The Menstrual Cycle and Adolescent Health Conference - October 17-19, 2007

The Menstrual Cycle and Adolescent Health Conference, organized by the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in collaboration with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The purpose of the conference is to define the scientific basis for the public health message that the menstrual cycle is a marker of general health in adolescent girls and to develop a related research agenda for the 21st century. 

This meeting is sponsored by:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
       National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
       Office of Research on Women’s Health
       Office of Rare Diseases
       Food and Drug Administration Office of Women’s Health
       DHHS Office of Women’s Health
American Society for Reproductive Medicine

FMR1 and POF Conference - October 26 2006

Premutations in the FMR1 gene have been associated with a spectrum of impaired ovarian function in young women that may cause infertility, poor response to gonadotropin stimulation, menstrual irregularity, and symptoms of estrogen deficiency. In addition, abnormalities in FMR1 have been associated with a spectrum of other clinical disorders that cut across multiple medical specialties. Other FMR1-associated conditions include familial mental retardation (fragile X syndrome), autism, generalized anxiety disorder, and a neurodegenerative disorder known as FXTAS which causes a tremor/ataxia syndrome and in some cases dementia. This convergence of disorders relating to a single gene serves as focus around which to build a community and also to develop a paradigm for future investigations related to reproductive genetics.

With this in mind a meeting was convened in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 26, 2006 by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. The purpose of the meeting was to initiate a process that would eventually establish standardized clinical definitions, terminology, and testing recommendations in order to facilitate research at the interface of FMR1 and reproductive medicine.