Aritificial Ovary – “Oh worry or Over worry??”

It would have been just two months since somebody would have got married in my family. And my grandmom starts asking them “When is the good news coming?”

To people of our generation this sounds so insane! “C’mmon, it’s not even a year! We have just started to get to know each other, why another one between us now? “Lo, let’s witness all sides of earth, getting into the family way can follow later”.

Definitely pleasing excuses!

Today I was going through a research paper on the newly developed artificial ovary. And I could not help contemplating – “Is this a laudable situation?”

Researchers at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital have invented the first artificial human ovary. According to Sandra Carson, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, the ovary is a new means for conducting fertility research and could also yield infertility treatments for cancer patients. The paper’s lead author, Stephan Krotz said “Immature eggs could be salvaged and frozen before the onset of chemotherapy or radiation and then matured outside the patient in the artificial ovary”. The team has already used the lab-grown organ to mature human eggs.

Coupled withthe increase in the number of women who delay first childbirthbeyond the age of 35, the use of chemotherapy for treating cancer has resulted in a large proportion of women cancer patients facing infertility. And the idea of this new ovary is definitely a blessing for those young womendiagnosed with cancer.

On the other hand, advances as building an artificial ovary alarms us that there are increasing issues to be dealt with in the medical arena. Reading such articles, I feel health has become based mostly on treatments. And more stronger the treatments are being developed, lesser are the concerns for prevention. And inspite of such medical discoveries being hyped about every other day, there are still thousands of people sacrificing their lives to a deadly disorder everyday. It looks like all those researchers and doctors in some part of the world explore,  invent, discover and rediscover efficiently only to give hope to the common man saying “Destroy yourself the best. We are there”. This was what I felt when I  read about a woman of Texas telling a judge that she wanted the rights to collect her dead twenty-one-year-old son’s sperm to make a grandchild.

Whether it’s the lifestyle factor or the environmental factor, a self-awareness related to the critical health concerns need to be thought about. While we are busy adapting ourselves best to this ever-expanding log phase of earth, some new disease in somebody somewhere should give us a pinch to realise we might not be far from the somebody and somewhere.

Though this invention has nothing to do with  delay in childbirth and infertility, it is definitely coming to remind us  not to expand the list of longing mothers-to-be! Beware young women!

Sources

Original pulication on the artificial ovary http://www.springerlink.com/content/9t612k868w3263g1/

Fertility and cancer therapy http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/11/5/422

Photo Courtesy

Human Egg on a needle Environmental Graffiti

0 Replies to “Aritificial Ovary – “Oh worry or Over worry??””

  1. Nandhindhin Di, 1 ques…“Lo, let’s witness all sides of earth, getting into the family way can follow later”. what does it mean?
    i never thought it that way, that science says ““Destroy yourself the best. We are there”
    that is in a way a little cynical! i mean our diseases comes first, then the scientists go abt findin a solution or cure ryt?
    I’m sure evry1 preaches “prevention better than cure” but we know there are dumb people who love smokin, n continue smokin though they r educated n know perfectly well the evils that come wid smokin.
    this is juz 1 example. as long as such people exists, i guess more fancy n more complicated diseases will show up.
    hahahha, i found “beware young woman” very funny, but i totally agree wid u on that 1.

    1. “Lo, let’s witness all sides of earth, getting into the family way can follow later” – Couple planning to go on a travel around the world for vacations, and thus postponing getting into family way (getting a child).

      “Destroy yourself the best. We are there” – I know science doesn’t say that, just a weird imagination of thoughts.

      Diseases come first, then the scientists go abt findin a solution – That’s true. My thought here was that there are many cases where proper lifestyles are compromised with the medical discoveries’ backup. Diabetics and BP patients are more in control by medicines than by healthy living and like wise there are pills to hide numerous unhealthy ways of life. It’s not science’s mistake, a misuse on man’s part.

      Yes, smoking is one!

      Thanks for the comment!

  2. yes yes, that sentence makes perfect sense, im not very updated of “family way” kinda lingos n phrases 🙂
    ur correct abt ppl not being serious about their lifestyles, i have a fren, Shylesh, he says, “life is too short, so they r dyin nywhr, so im justified in smoking”…well, wat to say…they r ppl who like commitin slow suicide.

  3. Some of the information alarms me like the Texas mom asking for son’s sperm! And Ya..I’ve said the dialogue “witnessing other side of earth…bla bla bla”
    But I feel, this pressure on getting married or going family way is more only in India. Before marriage, they say “eppo kalyana sapadu poda pore”. After marriage, they say “Eppo good news kuduka pore”. After 1st kid, they say “Eppo thambi paapa kuduka pore”..and it goes on….I hate old aunties who bump into such conversations!!

    1. Oh ya, in India! But we are atleast luckier enough than our parents’ generation. We decide many things for our lives than what they did.

      When to have a child is definitely upto the couple. But quite often I hear about the complications in conceiving and delivery these days. The reproductive age shouldnt be regretted of having passed fruitlessly.

  4. Dear Nandu, very happy to see you in word press 🙂 and doubly happy to read your posts! I totally agree that we are at a much better place than our parents when it comes to making the right choices for our lives. However, advances in science and tech has made the decision making much tougher, again, I agree with the fact that many diseases (not just diseases) can be prevented by simple changes in daily lifestyle! One thing sure, we humans have complicated life on earth more than we could possibly imagine! You have a good day! Cheers!

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