Embryo donation parents' attitudes towards donors : comparison with adoption

BACKGROUND: Embryo donation produces a family structure where neither rearing parent is genetically related to the child, as in adoption. It is not known how embryo donation parents view the donors compared with how adoptive parents view the birth parents. METHODS: 21 couples with an embryo donation child aged 2–5 years were compared with 28 couples with an adopted child. Parents were administered a semi-structured interview, assessing knowledge of the donors/birth parents, frequency of thoughts and discussions about the donors/birth parents and disclosure of the donor conception/adoption to the child. Comparisons were made between mothers and fathers to examine gender differences. RESULTS: Embryo donation parents generally knew only the donors’ physical characteristics, and thought about and talked about the donors less frequently than adoptive parents thought about and talked about the birth parents. Embryo donation fathers tended to think about the donors less often than did mothers. Disclosure of the child's origins in embryo donation families was far less common than in adoptive families (P < 0.001 for mothers and fathers), and was associated with the level of donor information (P < 0.05 for mothers, P < 0.025 for fathers). CONCLUSIONS: Embryo donation parents’ views on the donors differ from adoptive parents’ views on the birth parents, with donors having little significance in family life once treatment is successful

Embryo donation families : a follow-up in middle childhood

Couples who conceive using donated embryos rear a child to whom they are genetically unrelated. It has been suggested that this may have negative consequences for parenting and child development. Findings are presented of the 2nd phase of an exploratory study of families with a child conceived through embryo donation. Seventeen embryo donation families with a 5- to 9-year-old child were compared with 24 adoptive families and 28 in vitro fertilization families. The quality of the mother's parenting and the child's social and emotional development were assessed using standardized interviews and questionnaires administered to mothers and teachers. Embryo donation children were not at increased risk of psychological problems during middle childhood, and the families were generally functioning well. However, higher emotional overinvolvement of embryo donation parents was found, along with more reluctance to disclose the method of family creation. These preliminary findings are discussed in terms of implications regarding the importance of genetic and gestational relationships between parents and children

Finding and using exact solutions of the Einstein equations

The evolution of the methods used to find solutions of Einstein's field equations during the last 100 years is described. Early papers used assumptions on the coordinate forms of the metrics. Since the 1950s more invariant methods have been deployed in most new papers. The uses to which the solutions found have been put are discussed, and it is shown that they have played an important role in the development of many aspects, both mathematical and physical, of general relativity.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX2e, aipproc.cls, invited lecture to appear in the Proceedings of ERE05 (the Spanish Relativity Meeting), Oviedo, September 2005, to be published by the American Institute of Physics. v2: Remarks on black hole entropy corrected. Other minor change

Hollywood and student learning

During second semester 1997 we undertook a project to ascertain how the use of Hollywood feature films with historical content affected students' learning of twentieth century American History. Questionnaires, reflective journals and interviews were used to gauge the impact of films on student learning. In this Research Vignette we will report on our findings

A Euclidean Bianchi Model Based On S3/D8∗S^3/D_8^*

We explain how the round four-sphere can be sliced along homogeneous 3~-~manifolds of topology $S^3/D_8^*$. This defines a Euclidean Bianchi type IX model for Einstein's equations with cosmological constant. The geometric properties of this model are investigated.Comment: 15 Pages, Plain-TeX, no figure

Static Axisymmetric Einstein Equations in Vacuum: Symmetry, New Solutions and Ricci Solitons

An explicit one-parameter Lie point symmetry of the four-dimensional vacuum Einstein equations with two commuting hypersurface-orthogonal Killing vector fields is presented. The parameter takes values over all of the real line and the action of the group can be effected algebraically on any solution of the system. This enables one to construct particular one-parameter extended families of axisymmetric static solutions and cylindrical gravitational wave solutions from old ones, in a simpler way than most solution-generation techniques, including the prescription given by Ernst for this system. As examples, we obtain the families that generalize the Schwarzschild solution and the $C$-metric. These in effect superpose a Levi-Civita cylindrical solution on the seeds. Exploiting a correspondence between static solutions of Einstein's equations and Ricci solitons (self-similar solutions of the Ricci flow), this also enables us to construct new steady Ricci solitons