Infertility

Laura A.

Schieve of the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, who wrote the editorial, noted that about 35 percent of U.S.

births in 2002 resulting from assisted reproduction technology "included twin or higher-order multiple gestations." In contrast, Ms.

Schieve said, "the incidence of multiple births after natural conception is less than 2 percent." But in the Belgian study, led by Dr.

Evangelos G.

Papanikolaou, a reproduction specialist at Vrije University in Brussels, the multiple-birth rate was equivalent: about 2 percent.

Of the 94 deliveries that resulted among study participants, just two involved twins, both of them identical pairs.

All women in the Belgian study received only one embryo.

Half got embryos that had been cultured for three days, a stage described as "cleavage-stage," while the other half got embryos cultured for five days, which are called "blastocyst-stage." The purpose of the research was to compare the rates of continued pregnancy and live delivery in women who received the older versus the younger embryos.

Transferring cleavage-stage embryos is far more common than implanting blastocyst-stage embryos.

"As compared with the cleavage-stage group, the blastocyst-stage group had a signifi...

The couple would be bathed after the three-day period is over.

Before the marriage ceremony, the bridegroom would be carried on a sail boat-shaped stretcher to the bride's house.

Marukin said the wedding ring is not slipped onto the bride's finger by the husband-to-be but by his mother instead.

In the case of the Suluk community, the engagement is not more than one week and the bride-to-be is not allowed outside the house during that period.

The Suluk community head in Sandakan, Mustaffah Mohd Hassan, 41, said the short engagement period is to avoid any untoward incident.

Another important factor for the Suluk is perfect timing, and any bridegroom who arrives late to the wedding would have to pay a fine, which usually takes the form of a ring, he said.

Before the marriage, the bridegroom is not allowed to see the face of his bride until he had sung several love songs.

Then the curtain which separates them is raised and the married couple could see each other sitting on the dais.

The ministry's Secretary General, Datuk Siti Azizah Abot, who represented Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim at the launch of the ceremony, said the programme would be extended to other states.

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