bioZhena venture

bioZhena’s technology platform is bound to revolutionize women’s healthcare with diagnostic tools for women and their doctors & payers.

Empower women with clear menstrual cycle data vs. drugging healthy women & the iatrogenic consequences.

This is the first (sex-life management) application providing a superior (definitive) tool with which to tackle the ever-growing difficulty of getting pregnant when planned. And using the same tool for hormone-free, non-interventional, pregnancy avoidance. And, making available the 5th vital sign menstrual cycle profile signature to physicians when needed, for better diagnosis and management of health issues.

Also unprecedented and important for public health is our way of monitoring inconspicuously at the same self-check time the woman’s cervical health – at home. This will work in the background of the primary process, not bothering the user unless a tissue aberration is detected consistently several months in a row. This way of innocuous screening, and its affordability, should significantly improve on the Pap smear screening test.

Explore the few slides including the links in some of them: https://biozhena.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/new-mostly-narrated-slides-2017-03e2.pps

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But perhaps – especially if you are a male reader – you may feel that a daily (or almost daily) insertion for the quick self-check is too much to expect of a woman keen on knowing her daily fertility status plus the additional benefits of the routine?

Then our next generation telemetric cervical ring iteration of the same smart sensor is the answer for you. She and her doctor will have a choice.

See the image of a slide and click it to view the slide, grasp the significance:

https://biozhena.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/single-slide-friendly-tech-with-cervical-ring-ovulograph.pps

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But then my gynecology colleague would argue that the other major healthcare front is even more important. Namely, our way of providing to the women’s healthcare professionals access to the menstrual cycle vital sign longitudinal records, which Dr. Kim likened to the cardiologists’ ECG recordings – but with the important advantage of being affordably and routinely generated by patients at home (and saved in the sensor).

This other major front is providing to the healthcare system the means of obtaining a handle on the management of gynecologic and obstetric medical issues that require better diagnostic evidence for more effective and preventative therapies. In brief, we are answering the call and challenge to “Improve the methods and criteria to assess ovulatory dysfunction” (per R.S. Legro MD, 2013), and more.

Current modalities to diagnose preterm labor cannot detect the early biochemical changes of the cervix which result in dilation that leads to preterm births. Once the advanced signs of preterm labor are found, remedies to stop it are often futile and always costly for the healthcare system ($26B annually in USA alone), and frequently have adverse long-term consequences for the prematurely-born child and the family.

https://biozhena.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/impedence-beyond-cervical-length.pdf

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The bioZhena technology will alert the women-users and their healthcare providers on a timely basis to the onset of pregnancy-related conditions such as normal and preterm labor. And the immediate detection of pregnancy, whether intended or unintended, is automatic with the primary routine use of the home-use smart sensor. That is a notable advantage over the current home pregnancy tests!

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Summing up, read an overview Feasibility of the Planned Range of Ovulona™ Applications

https://biozhena.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/feasibility-of-the-planned-range-of-ovulona-applications1.pdf

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And here is now the financial pro forma aspect of bioZhena’s breakthrough non-interventional approach to women’s healthcare.

5-year pro forma assuming $6M funding (5-year Business Plan Summary Financial Projections)

Or, better,

10-year projections:

Minimum Viable Product Scenario (MVS) and Full Value Scenario (FVS)

For better legibility click https://biozhena.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/comparison-mvs-cf-fvs.pps

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From bioZhena’s pitch on EquityNet:

Women’s personal sex-life management tool for the Information Age.

Generating diagnostic vital-sign profiles for doctors and payers.

This first app of proprietary cervical sensor has FDA clearance.

Income from it will support further breakthrough applications.

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The gist of the bioZhena women’s healthcare breakthrough is this:

We monitor the brain – sex organs feedback loop.

Nobody else does.

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See the illustration below. Grasp the significance: The market offers you anything other than what’s needed, which is the monitoring of the feedback brain – ovary interactions.

“To mitigate the startup investment risk, the first app is an already FDA-cleared electronic fertility monitor for women at home…

Our electronic technology platform is bound to revolutionize women’s healthcare with diagnostic tools for women and their doctors & payers.

… will provide for non-interventional reproductive management, aiding conception and natural birth control without hormones, and automatically detecting pregnancy – planned or accidental. …

We will offer early detection of cervical cancer and other STDs as a built-in screen performed innocuously in the privacy of one’s home – automatically in the background of the primary monitoring…

Ovulona™ tracks the female reproductive cycle via the end-organ effect of the brain-ovary feedback loop on the uterine cervix. Numerous benefits ensue…”

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This is a screen shot of slide 4 from a 5-slide set https://lnkd.in/ed9yXUX

(slides take a few moments to open).

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Contra Nescience Contra Insouciance (SM 2015)

The Home Page of bioZhena’s Weblog offers further particulars (click the link, which translates as “Against Ignorance Against Indifference”)

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And yours truly bioZhena founder seeks a well-matched management partner of either gender.

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End of the year, and trying to get pregnant

Now, at the end of the year, …

“…Josef Lada did far more than illustrate the Hasek’s Good Soldier Svejk novel, and his idealized paintings of carol singers and family gatherings are, for many in this country, an enduring symbol of Czech Christmas.” http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/josef-ladas-paintings-an-enduring-symbol-of-czech-christmas/pictures/obrazy/lada-josef/vanoce.jpg

…the stat counters monitoring the visits to the posts of bioZhena’s Weblog show something that I want to share with you. Namely: The most visited blog posts at this time of the year are those addressing the issues involved in trying to conceive (the flip side of natural birth control). Those blog articles exhibit distinctly higher viewing statistics than the stats of the posts on other topics of reproductive health – whereby some of those topics exhibit a different seasonality of increased interest.

If you wish to put this in context and review the situation out there, outside of bioZhena’s Weblog, read the attached paper Google evidence of increasing prevalence of subfertility.

A couple of examples of the bioZhena’s Weblog titles most visited at this time of the year:

The fallacy of ovulation calculators, calendars and circulating-hormone detectors = https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-fallacy-of-ovulation-calculators-calendars-and-circulating-hormone-detectors/ Don’t let them lead you by the nose with likely this and probable that! You need to know for sure.

Critique of birth control efficacies in NFP as published by Marquette University researchers = https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/critique-of-birth-control-efficacies-in-nfp-as-published-by-marquette-university-researchers/ Comments on a report of two studies http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/cmr_winter-spring09.pdf – they report on what we will call peri-ovulation methodologies.

Some women email me, while some “like” certain Ovulona pages or bioZhena’s Weblog posts.

Citing from one such email: “I am a 41 year old nulliparous woman in good health (with a few minor issues). I have been TTC for 1 year without success and came across Ovulona by accident during a Google search for how to optimise my fertility.”  TTC stands for Trying To Conceive, a standard acronym in the community of sub-fertility sufferers. Or even infertility sufferers – those who have not conceived while trying for longer than a year. (Re: Medical definitions of sub-fertility and infertility.) Nulliparous means no children, medical adjective for women having no previous births.

You know, my dear reader, that the optimal age for conception and motherhood is 20 to 24 years, after which fertility starts declining, and it drops a lot after 35 years of age. Should this be news to you, read The perils of IVF, of ARTs, of giving birth at old maternal age . “About epigenetic evidence that should make you think twice+ before you contemplate In Vitro Fertilization and think that having a baby can wait. The bottom line? Be a young mother!”

And from another reader’s email: “Please let me know if there is any way to buy an Ovulona or to use one for trial purposes.”

In response, I can only explain – apologetically, suppressing frustration – that we do not have any Ovulona units available because we have not yet manufactured the marketable product, due to lack of capital. Then, attempting a little more positive note, I remind the would-be Mums about what some experts call “focused intercourse” – that is focusing on trying to hit the fertile window. In the absence of the Ovulona, this must be done preferably with more than one of the several available methods (several, because they are unreliable, inaccurate – don’t rely on any one of them alone). And I urge you to also avoid stress…

Although the old imperfect methods (including instrumental monitoring of urine samples and/or of the BBT) give only inaccurate estimates, they should help to focus on the right time when the probability of conception exists. Outside of the fertile window you don’t have a chance to conceive.

Here is to illustrate two such imperfect methods in comparison with ours (where our Ovulona not only anticipates but also detects ovulation, which detection is all important): https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/cervix-uteri-and-seven-or-eight-related-things/marquette-comparison-with-lh-kit-and-peak-mucus-2/ .

In this record of a 42-years old woman, our device detected delayed ovulation on cycle day 17, while two other methods estimated ovulation from day 16 to day 18. This lack of precision and accuracy is not at all good for natural birth control and/or for trying to achieve fetal gender pre-selection (= trying to conceive specifically a boy or specifically a girl). But, with such inaccurate methods, which are available now before we bring the Ovulona into the market, you can see here that you might be fortunate and hit on at least a part of the fertile window. In this example (because of the ovulation delay), the LH-indicated days 16 and 17 were fertile days because the sperm are viable for about 3 days. Perhaps even day 18 may have been a fertile day, if the ovum (egg) lived long enough, and depending on when exactly on day 17 the detected ovulation occurred (morning or evening?). Such uncertainties will be removed by properly designed experiments with the properly designed Ovulona.

This record from a comparative study shows how the old ovulation prediction methods are unreliable, because the two used here predicted ovulation for 3 different days – but the record may also serve to illustrate for you that (and how) you may be lucky and hit at least one of the fertile days. Here, in this record, ovulation was detected – not merely anticipated – by the Ovulona prototype. It was detected on the day of the second urinary LH indication, which is here one day before the esoteric Peak mucus of NFP aficionados; they did not use the BBT in this study. None of the old techniques detects ovulation: they predict it or, in the case of the BBT, indicate that ovulation has occurred.

There are only 3 days in each menstrual cycle during which pregnancy can occur, and it will if you are fortunate. The 3 fertile days are the day of ovulation plus the two days immediately before ovulation.

I’ll now write a long sentence full of the word “trying”, with several connotations. Repeat after me (and grasp what follows): Trying to determine the 3 days of the fertile window without the Ovulona is pretty much impossible, but trying for it – or at least some of it – is better than trying completely in the dark.

That’s because the 3-day fertile window varies, it does not stay put on certain days of the menstrual cycle from one cycle to the next. Check out this earlier bioZhena post for evidence that this is so. See evidence generated by other experts years or rather decades ago – when they hoped that microcomputer-assisted basal body temperature [BBT] monitoring would solve the problem.

