On the issue of cervical cancer, after remembering Jan Hus – and heresy

The other day I tweeted: July 6 1415 Jan #Hus was burnt at the stake in Konstanz DE for #heresy against #doctrines of #Catholic #Church http://t.co/lM1SlwF

So what, you think to yourself? Okay, sure, you and many others have other things to be concerned about – and who cares about a 15th century heretic? Well, maybe some of us do, and I might on this occasion talk some heresy myself. How ’bout that?

But first, let’s be clear about what heresy is, and what Jan Hus’ heretic speech was about, very briefly. This, in case you don’t read the Wikipedia article http://t.co/lM1SlwF about the medieval thinker, a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, master and rector at Charles University in Prague, chaplain to the royal court, confessor to the queen,  a key predecessor to Luther and the Protestant movement of the 16th century. It was only some 150 years later that “in 1567 Pope Pius V canceled all grants of indulgences involving any fees or other financial transactions” [indulgence = remission before God of the temporal punishment due for a sin after its guilt has been forgiven].

Master Jan Hus Preaching At the Bethlehem Chapel by Alphonse Mucha, 1916

The Czech king (“Good King Wenceslas” of the English Christmas carol fame) supported Hus preaching against indulgences and other such corruption of “the substance and spirit of the gospel“, but the church’s hierarchy, having declared war on Naples, needed vast revenues to fund the war effort… When the sales of indulgences continued, riots broke out in Prague. Three pro-Hus students were beheaded, and then buried to public acclaim in the Bethlehem Chapel. The hierarchy countered by excommunicating Hus (for the second time). The archbishop “interdicted” the city; that is, he deprived the people of al the spiritual resources of the church, a terrifying development in the middle ages.

This is citing from http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Heritage/Jan Hus.htm ; there too you can get the rest of the story about the General Council in Constance, which city was then in Switzerland, with Hus guaranteed a “safe conduct”.

You could see at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heresy that the dictionary defines heresy as (1) an opinion or doctrine at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine, especially of a church or religious system, and (2) as the maintaining of such an opinion or doctrine. In our time, reference could also be to other types of system or establishment.

More to the point of the Master Jan Hus anniversary, and for a scholarly treatise on the punishment that the medieval intellectual received from the then establishment, treat yourself to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_burning .

Preparing_the_execution_of_Jan_Hus --- Müller-Baden, Emanuel (Hrsg.): Bibliothek des allgemeinen und praktischen Wissens, Bd. 2. - Berlin, Leipzig, Wien, Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlaghaus Bong & Co, 1904.

For, now that I gave you a preamble, I’ll go into a bit of potentially or mildly heretical talk myself, in relation to cervical cancer (and other STDs, sexually transmitted diseases). It is not heresy to remind ourselves that the HPV vaccines do not cure cervical cancer nor do they prevent infection by all strains of HPV – but it could be heretical to discuss that there has been a grave concern among the public about adverse effects, injuries and even deaths in some young recipients of the vaccines.

And even more so to point out that behavior control (the personal health practices referred to below) is advisable in view of the fact that the cancer is associated with early start of sexual activity and with promiscuity. “It is well known that more than 90% of cases of anogenital warts are caused by HPV. HPV has been implicated in cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and oropharynx. The virus is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. [Note that] as many as 24 million American adults–that is, 1 in 5–may be infected with HPV.”

Sadly, and dangerously for the health of all of us, the above-cited phrase about “It is well known” is misleading because it pertains only to medical people (not even to all of them) as opposed to the general population. “Knowledge about the relationship of HPV to cervical cancer is low even in the United States and the United Kingdom.” One of the sources, on which this assessment is based, concludes: Cervical cancer risk factor knowledge, especially knowledge about HPV is low, even among women with the history of cervical cancer. Younger and more educated women are more likely to have HPV and cervical cancer knowledge accuracy. The importance of personal health practices and the focus on health education should be equally emphasized to achieve successful cancer prevention through vaccination. [Emphasis mine.]

