science

Special Program of Assisted Reproduction

Special Program of Assisted Reproduction is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Special Program of Assisted Reproduction rather than just read about it. In short: The Special Program of Assisted Reproduction (SPAR) is a program offered to HIV discordant couples (serodiscordant) at the Bedford Research Foundation's clinical laboratory. The program takes advantage of ART (assisted reproduction technology) procedures (including "sperm washing") to assist couples achieve a pregnancy who would otherwise risk transmitting the father's HIV infection to the mother and the child throu…

Key takeaways

Special Program of Assisted Reproduction belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Special Program of Assisted Reproduction to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Special Program of Assisted Reproduction from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Special Program of Assisted Reproduction (SPAR) is a program offered to HIV discordant couples (serodiscordant) at the Bedford Research Foundation's clinical laboratory. The program takes advantage of ART (assisted reproduction technology) procedures (including "sperm washing") to assist couples achieve a pregnancy who would otherwise risk transmitting the father's HIV infection to the mother and the child through intercourse. SPAR employs extremely stringent safety standards; samples will only be submitted for "sperm washing" and cryopreservation that have first been screened for HIV virus particles and infected cells by specialized molecular biology tests. Only samples that have been determined to have an undetectable HIV viral burden will be submitted for infertility procedures. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART), such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), treat many disorders of the female, but until recent years, treatment options for male factor infertility were limited, and donor sperm was routinely recommended to achieve a pregnancy. Advances in ART, however, have created new possibilities for men with male factor infertility, including those whose sperm counts have been decreased by cancer treatment and other diseases, and men with incurable, sexually transmissible virus diseases. Infectious diseases transmissible by semen for which there is no cure include:

Hepatitis B Human T Cell Leukemia Virus (HTLV-1) Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

History SPAR began in 1994 at the New England Deaconess Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) as a support group for couples wishing to parent when one of them had an incurable sexually transmitted disease. The patient couples began raising money to fund the research needed to develop the methods to improve the safety of attempting pregnancy. By 1996 sufficient funds were available to begin, but a merger between the Beth Israel Hospital and the New England Deaconess Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) necessitated the creation of an independent Massachusetts public charity, the Assisted Reproduction Foundation (now the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation directed by Dr. Ann Kiessling), to continue the work. Within two years, the methods for reducing, and perhaps eliminating, the risks of infection to the mother and the child were developed and Baby Ryan was born in 1999. The goal of SPAR was to provide semen testing by experts that would ensure improved safety of sperm that could then be shipped to infertility clinics near the couple's home. In this way, couples could be cared for in the same manner as other couples in their community. Fortunately, a few clinics were willing to help with this effort, and by 2002, seven collaborating clinics around the country were caring for couples living with HIV disease. In the Spring of 2000 a ground breaking study was completed, giving significant insight to the role of semen producing organs in HIV anti-viral therapy.

References

External links Special Program of Assisted Reproduction at the Bedford Research Foundation Clinical Laboratory Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Bedford Research Foundation

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Special Program of Assisted Reproduction

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Special Program of Assisted Reproduction claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Special Program of Assisted Reproduction before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Special Program of Assisted Reproduction ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Special Program of Assisted Reproduction

In research: Special Program of Assisted Reproduction appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Special Program of Assisted Reproduction in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Special Program of Assisted Reproduction is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics HIV/AIDS organizations based in the United States, Human reproduction, Medical and health organizations based in Massachusetts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Special Program of Assisted Reproduction outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Special Program of Assisted Reproduction in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Special Program of Assisted Reproduction means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Special Program of Assisted Reproduction out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Special Program of Assisted Reproduction in simple terms?

Why does Special Program of Assisted Reproduction matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Special Program of Assisted Reproduction?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Special Program of Assisted Reproduction.