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09/05/2008 05:00 AM
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Mom's Mood, Baby's Sleep: What's The Connection?
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If there's one thing that everyone knows about newborn babies, it's that they don't sleep through the night, and neither do their parents. But in fact, those first six months of life are crucial to developing the regular sleeping and waking patterns, known as circadian rhythms, that a child will need for a healthy future. Some children may start life with the sleep odds stacked against them, though, say sleep experts who study the issue.
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09/04/2008 11:00 PM
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Natural Childbirth Makes Mothers More Responsive To Own Baby-cry
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A new study has found that mothers who delivered vaginally compared to caesarean section delivery were significantly more responsive to the cry of their own baby, identified through MRI brain scans two to four weeks after delivery.
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09/04/2008 08:00 AM
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'Lab On A Chip' Improves Success Of In Vitro Fertilization
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In a finding that could boost the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF), researchers report development of a tiny "lab on a chip" to evaluate the fitness of embryos harvested for transfer.
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09/04/2008 12:00 AM
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World-first To Predict Premature Births
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Australian researchers and a pathology company have joined forces to develop a world-first computerized system which may reveal a way to predict premature birth with greater accuracy.
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09/03/2008 08:00 PM
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Virus Weaves Itself Into The DNA Transferred From Parents To Babies
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New research shows that some parents pass on the human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) to their children because it is integrated into their chromosomes. This is the first time a virus has been shown to become part of the human DNA and then get passed to subsequent generations.
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09/03/2008 12:00 AM
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Acupuncture May Hold Promise For Women With Hormone Disorder Who Experience Fertility Challenges
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Researchers believe that acupuncture could be an important alternative, non-drug therapy for women with polycystic ovary syndrome, which causes a hormonal imbalance, interfering with ovulation and ultimately, fertility.
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09/01/2008 08:00 AM
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Smoking During Pregnancy A 'Double-edged Sword' In SIDS
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Premature infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be at even higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome than preemies whose mothers did not smoke, according to new research. In the first-ever experimental study to compare the breathing reflexes of preemies of smokers versus non-smokers, researchers found that babies whose mothers had smoked showed a number of signs of impaired respiratory function.
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08/30/2008 08:00 AM
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Newly-defined Factors May Prevent Postpartum Smoking Relapse
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Although many women quit smoking during pregnancy to protect their unborn children from the effects of cigarettes, half resume the habit within a few months of giving birth. By shedding light on the factors that enable the other half to put down that cigarette for good, a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could lead to programs designed to help women quit and stay quit.
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08/29/2008 11:00 AM
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Common Treatment To Delay Labor Decreases Pre-term Infants' Risk For Cerebral Palsy
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Pre-term infants born to mothers receiving intravenous magnesium sulfate -- a common treatment to delay labor -- are less likely to develop cerebral palsy than are pre-term infants whose mothers do not receive it, report researchers in a large National Institutes of Health research network.
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08/29/2008 08:00 AM
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Pregnancy Situations Have Impact On Brain Development In Pre-term Infants
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Brain development in infants who are born very prematurely is still incomplete. Factors that cause premature birth may have an impact on the development of the premature infant's brain both during pregnancy and later on after birth.
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08/28/2008 11:00 AM
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New Concepts In Contraception
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Latest research into dual-purpose contraceptives and non-hormonal contraception will be presented at a major scientific conference in Melbourne.
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08/27/2008 02:00 PM
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Caesarean Babies More Likely To Develop Diabetes
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Babies delivered by Caesarean section have a 20 per cent higher risk than normal deliveries of developing the most common type of diabetes in childhood, according to a study led by Queen's University Belfast.
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08/26/2008 08:00 PM
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Alcohol Consumption Can Cause Too Much Cell Death, Fetal Abnormalities
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The initial signs of fetal alcohol syndrome are slight but classic: facial malformations such as a flat and high upper lip, small eye openings and a short nose. Researchers want to know if those facial clues can help them figure out how much alcohol it takes during what point in development to cause these and other lifelong problems.
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08/26/2008 05:00 PM
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Trends In Prescription Medication Sharing Among Reproductive-aged Women
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Borrowing and sharing of prescription medications is a serious medical and public health concern. A survey of nearly 7,500 women of reproductive age found that this is common practice among more than one-third of this population, according to a new report.
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08/26/2008 11:00 AM
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Infections Linked To Premature Births More Common Than Thought, Study Finds
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Previously unrecognized and unidentified infections of amniotic fluid may be a significant cause of premature birth, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
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08/21/2008 05:00 PM
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Acute Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Linked To Development Of Schizophrenia
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Pregnant women who endure the psychological stress of being in a war zone are more likely to give birth to a child who develops schizophrenia. Research published in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry supports a growing body of literature that attributes maternal exposure to severe stress during the early months of pregnancy to an increased susceptibility to schizophrenia in the offspring.
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08/21/2008 02:00 PM
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Diabetes Transmitted From Parents To Children, New Research Suggests
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A new study suggests an unusual form of inheritance may have a role in the rising rate of diabetes, especially in children and young adults, in the United States.
