The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Cycle

  • Multiple IVF cycle to the rescue

    Multiple IVF cycle to the rescue

    The road to tackling infertility via In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) is costly. OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA reports that the new multiple IVF cycle has its merit.

    In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) is costly. To buy an IVF cycle is costlier than picking a package of six.

    This new information renews the hope to couples preparing for their first IVF cycle as well as those who have experienced failures.

    According to the Medical Director, Nordica Fertility Clinic, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, it is important that all fertility-challenged couples should know this because up until now, most fertility clinics have  assumed that couples who have completed three or four unsuccessful IVF cycles are less likely to benefit from future cycles. This revelation may enable fertility clinics inform patients about multiple treatment cycles.

    Ajayi said: “Fertility treatments are being stopped prematurely when few unsuccessful IVF cycles are recorded. We need to stop thinking of IVF as a single shot for a family, and think of several cycles as the standard.”

    He explained that IVF is a medical treatment, which helps infertile couples to have a baby. And it involves the extraction of egg from a female partner (or donor) and the laboratory fertilisation of the egg with sperm from a male partner (or donor) and the resulting embryo is implanted in the female partner (or surrogate) womb. The advantages of IVF include helping an infertile couple to have a baby  (with their eggs and sperm) and unless a donor egg or sperm is used, the DNA will be that of the intended parents only.

    Ajayi said the greatest percentage of IVF success occurs in six cycles. “The study came out of the UK, where researchers reviewed the statistics of 156,947 UK women who received 257,398 IVF between 2003 and 2010. From that comprehensive analysis, which included results from both fresh and frozen embryo transfers, researchers found that the average live birth rate for couples participating in six IVF cycles was 65.3 percent.

    “Within that study, other important statistics were revealed that women under 35 are the most likely to benefit from a six-cycle regimen. Women between 40 and 42 (using their eggs) had a 31.5 percent live birth rate at the six-cycle mark. Women older than 42, who use their eggs, have a less four percent live birth rate at the six-cycle mark. Maternal age was irrelevant with donor eggs, giving women who are 35 and above the same success rate as women  who are under 35.

    “This means that if you are planning to undergo IVF or have already experienced two or more unsuccessful IVF cycles, you may want to regroup and schedule a consultation with your fertility specialist,” Ajayi advised.

    How does this assist in your Fertility treatments?

    With the realisation that couples can benefit from multiple cycles, another IVF specialist, Dr Ife Oluwa Oyetunji, said couples might need to start another by bringing this new information to their fertility specialist.

    She shed light on this.  Some clinics, she said, are firm on the maximum amount of cycles they recommend their patients to participate in, depending on maternal age and fertility diagnosis. It may mean migrating to a new fertility clinic to participate in future IVF cycles. Multiple cycles also oblige a couple some discounts. So, the client should ask for multiple fertility cycle discounts. Most fertility clinics offer discounted rates for a set of multiple of IVF cycles, which is about three or four. These plans are structured in different ways, so you will want to choose the one that makes the most sense for your age, number of eggs retrieved, number of fertilised embryos among other considerations.

    She enlightened that fertility challenged couples should think about using donor eggs. “Since it is determined that maternal age is a non-issue for women using donor eggs, assuming the woman is able to carry the baby, that should be of specific interest for women who are 40 or older, and for whom IVF success rates are notoriously low. Using donor eggs is much more likely to increase your chances of a live birth outcome if you are 40 or older.

    “Also, they should consider preimplantation genetic screening (PGD/PGS). PGD is a newer technology available to couples undergoing IVF. It is a fact that the number one cause of miscarriages are genetic abnormalities in the embryo. This is nature’s way of preventing the birth of babies with serious genetic disorders, many of which compromise quality of life or are life-threatening. PGD testing is done prior to implantation to see whether or not chromosomes are normal.  Only embryos with normal results are selected for transplant.

    “While these tests do cost more, they can increase your chances of successful IVF outcomes or can help you make the decision to use donor eggs if the majority of your embryos are abnormal,” Oyetunji added.

  • Ending the cycle of madness

    SIR: I voted President Buhari in the last election. But no, it wasn’t because I thought he could change anything; I voted for him because I overrated the ability of Nigerians to think and reason correctly.

    My thought was that if President Buhari failed – as I knew he would – Nigerians would sit, think, and consider a “third option”. I wrote then that the problems of this country are systemic and will never be solved by mere electoral gimmicks and reforms, but by a revolutionary third force.

