For some couples, arriving at the miracle of birth is more complex than sperm + egg = embryo = pregnant. The human body is incredibly complex, and few processes are as complicated as human reproduction.

For example, consider the first five days in the reproduction process:

Day 0 – Egg meets sperm in the fallopian tube. Sperm penetrates egg.
Day 1 – Fertilization occurs and a zygote forms, which includes DNA from both the male and female.
Day 2 – The zygote has evolved into an embryo. Cell count is now four.
Days 3 to 5 – Even more growing as the cells split. There are now eight cells. The embryo leaves the fallopian tube and enters the uterus.
Day 5– Embryo hatches, blastocyst embryo erupts and implants into the uterine wall, and a woman is deemed pregnant.

Actress Angelina Jolie in 2005
Photo by Remy Steinegger

In a heartfelt and open editorial appearing earlier today, Angelina Jolie told New York Times readers and the world at large about a major health decision: her choice to have a double mastectomy.

Jolie writes that she carries the BRCA1 gene, which significantly increases the likelihood of a woman getting breast or ovarian cancer. Jolie’s mother died in 2007 after a long battle with ovarian cancer, and the actress said she did not want her children to have the same experience.

New research out of the Lillehei Heart Institute at the University of Minnesota shows that by turning on just a single gene, Mesp1, different cell types including the heart, blood and muscle can be created from stem cells. The study was published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

“Previous research indicated that this gene was the “master regulator” for development of the heart, and that its activity prevented the differentiation of other cell types,” said Michael Kyba, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Pediatrics and a Lillehei endowed scholar. “Our work reveals that this gene acts differently, and that it plays a role in the development of blood and skeletal muscle as well.  The outcome depends on the chemical signals that cells expressing this factor sense in their environment.”

It’s the night before Match Day and Nora Sadek is feeling humbled by the requisite patience of being a match participant.

“On Monday you know that you’ve matched but you still don’t know where until Friday. To be okay with that uncertainty is a really big deal,” she admits. “Up to now, there’s been a lot more control.”

Sadek understands that her residency match will greatly influence the type of physician she becomes. The training environment and community she serves will all have an impact on her work in some way. Luckily, she feels ready for whatever comes next.

Even though we all know consuming mass quantities of calorie-laden foods and beverages are bad for us, Americans still can’t seem to stay away from those big sugary drinks.

Last May, in an effort to combat sugar-sweeted beverages (SSBs), New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced one of the most ambitious and controversial initiatives to be seen in the war on obesity: a ban on big sugary drinks, otherwise referred to as the “soda ban.”

On the surface, banning SSBs may seem a logical direction to take in fighting obesity. If people aren’t choosing to drop the bubbly habit themselves, policy changes could simply force people to adopt healthy habits, right?  After all, it’s already been attempted with tobacco products.

When it comes to SSBs it might not be so simple.

The University of Minnesota’s freshman class of 2016 isn’t just getting its feet wet in college, it is soaking up the viruses and germs that come with a new environment and lifestyle. And that exposure is exactly what Henry Balfour, Jr., M.D. is looking to investigate.

Balfour has been studying mononucleosis, a common disease among young people caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), for 10 years. His goal is developing a way to prevent it.