From a graph such as the one above, it is evident that to determine the fertile days before ovulation is more difficult than estimating the last fertile day, which is the day of ovulation. This difficulty is a well recognized fact, and it’s not a matter of whether ovulation is or is not delayed by stress of one kind or another. The stress-caused delay (or even complete suppression) of ovulation is one of the things that complicate management of reproductive life.

Now for the encouragement: Maybe, the idea of not being completely at the mercy of chance when trying to conceive a baby, might even help you to be less stressed out about it at a time when celebrating the end of the year (and looking back and looking forward – along with all that Christmas rush) leads to an increased level of stress anyway.

Josef Lada’s idyllic take on Christmas activities in the countryside and in the city, that is to say, in Czechoslovak towns of his day. There, a fish meal on Christmas Eve was and still is one of the traditions, although the country is now two (and good friends). The fishy thing was apparently based on the belief that fish scales symbolize the prospect of money next year to the eater. Maybe some of us should not have turned our nose up about this fish thing… Then the capital for the Ovulona might not have been so slow coming! Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

Perhaps the focus idea may help you not to be stressed out about the thing which is supposed to be pleasurable and not a chore. Suppose that between now and some time in January/February (in the course of the long winter evenings, “za dlouhych zimnich veceru”) you’ll get your focusing organized. You surely will get over the holidays, too… Then, with a bit of happiness, relaxation and luck, come next October you will have the kind of happiness you wish for! And you’ll thus contribute to the birth/delivery statistics for October…

Josef Lada’s calendar illustration for October (c. 1940s)

In this picture, Josef Lada illustrated, long time ago, the characteristics of the month of October. Among them is the rut of the elk, which had given the month its name in the artist’s language. Way back, in those days – the pre-contraceptive Pill days, years and centuries – the difficulty to become pregnant was not a widespread phenomenon, and Mums were  younger than many are nowadays.

The evolution of subfertility and infertility (as a big-time societal phenomenon) in the U.S. is summarized based on data from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005074.html#ixzz2GBMSkUKy  [Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc.] in the next post.

Why too many young and not so young ladies could NOT receive flowers on Mothers’ Day: Why so many trying-to-conceive, why so much infertility

Say thank you to the social and medical advances of the twentieth century – primarily those of chemical birth control, the Pill.

Yes, chalk it to the great advancements! Sarcasm aside, indisputable developments in society and in medicine have resulted in the present state of affairs.

Incidentally, “Mothers’ Day (with the plural) is how it was spelled in the U.S. congressional resolution first recognizing it, 9 May 1908”. That was before all this started, before Margaret Sanger wrote “What Every Girl Should Know”, before she started a radical feminist monthly “The Woman Rebel”, and released 100,000 copies of “Family Limitation”. It was before “her confrontational style attracted even greater publicity for herself and the cause of birth control.”

Margaret Sanger
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/secure/aboutms/index.html
She wanted to liberate women.

Some years later, in the late 1920s – early 1930s, the Japanese Dr. Kyusaku Ogino (Professor at Niigata, Japan) and Dr. Hermann Knaus in Austria (University Women’s Clinic in Graz, Austria) independently discovered that women can conceive only during a brief period “in the middle of the menstrual cycle” [The Eugenics Review: Volume 28, 1936]. But – while this was the fundamental discovery of the menstrual cycle – pretty much right away there was the similarly fundamental criticism that “the so-called safe period of Knaus and Ogino offers very small protection indeed”.

That was because, for reproductive management, “the theories of Knaus and Ogino have not yet been proved sufficiently reliable for us to recommend the so-called safe period as a method of contraception…” although, “if the theory is correct, there will be more likelihood of impregnation at this time.”

Ngram 11 showing the number of English-language books with the phrase Knaus and Ogino between the years 1900 and 2008 (the latest year of available data; at smoothing 3 )
http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Knaus+and+Ogino&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3
The second, higher, peak is indicative of the relationship between the practical failure of Ogino and Knaus and the inception of the oral contraceptive pill, which provided the answer to the failure.              (For the record, the following 2008 books give good reviews of the Ogino-Knaus story in the history of reproductive management: http://books.google.com/books?id=sqwMrennRsQC&pg=PA205&dq=%22Knaus+and+Ogino%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=39uzT5uYKeWq2QXGmrDpCA&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Knaus%20and%20Ogino%22&f=false     AND     http://books.google.com/books?id=RmpMZ7K2L3YC&pg=PA142&dq=%22Knaus+and+Ogino%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JsiyT6zXCKbM2AXf3-DpCA&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Knaus%20and%20Ogino%22&f=false   —    found via   https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Knaus%20and%20Ogino%22&tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1997,cd_max:2008&lr=lang_en)

Then again, “there is a good deal of evidence to prove the existence of these fertile and sterile periods”, and an author in 1945 “gives his opinion that the period during which the mammalian egg is susceptible to fertilization may be measured”.

It was eventually – only in recent years – recognized that the extent of the fertile period should be only 3 days, and that the basic practical problem was the variability of the menstrual cycle, essentially of the follicular (“proliferative”) phase, the one before ovulation.

However, at the time we were not around with the Ovulona™ to measure the fertile period, and Mrs. Sanger’s zeal took her in the direction of a “magic pill”. In view of the failure of the first effort at natural approach to reproductive management, the so-called rhythm method, her direction is not too surprising because it was the time of great pharmaceutical advances. The chemists had the bandwagon of steroid chemistry to ride and Dr. Gregory Pincus had pioneered in vitro fertilization in the rabbit, for which he was not admired but more or less ostracized.

“In 1953, Margaret Sanger and Katharine McCormick (a heir to major millions of dollars) confronted Pincus with the idea of creating an oral contraceptive”, and the rest is history – of the Pill. History of the oral contraceptive pill and the ensuing sexual revolution. Do check out under P (Pill, the) in the Alphabet of bioZhena, and don’t miss also under M the article about “Mysterious conceptions (OR THE NONEXISTENCE THEREOF)”.

And then – now – there are the consequences of the Pill, one of which translates as the absence of the mother status in the lives of many women desiring motherhood. Those who are unsuccessfully trying to conceive, and so the bouquets of Mothers’ Day are only for their Moms.

Look how there was no infertility and no IVF before contraception. See the blue curve of infertility in the bottom graph, and the green curve of IVF in the top graph of books plotted against the years of the 20th century. See how they go up only years after the rise of contraception (bottom) and after birth control and family planning (top).

Ngrams 12 and 3 together showing the number of English-language books with the phrases birth control, family planning and IVF (Ngram 12, top) and contraception and infertility (Ngram 3, bottom)
between the years 1900 and 2008 (the latest year of available data; at smoothing 3 )
Ngram 3 data from http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=birth+control&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3 , and Ngram 12 data (note: twice as high amplitude, top graph) from http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=birth+control%2Cfamily+planning%2CIVF&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3

I have discussed the consequences of the steroid chemical contraception technology in several posts in this bioZhena’s Weblog. The consequences are numerous because of the far-reaching significance of tinkering with reproductive physiology – consequences for women’s health, and for public health.

Far-reaching consequences because the naturally occurring and functioning hormones, which the contraceptives tinker with, are essential for the functioning of the female organism, for the well-being of every woman.

Check out the Table of Contents = links to bioZhena posts. See, for example:

About atrophy, reproductive aging, and how it’s really not nice to fool Mother Nature – or with (For people outside of NFP [Natural Family Planning] because NFP people know this already)

The perils of IVF, of ARTs, of giving birth at old maternal age. (About epigenetic evidence that should make you think twice+ before you contemplate In Vitro Fertilization and think that having a baby can wait. The bottom line? Be a young mother!)

Difficult to conceive – Google evidence that pregnancy complications and trying-to-conceive concerns shot up after the Pill launch in 1960s (Regardless of what contraceptive proponents tell you)

Along the way to the unfortunate consequences of the anti-ovulation, anti-conception Pill and its modifications (modified methods of delivery of the chemicals into the female organism) there has been the effort to replace the calendar or rhythm method with different means of prediction of the ovulation day. I am referring to Natural Family Planning (NFP) and/or to the somewhat more recently labeled Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs), one of which is the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) itself. Fertility awareness – as opposed to the calendar – is key.

Some proponents will include NFP within FABMs and, of course, define NFP as requiring sexual abstinence during the fertile phase (aka fertile window) of the menstrual cycle; as opposed to FAM, which is defined as the use of a barrier method of contraception (such as a condom) during the fertile phase (fertile window).

Either way, the extent of the fertile window has always been THE major issue or rather the issue has always been the need for accurate and reliable determination of the fertile days. Only our Ovulona can determine the mere 3 fertile days due to the lifetimes of the sperm and of the ovum, egg. No other technique can.

Natural Family Planning or more broadly the FABMs cannot win if they continue to rely on what I have called (politely) the peri-ovulation methods of guesstimating the fertile window.

Whether used to assist conception or to avoid it, ovulation calculators, calendars and circulating hormone detectors will not do.

Scientific Fertility Assessment™ based on Follliculogenesis In Vivo™ is the only way to stop the unhealthy chemicalization of reproductive health management.

Gil Bruvel, Relative Time (1993)
http://www.liveinternet.ru/tags/surrealism/page7.html
An interesting title. Each woman has her own biological clock, which responds to her circumstances in every individual menstrual cycle. That is why there is no such thing as cycle regularity (despite the long-held simplistic belief to the contrary).
In 1970, Dr. Hugh J. Davies of Johns Hopkins University told the US Senate in the Nelson Hearings about the contraceptive Pill: “Never before in history have so many people taken such powerful medication with so little information as to its actual and potential risks. …With the introduction of such active ingredients, we are actually setting up a massive endocrinological experiment with millions of healthy women.”

Natural family planning was a significant refinement of the fundamental discovery of Ogino and Knaus, developed as an alternative to the artificial chemical contraception. For decades the NFP proponents, along with OBGYNs and birth control advocates, erred on the (off-putting) long side of guesstimating the fertile window from various signs of the approach of ovulation.

Before it was officially – and incorrectly – decided in 1995 that there were 6 fertile days (all before and including the ovulation day), the period of abstinence required by NFP was advocated as at least 10 or 13 days long. A bit too much, to say the least – and, naturally, without monitoring the variable pre-ovulation phase to quantitatively anticipate ovulation, the failure rate was too high for birth control.