In May, @bioZhena tweeted some on this subject. –

@bioZhena:                                                                                               Can #cervicalcancer #screening be done #simply at home as part of a precise determination of #fertile days? http://to.ly/xEO #womenshealth

@bioZhena:                                                                                               Why is it important to do regular #cervicalcancer #screening – besides the fact that #Merck says so? #Gardasil Why the Ovulona? http://to.ly/xEO

RT @BelievnTomorrow Julie Hewett by @bioZhena:                        The Pope, Condoms and HPV: What Pope Benedict May Not Know #PreventCC #HPV http://ow.ly/4Vo4W

@bioZhena:                                                                                            #fem http://bit.ly/k7As90 GARDASIL does NOT prevent all of #cervical #cancer Merck says: It’s important to continue regular #cervicalcancer #screening

@bioZhena:                                                                                     #Gynecology experts divided http://to.ly/awuh whether deaths & blood clots serious but rare side effects of the #HPV #vaccine #Gardasil #fem

@bioZhena:                                                                                       #Gardasil unexplained death http://to.ly/aB9A Coroner raises questions about #HPV #vaccination ¬es 78 US deaths related to Gardasil (51 by CDC)

@bioZhena:                                                                                               The Truth About #Gardasil http://to.ly/awu9 by @mariangreene04 No known treatment to help these girls as they suffer in silence #womenshealth

@bioZhena:                                                                                                             http://to.ly/awun reports of injury, death related to #Gardasil #HPV #vaccine It prevents positive #Pap – not CC [Cervical Cancer] Think Ovulona http://to.ly/xEO  AND THINK ABOUT THE BOLD-FONT STATEMENT JUST ABOVE.

Alphonse Mucha: Madonna Of The Lilies

There then appeared a physician’s tweet “in defense of” the HPV vaccines, dismissive of the public concerns:

@DrJenGunter tweeted:                                                                              @bioZhena don’t use media sources as references, there are excellent reviews of VAERS and Gardisil in real journals

@DrJenGunter tweeted:                                                            @bioZhena all the US deaths post Gardisil have been investigated and no causal relationship identified. Several good publications.

@bioZhena responded with a request for the source of the info, i.e., for those “several good publications”.

@bioZhena:                                                                                              Thanx @DrJenGunter for your msg on #Gardasil #Cervarix safety. Would you share references? I got CDC http://to.ly/aB3v                8% VAERS were serious (defined) = 1,468.

@bioZhena:                                                                                @DrJenGunter #Gardasil http://to.ly/aB4c ~half the adverse reactions required a trip to the ER & about 20% of those girls “Did Not Recover”

@bioZhena:                                                                                                 RT @DrJenGunter: @bioZhena 2011 meta analysis in peer reviewed journal > 44,000 girls no increase in adverse events with Gardasil vs. control #vaxfax — Any chance that you’d share the 2011 meta analysis reference, please?

@bioZhena:                                                                                             #Gardasil Gardisil Silgard Re: @DrJenGunter 2 @bioZhena “don’t use media sources as references, there are excellent reviews of VAERS and Gardisil in real journals”. Please cite them disproving deaths, harm. Email:  vaclavkirsner@yahoo.com . I look forward to hearing from you. Hard data is indeed necessary.

Did not receive any, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, the government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – in “Reports of Health Concerns Following HPV Vaccination” http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaccines/hpv/gardasil.html – states, among other things (albeit not “in real journals”):

Blood Clots
There have been some reports of blood clots in females after receiving Gardasil. These clots have occurred in the heart, lungs, and legs. Most of these people had a risk of getting blood clots, such as taking oral contraceptives (the birth control pill), smoking, obesity, and other risk factors.
Deaths
As of February 14, 2011, there have been 51 VAERS reports of death among females who have received Gardasil. Thirty two of these reports have been confirmed and 19 remain unconfirmed due to no identifiable patient information in the report such as a name and contact information to confirm the report. A death report is confirmed (verified) after a medical doctor reviews the report and any associated records. In the 32 reports confirmed, there was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine and some reports indicated a cause of death unrelated to vaccination. END QUOTE.