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08/21/2008 08:00 AM
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Alcohol Dependence Among Women Is Linked To Delayed Childbearing
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Alcohol use can cause reproductive dysfunctions for both teenage and adult females. A new study is the first to examine alcohol's effects on childbearing onset across reproductive development. Findings show that, for women, alcoholism is linked with delayed childbearing.
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08/21/2008 02:00 AM
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Codeine Not Safe For All Breastfeeding Moms And Their Babies
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Using pain treatments which contain codeine may be risky for some breastfeeding mothers, according to new research. The research suggests that the codeine used in some pain relief drugs can actually have harmful and even fatal results for infants when ingested by some breastfeeding mothers.
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08/21/2008 02:00 AM
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Education Needed To Decrease Teens' Misconception About Emergency Contraception
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Targeted health education may help urban, minority adolescent women better understand how the emergency contraception pill works and eliminate some misconceptions about side effects, confidentiality and accessibility, according to a study by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
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08/18/2008 08:00 PM
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Toxoplasmosis Found More Severe In Brazil Compared To Europe
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Newborns in Brazil are more susceptible to toxoplasmosis than those in Europe, according to a recent study. Researchers based in Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom studied the disease's ocular effects in children from birth to four years of age.
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08/18/2008 05:00 AM
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Maelstrom Quashes Jumping Genes
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Scientists have known for decades that genes called transposons can jump around the genome in a cell. This jumping can be dangerous, especially when it arises in cells that produce eggs and sperm. Although nature developed a mechanism to quash this genetic scrambling, how it works has remained a mystery. Now scientists have identified a key protein that suppresses jumping genes in mouse sperm and found that the protein is vital to sperm formation.
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08/15/2008 02:00 AM
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Public Health Clinic Study Links 'Americanization' And Depression
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A study of 439 US and Mexican-born Latinas seeking pregnancy and postpartum services at public health clinics in San Antonio uncovered elevated levels of depression among the more "Americanized" women, report researchers in the Maternal and Child Health Journal.
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08/12/2008 02:00 AM
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New Insight Into Most Common Forebrain Malformation
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Scientists have identified one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the genetic brain malformation called holoprosencephaly. The findings not only yield insights into the most common developmental malformation of the anterior brain and face in newborns, but also help in understanding the intricate process by which the brain forms in the developing fetus.
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08/11/2008 02:00 PM
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Damage To Fetal Brain Blocked Following Maternal Alcohol Consumption
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In a study on fetal alcohol syndrome, researchers were able to prevent the damage that alcohol causes to cells in a key area of the fetal brain by blocking acid sensitive potassium channels and preventing the acidic environment that alcohol produces. The cerebellum, the portion of the brain that is responsible for balance and muscle coordination, is particularly vulnerable to injury from alcohol during development.
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08/10/2008 08:00 AM
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Common Infertility Treatments Are Unlikely To Improve Fertility
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Long-established medical interventions to help couples with infertility problems do not seem to improve fertility, according to a study published.
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08/07/2008 02:00 PM
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Likely Cause Of Postpartum Blues And Depression Identified
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Unique biochemical crosstalk that enables a fetus to get nutrition and oxygen from its mother's blood just may cause common postpartum blues, researchers say.
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08/06/2008 05:00 PM
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HIV Drug Can Persist In Mothers' Milk, Increasing Risk To Them And Their Babies
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A drug commonly used in the developing world to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child persists in the breast milk and blood of the mothers, putting them and their babies at risk for developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
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08/06/2008 08:00 AM
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Possible Cause Of Endometriosis Identified
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Scientists have identified an enzyme that could be responsible for a condition called endometriosis – the most common cause of pelvic pain in women.
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08/05/2008 05:00 PM
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Research Exposes New Target For Malaria Drugs
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The malaria parasite has waged a successful guerrilla war against the human immune system for eons, but a study in this week's Journal of Biological Chemistry has exposed one of the tricks malaria uses to hide from the immune proteins, which may aid in future drug development.
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08/05/2008 11:00 AM
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Recurrence Of Group B Strep High In Subsequent Pregnancies, Say Obstetricians
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A new study could help experts better decide whether to continue the current practice of retesting women during their second pregnancies for a common bacterial infection if they had tested positive for the infection previously.
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08/05/2008 08:00 AM
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Maternal Deaths Following Cesarean Delivery Can Be Reduced
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Maternal death rates have remained constant in the United States for many decades. Are there any improvements in health care that could reduce these rates further? A new study examined all maternal deaths in nearly 1.5 million birth records from the last six years to look for possible keys to saving more mothers. The study demonstrated that the risk of death attributable to cesarean delivery, approximately 2/100,000 procedures, can realistically be reduced only with universal thromboembolism prophylaxis for patients delivered by cesarean.
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08/04/2008 02:00 AM
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Schizophrenia Researchers Welcome New Blood
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Researchers from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute are set to conduct a world-first trial into the link between prenatal vitamin D levels and schizophrenia prevalence.