Logically, the same goes for “the other side of the coin”, for conception and pregnancy achievement. Again, please see certain other posts in this blog for more – you’ll recognize the pertinent articles in the table of contents.

One example of such a post is “Major studies decades ago revealed variability of menstrual cycles” (But people are still naïve about the basic cause of the difficulty to achieve pregnancy).

The NFP and FABM approaches to birth control have managed to avoid being nicknamed “the Vatican roulette” – unlike the rhythm/calendar method of Ogino and Knaus, the pioneers of the fertile and sterile periods who discovered the menstrual cycle.

However, without our Ovulona™ the NFP and other fertility awareness methods are not reliable and, despite the NFP popularity in numerous countries, they are not any more suitable for birth avoidance than “the Vatican roulette”. Without the definitive determination of the fertile days, they are not approved for avoiding conception, and tend to be utilized for aiding conception.

That’s because, in the proceptive use (promoting conception), the methods’ lack of reliability only translates into an extended time of trying to conceive rather than into an unwanted pregnancy. Only!

Fertility awareness tends to be utilized for aiding conception by “focused intercourse” because of the high prevalence of the difficulty to conceive. And the “focus” is about all that those methods do, which helps – even if at least half is misfocused, if you take my meaning, if you see what I mean. The probability of conception increases with focus on the fertile window of opportunity. That’s fundamental, too.

People have a hard time accepting that getting pregnant is not as easy as expected, when they finally decide to want a baby – usually way too late, and after her use of the Pill. The drug makes healthy young women in their best years to postpone family- baby-making, it damages their cervical S-crypts thus causing difficulty to conceive and, by encouraging promiscuous sex life, it has caused an enormous increase in the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases that also lead to infertility. Not just a double whammy, a triple whammy on womankind.  Sad, sad, sad.

The underlying principle of the predicament of unfulfilled yearning for a baby is highlighted in the second half of the caption accompanying the Toyen painting just below – an image of futile waiting. (Highlight extracted as the briefest of summaries from https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/difficult-conception-tied-to-pregnancy-complications-addressed/.)

 

Toyen, Spící (1937)
http://kultura.idnes.cz/podivejte-se-jak-vypada-marne-cekani-od-toyen-ktere-se-drazi-za-20-milionu-1ak-/vytvarneum.aspx?c=A090312_102133_vytvarneum_jaz
The painting’s title means Sleeping. The title of the referenced source, a media article, says : Look what futile waiting by Toyen looks like…
See Description of the image file for more about Toyen: https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/why-too-many-young-and-not-so-young-ladies-could-not-receive-flowers-on-mothers-day-why-so-many-trying-to-conceive-why-so-much-infertility/toyen-spici-1937/
It is not likely that Toyen would have had this in mind, but I present her art to highlight the predicament of unfulfilled yearning for a baby.
To highlight this:The chances of becoming pregnant are critically dependent on whether the insemination (natural or artificial) occurs at the right time, within the fertile window. This is because the probability of pregnancy is a combination of four individual probabilities:    1. Probability of being in good health,    2. of successful insemination,    3. of not miscarrying the conceptus (early embryo), and    4. the probability of correct timing of the baby-making intercourse. For example, a 60% success rate of correct timing brings the overall probability of pregnancy down to a mere 36%, and this goes down to a mere 30% if correct timing probability is only 50%, in healthy fertile couples – assuming the probability #3 (not miscarrying the conceptus) at an optimistic 75%. Even if the probability of determining the insemination time correctly were 90%, the resulting probability of successful pregnancy from any one particular insemination event would be only 55%. Get this! Only 55% under perfect ideal conditions, which include a young healthy unstressed woman.

Advanced age of the would-be Mum works against her on account of the Mother Nature’s Probabilistic Rules and Regulations of Baby-Making: Good health and successful insemination probabilities are degraded whereupon the strict Natural Eugenicist [i.e. Mother Nature] suppresses the conceptus.

So that, most often, the hCG pregnancy marker does not even have a chance to be detected – after the nerve-wracking 2-week wait – by the not-so-young Mum-candidate’s HPT [Home Pregnancy Test].

Needless to say that, all the more the not-so-young motherhood aspirant needs to enhance the fourth element of the equation, the probability of correct timing of the hoping-for-baby sexual intercourse.

And all this because the young lady used the Pill during the years best suited for baby-making, and as a consequence she is not-so-young any more. It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature! Or with…

Therefore, I conclude this blog post by disputing the positive and admiring message in the concluding paragraph in the above-cited article “The Birth of The Pill”. They write: “Margaret Sanger dreamt of the idea of a birth control pill since she was a young woman. If she wasn’t confined to the boundaries of her time, she and McCormick could’ve researched and funded The Pill without the help of any male doctors or scientists. Unfortunately, the society that they lived in would not allow them to do so; they did go as far as they could. Many of their achievements go unnoticed, but both women were really the leading forces behind the development of The Pill.” QUOTE UNQUOTE.

Yes, indeed, Margaret Sanger and Katharine McCormick were the leading forces in the inception of chemical contraception. Driven by a social, political agenda (with “can do” in lieu of the needed biomedical insight), they imposed on women, and hence on humankind, a simple-minded solution “as simple as taking an aspirin”. But, then… the consequences … among them an enormous increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted infections, contributing to the epidemic of infertility.

And that’s only for openers, as the saying goes. Referring to https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/the-perils-of-ivf-of-arts-of-giving-birth-at-old-age-part-2/: Detrimental effects on the offspring and – via epigenetics – on the health of future generations. Iatrogenic medicine kicking Hippocrates where it hurts the most. Also, therefore, quite the opposite effects with respect to the eugenic vision of Mrs. Sanger. Ironic, isn’t it.

Stress and fertility: How stress affects the inherently narrow fertile window

This blog post appears as the third result in Google search on “bioZhena” (without the quote marks). The complete title is:

Stress and fertility

How stress affects the inherently narrow fertile window

To read the whole post, click on either of the antique-book images or on Reblogged from bioZhena’s Weblog:

Before you go there, here is a little update. New research into stress and fertility was published since I wrote the blog post in December 2007, and here is a summary of an article titled “Stress puts double whammy on reproductive system, fertility” (see http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/06/15/stress.puts.double.whammy.reproductive.system.fertility ).

 

QUOTE: The new research shows that stress also increases brain levels of a reproductive hormone named gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, or GnIH, discovered nine years ago in birds and known to be present in humans and other mammals. This small protein hormone, a so-called RFamide-related peptide (RFRP), puts the brakes on reproduction by directly inhibiting GnRH.

The common thread appears to be the glucocorticoid stress hormones, which not only suppress GnRH but boost the suppressor GnIH – a double whammy for the reproductive system. END QUOTE

 

Unlike any other fertility monitoring technology, bioZhena’s Ovulona™ is a Smart Sensor™ in vivo monitor of folliculogenesis. Unlike any other fertility monitor, the Ovulona is basically involved with the always-present stress responses – through monitoring certain end-organ effects on folliculogenesis. The other techniques monitor only this or that circulating hormone – not good enough. The end-organ effect(s) is what counts.

 

Again, to read the whole post, click on either of the antique-book images or on Reblogged from bioZhena’s Weblog

 

For a 2012 update go to What is the mechanism of stress and how does it affect reproduction. An update. And: Be a young mother! (Ovulona™-related published scientific findings by others about disruption of fertility, about PCOS or Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, how stress suppresses ovulation, about the hypothalamic amenorrhea of stress and postpartum blues/depression, about a CRH placental clock which determines the length of gestation and the timing of parturition and delivery, and the role of CRH in premature labor. How old age affects folliculogenesis as a stressor. Even how acute stress may induce ovulation in women.)

bioZhena's Weblog

Please click through to the 2019 revision of this post at

https://biozhena.wordpress.com/stress-and-fertility-fertile-window-ovulation/

How stress affects the inherently narrow fertile window

Stress can do unwanted things to a woman and her menstrual cycle. In a nutshell, stress can make a woman completely infertile in this menstrual cycle (e.g., LPD, see below), or it can change the timing of her fertile window (the time of ovulation included) within the menstrual cycle. Any of this can cause problems and lead to more stress…

The medical term is stress response, and it refers to the overall reaction of the organism to any adverse stimulus, whether it be of physical, mental or emotional kind, internal or external. The purpose is to adapt to challenge, and this goes on all the time. (C’est la vie! Real life is a never-ending series of stress responses.) Should the compensating reaction of the organism be inadequate or inappropriate, a…

View original post 1,455 more words

Difficult to conceive – Google evidence that pregnancy complications and trying-to-conceive concerns shot up after the Pill launch in 1960s

Regardless of what contraceptive proponents tell you

On this day when Vaclav Havel passed away. In this post, I come out explicitly with an argument against the use of contraceptive pills and related agents (all Endocrine-Active Compounds [EACs]), because of the serious consequences of the sex steroid chemicals for women’s health. I start with evidence from Google statistics.

It is possible to examine the English-language literature for the frequency of addressing certain topics over a period of time. I already did this in the recent post “Seven billion people – after half a century with the Pill”.

Let’s look at data from Google Ngram Viewer about the statistics of the occurrence of certain topics (such as difficult birth) in all books published in English. The data is obtained via http://books.google.com/ngrams/info – for anyone to examine.

Briefly, when we enter phrases into the Google Books Ngram Viewer, it displays a graph showing how frequently those phrases occurred in a corpus of books (here English-language books) over the selected years (here 1900 to 2000). The data is normalized by the number of all books published in each year.

Here we have a comparison of statistics of three phrases:

pregnancy complications (blue),

difficult birth (red), and

trying to conceive (green).

Ngram 6: pregnancy complications, difficult birth, trying to conceive

The topic of difficult birth exhibits an almost linear growth over the century, even though there are discernible steps in the early years such as the step that followed the plateau (flat portion) lasting from about 1915 to just before 1930, when it “shoots up to catch up with” the overall trend. And, overall, the red curve grows steadily from 1900 to 2000.

In contrast, the blue curve of pregnancy complications and the green curve of trying-to-conceive both shoot up only after 1960, the decade of the introduction of the contraceptive pill. The steep rise in pregnancy complications books (blue) starts soon after 1960. The rise in the number of books about trying-to-conceive (green) starts in mid-1970s and is also distinctly faster than the steady growth over the century of books on difficult birth (red), although it is slower than the pregnancy complications that started going up some ten years earlier.

