

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This digital document is an article from Family Practice News, published by International Medical News Group on April 1, 2002. The length of the article is 866 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Pro & Con: Should in vitro fertilization be done for the sole purpose of nonmedical gender selection? (Opinion).(Brief Article)
Publication: Family Practice News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2002
Publisher: International Medical News Group
Volume: 32 Issue: 7 Page: 9(1)

Article Type: Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The Biodemography of Human Reproduction and Fertility

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Review by American Journal of Human Reproduction &Fertility 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Biodemography is a sullied concept in anthropology. It ought to be about the biological and evolutionary basis of demographic events that determine Darwinian fitness. Usually it is merely descriptive, and I have come to expect that titles with biodemography in them will disappoint. This book is a nice surprise: it has many pieces that do just what biodemography ought to do.
The strength of the book is that is it a collection of pieces (12 chapters) from different fields in anthropology, biology, epidemiology, psychology, and even sociology that are not obviously related and tempts scholars to read outside their fields. Anthropologists, for example, learn early on that phenotypic plasticity is what humans are about, and it never occurred to me to question the assumption that phenotypic plasticity is a good thing until I read the second chapter of the book, by Hughes, Burleson, and Rodd. Environmentally cued development may have costs not incurred by genes coding for canalized development. For example, there may be costs associated with information acquisition.
Most human reproductive ecology is based on plastic responses to the food supply or energy output, and we ought to be developing models that compare the costs of this kind of response to fixed responses. Valeggia and Ellison in Chapter 5 use Ellison's energy balance model (see Ellison, 2001) to interpret data on the duration of lactational amenorrhea in the Toba of Northern Argentina. Unfortunately, the beauty of Ellison's energy balance model is its weakness. It explains all the data we have or ever will have on ovarian suppression. In this sense it is not a true scientific model since it is impossibe to falsify.
The Toba have breastfeeding patterns similar to the !King Bushmen of Southern Africa. The !King are known for their long lactation periods and low fertility, and after Melvin Konner and Carol Worthman's landmark piece in 1980 establishing the intense lactation patterns of !Kung and suppressed ovarian activity, the 4-year-wide birth intervals of !Kung were attributed to lactational suppression. But the Toba have a surprisingly short period of lactational amerorrhea - half of all lactating Toba women have resumed cycling by 9 months postpartum, illustrating that breastfeeding intensity is not solely responsible for variation in lactational amenorrhea. Since there are no comparative data (Konner and Worthman's data were much less detailed), the piece does not elucidate the role of energetics, but Valeggia and Ellison describe some plausible physiological mechanisms for a regulatory role of food on ovarian activity.
Some variation in the timing of life history events previously attributed to plasticity can now be attributed to genetic variation. In Chapter 9 James Murray and colleagues describe differences in fertility among Honduran men with different alleles at the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2)/TaqI/site. DRD2/Taq1/A1+ men have earlier age at reproduction and higher fertility than DRD2/Taq1/A1- men. In the past, they argue, the higher fertility of the DRD2/Taq1/A1+ allele was balanced by higher mortality in carriers that today produces excess morbidity. They summarize a large body of literature about genes with similar effects that may be responsible for so-called diseases of modernization (e.g., hypertension).
Like all edited volumes, this book varies in quality. Because the statistical methods and the theoretical content change with each chapter, the book is unlikely to be suitable for standard undergraduate courses. Undergraduates could grasp the conclusions, but not where they came from, and there are too many statistical techniques and too much theory and biology to introduce in a semester. Anderson and Low in Chapter 4, for example, find that the higher fertility of unmarried women disappears when covariates are included. This is an interesting but questionable finding. Many of the covariates (like age at first birth, age at marriage, and schooling) are competing risks. Women who become pregnant young are less likely to be married and receive less schooling, and a different model incorporating interactions among these terms might produce a different answer.
There are many other pieces by prominent scholars on many issues. This book should give readers a lot of new ideas with which to approach their own research problems, including up-to-date literature reviews in fields outside their own fields. It would be a great choice for a journal-club-like course in which students and faculty can hash out the issues and the consequences of better data or different statistical methods.
American Journal of Human Biology (Wiley-Liss), pages 101-102, Volume 16, Number 1 January/February 2004.