    As at that time, PDP had ruled. A Yoruba man had been President. A southerner had been President. My thought was that if a northerner and a product of the merger became President and failed too like the ones who came before him, Nigerians would see that Nigeria’s problems surpass an APC, PDP, North, South thing and unite to birth a third option that will painstakingly erode the old order, end this current shitstem that glorifies looters and celebrates lawless leaders and establish a new order where illegality and the madness that characterised the old system can no longer thrive. But I was wrong.

    Look, Nigeria has bigger problems than Buhari, APC, PDP or the north. We are suffering from systemic failures resulting from a system that harbours countless social contradictions. You don’t patch up systemic failures this pronounced; you either rise to end the system or continue in the four-year electoral delusion, hoping things would change only to discover that they won’t.

    Come 2019, President Buhari will either be re-elected or somebody else will become President. We will restart the cycle of hope and right before our eyes see it dashed like before. We will come on Facebook and our blogs and write beautiful grammar about how we have been let down and how we have to wait till 2023. We will console ourselves with: “Your voters’ card is your power. If he fails, we will remove him too.” But we lie.

    How many failures do we have to witness before we become old and grey and leave a horrible country for our children? It is delusional to think that any real power lies in that voters’ card. The real power lies in our ability to think and take unpopular steps.

    Our search for sanity in the midst of the chaos will yield no fruit until this system is torn down. Until then, we will continue to elect the same folks under different party names. Party names will change. Slogans will change. Emblems will change. Portfolios will change. But what will remain constant is the suffering and groaning of the ordinary people.

    The children of the ordinary people will continue to get crumbs and continue to be offered N23, 000 jobs for two years while the children of the illegal beneficiaries of this system will continue to get backdoor appointments to CBN, FIRS, etc. Ordinary people have no future.

    Their only hope for a better life lies in the struggle for a new system where merit, equality, freedom are more than mere words on paper.

    This cycle of madness has gone on for long enough; the time to end it is now.

     

    • James Ogunjimi,

    ogunjimijamestaiwo@gmail.com

  • ‘Govt eyes six months contracting cycle’

    The Federal Government is set to cut the contracting cycle in the oil and gas industry from its current two to four years to six months as done in other countries, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said.

    Kachikwu stated this at the stakeholders interactive workshop on the Nigerian Content Policy organised by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) in Calabar, Cross Rivers State.

    He identified the long contracting cycle as a major contributor to the high cost of production per barrel of crude oil in Nigeria compared to other member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). He listed other challenges to include multiplicity of bidders, application of manual tools in bid evaluation and divergent tender requirements by approving entities such as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) and the International Oil Companies (IOCs).

    The minister, who was represented by the Group General Manager, (NAPIMS), Mr. Sajebor Dafe Stephen, stated that the contract approving entities were already implementing his charge to strategise and develop a single contracting procedure, which will soon be issued to the industry.

    He also confirmed plans to categorise companies that have invested heavily in the economy and become local content champions for specific work scopes in a way that will facilitate contract opportunities. These measures, he said, will enhance transparency and further boost investor confidence.

    He stated that a good number of  Nigerians had been motivated by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act to acquire high cost marine vessels and oil rigs, and assured the Act’s provision of first consideration for Nigerian owned assets shall always apply in tenders related to utilisation of rigs or marine vessels.

    With the emergence of a new crop of indigenous owners of marine vessels, he said the new focus was on the local construction of vessels, adding that an assessment of shipyards was ongoing and government will provide incentives and enablers that will enable local yards to construct vessels at competitive cost.

    While expressing gladness that some firms, including the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) had accessed the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) for its ongoing fabrication and integration yard expansion, the minister regretted the challenges faced by some other companies in accessing the NCDF.

    He stated that government was currently reviewing the operating model for NCDF, adding “it is my hope that the revised model will see more Nigerian firms access NCDF for commercial and developmental interventions.”

    Kachikwu charged Nigerians to keep faith with the Local Content policy as an instrument for the industrialisation of the economy, noting that other prosperous jurisdictions succeeded because they adopted their preferred development policies and sustained the programmmes for long periods.

    He challenged the National Assembly to consider the possibility of expanding the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act to other sectors of the economy especially information and communication, automobile, construction and power for maximum socio-economic gains.

