By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 18:09 EST, 15 May 2012 | UPDATED: 01:37 EST, 16 May 2012

Men’s sperm count could be reduced by exposure to chemicals in the environment, new research has suggested.

A rise in IVF treatments could be down to the effect of chemicals such as cosmetics, detergents and pollutants.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with academics in Edinburgh, the James Hutton Institute, the University of Aberdeen and INRA in France, think the chemicals affect a certain subset of men.

Sperm count among men could be reduced by exposure to everyday chemicals, new research has found

The researchers looked at the testicles of sheep that had been exposed to a range of chemicals that humans encounter in everyday life. They found abnormalities that could result in low sperm counts in the testicles of 42 per cent of the animals.

The changes were not the same in all affected individuals and they were not obvious from the size of the testicles or from the concentration of male hormones in the blood.

The year-long experiment saw 12 sheep grazed on land that had solid human waste applied to it. The animals’ mothers were also grazed there, meaning the sheep were exposed throughout their life cycle.

Abnormalities: The scientists found that male sheep exposed to everyday chemicals that humans encounter could have lower sperm counts

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Sperm count among men 'reduced by exposure to chemicals in the environment'

Public release date: 16-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-022-636-464 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

The world’s leading event in reproductive medicine is less than two months away. The field is one of the most exciting in journalism – and ESHRE’s annual meeting one of the best sources of news and feature material. This year’s event in Istanbul promises to be as scientifically and clinically strong as ever.

More than 8000 of the world’s leading experts in reproduction are expected this year. More than 1700 abstracts of new research were submitted for selection, and the very best of them, selected by an independent scientific committee, will be presented in public for the very first time in Istanbul.

ESHRE welcomes journalists to the meeting, and a serviced press room with support materials, wifi connection and daily press conferences will be available. Registration is free to bona fide journalists on presentation of official press credentials.

ESHRE’s media policy requires accreditation with a recognised press card or commissioning letter from an editor confirming the assignment. Before seeking registration, you should check ESHRE’s media policy, which is accessible at http://www.eshre.eu/ESHRE/page.aspx/1553.

Registration in advance is recommended, but journalists may register on site provided that press credentials are provided with a formally recognised press card and/or a commissioning letter from a recognised media organisation. Business cards are not acceptable.

The official congress language is English, although press releases will be available in English and Turkish. There are no simultaneous translations.

You can download the registration form at http://www.eshre.eu/ESHRE/page.aspx/1553. Once completed, you can fax or email it with a scanned copy of your press credentials to:

Christine Bauquis ESHRE Communications Co-ordinator Fax: +32 (0) 2 269 56 00 Email: christine@eshre.eu Tel: +32 (0) 2 263 64 64 Mobile: +32 (0) 499 25 80 46

Original post:
European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 28th Annual Meeting — Istanbul

IVF clinics in the UK are practising aggressive fertility treatments that are putting women and children at unjustified risk, experts say.

The commercially driven industry uses unnecessary procedures, high doses of powerful drugs and risky interventions to help desperate couples spending thousands of pounds to conceive.

But a milder, safer approach to IVF could provide equivalent success rates over a longer period at a lower cost and could enable the NHS to double the number of patients treated for the same budget. The UK is lagging behind other countries in adopting the approach, the experts say.

Professor Geeta Nargund, head of reproductive medicine at St George’s Hospital, south London, told a conference in Copenhagen that there was increasing evidence that the standard method of IVF used in the UK, involving stimulating the ovaries with high doses of drugs to produce large numbers of eggs for harvesting, was detrimental to the health of women and caused chromosomal abnormalities in the resulting embryos.

“High-dose stimulation can have distressing side effects on the woman, the most serious of which is called ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS). This condition in its severe form is potentially fatal and women have died,” Professor Nargund told the conference. She added: “A recent confidential inquiry into maternal deaths in the UK showed that OHSS was now one of the biggest causes of maternal mortality in England and Wales.”

There were almost 30,000 cases of OHSS which can cause chest pains shortness of breath and, in rare cases, kidney failure and death between 1991 and 2007 in the UK, according to figures obtained from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

“There is no doubt that women subjected to this kind of stimulation are at serious health risk and yet the HFEA appears to hide behind a confidentiality clause when it comes to releasing clinical complications,” Professor Nargund said, speaking at the congress of the International Society for Mild Approaches in Assisted Reproduction, of which she is president.

