Introduction to Allocating water and maintaining springs in the Great Artesian Basin, Volume IV, Spatial Survey and Remote Sensing of Artesian Springs of the Western Great Artesian Basin

Abstract

Most of our focus in producing success using in vitro fertilization technology has been on stimulation regimens and laboratory procedures to maximize outcomes. As these steps have been optimized, we have started to look in other areas for improvement. One of these points of focus is the environment for conception. It has to be recognized that the early embryo is vulnerable at the time of implantation and early fetal development, and this time period needs to be optimal to grow into as healthy a human being as possible. There are genetic effects which we can now sometimes screen for and eliminate, but there are also many environmental effects on gametes and the developing embryo that can affect the successful outcome of, or even the establishment of, a pregnancy. We have now come to understand some of the environmental factors under which the gametes grow and the embryo develops, and which have long-term implications for human development and may also be the basis of disease. This hypothesis is not new and was first proposed in 1990 by the British epidemiologist David Barker with respect to intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight, premature birth and their potential relationship to the origins of several diseases in middle age of adult life. Those included are non-insulin-dependent diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart disease. The developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis derived from a study that showed significant association between the occurrence of hypertension and coronary heart disease in middle age with patients who were born with low birth weight. This was presented in Barker’s book, Fetal and Infant Origins of Adult Disease, in 1992. We now recognize that parenting begins before conception. Environmental toxins or endogenous metabolic disease, such as nicotine or obesity, can compromise the egg or sperm from either parent and deleteriously effect development even if the intrauterine environment is optimal. Many factors are known to adversely affect gametes, including obesity, poor nutrition, cigarette smoking and some environmental pollutants. Not only should we be concerned about potential toxicants, but also about the deficiency of various nutrients which can be aetiological determinants of obstetrical complications, and paediatric chronic diseases.