Whereupon @bioZhena suggests: The anti-Hippocrates harm does not go away, and cervical cancer screening is no less needed post-vaccination than without it. That’s why @bioZhena’s interest in the topic, as we propose to introduce a better screen than the Pap – but this requires some funding. With our screen done automatically by women at home (in the background of the primary use of the Ovulona™ monitor), the concern that the Pap frequency would suffer in the West is or can be answered, and providing the screen to the population in the non-West countries is a big plus.
Posted by: http://twitter.com/bioZhena   5/26/2011 12:48:52 AM from Twitzer

@bioZhena:                                                                                                  India halts #HPV #vaccine trial after 6 girls die, US does nothing – 67 deaths http://to.ly/aALf #Gardasil & #Cervarix #cervical #cancer

@bioZhena:                                                                                       #vaxfax #womenshealth Worth repeating: Vaccination does NOT replace routine #cervicalcancer screening – does NOT protect against all #HPV types http://to.ly/aB3v And: Vaccines do NOT cure cervical cancer

@bioZhena:                                                                                              #HPV #PreventCC even vaccinated must screen4CC [must screen for cervical cancer]: 20-30 yrs old screen every 2 yrs, 30-65 yrs every 3 yrs if Pap is normal http://to.ly/aGu3

RT @MedscapeOBGYN by @bioZhena:                                             Cervical Cancer Screening Every 3 Years for Most Women http://bit.ly/mhop42

@bioZhena:                                                                                              #Vaccination does not replace routine #cervicalcancer screening! Vaccines don’t protect against all #HPV types http://to.ly/aB3v & they don’t cure it

Alfons Mucha, Malířství

@bioZhena:                                                                                     Comment from http://to.ly/aCD3 #Cervical #cancer “smear tests are invasive uncomfortable embarrassing & often are badly diagnosed”. Hear hear!

@bioZhena:                                                                                                  Comment from http://to.ly/aCD3 “De-stigmatize #cervical #cancer and do some work to make test less unpleasant – more #women will go”. Hear hear!

@bioZhena:                                                                                       #womenshealth RT @BelievnTomorrow #HPV and #cervical #cancer – (We can do better!) http://ow.ly/506ha ->Easy home screening http://to.ly/weK

@bioZhena:                                                                                                e-tech #medtech 4 getting #women everywhere screened 4 early signs of #cervical #cancer http://to.ly/aGtS  Innocuous, affordable.

That’s it – we can do better than the Pap.

But does anyone hear this?

@bioZhena:                                                                                             What is the significance of the #HPV epidemic? http://to.ly/aB44 Already in 1842 a Verona #doctor observed: #cervicalcancer is due to sexual activity http://to.ly/aB46

#Women who get #STD screening can avoid #infertility caused by #STDs http://to.ly/aIyq  Future home screen http://to.ly/xEO http://yfrog.com/kfgl0dfj

@bioZhena:                                                                                              Here is a thought. Daughters of @BarackObama too will benefit from our #medtech #fertility #cervical #cancer screen. See about the Ovulona at http://to.ly/xEO

Is this a heresy?

A few more peri-vernal equinox tweets on #conceiving, #fertility, achieving #pregnancy & #baby gender contrary to Shettles

While NFP users know that fertility awareness is a must for birth control

We all know that the peri in the title does not refer to any “one of a large group of beautiful, fairylike beings of Persian mythology…”. We know that “peri” is in fact a prefix meaning “about” or “around” and “near”, appearing in loanwords from Greek, such as in the title here [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peri].

Peri - 1865

And now for the last few tweets; again somewhat edited, since here we do not have the 140 character limit. And again with clickable links to further information, including the #hash tags with all sorts of tweets there by anybody using a given hash tag, in the manner of the Twitter social networking mechanism.

