Improvement in strategies for the non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of Huntington disease

Invasive or non-invasive prenatal genetic diagnosis?

About 40 years ago, invasive prenatal diagnosis techniques were introduced in obstetrics. Initially, amniocentesis was performed followed by placentacentesis, fetoscopy, fetal blood sampling (FBS), and chorionic villus sampling (CVS). These procedures, while invading the uterine environment, have made it possible to proceed with the retrieval of biological tissue of fetal origin for analysis an...

I-40: Non Invasive Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis;Current Status and The Future

Discovery of cell free fetal DNA in 1997 has deeply changed the outlook of prenatal diagnosis approaches as most of the clinically established screening tests are not sensitive/specific enough while the current practical diagnostic tests are also invasive in their nature. The most common prenatal screening test is routinely practiced for the diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS) which includes a 10% ...

Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of Down's syndrome.

Down syndrome (trisomy 21), which has an incidence of 1 in 800 live births, is considered to be the most frequent etiology of mental retardation and it is the predominant reason for women seeking prenatal diagnosis [Driscoll & Gross, 2009]. Trisomy 21 is used as a benchmark because it is the most common aneuploidy compatible with life and is associated with mental retardation and serious congen...

Non Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome

Need for Optimisation of Immunisation Strategies Targeting Invasive Meningococcal Disease in the Netherlands

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a severe bacterial infectious disease with high mortality and morbidity rates worldwide. In recent years, industrialised countries have implemented vaccines targeting IMD in their National Immunisation Programmes (NIPs). In 2002, the Netherlands successfully implemented a single dose of meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccine at the age of 14 months a...