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Gene Peeks: A Way to See Your Baby Before It’s Conceived

For many couples looking to get pregnant, doctors may recommend that they each get tested for genetic diseases. Some expectant moms are also advised to undergo tests like an amniocentesis during their second trimester to rule out certain birth defects like Down syndrome. However, GenePeeks is a company that takes testing one step further by combining the DNA of the prospective parents to make ‘virtual babies.’

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‘Grayest Generation’: Older Parenthood In The U.S.

In a December article for The New Republic, “The Grayest Generation: How Older Parenthood Will Upend American Society,” the magazine’s science editor Judith Shulevitz points out how the growing trend toward later parenthood since 1970 coincides with a rise in neurocognitive and developmental disorders among children.

Drawing on research published in Nature, Shulevitz writes that, while the associations between parental age and birth defects were largely speculative until this year, “when researchers in Iceland, using radically more powerful ways of looking at genomes, established that men pass on more de novo — that is, noninherited and spontaneously occurring — genetic mutations to their children as they get older. … [T]hey concluded that the number of genetic mutations that can be acquired from a father increases by two every year of his life, and doubles every 16, so that a 36-year-old man is twice as likely as a 20-year-old to bequeathde novo mutations to his children.”

By proving that it’s not simply the mother’s age and health that affects the fetus, Shulevitz says the dynamic surrounding discussions of fertility will change. “No longer need women feel solely guilty,” she tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “They can point to their husbands — and perhaps that’s not really a nice way of putting it — but it means that the problem is shared by both sexes.” Read full article.

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Birth Defects Associated With Dad Jobs

The occupation of future fathers may be associated to a higher risk of birth defects in their infants. A study published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine has revealed that the risk of birth defects in their offspring is higher if the father has a certain type of job.

Even though earlier studies have associated certain occupations with a higher birth defect risk in infants, they did not link certain birth defects to certain occupations, they rather placed the defects and occupations under one umbrella in order to achieve a larger sample size, leaving the results somewhat obscure.

The new study results were based on data that included the occupation of around 1,000 fathers from the ongoing US National Birth Defects Prevention Study, which investigates various potential risk factors for major birth defects in a large population sample. 
 
All men became to father to a child between 1997 and 2004 that had one or more birth defects, including defects amongst stillborn, aborted and live born babies. The team also surveyed slightly more than 4,000 parents of children with no congenial abnormalities telephone interviews.

Read full article.