The implementation of our protocol enables us to distinguish two categories of neonatal hip pathology: one that eventually develops into a normal hip (essentially sonographic DDH); and another that will deteriorate into a hip with some kind of dysplasia, including full dislocation (true DDH). This approach seems to allow for a better-founded definition of DDH, for an appropriate determination of its incidence, for decision-making regarding treatment, and for assessment of the cost-effectiveness of screening programs for the early detection of DDH.

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Nonvisualization of the fetal gallbladder in early pregnancy is uncommon but associated in many cases with other fetal anomalies.

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Microdeletions linked to deletion intervals 5 and 6 of the Y chromosome have been associated with male factor infertility. Members from at least two gene families lie in the region containing azoospermia factor (AZF), namely YRRM and DAZ. With the advent of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), it is possible for men with severe male factor infertility to produce a child. The genetic consequences of such a procedure have been questioned. This report describes the first study of a population (32 couples) of infertile fathers and their sons born after ICSI. The objectives were firstly to determine the incidence and map location of Y chromosome microdeletions and to compare the frequencies with other population studies involving severe male factor infertility, and secondly to formulate a working hypothesis concerning developmental aetiology of Y chromosome microdeletions. The incidence of microdeletions in the ICSI population was shown to be 9.4% (within the range 9-18% reported for populations of severe male factor infertility patients). Microdeletions in two out of three affected father/son pairs mapped in the region between AZFb and AZFc and the third involved a large microdeletion in AZFb and AZFc. Of three affected father/son pairs, microdeletions were detected in the blood of one infertile propositus father and three babies. Assuming that the gonomes of the ICSI-derived babies are direct reflections of those of their fathers germ lines, it is possible that two of three infertile fathers were mosaic for intact Y and microdeleted Y chromosomes. In such cases, the developmental aetiology of the microdeletion may be due to a de-novo microdeletion arising as a post-zygotic mitotic error in the infertile propositus father, thus producing a mosaic individual who may or may not transmit the deletion to his ICSI-derived sons depending on the extent of primordial germ cell mosaicism. In one of three affected fathers, the microdeletion detected in his blood was also detected in his ICSI-derived son. In this case the de-novo event giving rise to the microdeletion may have occurred due to a post- (or pre-) meiotic error in the germ line of this father's normally fertile father (i.e. the ICSI-derived baby's grandfather).