Scientists create human sperm from stem cells

LONDON - British scientists claimed Wednesday to have created human sperm from embryonic stem cells for the first time, an accomplishment they say may someday help infertile men father children.

The technique could in 10 years allow researchers to use the basic knowledge of how sperm develop to design treatments to enable infertile men the chance to have biological children, said lead researcher Karim Nayernia, of Newcastle University, whose team earlier produced baby mice from sperm derived in a similar way.

The research, published in the journal Stem Cells and Development, was conducted by scientists at Newcastle and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute.

Stem cells can become any cell in the body, and scientists have previously turned them into a variety of new entities, including cells from the brain, pancreas, heart and blood vessels.
Some experts challenged the research, saying they weren’t convinced Nayernia and his colleagues had actually produced sperm cells. Several critics also said the sperm cells they created were clearly abnormal.

“I am unconvinced from the data presented in this paper that the cells produced by Professor Nayernia’s group from embryonic stem cells can be accurately called ’spermatazoa,” said Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield.
Pacey said in a statement that the sperm created by Nayernia did not have the specific shape, movement and function of real sperm.

Azim Surani, a professor of physiology and reproduction at the University of Cambridge said the sperm produced by the Newcastle team were “a long way from being authentic sperm cells.”
Nayernia said the cells “showed all the characteristics of sperm,” but his group’s intention was simply to “open up new avenues of research” with their early findings, rather than using the sperm to fertilize eggs.

Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell expert at the National Institute of Medical Research said that despite the questions raised, Nayernia and colleagues may have made some progress in obtaining human sperm from embryonic cells.

Nayernia said creating embryos from lab-manufactured sperm is banned by British law.
He said they only plan to produce sperm to study the reasons behind infertility, and will not fertilize any eggs.

Some lawmakers said provisions should be made to allow sperm derived from stem cells to be tested as part of potential fertility treatments.

Obesity may be a risk factor in swine flu

ATLANTA - Some swine flu cases in Michigan are raising questions about obesity's role in why some people with infections become seriously ill.

A high proportion of those who have gotten severely ill from swine flu have been obese or extremely obese, but health officials have said that might be due to the fact that heavy people tend to have asthma and other conditions that make them more susceptible. Obesity alone has never been seen as a risk factor for seasonal flu.

Meanwhile, the government is ready to announce another $1 billion in orders for swine flu vaccinations.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday she will announce Monday that Washington has approved another billion dollars to buy components of the vaccine. Sebelius said that research is under way to provide a safe and effective vaccine to fight a flu strain that could be a pandemic.

Sebelius and other top officials are bracing for fall's flu season. She says leaders are watching the Southern Hemisphere for clues how serious the U.S. flu season might be.
Sebelius appeared on CNN's "State of the Union."

Complications in obese patientsIn a report released Friday, health officials detailed the cases of 10 Michigan patients who were very sick from swine flu in late May and early June and ended up at a specialized hospital in Ann Arbor. Three of them died.

Nine of the 10 were either obese or extremely obese. Only three of the 10 had other health problems. Two of the three that died had no other health conditions.

This hardly settles the question of whether obesity is its own risk factor for swine flu. It's possible the patients had undiagnosed heart problems or other unidentified conditions.
Still the finding was striking, investigators acknowledged.

Also remarkable were that five of the patients developed blood clots in their lungs, and six had kidney failure. Those complications have been seen in some swine flu patients before, but not usually in such a high proportion.

"Clinicians need to be aware that severe complications can occur in patients with the novel H1N1 virus, particularly in extremely obese patients," said Dr. Tim Uyeki, a flu expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Uyeki was a co-author of the report, released by a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Also on Friday, the CDC said the number of U.S. swine flu cases has surpassed 37,000 and deaths have risen to 211.

The numbers rose from the 170 deaths and nearly 34,000 confirmed and suspected swine flu cases reported last week.

Those are lab-confirmed and probable infections. CDC officials believe those cases — which sought treatment and underwent testing — are just the tip of the iceberg. They estimate more than 1 million Americans have been infected with the virus so far, though many probably had only a mild illness.

Swine flu is the predominant flu type circulating currently, with nine states reporting widespread cases, down from 10 a week ago.

The pandemic was first identified in California in April. Since then a total of more than 94,000 cases have been reported in more than 100 countries, according to the World Health Organization.