IVF has grown increasingly popular over the last two decades with 45,000 women treated in the UK in 2010. The use of less toxic drugs to stimulate the ovaries, known as “mild” IVF, produces fewer eggs and a lower pregnancy rate per cycle. But it means recovery is quicker and patients can repeat the treatment within a month. Standard IVF takes months to recover from.

Clinics in Scandinavia, Belgium, Holland, France, Canada, Japan and South Korea have adopted mild IVF, but, in the US and UK, high-dose IVF is preferred.

“The aim should be to do no harm to the mother and the child. If we continue with expensive, aggressive, old-fashioned IVF it will exclude too many from treatment. We could double the number of patients treated at no extra cost and the complications would be less,” Professor Nargund said.

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IVF clinics accused of putting money before safety

“This condition in its severe form is potentially fatal and women have died. A recent confidential inquiry into maternal deaths in the UK showed that OHSS was now one of the biggest causes of maternal mortality in England and Wales.

“There is no doubt that women subjected to this kind of stimulation are at serious health risk.”

Figures obtained using freedom of information laws from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) showed that there were almost 30,000 cases of OHSS – which can cause chest pains, shortness of breath, and in rare cases, kidney failure and death – between 1991 and 2007 in the UK, The Independent reported.

In 2010, 45,000 women were given IVF treatment in the UK.

Using “mild” IVF with less toxic drugs to stimulate the ovaries produces fewer eggs and a lower pregnancy rate per cycle but means recovery is quicker and women can repeat the treatment within a month, whereas it takes months to recover from standard IVF.

While clinics in Scandinavia, Belgium, Holland, France, Canada, Japan and South Korea use mild IVF, the high-dose version is favoured the US and the UK.

Professor Nargund said: “The aim should be to do no harm to the mother and the child. If we continue with expensive, aggressive, old-fashioned IVF it will exclude too many from treatment.

“We could double the number of patients treated at no extra cost and the complications would be less.”

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Women and babies 'put at risk by aggressive IVF'

CAMBRIDGE, England, May 12 (UPI) — A British fertility company targeting female students at the University of Cambridge, offering $1,205 to egg donors, is “unacceptable,” critics say.

Leaflets were distributed at the campus urging women to become “real-life angels” for couples unable to have children, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

The ads, written by fertility company Altrui on behalf of an unnamed couple who graduated from Cambridge, said, “We are looking for a real-life angel to be our egg donor. If you are compassionate, kind, healthy and between 18 and 35 years old, could you help us? We can imagine no greater gift than the chance to love a child.”

Students found the leaflets two weeks ago at the beginning of their summer semester.

Altrui’s Web site says egg donors “will be able to feel justifiably proud of yourself” as it “marks you as one special person.”

Altrui is a profit-making company that charges infertile couples $2,089 to locate donors.

The company’s site states it is illegal for women to be paid for egg donation in the United Kingdom, but “compensation” is permitted given the potential risks, including death in rare cases, associated with drugs donors must take to stimulate egg production.

“In recognition of the inconvenience, commitment and time given by an egg donor in going through the donation process, they [the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority] raised the maximum compensation to 750 pounds ($1,205). This came into effect on April 1, 2012.”

Alison Bagshawe, who founded Altrui with her husband two years ago, said the couple the flyers were made for were granted permission from Cambridge’s student union and all Cambridge colleges except one to distribute the flyers on campus.

“There are couples who are desperate to have someone find them a donor and I can’t afford to do it for nothing. I have to pay a mortgage and eat,” Bagshawe said. “I find the donors and support them going through treatment, then send them to licensed centers who take over at that point.”

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Fertility firm targets Cambridge students

By Jo Macfarlane

PUBLISHED: 20:04 EST, 12 May 2012 | UPDATED: 20:04 EST, 12 May 2012

MPs are to demand a Government inquiry into the safety of the most popular form of IVF which has been linked with a higher risk of birth defects.

More than 20,000 couples in Britain last year used the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedure.

But now a member of the Commons Health Select Committee is to recommend an investigation into ICSI after the biggest ever study found babies conceived using it may be twice as likely to be born with an abnormality.

Crucial moment: A single sperm is injected directly into an egg in ICSI treatment

This could force the fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), to examine its extensive database on ICSI treatments in the UK for evidence to support restricting its use.