Of course, the green trying-to-conceive curve is not uninteresting in the early decades of the century, either, if only because it appears that the late Victorians had a significant interest in the topic, much higher than in the other two and especially as compared to pregnancy complications (blue). I’ll leave any discussion of the trend there to others, although the downward trend in the first half of the century would seem consistent with the rise of the birth control movement and with the consequences of two World Wars, and the Great Depression in between.

Peter Paul Rubens, Allegory of War, c. 1628

Those two generations had it tough but, on the other hand, their health, the health of humankind, was not yet assaulted by the sex-steroid chemicals that were introduced in the 1960s.

In a previous bioZhena’s Weblog post, you can see evidence that oral contraceptive use directly and negatively impacts the cervical crypts, which brings about the difficulty to conceive. The bottom line is this: “After 3 and up to 15 months of contraceptive pill use, there is a greater loss of the S crypt cells than can be replaced.” The S crypts are needed for conception.

To further cite Professor Erik Odeblad: “Complications arising from the use of the Pill are very frequent. Infertility after its use for 7-15 years is a very serious problem. S crypts are very sensitive to normal and cyclical stimulation by natural estrogens, and the Pill causes atrophy of these crypts. Fertility is impaired since the movement of sperm cells up the canal is reduced. Treatment is difficult.”

This is a serious problem because, according to medical literature, most American women, “approximately 85% of U.S. women will use the OC (oral contraception) for an average of five years.¹ However, women’s OC use, similar to other chronic medications, is often inconsistent and transient.² Reported six-month OC discontinuation rates vary from 18% to 50%.^3,4,5 Unintended pregnancy often follows OC discontinuation” END OF QUOTE. (Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2007 April; 196(4): 412.e1–412.e7)

These data can be read and understood as the double-whammy put on or dealt to American reproductive and public health. That is the high prevalence of trying-to-conceive problems (sub-fertility and infertility) and at the same time the very high rate of unintended pregnancies.

Lion_Hunt_Mosaic in Pella

zb.jpg

While many proponents of chemical contraception minimize or gloss over the side effects of contraceptive chemicals, it is known that “OCPs (oral contraceptive pills) have several known metabolic effects including increased production of clotting factors resulting in increased risk of venous thromboembolism, increased gallstone formation during the first year of use, and increased risk of liver adenomas (Speroff and DeCherney 1993)” – cited from Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2008 October; 4(5): 905–911 (paper from University of Vermont College of Medicine and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Women’s Health Care Services)

That said, studies mainly focus on side effects such as amenorrhea, the incidence of breakthrough bleeding and spotting, compliance, discontinuation rates or patient satisfaction, headaches, genital irritation, tiredness, bloating, and menstrual pain.

To cite from said medical publication “Evaluation of extended and continuous use oral contraceptives”, Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2008 October; 4(5): 905–911 QUOTE [emphasis mine]:

In a normally menstruating woman who is not taking contraceptive hormones, progesterone is only present in appreciable quantities during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle [meaning: after ovulation], after the development of the endometrium. When combination OCPs are administered, the effect of the progestational agent takes precedence over the estrogen component in the reproductive tract, and the endometrium demonstrates this progestin effect (Moyer and Felix 1998). The result is a thin, decidualized (transformed) endometrium with atrophied glands that is not receptive to embryo implantation. Progestins also cause thick, impermeable cervical mucus, preventing sperm from reaching the uterine cavity, and also decrease tubal mobility, altering the movement of sperm and oocytes through the fallopian tube (Johnson et al 2007; Rossmanith et al 1997) END OF QUOTE.

This is consistent with the Erik Odeblad findings about the fine structure of the cervical tissues. http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/18/9/1782

Edward_Burne-Jones_Maria_Zambaco_1870

Further to the examples of studies about the mainly short-term effects of chemical contraception, here are examples of published findings about the harmful long-term effects of the sex steroid chemicals administered to healthy women. This is not a systematic review, merely a couple of examples.

BONE HEALTH:

The conclusion of “Effects of Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate and 20 μg Oral Contraceptives on Bone Mineral Density” [Obstet Gynecol. 2008 October; 112(4): 788–799]is as follows:

QUOTE Use of very low-dose OCP (Oral Contraceptive Pill) may result in a small amount of bone loss. DMPA (depot medroxyprogesterone acetate) use results in greater bone loss, but this is largely reversible at the spine. Use of very low-dose OCPs after DMPA discontinuation may slow bone recovery.

As a result, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in 2004 advising women to limit its use to ≤2 years.

Oral contraception (OC) containing only 20 μg ethinyl estradiol (EE) may also adversely affect bone health, especially if used during adolescence. END OF QUOTE [emphasis mine].

HEART HEALTH:

According to J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 November 9 (Published in final edited form as: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 August; 92(8): 3089–3094), “whether OCP use in healthy young women is associated with increased CV (cardiovascular) risk is controversial. However, a recent meta-analysis of 14 studies showed that current use of low-dose OCPs increased the risk for myocardial infarction by 84% (37). More data are available regarding CV risk associated with estrogen/progestin use in older women… The Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study showed an early increase in events and no benefit overall in women with known CV disease, and the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trial demonstrated an increase in CV events in healthy women (38, 39).” END QUOTE.

René Boyvin, The rape of Europa, c. 1545-55

In Greek mythology Europa (Greek Ευρώπη Eurṓpē) was… seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a bull, who breathed from his mouth a saffron crocus^[14] and carried her away to Crete on his back… and so see Wikipedia for the whole story. Oh, and should this not be clear, the metaphor here pertains to the man-made OCP [Oral Contraceptive Pill] accomplishment…

Max Beckmann, The rape of Europa (1933)

Returning to Odeblad’s results on the consequences of the Pill for the cervix uteri, that is on how contraceptive chemicals make it difficult to conceive later – and reiterating the take-home message put forward previously in “About atrophy, reproductive aging, and how it’s really not nice to fool Mother Nature – or with”:

Natural aging of cervical S crypts (= cervical aging of a woman never pregnant and never on the Pill):

S crypts, which are needed for conception, are down to 20% at 40 years of age, at the natural aging rate -2% per year. Here you have the reason why a too mature age leads to sub-fertility and to infertility. My remark: The optimal age for motherhood has always been and always will be the early twenties of a woman’s life.

Atrophy acceleration effect of 10 years on the Pill:

S crypts are down to mere 10% at 40 years of age. Here is why it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, why it’s not good to mess with her design. Fertility is drastically reduced. The Pill is an archetypal anthropogenic Endocrine-Active Compound [man-made EAC]. It was brought up previously in this blog how there are very many of these EACs, all insulting the female body and health; some – like chemical contraceptives – by design. Having invoked the design, I am reminded that the original designers of the Pill had no idea about contraception – they were pushing the frontiers of steroid chemistry… (not this particular application of one kind of steroids).

Atrophy slow-down or beneficial effect of pregnancies:

S crypts only down to 40% at 40 years of age. Here you see Mother Nature’s design in action. Pregnancy slows down the inherent rate of natural cervical aging (atrophy, deterioration). The effect of 4 pregnancies was measured in the Odeblad research. This is not to argue for 4 pregnancies per lifetime – it’s merely how the difference between with and without was made more “easily” measurable in the very difficult studies.

And again, the bottom line is this: “After 3 and up to 15 months of contraceptive pill use, there is a greater loss of the S crypt cells than can be replaced. …S crypts are very sensitive to normal and cyclical stimulation by natural estrogens, and the Pill causes atrophy of these crypts. Fertility is impaired since the movement of sperm cells up the canal is reduced.” END QUOTE.

In case you’d like to view the Carlo Adelio Galimberti picture accompanying the concluding words, please re-visit the cited earlier post. The concluding words were and still would be: While the story of Laodamia and Protesilao is touching, I merely want to ask that girls, ladies and their physicians do not moon the messenger.

P. S.

Vaclav Havel would smile at the image of “mooning” Laodamia. I smile at the thought of his riding the children’s scooter (kolobezka) along Saint Peter’s heavenly corridors (looking for Olga? Since Pani Dagmar remained down there?). He reportedly did that scooter-running in the “labyrinthine” corridors of Prague Castle…

STOP PRESS

And now, go and check out the 2012 post “The fallacy of ovulation calculators, calendars and circulating-hormone detectors” at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-fallacy-of-ovulation-calculators-calendars-and-circulating-hormone-detectors/

Much in women’s health revolves around folliculogenesis – from teen age to peri-menopause

In this article I sketch for you the usefulness of the Ovulona™ Smart Sensor™ throughout a woman’s life, with particular attention paid to the extremes of the reproductive lifespan.

We outline the significance of the cervical tissue biosensor for a woman’s health management from adolescence (the teen years) to peri-menopause. This schematic diagram is a pictorial synopsis of the multi-purpose utility of the Ovulona throughout most of a woman’s lifetime.

As you recall from prior posts on this blog, FIV™ stands for FOLLICULOGENESIS IN VIVO™, which translates as the sequence of menstrual cyclic records that will be captured and stored (automatically saved) in the Ovulona during normal use by a woman at home. The data is available for transfer to healthcare providers’ Ovulograph™ for medical uses during the reproductive years.

The reproductive age is officially defined as 14 to 44 but we’d encourage, for health reasons, to chop off a few years at both ends from the actual reproductive (high end) or sex-exploration activities (low end). When folliculogenesis – i.e. menstrual cycling – ceases in menopause, hormone therapy and cervical tissue health screening are the two components of menopause and post-menopause health management, to which the Ovulona is applicable.

In this article, I address very briefly (tweetingly!) the two “boundary conditions” of said reproductive years.

I’ll deal with the young boundary condition, i.e. adolescence or teen age, in the style popular nowadays especially at that stage of life . That is, I let speak a few tweets.

When you look at the tweetingly referenced papers (click the short URLs below), you will see how the teen cramp sufferer needs our Ovulona. That’s because she must take the anti-inflammatory medication before the ovulation-linked pain hits, otherwise the med would not work. She – or is it you? – must be able to anticipate ovulation. You need the Ovulona. The timing is crucial, similar to the right timing for conception purposes… (Recommended reading: http://endometriosis.org/treatments/painkillers/ = http://to.ly/6ZsS in the #NSAIDs tweet below).