These tweets should do it for this departure into the so-called microblogging. Do check out http://to.ly/VCF for what a reliable #fertility tool is about. Read up on it http://to.ly/vUz

Here is a birth control product that will be in the competition category when we go into the birth control market: http://twitpic.com/1971ez – This is the device used to insert the ‘Mirena’ coil into the patient’s uterus. Sent via TwitPic. Retweeted by you and 1 other. The reason why this was re-tweeted by yours truly was to highlight the invasiveness of the pictured device, which bears no comparison with ours (quite apart from our device not inserting into the uterus). But, of course, our product is not out yet, with all its user-friendly and otherwise beneficial attributes. Any comments, dear reader, would be appreciated.

RT@pregnancyorg: Read about your cycles getting #pregnant before #conceiving http://ow.ly/1l765 — and then I suggest you also read http://to.ly/VCF and http://to.ly/vUz

RT@Averyugya81: ARTs [Artificial Reproductive Technologies] for #infertility treatment may pass on genetic defects – warns ART pioneer http://to.ly/1pOJ . This is reminiscent of the development when Father of the Pill Dr. Djerassi turned against oral contraception, promoting instead what he called “the Jet-Age Rhythm Method”, by which he meant fertility awareness (aided by technology, hence the reference to jet age)

RT@Averyugya81: How often do I have to have sex to get #pregnant? http://to.ly/1pPi

How often?

– Every day for 20 days with 69% chance of success, write statisticians http://to.ly/1phs (from day x to day y of your cycle)

If this continues to be pleasuresome, carry on for months on end to overcome the odds. Else, you need focus, and see my earlier tweets. Fight statistics! (With pleasuresome determination and with the aid of a deterministic timing tool… in the offing)

Again: The odds are against us! #pregnancy #birth control #fertility #startup angel-investor-find-and-match… same difference! Odds are very low (without that focus)

@pregnancyorg‘s gender selection http://to.ly/1qkx seems to perpetuate the Shettles recipe. However, evidence http://to.ly/1nyK http://to.ly/1qmz contradicts Shettles (whose claims have the reputation of not being backed by or based on any properly designed clinical studies). Here is a summary of a solid study, which – for the lack of “Perfect” – employed three “Imperfect Measures” of ovulation as defined in the previous post. The three gave similar results. Female births at (or near) ovulation, male births 2 days earlier (or so)

Birth distribution by gender - France et al., focused NFP TTC study

The uncertainty expressed by the “or near” and “or so” is the consequence of the “Imperfect Measures”, but the trend is clear. Also rather clear is that the low birth counts flanking the high ones are data outliers due to measurement errors inherent in “Imperfect Measures”. For more on this, go to the earlier post at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/fetal-sex-pre-selection-%E2%80%93-the-fundamentals

Baby gender pre-selection will require a clinical study as stringent as the France et al. study was, but performed with our Ovulona instead of the inaccurate methods (BBT, Peak mucus, LH rise as opposed to LH surge apex)

Delville - Satan Treasures, 1895

RT@BabyMed: So can you get pregnant from having sex on your period? http://bit.ly/29yLQJ — THE absolute requirement is a RELIABLE #fertility monitor. (Persistent monitoring in the interest of evidence-based medicine)

RT@BabyMed: So can you get pregnant from having sex on your period? Yes, but only if the cycle is very short, which would be due to a very short follicular phase, which you can only detect with a RELIABLE monitor. (Not to track merely one, two or even three hormones in body fluids – you need to follow FIV™, Folliculogenesis In Vivo™)

RT@bioZhena RT@BabyMed: Furthermore, you want our built-in #pregnancy detection because it will see you #pregnant right away (not only about two weeks later), and – importantly – our device will also see if the pregnancy is lost, which happens quite frequently. See  https://biozhena.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/about-the-added-bonus-of-folliculogenesis-monitoring-automatic-pregnancy-detection . Early embryonic mortality is very high (according to some sources significantly more than 50%), and most of the losses of the conceptus occur early on, prior to 12 weeks. Mostly they occur sub-clinically, without the knowledge of the mother (by one expert source, 52% of all women who conceive experience early miscarriage…)             

