Contraception Research For Today And The Nineties

The twentieth century will close with 5 billion people added to the current global population. Between 1980 and the year 2000, the total world population will increase from 4 billion 10 a liUle over 6 billion. There will be half as many morc people on earth during these 20 years than the number accumulated since the origin of man to 1980. Overpopulation is particularly acute in economically developing countries, where contraception has become a social necessity. Comraceplion Researcll for Today and Ihe Nineties carries the proceedings of an international symposium convened in New Delhi in October, 1986, to review the status of current research in contraception. Major organizations supporting basic and applied research in contraception-The Population Council, World Health Organization (WHO), The Rockefeller Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)- were represented by the heads of divi sions who projected respective programs and strategies. Principal scientists responsible for many of the new leads participated.

This is a program summary report recounting the history of support of the Ford Foundation for demography, reproductive science, contraceptive development and family planning, from 1950s-1980s, culminating in a presentation of the $125 million commitment emphasizing reproductive health for the 1990s. An introduction familiarizes the reader with essential points on world population, maternal mortality, needs for new contraceptives and contraceptive services. Central to all these problems is reproductive health and the status of women. The most common determinant of both is women's education, which affects their health, sexuality, nutrition, medical care, pregnancy outcome and family size. Important pronouncements by several world bodies have articulated the need for enhancement of the status of women, but responses of governments have been detached vertical programs in primary health care. The Ford Foundation has appropriated increasingly significant funds for women's projects in the 1980s. The proposed approach is to use the social sciences to attend to women's needs throughout their reproductive life cycles. The Foundation has the advantage of 14 staff members already allocated to reproductive health and population, and 12 social scientists, 10 of whom are located in field offices. The 3 specific objectives of the new program are: to develop a comprehensive, socioeconomic, legal and biomedical framework for reproductive health based on social science research, policy formation and service design; to empower women to understand articulate and act on their needs at the family, community and policy levels; and to promote public dialogue and awareness of reproductive health and population issues.

The "contraceptive revolution" of the 1960s and 1970s introduced totally new contraceptive options and launched an era of research and product development. Yet by the late 1980s, conditions had changed and improvements in contraceptive products, while very important in relation to improved oral contraceptives, IUDs, implants, and injectables, had become primarily incremental. Is it time for a second contraceptive revolution and how might it happen? Contraceptive Research and Development explores the frontiers of science where the contraceptives of the future are likely to be found and lays out criteria for deciding where to make the next R&D investments. The book comprehensively examines today's contraceptive needs, identifies "niches" in those needs that seem most readily translatable into market terms, and scrutinizes issues that shape the market: method side effects and contraceptive failure, the challenge of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and the implications of the "women's agenda." Contraceptive Research and Development analyzes the response of the pharmaceutical industry to current dynamics in regulation, liability, public opinion, and the economics of the health sector and offers an integrated set of recommendations for public- and private-sector action to meet a whole new generation of demand.

Vaccines have historically been considered to be the most cost-effective method for preventing communicable diseases. It was a vaccine that en abled global eradication of the dreaded disease smallpo. .

