Interactions between germ cells and surrounding somatic cells are central to ovarian development as well as later function. Disruption of these interactions arising from abnormalities in either cell type can lead to premature ovarian failure (POF). The forkhead transcription factor FOXL2 is a candidate POF factor, and mutations in the FOXL2 gene are associated with syndromic and non-syndromic o...

In this study, we assessed the feasibility of fetal RhD genotyping by analysis of cell-free fetal DNA(cffDNA) extracted from plasma samples of Rhesus (Rh) D-negative pregnant women by using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fetal genotyping was performed on 30 RhD-negative women between 9 and 39 weeks of gestation who were referred to us for invasive testing [amniocentesis/chorionic vi...

The history of ideas on how the sexes became divided spans at least three thousand years. The biblical account of the origin of Eve, and the opinions of the philosophers of classical Greece, have unexpected bearings on present-day ideas. The scientific study of sex determination can be said to have begun in the 17th century with the discovery of spermatozoa, but the origin and function of the "...

It has been an indisputable fact that the constitu-tive sex in mammalian fetal development is female. Furthermore, a functioning ovary is not required for the female phenotype, whereas a testis is mandatory for male development. More than 50 years after Jost performed experiments in rabbit embryos in which castration was followed by testis engraftment, his observations remain a beacon of clarit...

Forensic odontology has been a vital part in investigation and presenting any dental evidence in criminal cases, mass disasters etc. Currently it has been recognized as an important tool in sex determination as well. The current article describes various methods such as visual or clinical methods, microscopic methods and advanced methods which help in sex determination. Further, it highlights i...

Accurate determination of same-sex twin zygosity is important for medical, scientific and personal reasons. Determination may be based upon questionnaire data, blood group, enzyme isoforms and fetal membrane examination, but assignment of zygosity must ultimately be confirmed by genotypic data. Here methods are reviewed for calculating average probabilities of correctly concluding a twin pair i...

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...

background: fetal dna has been found in maternal plasma. diagnosis of fetal gender using maternal plasma has been attempted in an effort to develop a new noninvasive method of prenatal diagnosis. methods: we extracted dna from plasma of 30 pregnant woman, three men, three non-pregnant women, and performed a sensitive y-pcr assay to detect circulating male fetal dna from women bearing male fetus...