To date, the database one of the largest in the world, with information dating back 20 years has not been used to assess if there is a link between ICSI, which accounts for 52 per cent of all IVF treatments, and birth defects.

The study that raised the alarm was based on data from Australia.

See the article here:
MPs demand inquiry into risks of most popular IVF after it has been linked with higher risks of birth defects

Students at the university found the leaflets stuffed in their pigeonholes at the beginning of the summer term two weeks ago.

They informed recipients that the couple looking for potential donors were unable to have children because of a rare genetic disorder that causes repeated miscarriages.

The leaflets were produced by Altrui, an egg broking company based in Hawes, North Yorkshire which was established two years ago by Alison Bagshawe, 56, a former NHS fertility counsellor, and her husband.

The firms website says those who agree to donate will be able to feel justifiably proud of yourself as it marks you as one special person.

Altrui is a profit-making company that charges infertile couples 1,300 to try to find donors. It makes clear it is illegal for women to accept any payment for egg donation in the UK but goes on to highlight that compensation is permitted given the potential risk to those coming forward. Donors have to take drugs to stimulate egg production, and complications may cause death in rare cases.

The firms website adds: In recognition of the inconvenience, commitment and time given by an egg donor in going through the donation process, they (the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) raised the maximum compensation to 750.This came into effect on April 1, 2012.

Last night Mrs Bagshawe revealed that the Cambridge couple who had approached her firm had asked if they could distribute the leaflets themselves.

She added they had obtained permission from the students union and all Cambridge colleges except one and that so far two women had responded.

She told the Daily Mail: There are couples who are desperate to have someone find them a donor and I cant afford to do it for nothing. I have to pay a mortgage and eat.

I find the donors and support them going through treatment, then send them to licensed centres who take over at that point.

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Cambridge students targeted by fertility firm

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Egg-brokering company slammed for targeting Cambridge Uni girls

View original post here:
Cambridge Students Asked To Be Egg Donors

By Neil Sears and Jenny Hope

PUBLISHED: 16:02 EST, 11 May 2012 | UPDATED: 18:32 EST, 11 May 2012

Read all about it: The leaflet from Altrui that was distributed to Cambridge University students

Thousands of Cambridge students have been targeted by a firm offering up to 750 to egg donors.

Leaflets were stuck in their university pigeonholes, making an emotional plea to help a couple unable to have children.

It said: We are looking for a real-life angel to be our egg donor.

The development appears to be a result of an increase in the amount of compensation that can be given to donors, and may confirm fears of a rise in egg brokers profiting from dealing in human lives.

The targeting of elite students also raises concerns about attempts to create superbabies.

Last night critics warned that young women are often unaware of the risks of egg donation, and a fertility expert said the firms tactics were unacceptable. Donors have to take drugs to stimulate egg production, and complications may cause death in rare cases.

At the beginning of the summer term two weeks ago, Cambridge students found the companys leaflets stuffed in their pigeonholes, asking: If you are compassionate, kind, healthy and between 18 and 35 years old, could you help us? We can imagine no greater gift than the chance to love a child.

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Fertility firm offers Cambridge University girls £750 for eggs

Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Zaryah Leverson, 7, releases a chick to see what it will do on the colorful rug in her first-grade classroom at Herman L. Horn Elementary School. The class project let students incubate eggs and monitor the results.

Madeleine Wolters-Argenio holds a newly hatched chick in her first-grade classroom at Herman L. Horn Elementary School on Thursday morning. The fertilized eggs came from a hatchery in Blackstone.

Twenty-four eggs labeled with X’s and O’s for turning in the incubator resulted in 19 hatched eggs for teacher Kathleen Lunsford’s class.

The first-graders in Kathleen Lunsford’s classroom at Herman L. Horn Elementary School may have settled the age-old debate about which came first, the chicken or the egg. Sort of.

At this Roanoke County school, the egg arrived first actually two dozen of them, fertilized at a Blackstone hatchery. And three weeks later there are 19 peeping chicks in the school’s first-grade classrooms.

The “Beginning of Life” embryology program is made by possible by the Cooperative Extension 4-H office that serves Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.

The students “learn so much,” said Lunsford, who ran the classroom project for the first time last school year. “By the end of this, they never forget it.”

Lunsford uses the “Chickscope” curriculum posted on a University of Illinois Web page. It looks at the day-by-day development of the embryo and provides 21 days of lessons.

