super rvukovi tnx ... ... ZO u boj, u boj ...

zapravo, neka svaka od nas da mali doprinos i poneki prijevod i imat ćemo materijal za portal ... :D

Evo malo o Dr. Beer-u kao autoru knjige : http://www.babyfriendlybook.com/bios.htm
Dr Alan E. Beer

Dr Alan Beer is a world-renowned physician and scientist who has spent much of his academic life analyzing the relationship between the immune system and reproductive health. In recent years, he has dedicated himself to helping couples with infertility, IVF or implantation failure and recurrent miscarriage. His research into the causes of unexplained pregnancy loss continues today, as does his quest to identify optimum treatment protocols.

In 1962, he received his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. This was followed by a residency in Immunology and Genetics and a fellowship in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania. It was here that Dr Beer became fascinated by genetics and immunology and conducted experiments that were to lead to a major breakthrough in the treatment of reproductive failure. He noticed that when related males and females were mated to produce an inbred strain, the pregnancies were often rejected and the female soon became infertile. This phenomenon made him wonder about possible explanations for infertility in humans.

In 1971, he was board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He then became a faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania, followed by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, and then the University of Michigan. An appointment as Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School followed in 1979. It was here that he treated a couple with seven miscarriages. By then Dr Beer was convinced of the significance of natural killer cells in pregnancy and had devised a pioneering form of therapy to control their activity. Within a year, his first "immune patient" had delivered a healthy boy.

Dr Beer joined the Chicago Medical School in 1987, where he accepted a joint appointment as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. He subsequently established the School's Reproductive Immunology Clinic where he continued to specialize in treating couples that had repeatedly failed with conventional approaches and in the majority of cases, made it possible for them to have babies.

In 1988, he extended his care to those undergoing assisted reproduction and treated a couple who had failed to carry to term after 20 IVF attempts. Within a year, the woman had delivered healthy twins. From then on he saw every IVF couple no matter how difficult their case, "as long as there was hope."

In addition to handling an ever-growing patient caseload, he has contributed to many books, monographs and scientific articles concerning the impact of the immune system on fertility, and has presented his findings at national and international medical conferences in Australia, Europe and South America. By sharing new knowledge with scientists from allied and interrelated fields, progress in the study of the immunological and genetic aspects of the reproductive process can be advanced. For this reason, he has always been keen to promote cooperation between laboratories involved in experimental and clinical studies.

As well as being a past Chairman of the National Institute of Health Study Section on Human Embryology and Development, Dr Beer has been involved in other study sections involving pregnancy and human development. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Reproductive Immunology and was a founding member and past President of the American Society for Reproductive Immunology. He is now a senior member of the Council for the International Society for the Immunology of Reproduction.

In 2003, Dr Beer established The Alan E. Beer Center for Reproductive Immunology and Genetics for the evaluation and treatment of couples with immune-related problems, and in 2005, he opened his own specialist testing laboratory facility in Los Gatos, California.
http://www.babyfriendlybook.com/bios-epilogue.htm

EPILOGUE
Alan E. Beer, M.D.
1937 - 2006

Dr Beer sadly passed away on May 1st , 2006 at the age of 69, just weeks before this book came to print – a bittersweet ending to a powerful and influential life. It was a twist of fate that he saw the final draft of this book, but never held the published copy in his hand. We know he was so proud of the completed text, and thankful that his life's work had been so faithfully documented. During his final days, he felt great peace knowing that the book would stand as an important part of his legacy.

In early 2006, Dr Beer was proud to announce that the laboratory he had always dreamed of was completed and staffed by a team of world-leading experts. In addition, patient numbers at his clinic had virtually doubled since it opened in 2003. Yet despite an ever-increasing workload, he never felt compelled to retire, or even rest. When he said, "I will die at my desk," he meant it. Right until the end, he dedicated himself to his lifelong mission of providing much-needed explanations, effective treatments and genuine hope for those suffering the misery of failure and loss. It was Dr Beer's ultimate achievement that couples like these – wherever in the world they live – are still able to receive help through his pioneering program today.

He will be greatly missed by the many thousands of patients and doctors that have been touched by his dedicated soul and pioneering mind. Never again will there be such a valiant warrior or such a thoughtful visionary for the reproductive immunology cause. Never again, will there be one so passionately devoted to his patients. As a final poignant note, here are some words from President Abraham Lincoln with which Dr Beer identified, and would have wanted to share:

"If I were to try to read, much less to answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won't matter. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference."
Alan E. Beer:

"For years now, doctors have dealt with recurrent miscarriages saying, "You were unlucky this time", "It's God's will" and "The body knows when a baby needs to be rejected." Others simply believe that it is just bad lack when miscarriages occur or IVF treatments fail time after time.

In the 1980s, it became clear to me that products of an activated immune system could damage the placenta and cause miscarriage, as well as damage the embryo and cause implantation failure. Natural killer cells, which help to keep the body from developing cancer, can over-populate the uterus or exist at too high levels within the blood stream. These cells then go overboard, killing the embryo or interfering with the endocrine system that produces the hormones that are essential for pregnancy. This response can often be associated with complications for both the mother and her baby if the pregnancy occurs without treatment to suppress the activity of the immune system.

My research has also taught me among many other things, that there are couples who are an unlucky genetic match for each other, who produce embryos that are misinterpreted by the immune system as foreign objects, or even cancer cells. The problem eventually worsens making the uterus behave like a "den of lions" and every pregnancy attempt fails.

If autoimmunity is damaging the baby, the same autoimmunity can damage the thyroid gland, the insulin producing cells of the pancreas and the serotonin producing cells which live all over the body. Such conditions certainly can be potentially damaging to the woman's own health.

My research has shown there are five categories of immune problems that can cause infertility, IVF failure and pregnancy loss. With proper testing and appropriate therapies to modulate the immune system, these problems can be successfully overcome."