The American Society for Reproductive Medicine recently published another study that points toward the risks of IVF.  The November issue of Fertility and Sterility printed a study of information collected by the perinatal database for the province on Ontario.  The information was collected at 82 different centers totaling over 61,000 deliveries.  IVF babies are 54% more likely to be born with defects of the musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems that babies born from natural conception.

Fertil Steril 2009;92:1557-61

 In this first prospective, randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled study, 28 infertile patients with severe oligoasthenozoospermia received acupuncture according to the principles of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and 29 infertile patients received placebo acupuncture.

 The effects of a Chinese herb, Cornus officinalis (shan zhu yu), on the motility of human sperm was studied. An aqueous extract was prepared from the dried fruits of the herb and used in this study. The crude extract at a final concentration of 0.5 microgram/microliter in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) increased sperm motility from 25.8 +/- 7.7% to 42.8 +/- 10.3% (i.e.

A bold statement, right?  So far in life, men have been quite content blaming anything women do that is remotely 'crazy' on their hormones.  This has made life simple, and is even widely accepted by a lot of women.  But what if it was possible that some of the problems with the world that could be classified as being stemming from the 'mans world' were due to male hormones running amuck?  Most men might even question 'Do we have hormones?'.  Well, the answer is yes, and recently, the finger is being pointed at male hormone imbalance being the cause of the current economic depression.

Conclusion: Lycium barbarum polysaccharides: Protective effects against heat-induced damage of rat testes and H2O2-induced DNA damage in mouse testicular cells and beneficial effect on sexual behavior and reproductive function of hemicastrated rats.