Congenital

Henry Kissinger, the late secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford whose decisions are linked to millions of deaths around the world, died of congenital heart failure, according to police reports newly obtained by Rolling Stone. Kissinger died at the age of 100 in his house in Connecticut on Nov. 29. The news was confirmed in a statement from his consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, but the statement did not include his cause of death. According to Greg Grandin, the Yale University…

Researchers have developed a biodegradable patch engineered from human cells that could one day be used to correct infant congenital heart defects, limiting the need for multiple invasive surgeries and outlasting current non-living, non-degradable patches.Globally, congenital heart defects (CHD) affect around nine in every 1,000 babies born. CHD refers to a group of defects present at birth that are caused by the heart not developing properly during pregnancy. While simple defects often don’t need treatment, some complex…

A study found that, by…

The patients had some, although severely diminished, visual function during the day, however, at night they were essentially blind, with light sensitivity 10,000–100,000 times less than normal.The patients had Leber Congenital Amaurosis, a type of genetic congenital blindness.According to researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, adults with a genetic form of childhood-onset blindness experienced remarkable recoveries of night vision within days of…

Jennifer knew that her pregnancy at the age of 37 was fraught with risks—so she was all the more excited to be expecting twin boys. However, detailed ultrasound images at 12 weeks showed that there were significant complications. Both fetuses were missing limbs, and fluid was accumulating in their brain cavities. An additional ultrasound and a more invasive test, where a tissue sample was taken from the mother’s amniotic fluid, confirmed a diagnosis of trisomy 18 (where someone has an extra copy of chromosome 18) three…