RT@bioZhena: RT@BabyMed: Can #pregnancy result from sex on period? Yes, if it’s a very short cycle (due to a very short follicular phase) – which is unlikely – as the pre #ovulation phase is rarely that short. Since teenage cycles tend to be irregular and often short, this is of particular interest to sexually-active teens.  You must MONITOR your cycles if you don’t want any such surprise

RT@bioZhena: RT@BabyMed: Can #pregnancy result from sex on period? See here how unlikely it appears http://to.ly/1k9L . Unlikely, if the shortest follicular phase is 6 days. Menstrual bleeding would have to be as close to ovulation as 4 days, to make the answer unequivocally positive; that would mean cycle length of 18 days (or 16 to 20 days). Very rapid dominant follicle maturation. Until this (shortest follicular phase question) is investigated with our Ovulona monitor of Folliculogenesis In Vivo™ [FIV™], there is probably little data to invoke. I would be interested in any evidence.

Peri-vernal equinox tweets on #conceiving, #fertility status, achieving #pregnancy in the era of #infertility – “a modern epidemic”

NFP aficionados know that fertility awareness is for birth control, too

And language aficionados will know that the peri in the title does not refer to any “one of a large group of beautiful, fairylike beings of Persian mythology, represented as descended from fallen angels and excluded from paradise until their penance is accomplished.” Nor, for that matter, to “any lovely, graceful person.”

Peri or Paeri of Persian folklore and mythology

Peri is a prefix meaning “about” or “around” and “near”, appearing in loanwords from Greek [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peri]. Just like here, whereby we invoke the Spring Equinox – when the Sun rises exactly in the east, travels through the sky for exactly 12 hours and sets exactly in the west – this year on March 20. “And anyone standing on the equator at noon will not cast a shadow” [http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/mar20.html]. Lovely!

So then, now for the tweets (a little edited, since here we do not have the 140 character limit, and – in the usual manner – with clickable links to further information, including the #hash tags).

1)         2009 sales of #fertility LH kits at $272M outpaced #pregnancy tests http://to.ly/1p8Q Not exactly surprising since ~30% of US women do not get #pregnant in 6 or 12 months 12:04 PM Mar 16th

2)         #Infertility is “a modern epidemic”. In 17 studies, 56% of the relevant sub-population (range 42–76%) in developed countries sought medical help http://to.ly/1pdo but less than 1/2 of them received care 2:30 PM Mar 16th

3)         Unintended pregnancies = “global epidemic”. US family planning is “uniquely deficient” (50%) http://to.ly/1pcB Cause: high contraceptive failure rates 2:34 PM Mar 16th

4)         Leading causes of unintended pregnancy are closely related to #contraceptive failure. Failure rates: 31% the Pill, 18% condoms, 5% 3-month injectable #birth control 2:43 PM Mar 16th

5)      Medscape OBGYN: #fertility awareness can be highly satisfactory #birth control & #family planning method http://to.ly/1peK http://to.ly/1peM 3:14 PM Mar 16th

6)      RT @bioZhena #fertility awareness [FA] is a great #birth control & #family planning method especially for women 30+ years of age, and those who are able to practice FA without a teacher 3:23 PM Mar 16th

7)      Statisticians: Best frequency of sex for unfocused conception attempts is every 2 or 3 days http://bit.ly/d9tCfm to avoid exhaustion. Else, everyday 5:32 PM Mar 16th

8)      RT@bioZhena But even sex every day for 20 days from day 6 to day 25 only computes as 69% probability of conception. So what else is new in the world of sub- #fertility, wanting #pregnancy but being put into the sub- #fertile category 5:34 PM Mar 16th

9)      Trying to get #pregnant without knowing when-to frequently does not work for a long time. Yet, often all that’s needed is knowing your actual fertile window in the present cycle http://to.ly/VCF 7:18 PM Mar 16th

10)  For #fertilityawareness, NFP for #pregnancy and/or #birthcontrol, we have the tool for you http://to.ly/VCF — or, rather, will have, once funded. Comments? 7:19 PM Mar 16th

About the Added Bonus of Folliculogenesis Monitoring – Automatic Pregnancy Detection

.