“When we first heard we were going to get chicks, we were excited,” said Hayden Fairtrace, 7.

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First-graders get 19 fluffy lessons in embryology – www.roanoke.com

Published: Fri, May 11, 2012 @ 12:01 a.m.

By Robert K. Yosay

Waffle, a duckling hatched in the biotechnology class at Choffin Career and Technical Center, takes in his surroundings from his perch in a students hand.

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

There comes a time in every parents life when he or she must release their young ones into the world to fend for themselves.

Students in the biotechnology program at Choffin Career and Technical Center got some early exposure to that, sending off to live on a farm a chick and a duck they watched hatch.

Juniors Isis Hilson and Deja Sharafan cuddled the small birds.

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Choffin students bond with birds

BUDA The inhabitants of Laurie Bitting third-grade classroom at Bureau Valley South are a noisy bunch.

First it was the clicking, and then the pecking, and now the cheep, cheep, cheeps are coming non-stop.

Of course, thats what happens when youve got almost 30 baby quail in your classroom.

Bitting has incubated chicken or duck eggs in her classroom for about 12 years, but this year she decided to do something different.

So I got on eBay and found some eggs from Oklahoma, she said.

The eggs arrived and were ready for the incubator on April 13. Bitting said the incubator must be kept humid and set at 99.5 degrees for the 18-day period.

Oh, and one other thing.

You have to turn them an odd number of times every day, Bitting said. I turn them when I get to school, I turn them when Im leaving school, and then I come late at night. If you do it an even amount of times, its going to be on the same side every night for the longest period of time, and then you can get deformities.

The students were kept busy watching and learning about the eggs.

Everybody has their own embryology folder in their desk, and they keep track of what day it is in incubation and whats being formed inside the shell that day, so they know what day the beaks being formed and the pin feathers and the scales on the legs, Bitting said.

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With a peep, peep here …

/sci-tech/article/44366

A brain-development gene found exclusively in humans has an unusual evolutionary history and could contribute to what makes us distinctly human. Equally surprising, this is a partial gene created from an incomplete duplication of its parent gene in the prehistoric human genome. The incomplete duplication of the gene may account for its behavior. This may have been some ancient error which was reproduced successfully. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid containing the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of living organisms. The DNA segments carrying this genetic information are called genes. Likewise, other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.

Gene duplication is an important driving force in creating physical changes in living things during evolution, explained the researchers studying the SRGAP2 gene family. The paper is published in the May 4 advanced online edition of Cell. It is one of a pair of papers on this gene.

The human (Homo sapiens) genome is stored on 23 chromosome pairs and in the small mitochondrial DNA. Twenty-two of the 23 chromosomes belong to autosomal chromosome pairs, while the remaining pair is sex determinative. The haploid human genome occupies a total of just over three billion DNA base pairs.

“Our data point to a mechanism,” Dennis (one of the authors)explained, “for the partial gene interfering with the function of its ancestral gene.” Instead of taking a while to settle, this mutation started working, according to Dennis, immediately at its birth some 2 million to 3 million years ago.

The timing of the duplication coincides with evolutionary changes in the brain anatomy in species of the genus Homo. The partial gene also was discovered in the genomes of the Neanderthals and Denisovans, who bore remarkable resemblance to humans. The gene duplicates are not found in chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans or in the genomes of any other mammalian species.

The period of this partial duplication even corresponds to the transition of the slender, upright African pre-human primate genus, Australopithecus, to the larger-brained genus, Homo.

“While the appearance of this mutation during that era of primate evolution is exciting, we should be careful to avoid implying cause-and-effect relationships,” Dennis cautioned. Many other human-specific gene mutations, environmental conditions, social interactions and other contributing factors were at play.

Scientists from several fields, including embryology and the neurosciences, are interested in how this human specific gene mutation works. Using mice, researchers previously showed that the SRGAP2 gene has a role in fetal development of the cortex, where thought, spatial reasoning and other higher brain activities reside.

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The Development of the Human Brain

Results of the medical boards are in.

Brittany Lewis, a UC Davis third-year medical student and the single parent of a 5-year-old boy, checked her results Wednesday. She did not pass.

“I’m stunned,” said Lewis, 25, who has always done well in school.

