If you ’re not an expecting mother that likes to hold back until the end of the wearying pregnancy journeying to find out whether you ’ve spawned a boy or a girl , then you ’ve likely go for your 2d routineultrasound checkuparound 18 to 21 week Emily Price Post - invention .
It may shortly be time to forget that gooey tummy gel and a hazy double of a infant obliterate in the womb , however . A fresh cogitation , write in the journalPrenatal Diagnosis , describes a quick , finger - cocksucker rake test that can find out the sexual practice of your still - cooking progeny within the first trimester ( until the 12th workweek ) .
Tests like this already be , mind you . Such blood - based examinations – presently in camera available in the UK – are used to detect Down syndrome , along with several others , include Edwards ’ and Patau ’s syndromes . term the non - incursive antenatal examination ( NIPT ) , it ’s meant to make anearly diagnosisof such syndrome safe .
normally , in fiat to try for these syndromes , amniocentesisis opt for . This involves extracting a sample of cells from the amnic fluid , which surrounds and protect the developing sister in the womb . This , regrettably , bring with it a pocket-size risk of a miscarriage occurring , something that NIPT avert .
NIPT , whether it ’s looking forevidenceof such conditions or is being used todetermine the sexof the almost - fry , works by taking a blood sampling from the expecting female parent using a syringe . This is as non - invasive as the trial has managed to be at this tip .
Now , however , as first spot byNew Scientist , this new study shit everything a little simpler and more streamlined . or else of any nasty monumental needles , all you need is a single free fall of rake from your finger to incur out what kind of hellraiser you ’ll be having .
Led by Sabin Laboratory , a Brazilian aesculapian diagnostics company , it involved recruiting 101 pregnant char , each who give away a solitary blob of their deep red to be analyse via tell finger’s breadth - bastard method . The team then had a poke around for the male - exclusive Y chromosome with fragments of fetal deoxyribonucleic acid , which allow them to find oneself out whether a boy or lady friend was on the room .
The test results – corroborate with later clinical examination of the newborn at birth – was deemed authentic if carried out after the 8th week of gestation period . It ’s reported to be able to , overall , correctly determine the presence of the Y chromosome 95.4 percent of the time ; this is around thesame accuracyas an echography test , but far earlier and with far less hassle .
The only potential problem is that these blood sample are more vulnerable to be contaminated by foreign desoxyribonucleic acid on the surface of the finger , which can lead to some false positives . Venous blood does n’t present this problem , but the squad take note that right cleaning of the finger’s breadth immediately antedate the test circumvents this emergence .
It ’s not clear whether the test can be used to reckon for those aforementioned syndrome or other malefic genetic conditions , and at present , this is a proof - of - conception aim . It ’s not yet available for utilization , although it probably wo n’t be long until it will be .
As with such tests , there ’ll in all likelihood be trouble about this fresh method making sex - specific abortion easier – but that ’s a disputation for another meter .
