Abstract: An asthma management system and method are disclosed for collecting environmental and individual health data to predict the onset of asthma symptoms to allow for preventative therapy tailored on an individual basis. In one embodiment a computer system is in electrical communication with an individual user interface and one or more environmental factor collection points via a communications network. The user interface is adapted to send and receive asthma-related data including asthma profile and real-time asthma status data to the computer system via the communication network, and the environmental factor collection points are adapted to send and receive data to the computer system via the communications network.

Abstract: Methods for determining genetic status of a fetus from a sample of maternal blood comprise enriching nucleated red blood cells in the sample, including both fetal and maternal nucleated red blood cells. The nucleated red blood cells are then differentiated from all other blood cells in the enriched sample, and the nucleated red blood cells genetically screened to determine the genetic status. The nucleated red blood cells may be differentiated by immobilizing all enriched blood cells on a solid phase and locating the nucleated red blood cells for interrogation. Optionally, the nucleated red blood cells may be sorted and separated from other enriched blood cells in a liquid phase.