Birth defect in boys linked to cancer and infertility
A large study in Australia has found a link between undescended testes at birth and development of testicular cancer and infertility in later life...
BioNews
Congenital
Present from birth. A congenital condition may or may not have a genetic basis.
87 articles
IVF and ICSI linked to congenital heart defects in children
Children conceived using assisted reproductive techniques have a greater risk of congenital heart defects compared with children born through spontaneous conception, according to research...
Noisy bedrooms may affect male fertility
New research suggests living near a road which is noisy at night-time may contribute to male infertility...
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Genetic study identifies new type of muscular dystrophy
Scientists have identified a unique form of congenital muscular dystrophy, characterised by short stature, intellectual disabilities and cataracts...
Age does not increase risk of IVF or ICSI birth defects
Bearing a child at a higher age does not increase risk of birth defects when the woman has received IVF or ICSI treatment to become pregnant, a recent study suggests...
Dutch government seeks to allow creation of human embryos for research
The Dutch government is planning to change the law to allow for the creation of human embryos for research...
Abnormal fetuses are highly unlikely to heal themselves
Press coverage of a recent study on mouse embryos speculates that termination of human pregnancies diagnosed with aneuploidy (a family of conditions including Down's syndrome) at prenatal diagnosis could be unnecessary, due to the ability of the fetus to 'heal itself'. In fact, the paper's findings are not relevant to aneuploidy detected at prenatal diagnosis...
Reply to the signatories of the COGEN Consensus Statement
The cosignatories of the COGEN consensus statement attempt to refute our remarks and concerns about the increased use of preimplantation genetic screening by presenting the same low-level 'evidence' they continuously use to advocate the widespread adoption of PGS...
Progesterone does not help women with recurrent miscarriages
Progesterone supplementation in the first trimester of pregnancy does not improve outcomes for women with unexplained recurrent miscarriages, according to a large clinical trial...
Trial of stem-cell therapy in the womb to begin
Researchers have announced the first clinical trial of stem-cell therapy for fetuses still in the womb, as a treatment for brittle bone disease...