It will really be advisable for women to use the Ovulona™ personal fertility monitor as advocated. Whether pregnancy is hoped for or pregnancy-avoidance is the purpose, diligent routine use of the Ovulona will bring benefits.

What benefits? Not only the correct scientific reckoning of the expected period of gestation (usually spoken of as the EDD or EDC) but also the subject of this article: The automatic immediate detection of pregnancy, which is built into the bioZhena process of menstrual cycle (folliculogenesis) monitoring.

See and hear about this in the narrated slide at https://biozhena.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/single-slide-narrated-best-wealth-of-info-in-menstrual-cycle-profile-signature.pps . Here is an image of the slide:

We expect that the personal cervix monitoring will be continued after conception has been detected – whether planned or unplanned – for the reason of watching out for or guarding against the possibility of early pregnancy loss (EPL).

Immediate detection

The detection of EPL is based on the understanding of the post-ovulation part of the menstrual cyclic profile signature. In the event of an EPL, the menstrual cyclic profile (which cannot physiologically continue after conception and/or implantation occurs) is logically expected to come back, alerting the woman to try getting pregnant again as soon as possible. This urgency is to reduce the probability of recurring spontaneous abortion as documented in medical literature.

As a 2010 study concluded: Women who conceive within six months of an initial miscarriage have the best reproductive outcomes and lowest complication rates in a subsequent pregnancy. You can read a CNN article about the British Medical Journal published study at http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/05/miscarriage.try.again.asap/ . We cite the original BMJ publication at the very end of this post.

“Ask Medical Doctor” [http://www.askmedicaldoctor.com ] is a web site that provides numerous examples where it follows that our Ovulona™ personal fertility device will be just what the customer needs. And her OBGYN, too.

As an example, here is a posted question (courtesy of @pregnancydoc tweet) [http://www.askmedicaldoctor.com/medical/doctor/index.php?xq=63935 ]:

“I quit the nuva ring at the end of november, and had a short cycle. I was only on it for a month. My husband an I are trying to conceive. Last week I had a blood pregnancy test, which was negative. As well as the week before. Now I’m almost a week late. I’ve also experienced a little bit of breast tenderness, stomach tenderness, and lower back pain. what’s up?”

Answer by Dr.Bhumika Aggarwal on Fri 08, Jan 2010 10:33pm:

“Hi, Yes you could be pregnant. The only way to know the confirmed cause is a clinical examination by an OBG specialist and if required an ultrasound examination. You could take a urine pregnancy test at home – that would only help a week after you have missed your periods. You should get a blood test for beta HCG levels which would confirm or rule out a pregnancy. This is confirmatory for pregnancy in cases where the urine pregnancy test kit is not helpful. It would be best to consult your doctor without any delay. Regards.”

Commenting on the Ovulona advantage

The above case is not unusual, including the fact that, after quitting hormonal contraception, the menstrual cycle(s) will tend to be short, out of whack. More to the point, however, is that, with the routinely used Ovulona, pregnancy will be detected immediately, by the disappearance of the follicular waves normally appearing in the luteal phase of the cycle [the days after ovulation], whether the cycle is short, long or what have you.

Where the physician talks about the urine and blood pregnancy testing is where it gets interesting. When Dr. B. A. writes, “that would only help a week after you have missed your periods”, with the Ovulona the detection will be immediate and, importantly, the Ovulona will make it possible to monitor the progress of the pregnancy. Where the doctor writes, “You should get a blood test”, that will no longer be the only option for the woman in the early days of uncertainty about her pregnancy status, or in the subsequent early stage of pregnancy.

The point is this: The hCG level in the blood shows the presence of the conceptus, and the immediate disappearance of the follicular waves is expected to show the presence of the conceptus before the hCG test can. The reason is that the hCG test requires a certain minimal level of the human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) to be reached, and then the blood concentration peaks on the analytical instrument’s readout that the service lab will use.

