High levels of physical exercise can override a genetic predisposition to being overweight, according to a new study by American scientists. In a report published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found that the increased risk of obesity associated with carrying a particular gene variant...
A barcode system has been developed by doctors at Liverpool Women's Hospital in the UK to prevent mix-ups in IVF treatments. The system has been used for the first time for patients at the hospital in Liverpool. As reported in BioNews in April 2005, the Human Fertilisation...
The Victorian Parliament in Australia will soon decide to update the states laws on IVF and surrogacy when proposed new legislation is put to a conscience vote. If passed, the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Bill 2008 will improve access to assisted reproductive technologies in Victoria by removing the...
A 59-year old woman has given birth to triplets in a Paris hospital after receiving fertility treatment abroad. The woman, believed to be of Asian origin, travelled to Vietnam to be treated by a private clinic willing to overlook her age; the usual upper age limit...
BioNews reporting from the British Society for Human Genetics (BSHG) annual conference in York:By Ailsa Taylor: Clinical trials are urgently needed to validate the increasing number of experimental genetic tests available for assessing an individual's risk of developing serious common diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer...
BioNews reporting from the British Society for Human Genetics (BSHG) annual conference in York:By Ailsa Taylor:A new investigational drug, potentially able to treat up to 2400 different genetic disorders, has been shown to induce production of a vital protein missing in patients with cystic fibrosis, the UK's most...
BioNews reporting from the British Society for Human Genetics (BSHG) annual conference in York:By Ailsa Taylor:Genetics clinics may in future be able to do more to help patients notify their relatives about their risk of inheriting serious genetic conditions, Dr Samantha Leonard, a Specialist Registrar in the Clinical...
BioNews reporting from the British Society for Human Genetics (BSHG) annual conference in York:By Ailsa Taylor:New standards of best practice will be drawn up in the UK to try and control the boom of unregulated genetic tests now being marketed to the public via the internet, says Christine...
Pioneering stem cell scientists have been awarded a million dollar Shaw Prize, at a glittering ceremony in Hong Kong. British researchers Sir Ian Willmut and Professor Keith Campbell, share the life science and medicine prize with Japanese Professor Shinya Yamanaka. Sir Willmut and Professor Campbell are the...
The UK's Antony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust this week launched a new initiative - the Antony Nolan Cord Blood Bank and a combined stem cell research centre at Nottingham Trent University. Mothers who deliver babies at the Kings College Hospital, London, are being recruited to donate the stem...
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Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using cell-free fetal DNA: implications for parents
by Jane Fisher
Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC) is the only UK charity providing non-directive information and support to parents before, during and after antenatal testing and when an abnormality is diagnosed in an unborn baby. We have 20 years' experience of talking to parents on our National Helpline on all aspects of...
Progress in free fetal DNA (ffDNA)-based prenatal tests
by Dr Tessa Homfray
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...