Egg Donation Brokers: An Analysis of Agency Versus in Vitro Fertilization Clinic Websites

Objective: To compare websites of agencies that broker the services of women who provide human eggs for in vitro fertilization versus clinics that recruit egg providers. Study design: We examined 207 websites, of which 128 were egg provider agency 40%) or clinic (60%) websites that recruited providers online. We compared them regarding several variables related to adherence to American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) guidelines. Results: According to their respective websites, agencies were more likely than clinics to mention ASRM guidelines, be located in the West/Pacific, indicate compensation, offer a fee range, set their minimum > $5,000, specify preferable traits, cap provider age at 31, require an education minimum, allow both parties to meet, discuss short-term risks, and not acknowledge a possible cancer risk. Only 25.5% of agencies and 19.5% of clinics mention psychological/emotional risks, and 11.8% and 5.2%, respectively, mention risk to future fertility. Conclusion: This research, the first to systematically compare several key aspects of egg provider agencies versus clinics, suggests it significant differences in adherence to guidelines, raising several concerns and suggesting needs for consideration of improved monitoring and regulation by ASRM or others

Recruiting egg donors online: an analysis of in vitro fertilization clinic and agency websites' adherence to American Society for Reproductive Medicine guidelines

Objective: To examine compliance with ethical guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) regarding trait-based payment variation, presentation of risks, and minimum recruitment age. Design: In June 2010, we systematically examined 207 websites, of which 102 were egg donor agency or IVF clinic websites that both recruited online and displayed compensation amounts. Setting: The Internet. Patient(s): None. Intervention(s): Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure(s): Mention of increased payment for particular donor traits, recruitment age less than 21 years, noting risks to donors. Result(s): Of the 102 sites, considerable numbers were noncompliant with ASRM's guidelines that prohibit varying compensation based on a donor's traits (34%), and recommend an age of 21 years or older (41%), and presentation of risks alongside compensation (56%). Trait-based payment variation was associated with being an agency rather than a clinic, location in the West, not being endorsed by ASRM or Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), and referring to ASRM's guidelines about compensation. Of sites mentioning traits, prior donation success was the most commonly paid for trait (64%). Conclusion(s): Our data, the first to systematically analyze agency and clinic websites reveal that many do not follow ASRM's guidelines. These data have critical implications for policy, practice, and research, suggesting needs for consideration of possible changes in guidelines, and/or improvements in compliance and monitoring by ASRM or others

The Lantern Vol. 49, No. 2, Spring 1983

• Time • The Lantern, 1933-1983 • The Battle • Lady Number 9 • That First Night • Wavering • If I Dared • The Hack • The Beauty of a Rose • H2O • The Island • Library • Unicorns • Prisoner of Myrin • How The Universe Was Won • On Success • I, The Poethttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1122/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 50, No. 1, Fall 1983

• Reaching for My Dream • All Hail • Appreciation • Egotism • Me (Dedicated to...) • Butterfly • Balloon and Bird • Never Again • Mother • The Deaf Ears • Healing • Distress • Silent Death • Whose Reality Is It Anyway? • To Helen • Luna Llena y Soledad • Saved • Jenny • Slope • A Poem in C Minor • A Birth of Proficiency • The Traveling Man • Competing With the Sea • To R. • The Child • And Besides • An Actress\u27 Demise • A Loving Tribute to Francis • Rapunzel • Memorieshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1123/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 50, No. 2, Spring 1984

• The Storm • Je ne sais pas • The Ghetious Blastious • An Empty Cradle • The Playing Hands • Battle Hymn • A Limerick • Parting Thoughts • The River • Miss You • De la Tristeza • Two So Special • Time of the Unicorn • The Absence • Thru The Breeze • Is the World Really a Round Ball? • Brother • To Michael • Gravity • Refuge • Der Witwer • Plastic Flowers Never Die • Book on the Shelfhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1124/thumbnail.jp

MAKING ANIMALS ALCOHOLIC: SHIFTING LABORATORY MODELS OF ADDICTION

The use of animals as experimental organisms has been critical to the development of addiction research from the nineteenth century. They have been used as a means of generating reliable data regarding the processes of addiction that was not available from the study of human subjects. Their use, however, has been far from straightforward. Through focusing on the study of alcoholism, where the nonhuman animal proved a most reluctant collaborator, this paper will analyze the ways in which scientists attempted to deal with its determined sobriety and account for their consistent failure to replicate the volitional consumption of ethanol to the point of physical dependency. In doing so, we will see how the animal model not only served as a means of interrogating a complex pathology, but also came to embody competing definitions of alcoholism as a disease process, and alternative visions for the very structure and purpose of a research field

Shorter spontaneous fixation durations in infants with later emerging autism

Little is known about how spontaneous attentional deployment differs on a millisecond-level scale in the early development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We measured fine-grained eye movement patterns in 6-to 9-month-old infants at high or low familial risk (HR/LR) of ASD while they viewed static images. We observed shorter fixation durations (i.e. the time interval between saccades) in HR than LR infants. Preliminary analyses indicate that these results were replicated in a second cohort of infants. Fixation durations were shortest in those infants who went on to receive an ASD diagnosis at 36 months. While these findings demonstrate early-developing atypicality in fine-grained measures of attentional deployment early in the etiology of ASD, the specificity of these effects to ASD remains to be determined

The effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for anxiety in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Anxiety is a common problem in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This meta-analysis aimed to systematically evaluate the evidence for the use of psychosocial interventions to manage anxiety in this population. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was the primary intervention modality studied. A comprehensive systematic search and study selection process was conducted. Separate statistical analyses were carried out for clinician-, parent-, and self-reported outcome measures. Sensitivity analyses were conducted by removing any outlying studies and any studies that did not use a CBT intervention. A subgroup analysis was performed to compare individual and group delivery of treatment. Ten randomised control trials involving a total of 470 participants were included. The overall SMD was d = 1.05 (95 % CI 0.45, 1.65; z = 3.45, p = 0.0006) for clinician- reported outcome measures; d = 1.00 (95%CI 0.21, 1.80; z = 2.47, p = 0.01) for parent-reported outcome measures; and d = 0.65 (95%CI -0.10, 1.07; z = 1.63, p = 0.10) for self-reported outcome measures. Clinician- and parent-reported outcome measures showed that psychosocial interventions were superior to waitlist and treatment-as-usual control conditions at post-treatment. However, the results of self-reported outcome measures failed to reach significance. The sensitivity analyses did not significantly change these results and the subgroup analysis indicated that individual treatment was more effective than group treatment. The main limitations of this review were the small number of included studies as well as the clinical and methodological variability between studies

Enhancing studies of the connectome in autism using the autism brain imaging data exchange II

The second iteration of the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE II) aims to enhance the scope of brain connectomics research in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Consistent with the initial ABIDE effort (ABIDE I), that released 1112 datasets in 2012, this new multisite open-data resource is an aggregate of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and corresponding structural MRI and phenotypic datasets. ABIDE II includes datasets from an additional 487 individuals with ASD and 557 controls previously collected across 16 international institutions. The combination of ABIDE I and ABIDE II provides investigators with 2156 unique cross-sectional datasets allowing selection of samples for discovery and/or replication. This sample size can also facilitate the identification of neurobiological subgroups, as well as preliminary examinations of sex differences in ASD. Additionally, ABIDE II includes a range of psychiatric variables to inform our understanding of the neural correlates of co-occurring psychopathology; 284 diffusion imaging datasets are also included. It is anticipated that these enhancements will contribute to unraveling key sources of ASD heterogeneity