Alas, the Brits have done it again! They gave the world the first IVF baby (the called test-tube baby) more than 30 years ago. Last year, they presented the first “breast-cancer-free” baby. And now, here’s their latest coup: the first egg-screening baby.

Welcome Oliver, the first baby ever produced using Array Comparative Genomic Hybridisation (Array CGH), a new technique that allows doctors to check eggs for chromosomal defects before fertilization. Chromosomal aberrations in embryos are responsible for a lot of miscarriages and failed IVF attempts and they are mainly due to defects in the eggs.

During Ovulation

The egg has to discard duplicate copies of its chromosomes to give space for sperm chromosomes during fertilization. The discarded chromosomes are contained in a small cell called a polar body. Sometimes, something goes awry, producing an egg which has too many or two few chromosomes. Down’s Syndrome or trisomy 21 is due to an extra 21 chromosome in the fertilized embryo. About 50% of female eggs have defective chromosomes. This increases dramatically as the woman gets older and could be up to 75% by the time she reaches 39.

In an IVF cycle, embryos are pre-screened before implantation, usually through visual screening under the microscope. However, this pre-implantation screening method does not seem to increase IVF success.

Array CGH

Array CGH performs an “inventory” of the chromosomes in the polar body in order to determine whether the egg has the right number of chromosomes. The test takes 1 to 2 days to complete. By pre-screening the eggs before fertilization, only viable, chromosome defect-free embryos are implanted. The chances of success during an IVF procedure are increased two- fold. What is interesting is that the scientists who develop the method reported that healthy, defect-free eggs are not necessary the “best looking” when viewed under the microscope, casting further doubt on visual egg screening.

Strictly speaking, Oliver is not the first baby to be conceived pre-screened. However, other babies born using similar techniques developed from frozen embryos. In Oliver’s case, using the new technique, the egg was screened, fertilized, and implanted within 48 hours, skipping the cryopreservation step.

Oliver’s mom is 41 years old and is of advanced maternal age through no fault of hers. She had three miscarriages and 13 failed IVF attempts. Late last year, the doctors screened 8 of her eggs using, Array CGH and only 2 were found to be normal. One of those eggs was fertilized, implanted and produced Oliver. I remember writing a post about this technique and her story in January when she was still in her 2^nd trimester. I’ve been wondering all this time how it worked out and now I’m glad to bring you this update.

The Ethical Issues

As usual, in such cases, there are always ethical issues to deal with. For the pro-life advocates, a human embryo represents life, with or without chromosomal aberrations. Do we have the right to choose? Do we have the right the screen? Is this assisted evolution, favoring the strong over the weak? Others would even venture to criticize: why waste so much time and money on IVF? Why not adopt?

I am pretty sure that for Oliver’s mom, what matters most is that she finally got her wish – her very own baby. After all she’s been through, she must be ecstatic to finally have Oliver, who was born two months ago. Only another mom can understand how she feels.

Oliver is the first but he won’t be the last. With his birth, many wanna-be moms’ hopes have been rekindled. All the best for Oliver and his mom.

It’s something right out of Grey’s Anatomy. Kaylee is two months old and was on life support. After much heartrending consideration, her parents decided to take her off life support and committed to donate her organs to other needy babies.

On the other side of the coin is one-month-old Lillian, waiting for a matching heart for transplantation in order to survive.

To the surprise of everybody, including her doctors, Kaylee could breathe on her own without life support equipment. Because of this, Kaylee is not eligible for organ donation. Lillian has been put back on the organ waiting list. Both babies are fighting for their lives.

It’s an emotional roller coaster for the parents of both Kaylee and Lillian. Kaylee’s parents who were resigned to losing their little daughter are now caught between hope and fear because Kaylee’s condition can still go either way. Lillian’s parents are also in the same situation of hope and uncertainty. Will their baby get a new heart in exchange of Kaylee’s life?

Last year, several articles the August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine looked at pediatric heart transplants. According to one study, about 400 heart transplants are performed in American children every year and about of 100 these are performed in children younger than 1 year. In addition, up to 50 babies who are on heart transplant waiting list do not survive the waiting time.

However, heart donation and transplantation is a very sensitive topic because of the clinical and ethical question involved. Death and transplantation should occur almost simultaneously so that the heart function is not completely lost and can be restarted to beat in the recipient’s body. Donation, however, is only possible when the donor has been declared clinically dead. Unfortunately, despite advances in medical science, the definition of “death” is not clear cut. Should it be based on brain death or cardiac death criteria? If heart function can be restored (albeit in another person’s body) after the death has been declared, was there a chance that it could have been restarted in the donor’s body to revive him/her? How long should we keep a loved one on life support?

I advocate organ donation and I have an organ donor card. I also have 2 young children and I only hope I wouldn’t be in the position to choose between giving up on my child to save another child’s life. Or have my child in an organ waiting list for that matter. But life is not always fair and these scenarios can happen to anyone.

To Kaylee’s and Lillian’s parents, I wish you all the strength and courage in your trying times.

It’s perhaps one of the most annoying adolescent phrases of the last few years. A boy gets caught cheating on a test–”It’s all good, Miss,” he’ll say to his teacher when she’s upset. A girl busted for shoplifting tells her friends, “It’s all good,” when they ask about what happened.

But the truth is that it’s NOT all good. In fact, according to the Josephson Institute’s 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, our kids are not good at all.

After surveying 30,000 students in private and public high schools across the U.S., researchers learned that our kids are not only more troubled than ever, but their consciences are clear about it.

“Not my kid” think most parents. Well, chances are–yes, it is your kid. And I hate to say it, but kids in the religious schools were in the bottom of the barrel. OK, so most of us have told little lies, things we can’t even remember. We try not to. But when it comes to important things, the kind of lie that you have to think about, most adults wouldn’t do it. But our kids would. In fact 83% of them (and that’s just the ones who will admit it) say that they have lied to their parents about something SIGNIFICANT! They even get a little cheeky about their dishonesty. 26% of them said they lied on at least one of the survey questions! Of course, the gender breakdown shows that boys are worse liars than girls, either that or they are more honest on surveys.

OK, so maybe you don’t think a lie now and then makes them a moral failure. Does cheating? 64% of American teens cheated at least once this year. But if you’re in the midwest, take heart–”only” 59% of your kids cheat. As a former high school teacher, I know that a huge number of kids don’t even consider some of their actions to be cheating. They’ll protest that a friend “helped” them with their homework, meaning they copied word-for-word the last five questions they didn’t finish. Sadly, the highest rate was among kids in private religious schools.

Here again, you may say, “Well, I cheated on a couple of tests, but I turned out fine.” But were you a thief? Now, let me be fair and say most kids are not admitting to stealing. But way too many of them are quite willing to admit their klepto tendencies. Overall, about 1 in 3 of them take things from relatives, friends–and stores.

But it’s all good. When asked how they feel about their own character, they feel pretty good about themselves. Especially when compared to the wretches they call friends. 77% said they are better than MOST of the people they know. But we’ve been telling them for years that they need to follow their own hearts and moral compasses, and not compare themselves to anyone else. That must be why 93% said they are satisfied with their personal ethics and character.

Just think, these are the leaders of tomorrow. I am not entirely surprised about the cheating thing, having been in the public schools for twelve years. But I was so disheartened by the results. I know it’s just one survey, but it was a huge sample. And this Institute has repeated this research, and the results are getting worse every time. I look at my precious baby girl and wonder what am I going to do to steer her away from what almost EVERYONE around her is doing?