Pheochromocytomas (PCCs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors. The current diagnostic tools are based on biochemistry and histopathology results, but heterogeneity of diagnostic markers, signs and symptoms of PCCs bring a lot of difficulties for these two current methods. Unfortunately microscopic understanding of PCCs is not adequate for its confident prognosis and management. There are data linking...

The purpose of prenatal diagnosis tests is insisting of diagnosis of neonatal disorders, preparing a range of informed choices and making couples at risk to be ready for having children with genetic disorders as well. The aim of this article is to investigate all of the tests in order to determine the best one which has the lowest risk and the highest sensitivity. Screening tests (maternal bloo...

Cell‑free fetal DNA (cff‑DNA) is a novel promising biomarker that has been applied in various aspects of obstetrical research, notably in prenatal diagnosis and complicated pregnancies. It is easily detected by semi‑quantitative PCR for the SRY target gene. It is well recognized that the levels of circulating cff‑DNA play a role in various complications of pregnancy. In this review, we explore ...

OBJECTIVE To examine the possible effects of maternal and fetal characteristics on the fetal fraction in maternal plasma cell-free (cf) DNA at 11-13 weeks' gestation and estimate the proportion of pregnancies at high risk of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) failure because the fetal fraction is less than 4%. METHODS In 1949 singleton pregnancies at 11-13 weeks' gestation cf-DNA was extrac...

Transplacental exposureof fetusesto carcinogensis kno@i to induce tumors in the offspring, often with a high incidenceand short latency. While covalent adduction of DNA appears to be essential for tumor initiation, little is known about the binding of carcinogens to the DNA of fetal tissues. A sensitive32P-postlabelingmethod enabled us to study the binding of the environmental carcinogens safro...

Accurately measuring hormone exposure during prenatal life presents a methodological challenge and there is currently no "gold standard" approach. Ideally, circulating fetal hormone levels would be measured at repeated time points during pregnancy. However, it is not currently possible to obtain fetal blood samples without significant risk to the fetus, and therefore surrogate markers of fetal ...

Cytotoxic drugs increase circulating fetal hemoglobin levels. We examined the mechanism by measuring the fetal hemoglobin produced per BFU-E-derived erythroblast following hydroxyurea treatment in vivo and in vitro. Treatment of four sickle cell patients increased the percentage of circulating F reticulocytes. The frequencies of bone marrow or peripheral blood BFU-E or CFU-E-derived colonies an...

OBJECTIVE Cell-free DNA from maternal plasma can be used for non-invasive prenatal testing for aneuploidies and single gene disorders, and also has applications as a biomarker for monitoring high-risk pregnancies, such as those at risk of pre-eclampsia. On average, the fractional cell-free fetal DNA concentration in plasma is approximately 15%, but can vary from less than 4% to greater than 30%...