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British scientists have developed a new rapid screening test using DNA fingerprinting to detect genetic disorders in embryos. Instead of searching for an altered gene linked to an inherited illness, the new test looks for DNA fingerprints, or markers, near the gene. “Because you are not looking for the gene, which can be different in different families, these markers can be applied to lots of families,” said Alison Lashwood of Guy and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, England, where the test was developed.

0 to 12

Parental smoking a threat to kids’ lungs

A new international study of more than 20,000 children confirms that exposure to cigarette smoke after birth impairs their lung function. The effects of smoking during pregnancy last up to age 12, while exposure to cigarette smoking after birth further worsens lung function, said Dr Manfred A Neuberger of the Medical University in Vienna, one of the study’s authors. The researchers had examined 22,712 children from eight countries. The findings appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

12 to 25 years

Verbal abuse by parents can cause lasting harm

Verbal abuse of children by parents may be even more likely to cause psychiatric problems in later life than physical abuse, write researchers from Harvard Medical School in the American Journal of Psychiatry after studying 554 18-22-yr-olds. The researchers looked at symptoms of a “limbic irritability”—brief hallucinations and visual disturbances—which were found to be “dramatically” influenced by abuse. The researchers also looked at dissociation, in which a person narrows his or her focus to block other aspects of experience, which can range from normal daydreaming to selective amnesia.

25 to 50

Impotence common in men with sleep apnea

Men with breathing problems during sleep may commonly suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) as well. Researchers from Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, reported in the journal Urology, that of 30 men with the breathing disorder sleep apnea, 24 (80 percent) also had symptoms of ED.

40 and above

Losing job may mean a risk to life too

Being fired is not just bad news, it could be fatal—especially if the individual is middle-aged. Among a sample of 4,301 people aged between 51 and 61, the study found the incidence of heart attack and stroke among those who had lost their jobs was more than double that in those still working.

For many, late career job loss is an exceptionally stressful experience, the researchers wrote in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.