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The article presents an overview of the recent developments in cell-free nucleic acid technology and its implications for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis and screening. It notes the drawbacks of current prenatal diagnostic tests, as well as the characteristics of fetal nucleic acids in maternal blood. The clinical applications of testing for fetal nucleic acids are discussed, including fetal sex determination, and fetal aneuploidies. The ethical, legal and social problems that must be considered concerning cell-free nucleic acid technology are also explored.

The article presents guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for the antenatal care of the twin and triplet pregnancies. It states that such women need extensive care for the determination of chorionicity and Down's syndrome. It also informs that special care involves the perinatal mental health, women's health physiotherapy, infant feeding, diet and nutrition. Besides this, It also discusses about the fetal complications and risk of preterm birth with twin and triplet pregnancies.

The article focuses on a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that a denial to prenatal tests by anti-abortion doctors to a pregnant Polish woman to determine whether the fetus was malformed was an inhuman treatment.

The author comments on a study which examined the screening program for sickle cell disease established by Great Britain's National Health Service (NHS), by E. Dormandy and colleagues, published within the issue. The study compared three antenatal screening approaches which are parallel testing, sequential testing and midwifery care. The author explains the problems associated with screening for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia. She also highlights the implications of the study findings for general practitioners.

The article offers information on the rapid response report (RRR) summary for the pregnancy checking before the surgery according to the National Patient Safety Agency in Great Britain. It mentions that the safety report summary provides information with regards to the need to check pregnancy in patient as a precautionary measure to avoid risk that surgical interventions can bring. It refers an incident which occurred in Wales and England wherein the pregnant patients have undergone a surgery without documented pregnancy check that resulted to miscarriage. It states various recommendations for individual clinicians to ensure safe surgery which include offering of pregnancy test, referring to the antenatal services, and documented pregnancy test.

The article focuses on a study which investigated the use of maternal plasma DNA sequencing to diagnose fetal trisomy 21. Study authors collected maternal plasma samples from pregnancies that are at risk for fetal trisomy 21 based on conventional prenatal screening criteria, from Hong Kong, China, Great Britain and the Netherlands. They found that maternal plasma DNA sequencing can accurately rule out fetal trisomy 21 in pregnancies that are clinically indicated for amniocentesis of chorionic villus sampling.

This section discusses various papers published within the issue including a study on the link between physical activity and the risk of type 2 diabetes, research on the prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 21, and another study on the association between headache and white matter hyperintensities.

The article introduces two papers published within the issue including a study on the antenatal screening for hemoglobinopathies, and an editorial on the study.

The article discusses a study which examined the effectiveness of antenatal screening for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia in primary care. The study included 1,708 pregnant women from deprived inner city areas in Great Britain. Study authors found that antenatal screening for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia in primary care increases the rate of women being screened before 10 weeks' gestation.

The article focuses on the recommendation of Great Britain National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for a more flexible antenatal services, referencing to the report "The NICE Guideline on Pregnancy and Complex Social Factors."

The article discusses research which examined trends in Down's syndrome live births and antenatal diagnoses in England and Wales from 1989 to 2008. About 26,488 antenatal and postnatal diagnoses of Down's syndrome done at all cytogenetic laboratories in England and Wales were recorded in the National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register. An overview of the research findings is offered. Also noted are bias, confounding and other reasons for caution.

The author argues in favor of offering a routine HIV testing in general practice in Great Britain. He cites several factors that contribute to the difficulty of promoting HIV testing across the country, such as difficult access of specialist services needed for pre-test counselling. He mentions developments that can be used to promote HIV testing including antiretrovirals and the success of antenatal testing. The author also asserts that HIV testing in general practice can be done because of the access to the whole population.

The authors comment on the article of Caroline F. Wright and Lyn S. Chitty about recent developments in cell-free fetal nucleic acid technology and its implications for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. They state that the main justification of prenatal diagnosis, from an ethical point of view, is to support the reproductive autonomy of pregnant woman or couple. They stress the importance of counselling and decision-making and testing for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis to ensure that pregnant women can make an autonomous decision.