Present from birth. A congenital condition may or may not have a genetic basis.
Scientists at Stanford University in California, US have developed a new non-invasive prenatal test for Down's syndrome. Stephen Quake and colleagues successfully identified presence and absence of fetal chromosomal abnormality in 18 pregnant women from maternal blood samples. The work is published this month in the journal...
The holy grail of prenatal diagnosis has been the identification of chromosome and single gene abnormalities through maternal blood sampling. This would allow safe accurate prenatal diagnosis, requiring much lower operator skills, and automation is potentially possible, making it cost-effective. In contrast, standard prenatal screening involves ultrasound and biochemical risk...
Scientists have discovered the earliest genetic changes that occur in Down's syndrome, resulting in the abnormal development of the foetus and eventually leading to the host of medical complications associated with the disorder. The findings, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, are a step forward...
A new study shows that it is better to use frozen, rather than fresh embryos in IVF treatment. The research was reported by Dr Anja Pinborg at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Barcelona last week. The study has...
Marriage between relatives such as first cousins increases the risk in children not of general birth defects and genetic problems of all kinds but of what geneticists call 'recessive' conditions: those caused by inheriting two copies of a gene each of which carries a mutation. It seems we may each...
A new study has shown that becoming a father after the age of 45 increases the likelihood that the resulting child will die before reaching adulthood. The researchers, based at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, who published their findings in the European Journal of Epidemiology...
By Katy Sinclair: The UK Government has defeated a bid to prevent the creation of human admixed embryos, after a cross-party attempt to ban the controversial research was lost by 336 votes to 176. The vote followed the debate stage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Amendments to ban...
Four people with a rare inherited condition which leads to blindness in childhood have reportedly experienced improved vision after taking part in the world's first trials of an experimental gene therapy, according to two independent studies published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. Professor Robin...
There was a lively audience at this public meeting held at the Centre for Life in Newcastle on 12 February, an evening debate organised by Progress Educational Trust. This is perhaps not surprising given the recent media speculation and the current political debate about the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill...
By Katy Sinclair: Commentators have warned that the UK's new Human Tissue and Embryology Bill, which will become law in 2008, could open the way for the first legal genetically modified babies. The new Bill will allow the genetic modification of embryos up to 14 days old, although the law...
Subscribe for free to what PET does best – informing you of the latest in fertility, genomics and embryo research.