    He solicited the support of the private sector and the international community for Nigerian Content implementation and assured that the Act is not intended to drive foreigners out of the industry but to encourage domiciliation of industry activities in-country through genuine partnerships.

     

  • Nigeria capital market targets two-day settlement cycle

    •Investors to get dividends in 24 hours

    The Nigerian capital market plans to leverage on its technological advancement and the enrollment of investors’ details and holdings in electronic custody to shorten its trading cycle from four days to two days, blazing the trails as the only African market with such a timely cycle.

    Nigerian stock market currently operates a T+3 settlement cycle, implying that the value of trade and custodial of ownership would only be perfected in four days. T+3 means trading day and additional three days. Nigeria currently has the best trading cycle in Africa, ahead of South Africa’s T+5 settlement cycle.

    A further reduction in trading and settlement cycle will translate into quicker turnover and improved liquidity for investors in the Nigerian stock market.

    Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mounir Gwarzo, said ongoing initiatives such as cash direct settlement, electronic dividend and full dematerialisation being implemented by the capital market stakeholders would enable the transition from T+3 to T+1.

    Besides, for the first time in the history of any capital market in Africa, investors in the Nigerian capital market are now to get dividend payment within 24 hours through the electronic dividend (e-dividend) payment system.

    Speaking at a town hall sensitisation meeting on e-dividend at Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, yesterday, Gwarzo said the proposed system will automatically allow dividends to be credited directly into shareholders’ accounts within 24 hours of payment by the company.

    “We have achieved something that is very unique, even South Africa they have T+5, where when you do transactions you cannot get payment until five days. But with this system, we are going to achieve T+1 settlement system. You sell shares by today, payment are effected within 24 hours which is going to be the first by any capital market in Africa. No market in Africa has experienced that before and we are determined to ensure that it is achieved,” Gwarzo said.

    He outlined that all these initiatives are aimed at encouraging retail investors to participate actively in the Nigerian stock market as part of a long-term 10-year master plan for the development of Nigerian capital market.

    According to him, one of the strategies of deepening the market by the Commission is to target the retail domestic investors by implementing key confidence-building initiatives that would encourage the retail investors to invest in Nigerian market.

    “It is only the domestic investor that, no matter the condition of the market, will stay with us. What we have been experiencing in the market is the dominance of the foreign investor where anytime they want to move out of the market they get out and anything they want to come in they do so. Seeing what happens in the market, we decided that the best thing it to get the retail investor and our approach is not to go to them and be telling them to come back. Our approach is to identify the issues why they are not in the market and deal with such issues,” Gwarzo said.

    He outlined that once the e-dividend platform is fully operational the issue of stale warrant will be of the past, the issue of travelling from one place to another to deposit the warrant will be a thing of the past; the issue of change of address will also be eliminated, the issue of unclaimed dividend, which is in excess of N80 billion, will also be a thing of the past.

  • Cycle of life just goes on- Armstrong

    Cycle of life just goes on- Armstrong

    DISGRACED cyclist Lance Armstrong has done a Chris Huhne. He crashed into two parked cars in the ski resort of Aspen in Colorado when leaving an evening gala and left his girlfriend to take the rap, or at least say sorry and offer to pay for the damage.

    She, Anna Hansen, initially told the police she was driving, the couple having made a “joint decision” to avoid the inevitable bad press.

    When Vicky Pryce did a similar thing and took on her (then) husband Chris Huhne’s speeding points she was eventually convicted of perverting the course of justice. Ms Hansen has got off lightly. The charges of leaving the scene and driving too fast for snowy conditions have now been transferred to Armstrong, who could face a fine and up to 90 days in jail. Shame.

    Two wheels bad, four wheels bad, as far as Armstrong is concerned. His life is a car crash entirely of his own making. A cancer survivor and once a global sporting hero he was stripped of his seven Tour de France wins and banned for life from racing in 2012 by the US Anti-Doping Agency for being a meticulously organised drugs cheat who bullied and intimidated anybody who tried to cross him and denied, denied, denied. It wasn’t until 2013 that he “confessed” in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

    On that occasion he rambled on about himself in the third person, usually the sign of royalty or a sociopath.

    “I would want to change the person who did those things, maybe not the decision but the way he acted. The way he treated people, the way he couldn’t stop fighting. It was unacceptable, inexcusable.”