Political philosopher Michael Sandel analyzes the moral implications of using poor women in developing countries like India as commercial surrogate mothers. Sandel challenges the audience to debate the ethics of outsourcing surrogacy as a profitable business.

Medische Wereld Erkent Nieuwe Therapie Voor Refluxbabies

20% van alle ouders zoeken medische hulp wegens het frequent regurgiteren (teruggeven van voeding) van hun baby en het daarmee gepaard gaande ongemak (huilen). Het gereputeerd medisch tijdschrift "Archives of Disease in Childhood" van de groep "British Medical Journal" maakte onlangs de resultaten bekend van het klinisch onderzoeksproject dat eind 2006 was opgestart in de afdeling Kindergastro-enterologie van het Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel. Het AR bed, een ontwikkeling van het bedrijf MULTICARE en het UZ Brussel, werd bestudeerd bij een groep babies die veel regurgiteerden en veel huilden, waar medicatie of voedingsaanpassing niet had geholpen. Er werd vastgesteld dat het "AR bed" resulteerde in minder regurgiteren en minder huilen bij 3/4 van de babies. Bovendien werd ook objectief vastgesteld dat de reflux-index (% tijd dat er zuur is in de slokdarm, gemeten met pH-metrie) binnen één week zowat halveerde. Rekeninghoudende met de periode van radeloosheid tot ontreddering bij ouders en hun baby, al dan niet gepaard gaande met diverse onderzoeken (oesofagoscopie, pH-metrie, etc), in hun zoektocht naar de geschikte voedingsaanpassing en medicatie, kan het AR bed[1] veel sneller soelaas brengen: over het algemeen wordt de verbetering binnen de dag vastgesteld. Het AR bed wordt nu door pediaters naar voorgeschoven als een eerste stap in behandeling van regurgitatie en/of gastro-oesofageale reflux. Naast geruststelling van de ouders, een voedingsaanpak (aangepast volume, ingedikte Anti-Regurgitatie voeding), draagt deze houdingstherapie bij tot het afnemen van de klachten. Dit is een belangrijke stap vooruit om de spiraal van overgebruik van medicatie bij babies die voeding terug geven en veel huilen te stoppen. Professor Y. Vandenplas: "Medicatie is vooral nuttig bij reflux ziekte en dus zure reflux en oesofagitis. Veel babies die "voeding terug geven" hebben geen reflux ziekte. M.a.w. medicatie heeft weinig zin bij deze babies. Alle medicatie heeft potentiële nevenwerkingen. Daarom verdient het de voorkeur deze medicatie zoveel mogelijk te vermijden. Ervaring met het MULTICARE AR bed leerde ons dat bij een aardig aantal kinderen ook alle medicatie kon gestopt worden."

Noorderlicht nieuws

Te gast in de studio is taalwetenschapper Claartje Levelt. Zij doet onderzoek naar taalontwikkeling bij kleine kinderen. Welke klanken vinden baby's het leukst en is er een ideale manier om te leren praten? En in de pitch voor de Academische jaarprijs aandacht voor ondervoeding tijdens de zwangerschap, de gevolgen van de Hongerwinter zijn nog steeds zichtbaar.

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Nieuwe website rond levensstijl tijdens de zwangerschap

Obesitas neemt meer en meer toe in onze maatschappij. Ongeveer een vierde van de vrouwen die zich aanbiedt op de prenatale raadpleging kampt met overgewicht en/of obesitas. Deze gewichtsproblemen hebben duidelijke gezondheidsgevolgen op lange termijn, zoals diabetes, verhoogde bloeddruk, hart- en vaatziekten en sommige kankers. Obesitas bij de moeder tijdens de zwangerschap heeft bovendien consequenties op de gezondheid van de baby. De kans op een hoog geboortegewicht stijgt. Vele van deze kinderen hebben ook op latere leeftijd te kampen met gewichtsproblemen. Obesitas is duidelijk te wijten aan een ongezonde levensstijl met een ongezonde voeding en te weinig fysieke activiteit. Een aanpassing van de levensstijl tijdens de zwangerschap, of nog beter, vóór de zwangerschap, is erg belangrijk. Uit een enquête binnen de zwangere populatie van UZ Leuven bleek dat de helft van de zwangere vrouwen het internet als meest geraadpleegde bron gebruikt om informatie over voeding tijdens de zwangerschap op te zoeken. Uit de enquête bleek ook dat slechts 28 procent van de zwangere vrouwen richtlijnen rond gewichtstoename tijdens de zwangerschap kregen. Kreeg de zwangere vrouw toch een advies omtrent haar gewichtstoename, dan was dit advies zelden aangepast aan haar persoonlijk gewicht van vóór de zwangerschap. Deze nieuwe website moet daarom een betrouwbaar hulpmiddel worden voor de zwangere en haar gynaecoloog, vroedvrouw en huisarts.

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Inside the Womb

Revolutionary ultrasound imaging techniques allow this two-hour National Geographic documentary to enter the wondrous world of a human fetus -- inside the womb. You'll follow the incredible journey of a growing embryo from its inception as a single-celled organism to the beginning of brain activity to the first heartbeat. Soon the baby's senses start developing, leading to a grand finale that's a real eye opener.

Canada bestudeerd het effect van chemicaliën op baby's genitaliën

Research gaat vaststellen of de genitaliën in Canadese baby's worden veranderd door hun moeders blootstelling aan bisphenol A of phthalaten. Het onderzoek gaat het verschil meten tussen het begin van de baby's genitaliën en de anus. Een afstand die gemiddeld groter is bij jongens dan bij meisjes. Als de afstand kleiner wordt betekend dat de jongens steeds minder mannelijk geboren worden. En waarschijnlijk kleineren penissen en testikels hebben. Opmerking: Voor een studie begint moet je eerst een redelijk vermoeden hebben, anders begin je er niet aan.