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08/01/2008 02:00 PM
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Alcohol Binges Early In Pregnancy Increase Risk Of Infant Oral Clefts
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Pregnant women who binge drink early in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral clefts.
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08/01/2008 11:00 AM
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Compounds From Soy Affect Brain And Reproductive Development
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Two hormone-like compounds linked to the consumption of soy-based foods can cause irreversible changes in the structure of the brain, resulting in early-onset puberty and symptoms of advanced menopause, according to a new study. The study is a breakthrough in determining how these compounds can cause reproductive health problems, as well as in providing a key building block for how to treat these problems.
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07/31/2008 05:00 PM
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Mechanism For Postpartum Depression Found In Mice
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Researchers have pinpointed a mechanism in the brains of mice that could explain why some human mothers become depressed following childbirth. The discovery could lead to improved treatment for postpartum depression. After giving birth, female mice bred to be deficient in a suspect protein showed depression-like behaviors and neglected their newborn pups. Giving a drug that restored the protein's function improved maternal behavior and reduced pup mortality.
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07/31/2008 02:00 AM
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Long-lasting Effects Of The Seveso Disaster On Thyroid Function In Babies
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Three decades after an accident at a chemical factory in Seveso, Italy in 1976, which resulted in exposure of a residential population to the most dangerous type of dioxin, newborn babies born to mothers living in the contaminated area at the time of the accident are over six times more likely to have altered thyroid function than those born to mothers in a non-contaminated area.
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07/30/2008 08:00 PM
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Fertility: Newly Discovered Proteins In Seminal Fluid Transferred During Mating May Affect Odds Of Producing Offspring
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More than 80 new proteins, thought to play a role in reproductive success, have been discovered in the seminal fluid of fruit flies.
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07/30/2008 08:00 AM
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Scientists Announce Mouse Sperm Cryopreservation Breakthrough
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Scientists have figured out a simple, cost-effective process to freeze mouse sperm and get it to achieve high fertilization rates with mouse eggs. The breakthrough will greatly reduce the cost of developing and distributing new mouse models of human disease.
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07/30/2008 08:00 AM
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Preterm Birth Contributes To Growing Number Of Infant Deaths: More Than 28,000 Infants Died In 2005
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Babies born too soon and too small accounted for a growing proportion of infant deaths, 36.5 percent of infant deaths in 2005, up from 34.6 percent in 2000. The nation's infant mortality rate inched up slightly in 2005 to 6.9, from 6.8 percent in 2004, although the change is not statistically significant.
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07/29/2008 11:00 PM
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Women With Gestational Diabetes At Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes
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Women with gestational diabetes are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with almost 20 percent of women developing the condition within 9 years of pregnancy, found a large, population-based study of 659,000 women published in CMAJ.
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07/29/2008 08:00 AM
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Pre-eclampsia May Be Autoimmune Disease
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Biochemists at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston say they are the first to provide pre-clinical evidence that pregnancy-induced high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia may be an autoimmune disease. Their research could provide novel diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities for this intractable disease.
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07/29/2008 12:00 AM
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Ante-partum Bed Rest Moms Get Active In New Study
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After weeks of bed rest during pregnancy, new mothers need to rebuild muscles and strengthen their stamina. Now a group of women will test new interventions in aiding that recovery during a pilot study.
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07/28/2008 02:00 AM
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New Research On Pre-eclampsia In Mice May Have Important Implications For Humans
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Researchers studying pre-eclampsia, a serious and potentially deadly disorder that affects about 5 percent of pregnancies, report new findings in mice that may have important implications for diagnosis and treatment in humans.
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07/28/2008 02:00 AM
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Little Evidence That Treating Varicoceles In Men Boosts Pregnancy Rates
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A recent review of studies from the Netherlands finds no evidence that treating varicoceles -- a somewhat common condition in men with fertility problems -- improves a couple's chances of conceiving a baby.
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07/24/2008 08:00 PM
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Soy Foods Are Associated With Lower Sperm Concentrations
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Men who eat an average of half a serving of soy food a day have lower concentrations of sperm than men who do not eat soy foods. The association was particularly marked in men who were overweight or obese, the study found.
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07/24/2008 08:00 AM
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Early Exposure To Tobacco Smoke Causes Asthma And Allergy
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Babies exposed to cigarette smoke before birth or during the first months afterwards run a greater risk of developing asthma and allergy. It is a well known fact that babies are harmed by tobacco smoke in numerous ways, but it has always been difficult to separate the effects of the mother smoking during pregnancy and passive smoking after birth.
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07/23/2008 02:00 PM
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Epilepsy Drug May Increase Risk Of Birth Defects
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Taking the epilepsy drug topiramate alone or along with other epilepsy drugs during pregnancy may increase the risk of birth defects, according to a study in Neurology. Research has shown that many epilepsy drugs increase the risk of birth defects, but little research had been done on topiramate.
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