If it’s menstrual bleeding (not ovulation) that pains you, the Ovulona will tell you when you expect that – whether it is ovulation + 14 days or, probably more likely at this young age, ovulation + irregular number of days. You’ll then see on the display your recorded min and max, with respective probabilities the more accurate the longer you’ve used the Ovulona. That’s this app’s meaning of Smart Sensor™ for you! (And that is because we don’t track just this or that hormone in your pee! Or your BBT, or your signs…)

As for the STD screening aspect of those young years, indicated in the pictorial synopsis above, I refer you to the recent posts in this blog; and the sex ed use of the Ovulona – or rather its recorded data and their discussions in classes – is self-explanatory.

But then there is the subject of chemical contraception, the Pill. So, here, a couple of tweets.

A teenage girl has a #dilemma . With the #Pill she brings on herself a significantly earlier #menopause & likely difficulty to #conceive when desired http://to.ly/5f2W

#Menstrual #cramps are bad but don’t allow them – by taking the #Pill – to cause you the much worse #pain of TTC #infertility http://to.ly/5f2W    [TTC = Trying To Conceive. That’s the phrase and acronym used by people who have difficulty getting pregnant.]

http://to.ly/5f2W Even with just 3-15 months of #contraceptive #pill use you suffer greater loss of S crypt cells than can be replaced. Then difficult TTC is likely [S crypts are part of the microscopic structure of the cervical epithelium, of the tissues.]

Here now are those few tweets referring to dysmenorrhea, the menstrual pain which causes so much suffering and so many lost hours at school and/or at work. In this day and age!

#NSAIDs against #endometriosis pain http://to.ly/6ZsS Since you must take the meds BEFORE expected #cramps you need our Ovulona tool to anticipate ovulation http://to.ly/MJS [NSAIDs = Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs]

@bioZhena/fertility    http://to.ly/MJS Why most girls get cramps What goes on there Why & what’s PCOS See it with Ovulona [Obese girls tend to grow into women with PCOS = Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome, the cause of major killer diseases, and often causing infertility.]

Folliculogenesis #InVivo for Why Do Most Girls Suffer With #dysmenorrhea #cramps http://to.ly/MJS #womenshealth #diagnostic #medicaldevice

Ovulona for etiology & management of  #dysmenorrhea Why do teen girls suffer with #cramps?   http://to.ly/MJS #pharma #medtech #medicaldevice [etiology = the cause or origin of a disease]

Re: etiology of adolescent #dysmenorrhea Prostaglandin theory & treatment known since the 1980s. Why are period cramps still so bad?

I leave you and this “boundary condition for Ovulona’s use” with two Google Insights graphs. Look here how the worldwide interest level in the subject of period cramps has been increasing since 2004.

Period cramps worldwide searches from 2004 by Google Insights

Don’t ask me why the recorded public interest is emanating from those particular English-speaking countries and not from numerous others, and look for details at http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0-45&q=period%20cramps&cmpt=q (you can change the selected parameters and observe the effect of the changes).

I merely note the periodicity developing in the data in recent years on top of the clear upward trend, the periodicity indicative of highest interest in summertime (such as in July 2011 as captured in the screen shot in the illustration)…

This trend is, of course, the same in the next graph, where I added dysmenorrhea (red) for comparison. That’s a difficult word, so it is not as much searched on as the colloquial cramps – except for, if you look closely, in (Southeast)Asia.

I’ll now use one more tweet to segue into the other end of the span of reproductive years.

#estrogen can be a good medication but we need #personalizedmedicine tools. We must measure & titrate #hormone uptake http://t.co/CeCsWgn

The following illustration shows that we at bioZhena have the technology with which to do that, i.e. a tool with which to adjust treatment to suit a given female patient.

The illustration is a graph of the effects of estrogen and progesterone monitored with our technology in an ovariectomized pig. Ovariectomy is the removal of the ovaries. It is the animal equivalent of surgical hysterectomy, which causes surgical menopause since the reproductive system no longer produces said sex hormones, the sex steroids estrogen and progesterone.

In the illustrated experiment, the steroids were later given to the animal (after recovery from surgery), and the result was that progesterone drove the sensor signal down versus estrogen drove it up (as seen in FIG. 5 below, excerpted from our patent portfolio). This is a useful finding, for example for monitoring the effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). 

Graph of estrogen and progestagen effects on porcine cervix

We also have the proof of the concept generated by a menopausal woman, using a Premarin treatment in that experiment (Premarin is an estrogen medication used for treating the symptoms of menopause including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, etc.). The data was used in another patent in our portfolio.

Background on menopause, HRT and bioZhena can be found in the early blog post at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/menopause-hrt-and-biozhena/ .

Experts advocate that women in their 30s and 40s should look at menopause now. Health maintenance depends on diagnostic tools. We propose that the preparation for menopause be done – in a simple quick daily routine – by systematically monitoring the Ovulona menstrual cyclic profile, and how it changes over the years. How it responds to pregnancy and birth, to things like diet, exercise, various ills, various medications, stress… in the particular woman user, not some statistical average. For evidence-based personalized health care.

That’s the broader meaning and the purpose of the folliculogenesis cyclic profile generated by the Ovulona. It’s not merely (“merely”!) for helping to get pregnant or for avoiding pregnancy without chemicals, as is illustrated and described in “Pregnancy and birth control how-to by bioZhena” at this Photobucket site. In the third graphic, on this page, see the follicular waves that relate to follicular age, i.e. how fast is menopause approaching, after pregnancies were successfully achieved and then regulated in this Ovulona-guided manner.

This is because the cervix monitors the physiological inputs after conception and after pregnancy just like it does the monitoring before fertilization and before birth. We pick up the diagnostically useful information from this key female organ. We speak of end organ effects.

For a still broader perspective, including symptometric monitoring correlated with folliculogenesis, go to “Far more than a tool for reproductive management”.

STOP PRESS

And after all that, go and check out the 2012 post “The fallacy of ovulation calculators, calendars and circulating-hormone detectors” at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-fallacy-of-ovulation-calculators-calendars-and-circulating-hormone-detectors/

Seven billion people – after half a century with the Pill

More than a week before the numerologically so exciting (!!) date of November 11 this year of AD 2011, the population of the world officially reached the count of 7 billion – and this should not go unnoticed in a blog that is about women’s health and human reproduction management. Why, by the time the 11-11-11 day came about, more than 2.5 million more babies were born around the world.

Eyeball the “infographic” data below here, accepting that the image contains one of the small European languages. You can handle this because it is a graphic representation of the world and its population. The data is based on a United Nations Report about the State of the World Population. I did not find anything like this infographic when I googled for said UN report, and the bigger languages of Europe were presumably preoccupied by other concerns (like the economy, and the associated politics, stupid…).

So, we refer to this source with all those un-English letters with diacritical marks [RB, Lidové noviny. From: http://www.lidovky.cz/je-nas-7-miliard-lidstvo-v-budoucnu-uzivi-jen-zemedelska-revoluce-phq-/ln_zahranici.asp?c=A111031_085513_firmy-trhy_mev ]. It’s the numbers and symbols that matter, including the relative sizes of the circles. And note also that the blue circles represent the size of the respective continents’ populations in 2010 versus the red projected population sizes in the year 2050.

By 2050, only Europe’s population will have decreased (projected by 19 million), while all the other continents’ populations will have continued to grow. North America’s population, by the way, is projected to grow only due to immigration, otherwise it would be dropping, too. At least the USA’s would.

World population

http://www.lidovky.cz/foto.asp?foto1=MEV3ed992_2poulaceTTTa.png

12 years times 365 days/year = 4,380 days

Population growth = 1,000,000,000 people / 4,380 days =  228,310.5 people born per day  (2,511,415.5 babies in 11 days = 1 billion divided by 4,380 days in 12 years times 11 days)

Check out the arithmetic of the global population growth in recent days, if you like. It is based on the birth rate of 1 billion births per 12 years. That is indicated in the bottom part of the infographic, showing the worldwide number of people in increasing billions against the years at which the given billion count was reached up to now, and is projected to be reached in the future [rok means year and pocet obyvatel means number of people]. It’s noticeable that the UN-projected future growth rate slows down: see how 16, 29, 27 years between additional billion increments are projected for the next 3 one-billion increments.

I won’t go into the (serious) economic and political consequences of these numbers. Rather, I ask you to note that the current birth rate (1 billion per 12 years) has held steady for the last 3 or 4 one-billion increases in world population. Over most of the last half a century, world population grew in steps of one billion per 12 years.

We see that reaching the first billion of humans took more than 18 centuries (including BC). The second billion then took 123 years and the third 33 years, both these surely influenced by the two world wars. After that, the Pill notwithstanding, almost quarter of a million new people have been and are born globally every day (1B / 4,380 days of 12 years = 228,310.5 births per day).

Evidently, the introduction of the oral contraceptive pills and related contraceptives has NOT quite stopped the global population explosion. But then, what about the United Nations-projected drop in the population of Europe (which is a continent where the Pill is surely available)?

Well, I propose to share with you some data from Google Ngram Viewer, about the statistics on the recent historical occurrence of certain topics (such as contraception) in all books published in English, the data obtained via http://books.google.com/ngrams/info .

Briefly, when you enter phrases into the Google Books Ngram Viewer, it displays a graph showing how much those phrases have occurred in a corpus of books (here English-language books) over the selected years (here 1900 to 2008).

And an important point, also cited from there.

Question: Many more books are published in modern years. Doesn’t this skew the results?

Answer: It would if we didn’t normalize by the number of books published in each year.

Here is an example of the occurrence of three phrases (topics) in English-language books over the century from 1900 till 2008, the latest year available. The topics are: pregnancy complications, difficult birth, and birth complications.

Ngram 1: pregnancy complications, difficult birth, birth complications

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=pregnancy+complications%2Cdifficult+birth%2Cbirth+complications&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=5

The N numbers (or the number of phrase occurrences relative to all books) for the three topics are on the same scale as indicated on the vertical axis, and the graph shows that the number of books on difficult birth (red curve) rose steadily over the century – but the books on pregnancy complications (blue curve) and birth complications (green curve) shot up after 1960. These N numbers eventually level off and/or begin to decline after the year 2000. (As though everything has been written up, nothing new to publish?)

There were many more books written about birth control over the same period of 108 years. We can detect this in the N count on the vertical axis, which here has only 3 leading zeros as opposed to the 5 leading zeros at the maximum level in the previous graph (a hundred times as many books, even in 2008, after the decline from the mid-1970s). The initial rise from 1910 to 1930 must have been not on chemical contraception but (mostly) on the then happening calendar method of Ogino and Knaus, i.e. the later discarded so-called “Vatican Roulette”. That approach to birth control did not work – it could not work – so Margaret Sanger took it on herself (and on her wealthy-widow friend, Katharine McCormick) to cause the “magic bullet” of a pill to be developed. Some magic!