Lewis logged on to her computer that morning to see how she did on the United States Medical Licensing Exam, a seven-hour test known as the medical boards. The USMLE is considered the first major step on the journey to becoming a doctor.

“I kept staring at the computer to see if it was right,” said Lewis, whose story was chronicled April 17 in a Bee article. Lewis scored three points below passing.

In 2010, about 8 percent of students at medical schools in the United States and Canada failed the test, according to the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Of an average 105 UC Davis medical students who take the test every year, four or five fail, according to Fred Meyer, executive associate dean of the UC Davis Health System.

Lewis is disappointed but is already thinking about what she needs to do next. “I chose an extremely difficult field, and it’s even more so for a single parent, because I don’t have as much time to study,” Lewis said. “But I’m going to keep going. My goals haven’t changed.”

Later this month, Lewis will travel to Texas to take an intense, three-week test preparation course.

She will focus on hematology, cardiology and embryology. “Those were the subjects I did well on during practice tests but not on the exam,” Lewis said. “I think I was worried about time and I just rushed through them.” She will take the test again in July.

Excerpt from:
Despite hard work, single mother fails medical school test

By 2050, global food production will have to double. To meet this demand, youth will need to understand agriculture and have careers as scientists focused on this issue.

Fifth and sixth graders from across eastern Colorado are learning some of the science, technology, engineering and math that provide the foundation for agriculture in the 21st century. More than 1,200 youth participated in AgFest last week in four locations: Lamar, Hugo, Brush and Sterling.

Ag Fest is a part of a CSU Extension effort and national 4-H effort to create one million new scientists in the United States by 2013. It is focused on the important STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills that are needed in the future in our country and globally. Eastern Colorado extension agents developed Ag Fest according to Janice Dixon, CSU Extension Agent.

The day long workshop, held locally at NJC, demonstrates the importance of STEM in agriculture and other agriculture-related careers. The program provides students with information on 10 different agriculture science topics, including how agriculture global positioning satellites (GPS) work, how ruminants convert grass to human food, dairy production, embryology, microbes and bacteria,

Ground Water, a presentation by Bruce Fickenscher was just one of the ten agriculture and science offerings a AgFest 2012 last week at NJC. The event is sponsored by area businesses coordinated through the CSU Extension offices. (Judy Debus/Journal-Advocate)

Ag Fest is sponsored by 21st Century Equipment, Premier Farm Credit, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi Breds, Points West Community Bank, Jake’s Feed, LLC, Koberstein Farms, Jack’s Bean Company, LLC, Burlington Conservation District, High Plains Bank of Flagler, Colorado Corn, Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee and Grainland Cooperative.

These sponsors are helping CSU Extension tell the story about how important learning STEM skills are to the next generation of agriculture producers and the associated businesses and industries.

Ag Fest started when local county clientele, sponsors and extension agents saw the need for youth to understand the importance of the science behind food production. Eastern Colorado extension agents and specialists are contributing to this effort.

Taking part in the local presentation were Mick Livingston, AgFest coordinator and 4-H/Youth livestock agent in Burlington; Jamie Axtell, program associate from Akron; and Megan Jedlicka, agent from Sterling, in the butter-making presentation; Dennis Kaan, area director from Akron; and Travis Taylor of Hugo presenting Power and Simple Tools; Ron Meyer, agronomy agent, Burlington, presenting Plant Science with Alan Helm; Brooke Mathew presenting Honey Bees; Bruce Fickenscher presenting Ground Water; Lacey Mann presenting Microbes; Michael Fisher presenting Ruminant Digestion; Anne Casey and Marlin Eisenach presenting GPS; Casey Matney presenting Range Science and Jolynn Midcap and Kindra Plumb presenting Embryology.

Connie Cecil, state curriculum specialist, also assisted with the presentations along with Janice Dixon, Evaluation; and John Deering, ag econ specialist, Program Support.

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Students learn the science of agriculture at 2012 AgFest

I whacked sperm the other day. In a scientific sort of way.

I was in an embryology lab using a microscope to spot them and a skinny pipette to bop them on their heads. My job, or really my pretend job: to stop a few sperm in their tracks as if I were a real embryologist capturing one and cramming it into an egg.

It was shockingly enervating, more than any other lab work I’d ever tried. I was like the queen bee taking charge of an army of little worker bees. I’d eye one, usually a straggler, trail it with my pipette, and whack! I’d stun the thing.

