Paternity Testing Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Paternity Testing, including details on accuracy, methods, procedure, dna testing.

Ethical challenges in providing noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.

Benn PA, Chapman AR

aDepartment of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Division of Human Genetics, USA bDepartment of Community Medicine and Healthcare, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) can potentially allow early detection of fetal genetic disorders, sex, other nonmedical traits, and paternity. We review ethical concerns associated with the imminent introduction of this testing. RECENT FINDINGS: There has been inadequate scientific and medical review of some NIPD tests under development or already available as direct-to-consumer products. Test introduction is largely unregulated and this has prompted calls for greater oversight. As a replacement for current prenatal screening and diagnosis, NIPD may not necessarily identify the same spectrum of disorders. Ethicists are also concerned how women can receive adequate pretest counseling and provide a truly informed consent. Widespread use of NIPD for minor disorders, predispositions, sex, normal human variation and paternity could result in a trivialization of pregnancy termination. Other concerns include the equitable access to testing by all population subgroups. NIPD has the potential to significantly reduce the prevalence of some genetic disorders and thereby change public attitudes about the handicapped and their families. SUMMARY: Striking the correct balance between providing only worthwhile testing and ensuring individual patients' reproductive choice will be a major challenge and it is important to begin to address the many ethical issues that NIPD raises.

Published 25 January 2010 in Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol.
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Articles on Paternity Testing published 19 January 2010:

Ribonucleotide and ribonucleoside determination by ambient pressure ion mobility spectrometry.   Anal Chim Acta, 658(1): 91-7.

Detection limits and reduced mobilities for 12 ribonucleotides and 4 ribonucleosides were measured by ambient pressure electrospray ionization-ion mobility spectrometry (ESI-IMS). With the instrument used in this study it was possible to separate some of these compounds within mixtures. Detection limits reported for ribonucleotides and ribonucleosides ranged from 15 to 300 pmol and the reduced mobilities ranged from 41 to 56 suggesting that ambient pressure ESI-IMS may be used for their rapid ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Paternity Testing published 18 January 2010:

Infanticide and reproductive restraint in a polygynous social mammal.   Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.

Alpha male chacma baboons experience uncontested access to individual estrus females. Consequently, alpha male paternity certainty is high and underpins significant levels of infanticide by immigrant males that, in turn, has selected for male defense of infants. There is also, however, a high probability that alpha males will be absent during the period when their own offspring are vulnerable, suggesting selection for additional countermeasures. We use data from a long-term study to test the ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Paternity Testing published 5 January 2010:

Genetic variation of three autosomal STR Loci D21S1435, D21S1411, and D21S1412 in Korean population.   Mol Biol Rep, 37(1): 99-104.

The autosomal tetranucleotide short tandem repeat loci D21S1435, D21S1411 and D21S1412 were analyzed in samples of unrelated 200 Korean individuals. The loci showed no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Alleles were assigned according to the International Society for Forensic Haemogenetics (ISFH) recommendations. The power of discrimination of the analyzed markers was found to be high for the populations, thereby facilitating the validation and efficiency of these STR ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Paternity Testing published 7 December 2009:

Assessment of phylogenetic structure of Berber-speaking population of Azrou using 15 STRs of Identifiler kit.   Leg Med (Tokyo).

Allele frequencies for 15 STR autosomal loci of Identifiler kit (D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818 and FGA) in the Moroccan population of Berber-speaking of Azrou, were assessed from a sample of 201 unrelated individuals. Markers D18S51, D2S1338, FGA and D21S11 present the highest power of discrimination (PD) values while D21S11 was the most polymorphic locus in the studied population. The phylogenetic tree established ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Paternity Testing published 1 December 2009:

Evaluation of the 124-plex SNP typing microarray for forensic testing.   Forensic Sci Int Genet, 4(1): 43-8.

Human identification systems such as criminal databases, forensic DNA testing and genetic genealogy require reliable and cost-effective genotyping of autosomal, mitochondrial and Y chromosome markers from different biological materials, including venous blood and saliva. Although many such assays are available, few systems are capable of simultaneously detecting all three targets in a single reaction. Employing the APEX-2 principle, we have characterized a novel 124-plex assay, using specific ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Validation of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing assay with 49 SNPs for forensic genetic testing in a laboratory accredited according to the ISO 17025 standard.   Forensic Sci Int Genet, 4(1): 34-42.

A multiplex assay with 49 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) developed for human identification was validated for forensic genetic casework and accredited according to the ISO 17025 standard. The multiplex assay was based on the SNPforID 52plex SNP assay [J.J. Sanchez, C. Phillips, C. Børsting, K. Balogh, M. Bogus, M. Fondevila, C.D. Harrison, E. Musgrave-Brown, A. Salas, D. Syndercombe-Court, P.M. Schneider, A. Carracedo, N. Morling, A multiplex assay with 52 single nucleotide ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Paternity Testing published 25 November 2009:

SNPs for a universal individual identification panel.   Hum Genet.

An efficient method to uniquely identify every individual would have value in quality control and sample tracking of large collections of cell lines or DNA as is now often the case with whole genome association studies. Such a method would also be useful in forensics. SNPs represent the best markers for such purposes. We have developed a globally applicable resource of 92 SNPs for individual identification (IISNPs) with extremely low probabilities of any two unrelated individuals from anywhere ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Paternity Testing published 30 October 2009:

False homozygosities at CSF1PO loci revealed by discrepancies between two kits in Chinese population.   Int J Legal Med.

During the course of paternity test, three samples in two cases were apparently homozygous at the CSF1PO locus using AmpFlSTRs Identifiler PCR Amplification kits, but using the PowerPlexs 16 kit, the three individuals were found to be heterozygous. This puzzling problem was solved by using multiple analytical approaches, including the use of different primer pairs and the characterization of the mutation causing the ''null allele.'' Dropout was caused by a single mutation event in the ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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