Ngram 2: birth control

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=birth+control&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3

One more Ngram Viewer graph, since they say that three is a charm! The following graph compares the number of books on infertility (blue) with the number of books on contraception (red), and it is on the same scale as the birth control graph above (with only slightly lower maximum level, 0.00035% here vs. 0.00045% above).

Ngram 3: infertility and contraception

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=infertility%2Ccontraception&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3

Three may be a charm, but I will show you one more, so that you (or your friendly gynecologist) will not accuse me of trying to show that chemical contraception has caused infertility (the infertility epidemic). I have merely shared Google’s Ngram Viewer statistics on books written on given topics. Discourses written on contraception preceded those on infertility by at least 10 years, and the number of infertility books was still rising when contraceptive books were already declining in numbers in the 1980s.

Here then is one more Ngram comparing N numbers of books on behavior problems (blue), mental problems (red), and books on birthing (green curve).

Ngram 4: behavior problems, mental problems, birthing

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=behavior+problems%2Cmental+problems%2C+birthing&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3

You see that there are four leading zeros in the scale on the vertical axis, so the order of magnitude of the graphed N numbers is between the two orders of magnitude discussed above (it’s an order of magnitude below infertility and contraception). All three of the numbers in this Ngram rise around 1970, behavior problems books before, birthing books after.

Why did the numbers of books on birthing rise so sharply some 15 years after 1960? I don’t know that there is such a thing as invalid questions. The curves for mental health and birth are correlated, rising around 1970, too (not shown here).

Chemical contraception has not worked to reverse the global population explosive growth although it appears to have reduced the extent of the explosion.

But at what cost? Do look at the last Ngram, below, which compares the number of books on birth control (blue), sexually transmitted diseases (red), STD (green), VD (yellow), and STDs (dark blue). It is on the same scale as the birth control graph above (the second in the series). The green spike after 1960 is STD in singular, as opposed to sexually transmitted diseases (red) and STDs (dark blue), which you see rising slowly after 1980, paralleled by the higher green curve in those years, which starts going up even earlier.

This can be rationalized by the fact that earlier on there was merely one STD (or two), called VD in Britain and in Europe (yellow curve), where the rise occurred somewhat later than in the U.S., along with the slight delay in the “sexual revolution” and its consequences or rather the concerns about those consequences. The broad green, red and dark blue hills of elevated N readings before year 2000 reflect the multitude of STDs today, which numbers did not exist before the sexual revolution. The singular VD has morphed into the plural STDs and sexually transmitted diseases.

Ngram 5: birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, STD, VD, STDs

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=birth+control%2Csexually+transmitted+diseases%2CSTD%2CVD%2CSTDs&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3

I leave the “now what” maybe for another time, but a follower of this blog will have an idea.

As of this writing, to cite the three bioZhena’s Weblog Top Posts (the past week):

Trying to conceive, #ttc, or the frustration of sub-fertility & infertility in 2010/2011          40 views

Saint Nicholas Day, his legend, and our modern day’s prematurity, EDD calculation, gestational age, problem with LMP          33 views

Critique of birth control efficacies in NFP as published by Marquette University researchers          21 views

Trying to conceive, TTC, or the frustration of sub-fertility & infertility

Existing approaches to TTC, Trying To Conceive, are not satisfactory – and cannot be, without FOLLICULOGENESIS IN VIVO™

Here is the premise: To #conceive a #pregnancy the couple must absolutely do their TTC in the woman’s #fertile time, which is a window of 3 days: https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/difficult-conception-tied-to-pregnancy-complications-addressed/ . The unspoken corollary is that advancing age does not help, and neither do things that pollute our life, that is all those various stressors.

Besides which, you need to know not only when your ovulation is approaching but also that it actually occurs. No guessing, no mere assuming that it does, or that it did.

Human ovulation caught on camera by Dr Donnez

This photo of the ovulation event is unique, and it clearly cannot be the answer to the necessity of knowing that ovulation occurs in the menstrual cycle of interest to you. Also unique is that the Ovulona™ will do the determination of ovulation for you automatically – in your hands, at your convenience, with no discomfort. It’s one part of the FOLLICULOGENESIS IN VIVO™ simple self-monitoring procedure with the Ovulona™. In doing so, you’ll gather and automatically store in the device data of diagnostic significance to your healthcare providers. Your physician’s decisions should be guided by the folliculogenesis cyclic profile. Yours, too.

Here now, how TTC people need our Ovulona: Disgusted with peeing on a stick, writes stressed out, frustrated, messed up @socalledttclife: “On to IUI #4 we go” [IUI = Intra Uterine Insemination procedure], http://ow.ly/351yf .

She blogs: “…Progesterone supps suck. No, really, Crinone is now numero uno on my most hated list right there behind peeing on a stick and betas. It totally MESSED with my head this cycle. It made me crampy, it gave me headaches, it delayed my period—ALL of the things that are usually early pregnancy symptoms. Damn you, Crinone!”

This is one example and one reason why a month ago the following tweeting dialog took place: RT @resolveorg What’s the one thing you wished the public knew about #infertility?

bioZhena’s answer = Before #fertility #drugs, try right timing http://to.ly/5dUR . Definitely! Read on.

Quite apart from the fact that even the artificial reproductive procedures such as said IUI have to be performed at the right time in the patient’s cycle to have a chance succeeding. Before undergoing the “heroic procedures” of Artificial Reproductive Technologies [ARTs], explore the normal natural approach, and – naturally – you need a reliable timing tool to know when exactly your 3-day fertile window occurs. Good thing you are still this side of 35, although it would be much better if you were this side of 25. Or 30, at least. But that’s water under the bridge… unfortunately.

Water under the bridge… How many bridges?

Per Google Alert, Today’s TTC Trying To #Conceive forum has 4 results that are symptomatic of the TTC world – and how that world needs our Ovulona diagnostic tool with essential folliculogenesis data for the physicians:

1. Conceiving in our 20s http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?p=16007861

2. healthy excersise while TTC – TTC- Trying to conceive Group so im a gymaholic… Before I go to my GP again with yet another silly question, what do you girls think, with your experience and knowledge, about my standard work out ‘plan’ below? Is this too much while TTC? … Thoughts? Please don’t make me not do it 😦

social.kidspot.com.au/topic.php?topic_id=8490

3. First time TTC with clomid and really nervous, any suggestions?? Forum · PCOS Treatments and Conditions · Infertility and Trying to Conceive; First time TTC with clomid and really nervous, any suggestions? …
www.soulcysters.net/showthread.php?t=317229&page=2

4. Pregnancy Forum UK : UK Pregnancy Forum Parenting and Baby forum …
hey all i had a positive opk on fri am but this morning days later had twinges on left hand side which feel like op is it possible that i have only just …
178.19.113.123/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=114228&view…

#PCOS patients should monitor folliculogenesis & the effects of any treatment on it. See http://to.ly/MJU , and for what it is go to http://to.ly/757m , and see how an obgyn physician related to the technology even early on when it was still in a rather crude prototype form: http://to.ly/vG0 .

As we expressed earlier in this blog:

It is advisable – and safer – to go about TTC, Trying To Conceive, without the use of chemicals, especially man-made chemicals, and note that herbal preparations are chemicals too. Monitoring (measuring) the effects of anything you ingest is basically a must, if you do not play “Russian roulette” with yourself, your offspring, your family.

#Obese peri-pubertal girls may have hyperandrogenemia which can be forerunner of #PCOS: http://to.ly/6PrK .

Not all #women with #PCOS have difficulty achieving #pregnancy, but anovulation is a common problem: http://to.ly/5mjs .

#PCOS problems are more about #prevention of diseases due to PCOS = #endometrial #cancer #diabetes #heart disease #strokes: http://to.ly/5mjs . Per @JoshGitalis : Insulin resistance is an underlying biochem. imbalance in not only type 2 #diabetes, but #CVD, #hypertension, #PCOS, and colon/breast cancer.

RT @kevinmd Too many young children are medicated with powerful #drugs http://goo.gl/fb/xXu5q – Too many #women too. Will this ever be seen as abuse?

Durer, Albrecht – The Temptation Of The Idler (or The Dream Of The Doctor)

Difficult #conception is tied to #pregnancy complications: https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/difficult-conception-tied-to-pregnancy-complications-addressed/  #fertility TTC #conceive #womenshealth .

#Natural vs. #Clomid in Dr. Randine Lewis: From #Infertility to Motherhood, http://to.ly/60v6 . Wrote the #medical doctor:

“I was experiencing hormonal problems. My joints ached, I had lower back and knee pain, I had to urinate frequently, I had night sweats, I was experiencing hair loss and my periods were extremely irregular and sometimes nonexistent.

A medical work-up revealed my estrogen and progesterone levels were alarmingly low, resulting in my inability to conceive. The doctor recommended that I take Clomid, a drug designed to hyperstimulate a woman’s ovaries to produce more eggs, thus increasing the chances of pregnancy. This advice seemed wrong to me; what about the underlying problem? Was it not unwise to hyperstimulate my ovaries when the problem obviously resided in my whole hormonal system?”

Now, put that in context with More About Clomid, Serophene, Clomiphene citrate or Clomifene, https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2010/06/25/more-about-clomid-serophene-clomiphene-citrate-or-clomifene/ . Why popping pills is not the best.

Is #ovulation enough to #conceive? No. You have to satisfy 4 factors, 4 prerequisites:

1. good health,

2. right insemination timing,

3. fertilization works,

4. embryo lives, is not lost to early embryonic mortality.

#Stress can do unwanted things to #women & #menstrual cycles: https://biozhena.wordpress.com/stress-and-fertility-fertile-window-ovulation/ . Check this out. Sub-fertility can result.

Every year past the optimal fertile age of early twenties is making things harder – on would be mom, on baby, on healthcare system, on humankind.

Consequences of conception difficulties should not be taken lightly. See why.

STOP PRESS

And now, for a more explicit and detailed info, go to the post “The fallacy of ovulation calculators, calendars and circulating-hormone detectors” at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-fallacy-of-ovulation-calculators-calendars-and-circulating-hormone-detectors/

How follicular waves will be used for early detection of pregnancy, and for early detection of miscarriage, EPL – to TTC again asap

In this post we talk again about the feature introduced in an earlier post, https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/about-the-added-bonus-of-folliculogenesis-monitoring-automatic-pregnancy-detection .