This is how the pregnancy shows in the lab test for hCG:

Conceptus signature – small

Figure from Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96 (6): 2678–81 (March 1999)

http://www.pnas.org/content/96/6/2678.figures-only or http://to.ly/OYI

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_chorionic_gonadotropin, or http://www.webmd.com/baby/human-chorionic-gonadotropin-hcg .

“Once the fertilized egg implants, the developing placenta begins releasing hCG into your blood.” “hCG appears in the blood and urine of pregnant women as early as 10 days after conception” [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003510.htm ].

“In non-pregnant women, hCG levels are normally undetectable. During early pregnancy, the placenta produces hCG and its level in the blood doubles every two to four days” [http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/TipsandArticlesonDeviceSafety/ucm109390.htm ].

Nothing is perfect, and “hCG kits can detect a wide and varying range of different hCG-related molecules in serum or urine samples” rather than just the one molecule they want to detect [http://www.hcglab.com/index.html ].

“The primary role of hCG in the maternal organism is to serve as a signal to the ovary to maintain the corpus luteum, which would regress if it were not rescued by hCG. … It appears that exponentially increasing amounts of hCG are required to prolong the functional lifespan of the corpus luteum, which explains why the corpus luteum survives early pregnancy but regresses during unfertilized menstrual cycles…” [Parry, S, Glob. libr. women’s med., (ISSN: 1756-2228) 2008 http://to.ly/P0z ]. Corpus luteum (yellow body) is defined as a yellow, progesterone-secreting, mass of cells that forms from an ovarian follicle after the release of a mature egg (i.e., ovulation), http://to.ly/P0B . It is what becomes of the follicle after ovulation.

How it works

Against that background, we bring up the following expected effect of conception on the folliculogenesis profile as it is tracked by the Ovulona and used by the woman at home. The data accumulated in the memory of the device will be available for use by her physician and the healthcare system.

Précis: When conception occurs, the normal folliculogenesis process changes due to the developing pregnancy (i.e., due to the conceptus). Conception can only occur upon ovulation, and when it does then the change happens – immediately. The follicular waves that normally occur after ovulation can no longer appear.

Upon conception, the maternal menstrual cycling is overruled, taken over, by the conceptus and the placenta. Conceptus is defined as the product of conception at any point between fertilization and birth. It includes the embryo or the fetus as well as the extra-embryonic membranes [http://to.ly/P0t , conceptus is from Latin, something conceived; see concept].

The disappearance of the follicular waves will be immediate, and easily detectable. Importantly, as with the monitoring of folliculogenesis for the purpose of either achieving or avoiding pregnancy, it will be presented to the woman at home in plain English as “pregnancy detected” on the display of her Ovulona device.

A very important (and unprecedented) additional advantage of our technique is that any loss of the pregnancy will also be detected in the process of continued routine monitoring during the pregnancy. This is advisable because many conceptions end in natural loss, i.e., the early death of the conceptus. E. g., “absence of TLX antigen recognition due to sharing of maternal-paternal TLX antigen profiles may not allow anti-TA1 activity and may lead to subsequent fetal rejection”, http://www.profelis.org/webpages-cn/lectures/reproductive_physiology_2.html (http://to.ly/P1S ).

Seriousness of the EPL problem

Between one quarter and one third of pregnancies may fail hours or days after implantation [  http://www.hcglab.com/hyperglycosylated.htm , citing Prenat. Diagn. 1998;18:1232–40 and J. Endocrinol. 2002; 172: 497-506]. But see also Further References, below, where the incidence is put at 75%+ of all attempts to conceive – the most common complication of human gestation.

In view of the fact that “treatment of women who present with cramping and spotting in the first trimester of pregnancy would be better guided by a sensitive and specific test that would reliably categorize prognoses for pregnancies”, it is worthwhile to speculate as follows. Since “progesterone appeared to be the single most specific biomarker for distinguishing viable from nonviable pregnancies” [Obst. Gynecol. 2000, Vol. 95, Issue 2, pp. 227-231, http://to.ly/P39 ], and in view of our sensor’s mode of operation (and the expected response to conception), we might even speculate that differentiating between viable and non-viable pregnancies might be attempted with our technique, too.

