In 1902, the vertebrate embryologist James Beard wrote these words in his monograph on germ cells in the skate Raja batis [1]. Over 110 years later, germ line specification and development are indeed major areas of investigation in the fields of developmental biology and evolution. August Weismann’s description of the germ line as containing ‘‘unalterable accessory idioplasm’’ [2] may sound sus...

T H E mechanism of differentiation presents one of the central problems of embryology, and it seems reasonable to assume that the development of tissue and organ specificities, in a chemical sense, mirrors differentiation as recognized by the classical methods of embryonic grafting and histological analysis. It is now well established that it is possible, by means of immunological techniques, t...

An embryologist, as implied by his name, is primarily interested in the development of the embryo as a whole or at least in one or more of its intra-embryonic structures. Being a pathologist, whose interest in embryology has been stimulated by contact with the pathological problems of The Boston Lying-in Hospital, I have, perforce, become more interested in those extra-embryonic structures, the...

Background: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is the choice option for treatment of couples with severe male infertility. Recent studies indicate that the ICSI procedure or the technique itself cannot increase chromosomal abnormalities observed in born children. It maybe result of the Materialss used during ICSI procedure such as PVP and hyalorunidase. Activation of the oocytes might be c...

TripAdvisor is a website that hosts mostly user generated reviews of hotels and so on of interest to tourists. Should patients seeking fertility treatment get something similar, based on others’ reviews, to help them choose a clinic? A public debate convened by the Progress Educational Trust at London’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in April considered this divisive issue. L...

This review aims at giving an overview on the physiological events leading to puberty onset in mammals and more specifically in cattle. Puberty is an important developmental milestone in mammals involving numerous changes in various physiological regulations and behaviors. It is a physiological unique event integrating several important central regulations at the crossroad of adaptation to envi...

Nicholas James Gonzalez, MD, has been in private practice since 1987 in New York City, treating patients diagnosed with cancer and other serious degenerative illnesses based on his previous research of the methods pioneered by embryologist John Beard, DSc, and William Kelley, DDS, MS. Dr Gonzalez graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a degree in English literature from Brown Univers...

BETSY C. CORNER and CHRISTOPHER C. BOOTH (editors), Chain offriendship. Selected letters of Dr. John Fothergill of London, 1735-1780, Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press, 1971, gvo, pp. xxiv, 538, illus., £14.95. In view of the regard Fothergill (1712-1780) held for North America as well as for Britain it is entirely appropriate that his letters should be edited by an American, the late Betsy C. Co...

Twenty-five years ago I landed in New Haven with a suit-case, a few dollars, and an urgent desire to study chemistry and biology of which I had already had the hors d'oeuvre, as it were. I was properly matriculated, with advanced standing, in the Sheffield Scientific School. Although I intended to major in chemistry, my chief concern that first week was how to earn "bread and butter," not to sp...