This time we focus on the importance of the utilization of the follicular waves not only for practically instant pregnancy detection, but also for a similarly early detection of miscarriage or early pregnancy loss (EPL, also known as spontaneous abortion, SAB). Refer to Early Pregnancy Loss,  http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/260495-overview . Note: Chief Editor is Professor Lee P. Shulman, MD, FACOG – one of bioZhena Corporation’s Board of Medical Advisors.

Sonography scene.   Some contrast vis-à-vis the home-use Ovulona™!

Excerpted from said Medscape overview: Early pregnancy loss is unfortunately the most common complication of human gestation, occurring in at least 75% of all women trying to conceive. Most of these losses are unrecognized and occur before or with the next expected menses. Of those that are recognized, 15-20% are spontaneous abortions (SABs) or ectopic pregnancies diagnosed after the pregnancy is clinically recognized.

The incidence of spontaneous miscarriage is 10-15%, whereas the rate of recurrent miscarriage is 3-5%. Approximately 5% of couples trying to conceive have 2 consecutive miscarriages, and approximately 1% of couples have 3 or more consecutive losses.

Early pregnancy loss is defined as the termination of pregnancy before 20 weeks’ gestation or with a fetal weight of below 500 g. An article in http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/05/miscarriage.try.again.asap/ summarized the conclusion that “any delay in attempting conception could further decrease the chances of a healthy baby”.

This is a fundamental concept. Further they write, with reference to the original BMJ publication, “Study: Women who conceive within six months of miscarriage reduce risk of another… The women who conceived within six months also had better overall outcomes. They were about 10 percent less likely to have a C-section or a preterm delivery, and about 15 percent less likely to have a baby of low birth weight than the women who waited up to a year.”

This is a highly suggestive conclusion, implying the need to know as soon as possible. The sooner the better for attaining happiness.

Angelo Bronzino – Allegory_of_Happiness, 1564

Another fundamental principle, not brought up by CNN or by the study itself, is that a tool for automatic monitoring of the early stage of pregnancy to watch out for EEM [Early Embryonic Mortality] is desirable, to put it mildly. Our Ovulona™ device is perfect for that. The Ovulona monitors folliculogenesis in vivo, which includes the follicular waves occurring after ovulation. The waves disappear upon conception (the pregnant system does not go preparing for another menstrual cycle, which the follicular waves signify).

The follicular waves disappear as soon as conception takes place and the woman is in early stages of pregnancy. In case of miscarriage, the waves will come back. The point made here is that the woman’s and her obgyn’s decisions about trying for pregnancy again should be guided by diagnostic data. The data on which any decision should be based must be personal to the given patient – not based on statistical outcomes of studies such as the one referenced above.

That’s what the Ovulona™ from bioZhena is for, the tested and the putative uses of which are discussed throughout the bioZhena’s Weblog.

For a pictorial overview with a written narrative, you can go to http://to.ly/VCF (http://s755.photobucket.com/user/vaclavkirsner/library/Second%20album/Pregnancy%20and%20birth%20control%20how-to%20by%20bioZhena?sort=2&page=1 ) and peruse the 6 pictures with brief written explanations of the basics of FIV™, the ovulographic™ monitoring of folliculogenesis in vivo™.

This one of the 6 illustrations, http://to.ly/1k9L, is about “what’s going on here”.  In other words, what is FOLLICULOGENESIS IN VIVO™, the mechanism of the cyclic profiles, the mechanism of menstrual cycles as detected (and passed on to the Ovulona sensor) by the cervix uteri. Should you want to listen to my spoken narrative, click on the image or on the link below.

The unprecedented wealth of information inherent in the FIV™ cyclic profile

https://biozhena.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/single-slide-narrated-best-wealth-of-info-in-menstrual-cycle-profile-signature.pps

The bottom line is this: The multitude of repeatable features of the cyclic pattern makes it possible to determine the boundaries of the fertile window for every individual menstrual cycle.

A key distinction of our technique is that the “dynamic range” of the cyclic profile data (the vertical span) is the same in all cycles and in all women. This – in addition to the repeatable features of the pattern – facilitates electronic interpretation of the data. Only the timing of the various features varies from cycle to cycle, and we work with that.

The cyclic pattern exhibits a number of well-defined peaks and troughs, with the first post-menstruation minimum (or trough, nadir) occurring typically already on cycle day 6, 7 or 8. That’s the selection stage of folliculogenesis (which follows on the stage of recruitment, days 1 – 5). The signal then rises to a maximum (long-term predictive peak, driven by the maturation of the dominant follicle), the highest reading level of the cycle. Over the next several days, the readings fall toward the minimum before the short-term predictive peak. We have found the ovulation-marker minimum after this short-term predictive peak to correlate with urinary LH and FSH peaks (hormones).

Based on data, we interpret the ovulation marker to be an instantly detected effect of the steroid hormone switch that occurs at ovulation (estrogen to progesterone dominance). The follicular waves, which occur after ovulation [when the non-pregnant system prepares for the next menstrual cycle], cannot remain in place after conception takes place [the regime change is even more profound].

That is the principle of instant detection of pregnancy. Should the conceptus be lost to EEM, Early Embryonic Mortality (miscarriage), the follicular waves come back. That’s the principle of early detection of miscarriage also known as spontaneous abortion [SAB], and of detecting and monitoring the return of the non-pregnant condition.

059q Book of hours

Trying to conceive again should be based on the personal FIV™ [FOLLICULOGENESIS IN VIVO™] data generated by the patient, that is, by the woman trying to conceive. This is a principle of evidence-based medicine. Personalized medicine.

STOP PRESS And now, go and check out the 2012 post “The fallacy of ovulation calculators, calendars and circulating-hormone detectors” at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-fallacy-of-ovulation-calculators-calendars-and-circulating-hormone-detectors/

About atrophy, reproductive aging, and how it’s really not nice to fool Mother Nature – or with

I have taken it upon myself to popularize Prof. Erik Odeblad’s classic findings about the biophysics of the tissues and secretions of cervix uteri, and how they translate into reproductive physiology and hence to reproductive medicine – at home and in the doctor’s office.

  Emeritus Professor Erik Odeblad    “The cervix is a precision organ as complex as the eye”

My ulterior motive is that I want to be understood when harking back to the British commercial’s exclamation that warned about too arrogant an attitude towards Mother Nature. Or, maybe I aim at the wisdom of the saying (“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!”) to be appreciated particularly within the given field of endeavor and/or endeavour – that is, reproductive management. Even if it were only in a segment of it.

In the Alphabet of bioZhena (which is no Alphabet of Ben Sira, though we model on it somewhat), https://biozhena.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/aaee-the-alphabet-of-biozhena.pdf , there is an entry about Atrophy and what it does to a woman as years go by, how “atrophy of mucosal surfaces takes place, accompanied by several problems.”

Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius) Says Farewell to…

In this blog post I focus on aging – and thus atrophy – of the cervix, leaving aside the inevitable corresponding phenomena in other parts of the reproductive system.

The focus on the cervix is due to bioZhena’s focus on the cervix… which in our scheme of things is the supreme monitor of the complex reproductive goings on that Mother Nature designed in order to cope with all that complexity. After you’ve read the Alphabet article on atrophy, you might scroll down to the entry there about the cervix, which will take you also through cervical cancer and cervical mucus, besides a couple of other things cervical. That will or would be a nice preparation for, or introduction to, what follows.

Two sketches by Emeritus Professor Erik Odeblad to illustrate his saying, “The cervix is a precision organ as complex as the eye”. Click (right-click) on the image to see the details. And read on about the details. The fine structure of the cervical canal wall, schematized on the right, is based on examination of mucus samples obtained with a suction syringe from the various parts of the cervical canal of human volunteers for physico-chemical examination.

When, at the inception of the project, we decided to focus on the given part of the anatomy, Erik Odeblad’s work logically and inevitably became a part of the background. He used the NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) technique of physical chemistry to perform the complicated investigation of cervical mucus, and he produced the classical evidence for the difference between the “fertile” mucus macromolecules that allow the passage of the sperm, and the “infertile” cross-linked glycoprotein molecular network that does not. (To this day I remember his usage of “undulations”…)

In fact, this early information, which involved the thiol-disulfide (sulphydryl-disulphide) redox couples in the glycoprotein macromolecule, had much to do with our early hypothesis of the mechanism of our measurements. Never mind that his work was in the context of the subjective self-examination used in NFP, which did not work for the female member of the team! Had it worked for her, there would probably not be any Ovulona™ for monitoring folliculogenesis in vivo (FIV™ – which has utility well beyond fertility status determination)!

With atrophy being the general biological aspect of aging (and with the initially very large number of ova or eggs in the young female’s ovaries decreasing as she matures and ages), the cervix similarly “undergoes a natural process of development and aging. The surface area of the cervix that is given over to the mucus secreting glands [“crypts”] gradually diminishes with age.”

Odeblad defines three types of the (endo)cervical glands, which he (and others too e.g. Embryology.CH and Eurocytology.EU since at least the 1970s) calls the “crypts”:

• S crypts produce S mucus, which forms string-like channels and provides transport (“swimming lanes”) for sperm cells. (“Produces a wet, lubricative sensation at the vulva.” That’s for the NFP sympto-thermal method use, the Billings method and/or the Creighton Model NaProEducation Technology method, the classical NFP or FAM – the latter, Fertility Awareness Method, publicized by Ms. Toni Weschler’s 2002 book Taking Charge of Your Fertility .)

• L crypts produce L mucus, which eliminates low-quality sperm and provides a structure to support what he calls the S and the P mucus. P is a reference to the so-called Peak mucus of NFP or FAM.

• G crypts produce G mucus, which is “an impenetrable gestagenic mucus formed in the lowest cervical crypts. Prevents sperm entry to the cervix and is part of the immune system which protects the woman’s reproductive system from infection.” A remark from dictionary.com: gestagen (jěs’tə-jən, -jěn’) n. A substance, such as a steroid hormone, that affects the uterus in a manner similar to progesterone. And a remark from a scientific commentator: This G mucus is characterized by the oxidized state of the mentioned redox couples, causing cross-linking in the glycoprotein mucin, which prevents microbes including sperm from entering. Visualize this as closed -S—S- gates (as opposed to the open gate form -SH   HS- of the “reduced” state of the redox couples; “reduced” meaning “electronated and hydrogenated”, the opposite of “oxidized”).