As throughout the whole text in this article, speculate is the key word.

Further References:

Efficiency and Bias in Studies of Early Pregnancy Loss, Clarice R. Weinberg, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Donna D. Baird and Allen J. Wilcox, Epidemiology, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Jan., 1992), pp. 17-22, http://to.ly/P3s

Early Pregnancy Loss,  http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/260495-overview Note: Chief Editor is Lee P. Shulman, MD – one of bioZhena Corporation’s Board of Medical Advisors.

Excerpted:

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 is10-15%, 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

The gestational age at the time of the SAB can provide clues about the cause. For instance, nearly 70% of SABs in the first 12 weeks are due to chromosomal anomalies. However, losses due to antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and cervical incompetence tend to occur after the first trimester. END QUOTE.

Medline ® Abstracts for References 3-5,7-9 of ‘Spontaneous abortion: Risk factors, etiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnostic evaluation’ http://to.ly/P4e

Citing from one abstract on the list: “Preterm death of the human conceptus is common.”

Conclusion of a 2003 paper from China: We demonstrated substantial EPL in the non-clinically pregnant cycles and a positive relation between EPL and subsequent fertility. EPL = Early Pregnancy Loss. The conception rate per cycle was 40% over the first 12 months.

Conclusion of a 2010 British Medical Journal paper from Scotland: Women who conceive within six months of an initial miscarriage have the best reproductive outcomes and lowest complication rates in a subsequent pregnancy.                          

See it at: http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c3967.full?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Bhattacharya&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=date&resourcetype=HWCIT

Hello world!

This was originally said to be an alternative or introductory About. But, really: Written as a post when getting into this blogging, getting the hang of it here… Thank you to WordPress.com. (Notice how I have not corrected the automatically provided default title of this first post! It misses the comma, and never mind that the omission is the order of the day, some kind of a modernism. Hey you there!)

Please do visit the About page, for a more informative introduction to bioZhena. And don’t overlook the clickable Table of Contents, provided for readers’ convenience.

In one brief sentence: We have invented the new technology of ovulography™, fundamental to women’s health and lifestyle.

We have a personal fertility status monitor for home use by women, and a data management system for physicians who can receive the folliculogenesis data from their patients.

Our personal self-diagnostic device, the Ovulona™, tells the woman in plain English whether today is one of the three days that she can become pregnant.

How? We monitor the process that causes menstrual cycles and is fundamental to women’s health. Primary use is for reproductive management: birth control and aiding the achievement of pregnancy. Pregnancy will be automatically detected within a day or two – not two weeks at additional cost and dubious reliability.

But there is much more, including an automatic screening for cervical cancer and other STDs (cervical tissue aberration), management of PMS/PMDD and management of hormone therapy, to name just a few uses that come with the core technology.

To wit: Ours is a unique and disruptive technology.

Only this Ovulona device can provide to the woman at home the interpreted fertile status results in plain language for an immediate use, and provide data of unequaled accuracy. This is why ours is the only diagnostic tool that can be used for birth control.

Only our technology can perform an automatic cervical cancer screen in the background, free of anxiety, discomfort and high cost (as associated with the Pap smear). We also plan to incorporate a therapeutic function into the Ovulona device. All this will add to the consumer appeal of our core product line, already well documented.

bioZhena is a medical consumer electronic technology developer, with a significant intellectual property. We plan on having a marketable product ready within 7 months of funding, and profitability within 2 years. Another version of the business plan is more conservative: 16 months and 33 months, respectively.  Adequate funding is referenced here… (and it’s not an exorbitant amount because the first launched product will provide funds for the other applications’ testing and straightforward additional programming).

Ovulography™ also referred to as FOLLICULOGENESIS IN VIVO™ or FIV™

The contact email in the last slide needs correction: vaclav@biozhena.com

Friendly Technology

Click on the image to view a short set of mostly narrated slides produced in December 2016