Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski published Not of Woman Born in 1990. The book is a historical account of the cesarean birth procedure, hereafter c-section, during the Renaissance in Europe. A c-section is a surgical procedure that medical professionals use to deliver a fetus through an incision in a pregnant person’s abdomen. During the medieval and Renaissance periods, midwives performed c-sections on pregnant women after they had died when there was a chance that the fetus was still alive. They did this so the midwife could get the baby baptized, enabling it to be buried in sacred ground after death. Not of Woman Born traces how the procedure evolved in the late fifteenth and sixteenth century to be more commonly performed by male surgeons, rather than midwives, to save both the mother and the fetus. Blumenfeld-Kosinski provides historical, religious, and cultural context for understanding how people viewed and practiced c-sections in Europe during medieval and Renaissance times, in contrast to how people view and rely on the widespread delivery procedure in modern times.

In 1983, researchers Alan Trounson and Linda Mohr published the article “Human Pregnancy Following Cryopreservation, Thawing and Transfer of an Eight-Cell Embryo,” hereafter “Human Pregnancy,” in the journal Nature. In the article, the authors describe an experiment that led to one of the world’s first pregnancies through cryopreservation, or freezing, of an eight-cell human embryo. They discuss an experiment conducted at the Monash University and Queen Victoria Medical Center in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to the article’s publication, scientists had reported on embryonic cryopreservation experiments with animals only. At the end of the article, the authors mention that the pregnancy ended in a spontaneous miscarriage due to problems unrelated to cryopreservation twenty-four weeks after embryonic transfer. Despite the miscarriage, “Human Pregnancy” is one of the first articles to describe a successful human pregnancy after cryopreservation, and demonstrated that cryopreservation, as part of in vitro fertilization treatment, was a viable option for humans as well.

In 1959, Charles Edmund Ford and colleagues published “A Sex Chromosome Anomaly in a Case of Gonadal Dysgenesis (Turner’s Syndrome),” hereafter “A Sex Chromosome Anomaly,” in The Lancet. Turner syndrome is a chromosomal disorder that affects one in 2,000 female births and results in developmental issues such as short stature, infertility, and congenital heart disease. Prior to “A Sex Chromosome Anomaly,” researchers did not know the cause of Turner syndrome, but Ford and colleagues found that the cause is a sex chromosome irregularity. In the article, the team explains that they examined the cells of a person with Turner syndrome and determined that she had just one X chromosome instead of the typical two. Thus, they concluded that the cause of Turner syndrome is a missing X chromosome and called for a new classification of the condition. “A Sex Chromosome Anomaly” was one of the first papers to identify the cause of Turner syndrome, and it provided scientists with a better understanding of individuals with a nontypical sex chromosome pattern. 

In 1944, Joseph Earl Moore and colleagues published “The Treatment of Early Syphilis with Penicillin: A Preliminary Report of 1418 Cases,” hereafter “Treatment of Early Syphilis,” in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Moore and colleagues’ article was one of the first to study and explore the use of penicillin, an antibiotic that can kill bacteria, as a treatment for humans with syphilis, which is a bacterial disease that spreads through sexual contact. In its early stages, syphilis can cause rashes and genital sores, but in its late stages, it can also lead to organ damage. In “Treatment of Early Syphilis,” Moore and his colleagues explain that they conducted a study to determine the effects and optimal dose of penicillin in humans with early syphilis. The authors found that giving individuals with syphilis specific doses of penicillin can heal their syphilitic lesions and eradicate the bacterium that causes syphilis from their bodies. “Treatment of Early Syphilis” was one of the first articles to demonstrate that syphilis, specifically early syphilis, could be effectively treated with penicillin, the drug that physicians still most commonly use as of 2024 to treat the sexually transmitted disease.

In July 2011, Makoto Ohnishi and colleagues published the article “Is Neisseria gonorrhoeae Initiating a Future Era of Untreatable Gonorrhea?: Detailed Characterization of the First Strain with High-Level Resistance to Ceftriaxone,” hereafter, “Untreatable Gonorrhea,” in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease, or STD, caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. In 2009, Ohnishi and a few of his co-authors found the first ceftriaxone-resistant strain of gonorrhea, called H041. That strain demonstrated resistance to ceftriaxone, one of the last remaining and effective first-line antibiotic treatment drugs for N. gonorrhoeae. In “Untreatable Gonorrhea,” Ohnishi and Colleagues confirm that the H041 strain is resistant to ceftriaxone and analyze the bacterium’s mechanism of resistance. “Untreatable Gonorrhea” was one of the first publications to characterize the H041strain and highlights a need for global public health interventions to prevent the rapid spread of gonorrhea.

In 2016, researcher Thomas Gensollen and colleagues published “How Colonization by Microbiota in Early Life Shapes the Immune System,” hereafter, “Microbiota Shapes the Immune System,” in Science. The article reviews [what is known about?] how microbial colonization impacts immune development in newborns. Because the immune system protects the body from infection, an individual’s microbiome composition also affects susceptibility to certain diseases. Specifically, the authors discuss microbe colonization during early life, a time they refer to as the window of opportunity for future disease susceptibility. That window of opportunity is a period where environmental influences more easily shape the infant’s immune cells and their functions. In turn, the authors present that window as an optimal time for treating disorders associated with the microbiome and the immune system. “Microbiota Shapes the Immune System” reviewed data from dozens of articles to show that there is a narrow window during infancy where microbiome interactions directly or indirectly influence immune development, a potential area for interventional methods to target immune development.

In December of 2016, Margus Punab and colleagues published “Causes of Male Infertility: A 9-year Prospective Monocentre Study on 1737 Patients with Reduced Total Sperm Counts,” hereafter “Male Infertility,” in the journal Human Reproduction. The study examines the main causes of severe male factor infertility, or SMF infertility, which occurs when a male’s semen has a very low number of healthy sperm cells or contains atypically low levels of sperm cells. In “Male Infertility,” the authors determine the primary cause of SMF infertility in forty percent of their participants, and among those participants, they found that the primary causes of SMF infertility were varicoceles, or enlarged veins within the loose bag of skin holding the testicles. The authors did not determine the cause of SMF infertility in the remaining sixty percent of the cases, noting a gap in the current understanding of the causes of SMF infertility. “Male Infertility” was one of the first large-scale studies to reveal certain underlying causes of SMF infertility, and its conclusions have allowed researchers to investigate fertility solutions for male patients who would otherwise not be able to reproduce.

In 2010, Lior Lowenstein and colleagues published “Can Stronger Pelvic Muscle Floor Improve Sexual Function?” hereafter, “Stronger Pelvic Muscle Floor,” in the International Urogynecological Journal. They explain that they examined 176 women to assess whether their pelvic floor muscles, or PFMs, contribute to their sexual function, including their ability to feel sexual desire, become sexually aroused, and experience orgasm and pleasure. The PFMs are a group of muscles that stretch from the tailbone in the spine to the pelvic bone in the pelvis. They support the pelvic organs, which include the bladder, intestines, and the uterus in females. Prior to “Stronger Pelvic Muscle Floor,” researchers suspected a connection between the strength of PFMs and sexual function, but there was little scientific evidence to support it. Lowenstein and colleagues found that women with stronger PFMs had enhanced sexual function and concluded that the strength of women’s PFMs affects their sexual function. “Stronger Pelvic Muscle Floor” provided evidence for a direct relationship between PFM strength and sexual function, a finding that could help improve the quality of life and sexual health of females.