Mondrian_Evolution

There are three fundamental principles at work.

1. Natural baseline aging, and this is fundamental – a more or less linear decrease in the number of all three kinds of these glands or crypts, at somewhat different rates: S the fastest, L somewhat slower, G slower still.

2. Slow-down of the aging atrophy by pregnancy.

3. Acceleration of the aging atrophy by the Pill [and/or by other endocrine-active compounds, EACs – this is a logical extrapolation, speculative, but must be assumed].

Now, then.

1. Natural baseline aging, fundamental – a more or less linear decrease in the number of all three kinds of these glands or crypts:

“The number of S crypts decreases from teen age. They are first replaced by L crypts starting at the base of the cervix. Later G crypts replace the L crypts.”

Thus, from Odeblad’s graph [rate reckoned from 15 yrs old to 40 yrs old]:

S crypt baseline decrease or diminution (or atrophy) rate:

50% / 25 years = 2% per year.

At 50 years old, S crypts are at some 10%.

Profile of cervical crypts of a baseline woman – never pregnant & never on the Pill

Representative profile of cervical crypts

(percentage of cervix occupied by active crypts)

for a woman who goes through life without pregnancy or use of the Pill.

This is a baseline profile.

Here is Erik Odeblad’s schematic of the crypts on the surface of the cervical canal:

Carefully mapped lateral wall of the cervix of a 20 year old virgin           (reported by Emeritus Professor Erik Odeblad, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Umeå, S-90187, Umeå, Sweden)

This is Professor Odeblad’s artist’s impression of cervical mucus secretions:

Schematics of cervical mucus secretions

Key to colors:

Blue         = S mucus

Yellow     = L mucus

Red          = G mucus

Green      = P mucus of which there are several sub-types

Pink         = Z granules

Professor Odeblad’s explanatory notes:

Z granules – the enzyme in the Z granules combines with the P mucus to create a liquefying effect.

P mucus – there are a number of sub-types of this mucus, the most relevant for fertility are P2 and P6. P2 could be present as early as the beginning of the fertile phase possibly having a role in liquefying the G mucus. P6 is mostly confined to the upper part of the cervix, occurring close to the Peak of fertility, and having a role in conveying sperm. It creates a very wet and lubricative sensation at the vulva.

F mucus – comes from the cells scattered throughout the length of the cervical canal and has no known special function.

For a recent evidence of four different morphological mucus types, namely L, S, P and G, see “Morphological characterization of different human cervical mucus types using light and scanning electron microscopy” by M. Menárguez, L.M. Pastor and E. Odeblad, Human Reproduction, Vol. 18, No. 9, 1782-1789, September 2003 –  http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/18/9/1782

Citation: “The distribution of crypt zones in the cervix depends on age, number of pregnancies and use of contraception. In a non-pregnant woman, aged 25–30years and not having used contraception, the cervix averages 22 mm in length and 6 mm in diameter at ovulation. The crypt distribution starting from below and moving upwards is as follows: the G crypts dominate in the lowest 4–5 mm; then there is a zone of L crypts occupying the next 9–10 mm; this is followed by the S zone, for 5–6 mm; and the highest 3–4 mm contains the P crypts.”

When you read the paper, you detect that he has a very special knack for sampling the respective mucus types from the said crypts. Hat off! Work with human experimental subjects is no stroll in the park, to put this mildly.

2. Slow-down of atrophy aging by pregnancy:

Profile of cervical crypts of a 4x pregnant woman

Representative profile of cervical crypts

(percentage of cervix occupied by active crypts)

for a woman who goes through life with four pregnancies and no use of the Pill.

Pregnancy – S crypt diminution rate from Odeblad’s graph

[4 pregnancies, no Pill, rate reckoned from 15 yrs old to 40 yrs old]:

30% / 25 years = 1.2% per year.

At 50 years old, S crypts are at some 20%.

3. Acceleration of atrophy aging by the Pill [and/or by other endocrine-active compounds, EACs – a logical extrapolation]

Representative profile of cervical crypts

(percentage of cervix occupied by active crypts)

for a woman who goes through life without pregnancy and uses the Pill for 10 years

Pill – S crypt diminution rate from Odeblad’s graph

[no pregnancy, Pill for 10 years (18 to 28 yrs old), rate reckoned from 15 yrs old to 40 yrs old]:

60% / 25 years = 2.4% per year.

At 50 years old, S crypts are at some 5%.

This includes the slow down of the diminution gradient during the last 12 years of no Pill.

Compare this with diminution/atrophy rate during the 10 years on the Pill:

65% – 25% = 40% / 10 years = 4% per year.

This is double the baseline rate of cervical atrophy.

It’s more than 3 times higher than the pregnancy-slowed atrophy rate.

Three concluding remarks by Prof. Odeblad:

“Regression when taking the Pill is different for estrogen-dependent crypts (L and S) and progesterone-dependent crypts (G) which may in part overdevelop.”

“The study of the effects of contraceptive pills on the cervix is a difficult task. A considerable amount of work is required for each patient and the time required spans many years, up to 10 years or more. Many women also want to change to other pills or to other methods of contraception, or perhaps now want to become pregnant. It also happens that some pills are withdrawn from the market. To these difficulties are added the normal age changes in the cervix and the dynamic processes which are of constant occurrence. After 3 and up to 15 months of contraceptive pill use, there is a greater loss of the S crypt cells than can be replaced.” (“Some Notes on the Cervical Crypts”, Dr E. Odeblad, Bulletin of the Ovulation Method Research and Reference Centre of Australia, Vol 24 No 2 June 1997, p31)

Citations and graphics reproduced from http://www.billings-ovulation-method.org.au/act/cervix/ageing.shtml .

“Complications arising from the use of the Pill are very frequent. Infertility after its use for 7-15 years is a very serious problem. S crypts are very sensitive to normal and cyclical stimulation by natural oestrogens, and the Pill causes atrophy of these crypts. Fertility is impaired since the movement of sperm cells up the canal is reduced. Treatment is difficult.” He also wrote: “After 3 to 15 months of contraceptive pill use, there is a greater loss of the S crypt cells than can be replaced … A pregnancy rejuvenates the cervix by 2-3 years, but for each year the Pill is taken, the cervix ages by an extra year.” Web reference:  http://www.billings-ovulation-method.org.au/act/pill.html .

Comment on implications for treatments of certain symptoms

For example, the suggested method [Weschler, Toni (2002). Taking Charge of Your Fertility (Revised ed.). New York: HarperCollins. p. 52] of thinning cervical mucus to help achieve pregnancy by taking the OTC expectorant drug guaifenesin, which is thought to act by increasing the volume and reducing the viscosity of secretions.

The drug is also used to treat the symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea [severe uterine pain during menstruation ] where another treatment of choice is combined oral contraceptives [COCs]. Such treatments are administered to adolescents as well as to mature women because dysmenorrhea is a very common and serious problem (25% of women and up to 90% of adolescents ).

In both cases, the expectorant and the contraceptives are administered without knowledge of their mechanism of action in the given problem. Focus is on treating symptoms, not the underlying causes. The patient is the detector of any effect. How does the expectorant drug use correlate with the secretions of the different types of cervical mucus on the one hand, and with the folliculogenesis cyclic profile on the other? Is there any connection? If not, what does the drug do to the different crypts? And what the COCs do to them?

Is the expectorant so selective that it might do the right thing? Reduce type G? Enhance type S mucus? Does oxidation of the guaifenesin help reduce the cross-linked mucin type G in the cervical canal? As simple and pretty as that? (Even prettier if guaifenesin were not to be an EAC, an endocrine-active compound … which inactivity does not look likely – http://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/en/ch3.pdf .)

Would it not be nice to have a rationale for how the small guaifenesin molecule can have a good effect on both sub-fertility/infertility and dysmenorrhea?

Could it be that guaifenesin works bioelectrochemically in the same oxidation-reduction (redox) manner on the enzyme cyclooxygenase in the prostaglandin cascade, which is a cascade of redox reactions – producing an anti-inflammatory effect that translates as suppression of pain? (On a personal note, why not capitalize here at least conceptually on our ancient Wellcome Research Labs work, even before receiving – presumably – the first pension money from Glaxo Smith Kline?)

It’s easier to contemplate in general the effect of the contraceptive drug, which will presumably depend on the contents of the estrogenic and gestagenic components (modeling on Odeblad’s findings)…

Is there a connection between pain, cervix and ovaries, ovarian reserves? Maybe an abnormal depletion of, via ovarian cysts? Will the number of follicular waves and/or other features in the Ovulona cyclic profile – and correlated with ultrasound and MRI – show any such abnormality? Might the Ovulona be useful for diagnosis here, convenient, simple (inexpensive)? Wouldn’t that be nice?

Is cyclooxygenase inhibition detected by the cervix, does it show in the cyclic profile? Does said prostaglandin synthesis inhibition alter the number of follicular waves – while reducing the pain?

Answers to questions like these are needed. Keep in mind that ovulation is an inflammatory process, and since we detect it in the cyclic profile, it is reasonable to pose the above prostaglandin theory questions about the COX-2 (cyclooxygenase) inhibition.

Summarizing Odeblad’s results and the take-home message:

Baseline outcome of cervical S crypts aging: S crypts down to 20% at 40 years of age. Here you have the reason why mature age leads to sub-fertility and to infertility.

Atrophy slow-down effect of 4 pregnancies: S crypts down to 40% at 40 years of age. Here you see Mother Nature’s design in action. Pregnancy slows down the inherent rate of cervical aging (atrophy, deterioration). Naturally, this is not to argue for 4 pregnancies per lifetime – it’s merely how the effect was made measurable.

Atrophy acceleration effect of 10 years on the Pill: S crypts down to 10% at 40 years of age. Here is why it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, why it’s not good to mess with her design. The Pill is an archetypal anthropogenic Endocrine-Active Compound [man-made EAC], and it was brought up in the previous post how there are very many of these EACs, all insulting the female body and health, some – like chemical contraceptives – by design.

While the story of Laodamia and Protesilao is touching, I merely want to ask that girls, ladies and their physicians do not moon the messenger.

STOP PRESS

And now, go and check out the 2012 post “The fallacy of ovulation calculators, calendars and circulating-hormone detectors” at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-fallacy-of-ovulation-calculators-calendars-and-circulating-hormone-detectors/