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Women with high body mass index (BMI) tend to have reduced fetal fraction (FF) during cell-free DNA-based noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS), causing test failure rates up to 24.3% and prompting guidelines that recommend aneuploidy screening other than NIPS for patients with significant obesity. Since alternatives to NIPS are only preferred if they work better, scientists from Myriad Women's Health, California, USA, compared the corresponding efficacy of traditional screening of aneuploidy and NIPS at different levels of BMI.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a cardiac arrhythmia characterized by complete asynchrony of contractions of atrial myofibrils, manifested by the cessation of their pumping function. AF is the most common arrhythmia, affecting more than 34 million people worldwide.

Gene therapy has broadened the treatment possibilities for those with immune system deficiencies and blood-based conditions, such as sickle cell anemia and leukemia. These diseases, which once would require a bone marrow transplant, can now be successfully treated by modifying patients' own blood stem cells to correct the underlying genetic problem.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals on Monday won approval for its fourth treatment for cystic fibrosis, a combination drug that extends a new form of therapy to 90% of CF patients.

An ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a congenital heart defect characterized by a defect between the right and left ventricles of the heart. CSF is the most common congenital heart disease, affecting 1 out of 300 live births.

Scientists have identified a specific gene they believe could be a key player in the changes in brain structure seen in several psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia and autism.