Sydney, 27 February (IANS). A team of Australia scientists have developed a new blood test, capable of detecting potential health problems in the early stages of pregnancy.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, researchers at the University of Queensland (UCU) said in their studies on Thursday that their “Nanoflavar Sensor” could reduce the possibility of newborns being hospitalized.
This test examines special biomarkers in the blood of the pregnant woman. It can detect complications such as pregnancy diabetes, premature birth and high blood pressure in 11 weeks of pregnancy.
Carlos Salomon Galllo, scientist at UCU’s Clinical Research Center, said his team tried the sensor on the blood sample of 201 pregnant women and successfully discovered the possible complications in them.
Galllo said, “Most of the pregnancy related problems are known in the second or third trimester, which makes it difficult to treat in time. But with the help of this new technology pregnant women can already consult a doctor. We found that our biosensor can identify complications with more than 90% of accuracy.”
He also said that this technique can reduce the number of children admitted to NICU and can help prevent complications related to pregnancy like emergency cesarean. This can save the health system every year to save crores of dollars.
Mustafa Kamal Masood, a scientist at the Australian Institute for Bio -Engineering and Nano Technology, who included this research, said that the technology identifies indicators using Nanosensor which do not get caught in existing tests.
This research has been published in the prestigious magazine ‘Science Advance’.
-IANS
AS/