Express Features
Bangalore, Jan 8: Now predicting birth defects is an easy task.
A group of scientists from Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine & Stempeutics Research have shown that the presence of very low amounts of gram- negative bacterial lipopolysaccahrides (LPS) an endotoxin in the environment can cause defects in the development of tissues like the bones in a growing foetus.
The project conducted recently by a team of scientists, not only identify the predictable birth defects in babies born out of mothers with silent genital tract infections, but also indicates the factors that can dictate the outcomes of assisted reproductive technologies (ART).
These findings were recently published (Sivasubramaniyan et al., 2007) in the online version of the pioneering journal Regenerative Medicine, and will appear in the January 2008 print issue.