News by Subject Medicine & Health

A new study aims to provide healthy couples who have a child affected by a developmental disorder with a personalized pre-conception risk evaluation, in order to determine the likelihood of a future child being affected by the same condition.

Sickle cell disease is a form of anemia that is inherited when both parents are carriers of a mutation in the hemoglobin gene. Currently, it can only be diagnosed in pregnancy by carrying out an invasive test that has a small risk of miscarriage and is therefore sometimes declined by parents. Now, researchers have developed a noninvasive prenatal test for the disease.

Phthalates are used by industry in plastic products. Their toxic effect on the endocrine system is worrying. Indeed, the exposure of male foetuses to phthalates can have devastating consequences for the fertility. However, researchers (UNIGE/HUG) show that phthalate susceptibility depends largely on the genetic heritage of each individual. These results raise the question of individual vulnerability and the possible transmission to future generations of epigenetic changes that should normally be erased during foetal development.

New research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, shows that women undergo a significant mental as well as physical change during the late stages of pregnancy.

The man is implicated in about half of all cases of infertility. Despite the known importance of genetic factors in the non-production of sperm, only about 25% of these cases can be explained currently. Now a study has uncovered new potential genetic causes, and this discovery will help to develop better diagnostic tests for male infertility.

Mutations in the gene that codes for SLIT2, a protein expressed in fetal cells in placentas and involved in directing the growth of the fetal nervous system, may contribute to premature births, possibly by activating the mother's immune system. Mika Rämet of the University of Oulu and colleagues report these findings in a new study published June 13 in PLOS Genetics.

A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers finds that there is no consistent association between consuming iron and becoming pregnant.