Editorial Review:

The Biodemography of Human Reproduction and Fertility takes an interdisciplinary look at the subjects of fertility and reproduction.
Key topics include:

- anorexia as a reproductive disease with evolutionary origins;
- the evolutionary basis of menarche;
- the familial (genetic) basis of having boys versus girls;
- twin fertility;
- extramarital childbearing.

This book is for advanced level students and researchers who study human reproduction and fertility.

Assisted Reproductive Technology: A Lawyer's Guide to Emerging Law & Science

Charles P. Kindregan

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Editorial Review:

As more people turn to assisted reproduction, the legal issues surrounding it have become increasingly complex. Beyond representing patients or clinics, numerous legal problems are arising from the technology's application. Disputes in divorce are the most common, but this technology impacts the law in other areas, including personal injury, insurance, criminal law, and estate planning. Drawing from multiple legal sources, this book presents complex information in a direct, balanced and fair manner. Includes glossary, sample forms and checklists, and bibliography.

Double Fertilization: Embryo and Endosperm Development in Flowering Plants

Val Raghavan

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Editorial Review:

"Double Fertilization" provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of this central event in the reproduction and development of flowering plants. Written by Val Raghavan, The Ohio State University, an acknowledged expert in plant developmental biology, the book vividly describes the molecular and cellular steps of the unique and complex fertilization process that culminates in the formation of embryo and endosperm, focusing on the latest results from the model plant Arabidopsis. The text is complemented by excellent illustrations, including 16 color plates.

Since embryo and endosperm constitute the edible parts of many seeds and grains widely used in human and animal nutrition, an understanding of the fertilization process has great relevance for genetic engineering aimed at improving the nutritional quality of crop plants. This book is ideally suited to researchers and graduate students seeking a coherent view of current perspectives on embryogenesis and endosperm development in flowering plants.

How to Get Pregnant: The Classic Guide to Overcoming Infertility, Completely Revised and Updated

Sherman J. Silber

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

For decades this book has been the most popular resource for couples trying to conceive. Now thoroughly revised and updated to provide cutting edge information on all the very latest treatments the new hardback edition of How To Get Pregnant will be the ultimate guide for prospective parents in the 21st century. One in every five couples is infertile and with more and more people putting off pregnancy until later in life, Dr. Silber's compassionate, informative book is in greater demand than ever. The comprehensive text explains not only the essential facts of getting pregnant but also how to solve once-insurmountable fertility problems with the latest high-tech findings, tests and procedures-including the revolutionary antral follicle count, which allows women to disover how many eggs they have left and may determine whether they have to find a way to preserve their eggs. For all couples determining whether to have a child, this book will be the only resource they will need, addressing all concerns they may have.

An Atlas of Human Blastocysts

Lucinda L. Veeck, Nikica Zaninovic

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If you had a dependable method for determining the healthiest and most viable conceptus from a cohort of growing preembryos, replacing more than a single one in order to achieve good pregnancy rates would be moot. Sometime in the not-so-distant future, this may be a reality. Taking a step towards that future, An Atlas of Human Blastocysts vividly illustrates the typical and atypical morphology of mammalian blastocysts. The atlas demonstrates that extended culture of blastocysts is now achieveable in the laboratory and points us toward the day when it will be possible to choose between a number of healthy hatched blastocysts.

Biomedical and Demographic Determinants of Reproduction (International Studies in Demography)

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Editorial Review:

This volume surveys the state of knowledge and research on the determinants of human reproduction. Using an interdisciplinary approach, it integrates information from demographic, epidemiological and biological studies of fertility.