“Don’t hit, just brush them,” the embryologist told me.

In real life, embryologists slow sperm as part of a process called Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, or ICSI for short. That’s when a single sperm is injected into an egg. After practicing with foul, bunnies, and other farm animals, a Belgian team reported the birth of the first human baby by ICSI in The Lancet in 1992. Since then, hundreds of thousands of babies have been born using the technique. In the early days, fertility experts resorted to ICSI when they believed that none of the sperm in the batch would be able to crack into the egg without a lot of extra guidance. Nowadays, they use it in more cases than not: ICSI accounts for upwards of two-thirds of all the test-tube baby cycles in America, according to the most recent statistics of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

In my longtime utter fascination with all things sperm and egg, I had written about the original Belgian feat, and after that I wrote about concerns that ICSI babies would come out damaged (they don’t), and I also wrote about the nitty-gritty details of the process, such as how the egg is cracked to allow the sperm to penetrate. Funny thing is that after all of these years and interviews galore, it never dawned on me that you would have to catch the sperm in the first place. But it makes so much sense.

You can’t put a wiggly sperm into an egg. First of all, how would you? It’s only natural to slow the thing down. (Or actually, quite unnatural.) And secondly, if you shove an entire moving sperm into an egg, the entire egg explodes. Scientists discovered that when they were tinkering with sea urchins, long before the Belgian human success story.

If “you send this projectile thing into the egg, it’s just like putting a bomb into the egg, and you kill if from the inside with a sperm,” explained Dr. Orhan Bukulmez, reproductive endocrinologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the author of a sperm review article in the February 2012 issue of Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The tail, moving this way and that for, possibly, hours, damaged all egg’s innards. Ironically, an intact sperm cannot fertilize an egg. You have to dismantle the sperm’s outer membrane, its sheath, something that typically happens when sperm and egg are left to their own devices. This disrobing process is one of the mysteries of childbirth, a crucial step necessary to excite the egg. They have to do it so that the two of them can start the next process: getting their genes ready for fertilization. In other words, just plunking a fully formed, intact sperm is not going to fertilize an egg. So ultimately in these early experiments, as you can imagine, the egg didn’t fertilize.

Scientist first attempted to put just a sperm head into an egg using a human freeze-dried sperm head and a hamster egg. The point, of course, was not to create tiny humans addicted to exercise wheels but just to see if the sperm DNA got into the egg and began to unravel, the first step toward fertilization. That’s called “spotting the pronucleus.” (Ultimately, sperm DNA would combine with egg DNA, creating, once again, a full set of 23 chromosome pairs in humans, but scientists weren’t waiting for that to happen, this time. To combine DNA — the goal of mating, on a microscopic scale — requires that the partners be from the same species.) They saw what they needed to see, so they moved on to other mammal trials, eventually putting human sperm into human eggs.

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Randi Hutter Epstein, MD, MPH: How to Tame Wild Sperm

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School Ag programs show growing interest in farming

Big Brother Big Sister collecting donations

Big Brother Big Sister will collect clothing donations door to door in Plympton Monday, April 30, and in Halifax Tuesday, May 1. They ask while you clean out your closets this spring to consider donating your unwanted goods to Big Brother Big Sister. To schedule a pick up, call 800-483-5503 or visit www.bbbsfoundation.org. All donations are tax deductible.

Halifax Board of Assessors property inspections

HALIFAX The Assessors Cyclical Property Inspections, which began in April 2011, will continue throughout this year and are now concentrating on Oak Street and Oak Place, Dartmouth, Radcliffe Terrace, Harvard, Brandeis Circle, Princeton, McClelland Road, Colby Drive, Crystal Lake Road and Spring Street.

Inspections will be done between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday by a member of the assessors office who will carry proper identification and be driving a car registered with the police department. For any questions regarding this project, call the assessors office at 781-293-1721.

Brownie Troop collecting food items

HALIFAX Halifax Brownie Troop 81268 is collecting nonperishable food items for the Halifax Helping Hands food pantry through the end of April. The Brownie troop has been working on a Girl Scout leadership-building project this year called a Journey and has chosen to help people in their community by doing this food drive. Donation boxes are located in the Elementary School Lobby and at the entrance to the Holmes Public Library. Helping Hands has had an increase of patrons, so help out by donating what you can. The Brownies hope to donate over 400 items.

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BRIEFLY: April 27