Reproductive Immunology is a compilation of research articles presented during the VII International Congress of Reproductive Immunology which was held in New Delhi, India on 27-30 October 1998. The articles pertain to the following six major themes: Molecular and Immunological Aspects of Sperm-Egg Interaction Embryonic-Endometrial Cross-Talk Immunobiology of Pregnancy Autoantibodies and Infertility Immunocontraception Mucosal Immunology and Reproductive Tract Infections . The first section deals with our current understanding of various steps involved in fertilization. The functional significance of sperm surface mannosidase and glutathione S-transferases to bind zona pellucida is described. The role of zona pellucida glycoproteins in the binding of sperm, induction of acrosome reactions and avoidance of polyspermy is discussed. In the second section, the role of various cytokines, growth factors and immunomodulatory agents in implantation of embryos is described. In the field of reproductive immunology, one of the major issues is to explore the successful gestation of the histoincompatible fetus in the uterus of an immunologically competent mother. The Proceedings presents the issues of paternal antigens at the feto-maternal interface and shows that Th2-type of immunity is involved in normal successful conception. The role of membrane-bound and soluble HLA-G in protecting the fetus from the lytic activities of maternal uterine and peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cells is also presented. Nature's experiments suggest that antibodies against sperm-specific antigens are responsible for infertility in some women. The possibility that an immunogenetic background contributes to production of sperm-immobilizing antibodies in infertile women is discussed in the section on autoantibodies and infertility. The Proceedings presents the issue of Th1-type cytokines in inducing recurrent spontaneous abortions of unexplained etiology. The roles of β2-glycoprotein 1 (β2-GP1)-dependent anticardiolipin antibody, lupus anticoagulant, antiphospholipids, anti-thyroid antibody and anti-nuclear antibody in miscarriages are also described. The rising global human population, particularly in the developing countries, has driven the need for new and safer methods of contraception. Fertility regulation by vaccines is thus an interesting proposition. The section on contraceptive vaccines discusses the latest advances in this area and describes the current status of vaccines based on βhCG, sperm antigens, zona pellucida glycoproteins, and riboflavin carrier proteins. The issues of mucosal immunity and strategies for enhancing local genital immune responses to combat HIV infection is discussed. The role of inflammatory and related cytokines in chorioamnionitis is described. The contents of this Proceedings describes various facets of reproductive immunology which will help us to design strategies to combat genital infections and miscarriages caused by immunological etiology. Descriptions of the molecular basis of gamete recognition, implantation and survival of the allogenic fetus will help in designing strategies for overcoming infertility and also new contraceptive approaches. The Proceedings will be useful to researchers and clinicians involved in basic or applied research in the disciplines of reproductive biology, reproductive immunology, and obstetrics and gynecology.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

A Unique Book. Although Pasteurs Seminal Contributions Are Known, The Background Leading To These Discoveries Has Been Admirably Recapitulated. How Studies To Help Sort The Problems Of Wine And Beer Industry Led To The Recognition Of Micro-Organisms As The Causative Factor, And To The Denunciation Of The Then Prevalent Views On Spontaneous Generation. The Inability Of An Aged Culture Of Fowl Cholera To Cause Disease In Chicken Was Not Dismissed As A Mistake, But Deduced To Make Two Observations Fundamental To Development Of Vaccines, Namely A Method To Attenuate The Virulence Of The Micro-Organisms And The Use Of Such Organisms As Vaccines.The Vaccine For Rabies Was A Landmark At A Time When No Electron Microscope Was Available To Visualize A Virus. Also This Was The First Use Of A Vaccine For Therapeutic Purposes! Pasteur S Heritage, The Institute That He Created And Scientists Who Worked With Him, And After Him, At This Institute Were Responsible For Discovery Of The Bacillus Causing Plague (And Also The Way It Spreads Through Fleas, An Observation Made By Them While Working In India), The Realization That The Symptoms Caused Bydiphtheria Were At A Point Distant Than The Infective Bacilli And Hence Due To A Toxin Elaborated; The Antisera For Tetanus Anddiphtheria; Bcg, The Attenuated Bovine Tuberculosis Bacillus For Vaccination Etc. Metchnikoff Laid The Basis Of Cellular Immunity, Bordet Discovered The Complement System.Part I Of The Book Provides Historical Insights On The Development Of Immunology In The Period Between The Two World Wars, The Pasteurian And The Grand Germanic School Of Koch, Ehrlich, And Von Behring, The Controversies Which Spurred Progress And Led To The Enrichment Of This Discipline. A Chapter In Part Ii Summarizes The Current Status Of The Vaccine, Which Have Historically Been The Most Cost Effective Agents For Control Of Diseases And Have Helped Eradicate Small Pox From The Surface Of The Globe.Part Iii Of The Book Has Two Thought Provoking Articles On The Philosophical Implications Of The Findings On Immune Mechanisms To Other Biological Processes. For Example Learning Is Not An Acquired Process From Outside. Instructive Theories On Antibody Formation Are Disproved. Instead, It Is Selection And Amplification That Prevails. The Book Concludes With An Enlightening Chapter On Perspectives In Modern Immunology. The Immune System Need Not Be Conceived For The Aggressive Function Of Combatingoutside Organisms. The Recognition Of Self Is Fundamental To Its Working.