The evolving world of ART: who are the intended parents and how are their children doing?

Treatment advances in assisted reproductive technology (ART) such as oocyte donation and gestational surrogacy have introduced a new cohort of intended parents and new family constellations. Who these parents are and how their children are doing is the focus of this paper. Special emphasis will be paid to the impact of delayed parenthood on oocyte donation, the increasing numbers of gestational surrogacy participants (intended parents and surrogates), and the growing numbers of gay male couples seeking fatherhood through ART. While it appears that children of these new family constellations are doing well, research is limited and longitudinal studies of their health and well being are needed.

Ipecac abuse in a sample of eating disordered outpatients.

Eight hundred fifty-one consecutive outpatients presenting at a suburban eating disorder clinic were evaluated for current or past ipecac abuse. A percentage (7.6%) of all subjects reported some use or experimentation with ipecac for purging; 4.7% had experimented with it briefly; 3.1% (8.8% of subjects meeting criteria for bulimia) had chronically abused ipecac; and 1.1% (1.5% of subjects meeting criteria for bulimia) were regularly abusing ipecac at the time of intake. Chronic ipecac abusers were more likely to have been hospitalized. Subjects who experimented briefly with ipecac had a longer duration of illness. Both chronic ipecac abusers and experimenters were more prone to abuse other substances for purging and to report alcohol abuse in an immediate family member.