This year being the Year of the Dragon, obstetricians have recently observed an increase of about 10 percent in the number of patients visiting obstetrics departments and infertility clinics. In one instance, a couple in which the husband and wife live in different places walked into the clinic and asked straight off for artificial insemination so as to get a made-to-order dragon-year baby. Doctors advise that women who get pregnant before May 15 will have a chance of giving birth to dragon-year sons and daughters.
今年是龍年,婦產科醫師觀察,最近產科、不孕症門診求診民眾增加一成,還有分隔兩地的夫妻一進診間就直言要人工受孕,量身打造龍寶寶。醫師推估,今年五月十五日前受孕就有機會生下龍子、龍女。
Frank Wu, an attending physician at the gynecology and obstetrics department of Taipei City Hospital’s Heping Fuyou Branch, says that dragon years are peak times for childbirth. That, together with the large number of weddings that took place last year — the centennial of the Republic of China — has led to a marked increase recently in the number of women who want to get pregnant. In December last year a husband and wife aged about 34 or 35 visited Wu’s clinic. Because the husband is away working in Southeast Asia most of the time, the couple asked straight off for artificial insemination without bothering to have tests for infertility first, in the hope of hearing some good news before the start of the Lunar New Year.
Photo: He yu-hua, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者何玉華
台北市立聯合醫院和平婦幼院區婦產科主治醫師吳劭穎昨天指出,龍年是生育大年,加上百年結婚潮,最近想懷孕的民眾明顯增加,去年十二月一對年約三十四、三十五歲的夫妻求診,由於先生長期在東南亞工作,兩人連不孕症檢查都沒做,就直接要求做人工受孕,希望農曆年前有好消息。
Wu explains that the last day of the Lunar Year of the Dragon will be Feb. 9, 2013. At a rough estimate based on the average 40-week pregnancy, the due date for women who get pregnant when they ovulate in May will almost certainly fall within the Year of the Dragon. More precisely, this refers to women who get pregnant before May 15, since a pregnancy of 37 weeks results in a full-term delivery.
吳劭穎解釋,龍年最後一天為民國一○二年二月九日,以正常孕程四十週粗估,今年五月排卵週期受孕,幾乎可確定預產期在龍年,更精確是今年五月十五日前受孕,懷孕三十七週以上即為足月生產。
Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者陳璟民
Wu says that the way to estimate a woman’s due date is to count nine months and seven days forward from the first day of her last menstruation. For example, if the first day of your last menstruation was Jan. 1 and you count forward nine months and seven days from that date, then your due date is Oct. 10. It should be borne in mind, however, that each woman’s pregnancy is different, so the due date is only an estimate.
吳劭穎說,預產期的估計是最後一次月經的第一天加九個月再加七天,他舉例,若最後一次月經的第一天是一月一日,加九個月及七天,預產期為十月八日,不過,每個人孕程不同,預產期只是推估。
Wu says that many women who visit his clinic do not know their own menstrual cycles, so he reminds them that if they want to get pregnant they should make a record of their menstruation.
他也提醒,常有門診女性不知道自身的月經週期,若要成功受孕,必須先記錄月經週期。
Women who have regular monthly periods can subtract 14 days from the number of days between the first days of their menstruations and estimate their ovulation accordingly. For example, if your menstrual cycle is 32 days and you subtract 14 that leaves 18, so ovulation will take place on the 18th day after the start of menstruation. Having intercourse many times during the couple of days before and after ovulation should have the desired result.
月經規則的女性可根據月經週期相隔天數往回減十四天,藉此預測排卵期,例如月經週期為三十二天,減去十四後為十八,排卵日即為月經開始後的第十八天,排卵期前後兩天可密集做人。
Wu says that women who have irregular periods can find out when they ovulate by measuring their basal body temperature or by keeping track of it with regular ultrasound scans. Then, when their ovarian follicles are mature, they can have sex more than usual during the days before and after their ovulation as predicted by a doctor.
吳劭穎說,若是月經不規則,可量測基礎體溫得知排卵期或透過定期超音波追蹤,等到卵泡發育成熟,即可根據醫師推測的排卵期前後行房。
Wu says that common causes of infertility include irregular menstrual periods, ovary disorders, endometriosis and blocked fallopian tubes. Infertility is generally defined as being where a couple who do not use contraception have sexual intercourse for a year or more without the woman getting pregnant. However, the quality of a woman’s eggs falls as she gets older, so women over 35 do not necessarily have to wait for a full year before seeking medical advice; they can do so after trying but failing to get pregnant for six months or so.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG)
吳劭穎強調,常見不孕原因包括月經不規則、卵巢與子宮內膜異位症或輸卵管阻塞,一般不孕是指未避孕,性行為一年以上未懷孕,但卵子品質隨年紀增長而下降,三十五歲以上婦女不一定要等到一年才求診,努力半年沒懷孕即可求診。
(自由時報記者林相美)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into