Anna Wernick

Low levels of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) decrease the chances of becoming pregnant, independently of age or duration of time spent trying to conceive. Although at-home fertility tests have soared in popularity, their reliance on AMH levels as an accurate fertility indicator has been debated in the literature.

A blood test that screens for fetal disorders during pregnancy also accurately signposts cancers in unsuspecting mothers-to-be. A small study led by the National Institute of Health in Maryland, investigated pregnant and postpartum women who had received unusual cell-free DNA (cfDNA) results during their pregnancy but had fetal abnormalities ruled out. Despite none of the women outwardly displaying any signs, nearly half of the women were diagnosed with cancer.

Most inherited developmental disorders are caused by previously identified genetic variants, according to the largest and most diverse study to date. Using newer techniques, researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, near Cambridge, and GeneDx, Maryland, reanalysed genetic data from almost 30,000 families affected by autosomal recessive developmental disorders (ARDD) to better understand their genetic causes.