Babies born to women with anxiety or depression are more likely to sleep poorly

A study in the April 1 issue of the journal SLEEP suggests that babies are more likely to have night wakings at both 6 months and 12 months of age if they are born to women who suffered from anxiety or depression prior to the pregnancy.Results indicate that preconceptional psychological distress – anxiety or depression - was a strong predictor of infant night waking, independent of the effects of postnatal depression, bedroom sharing and other confounding factors. Significant psychological distress prior to conception was associated with a 23-percent increased risk of infant night wakings at 6 months of age and a 22-percent increased risk at 12 months of age. According to the authors, frequent, disruptive night wakings in the latter period of the first year of life are clinically relevant because they predict sleep problems at three years of age, which in turn are associated with behavioral problems. During early childhood development, poor sleep quality also may affect learning abilities. Infant night wakings also disrupt a mother's sleep, which predicts maternal mood, stress and fatigue. The study involved 874 women between 20 and 34 years of age in the city of Southampton, U.K. Before becoming pregnant the women completed the General Health Questionnaire, a 12-question screening instrument that detects depression and anxiety disorders. Twenty-nine percent of the women were classified as having significant psychological distress. When their baby was 6 months and 12 months of age, the women reported how often their child had awakened on average between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. each night during the last two weeks. The percentage of children who woke at least once each night was higher among women with psychological distress prior to the pregnancy, both at 6 months of age (52 percent vs. 43 percent) and 12 months of age (46 percent vs. 36 percent). According to the authors, untreated infant sleep problems can become chronic, with implications for the mental health and well-being of both the child and the mother. The difficulties of mothers who are already vulnerable to anxiety and depression will be exacerbated if they also are deprived of sleep. The authors conclude that recognizing and treating psychological distress before, during and after pregnancy may promote improved infant sleep.

Snoring pregnant women 'at increased gestational diabete risk'

Pregnant women who snore are more likely to develop gestational diabetes - a condition than can cause health problems for the mother and baby.

Breast-Feeding Moms Who Consume Too Much Fructose Sweetener More Likely to Have Obese Kids

Mothers who drink an excessive amount of fructose-sweetened beverages during pregnancy or breast-feeding may be likelier to have children—at least sons—who are more prone to becoming overweight and developing type 2 diabetes, authors of a new study reported. The results will be presented Thursday at The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Exercise during pregnancy leads to a healthier heart in moms- and babies-to-be

Studies have shown that exercise has a positive effect on mothers-to-be, and no detrimental impact on their developing offspring. A new study finds that not only do women benefit from exercise in pregnancy, their fetuses do too.

Some baby foods worse than junk food: survey

Some baby foods contain as much sugar and saturated fats as chocolate biscuits or cheeseburgers, a British food pressure group said.

Late child-bearing may be genetically linked to longevity

If having children late in life runs in your family, longevity may as well, according to a new analysis drawing from historical data from more than 2 million people. Dr. Ken R. Smith of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and his colleagues found that women who bore children in their 40s and 50s lived longer, and so did their brothers. But their brothers' wives didn't, suggesting that genes, not environment, are likely responsible for the late childbirth-long life connection 15-5-2009 0:01

Manage Morning Sickness Naturally

Try adding oils made of natural grapefruit, orange, mandarin or lime to your bathwater. There's an ingredient in citrus that seems to help overcome the feelings of nausea. Pour yourself a cup of ginger tea or purchase an all natural ginger ale. Ginger has been known for centuries for its healing powers and is especially great for an upset stomach.

Omega-3 intake during last months of pregnancy boosts an infant’s cognitive and motor development

A study supervised by Université Laval researchers reveals that omega-3 intake during the last months of pregnancy boosts an infant's sensory, cognitive, and motor development. However, high concentration of omega-3s in mother's milk doesn't seem to have the same positive effect in breast-fed babies, highlighting the importance of prenatal exposure to omega-3 fatty acids.

Calif. may be first to ban chemical in baby items

Responding to growing consumer anxiety, California lawmakers are considering enacting what could be the first statewide restrictions on a chemical found in plastic baby bottles and infant formula cans.

Fatty diet during pregnancy makes new cells in fetal brain that cause early onset obesity

A study in rats shows that exposure to a high-fat diet during pregnancy produces permanent changes in the offspring's brain that lead to overeating and obesity early in life. This surprising finding provides a key step toward understanding mechanisms of fetal programming involving the production of new brain cells that may help explain the increased prevalence of childhood obesity during the last 30 years.

Automobile Restraints Do Not Increase Chance of Fetal Complications Following Accidents

It is well established that seat belts save lives. However, many pregnant women do not wear seat belts, for fear that the belt itself could injure the baby in a car crash. But is this actually the case? Does the seat belt put the baby at risk? A group of researchers led by Dr. Stacie Zelman from Wake Forest University examined a national database of over two million injured patients, and found over 2,400 pregnant women injured in car crashes. Women wearing a seat belt, having an air bag, or both were significantly less likely to have pregnancy-related complications than women with neither a seat belt nor an air bag. The combination of a seat belt and air bag resulted in the lowest rate of complications. The researchers conclude that pregnant women should use seat belts with confidence that they will help, not hurt, in a crash.

Labour pain comes from the cervix

Childbirth is painful, yet scientists are still somewhat in the dark about what actually causes the pain. A new doctoral thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet now shows where this pain comes from and opens the way to the development of improved methods of pain relief. In her thesis, obstetrician Berith Karlsson Tingåker has examined the source of pain during childbirth and how uterine sensitivity to pain changes during pregnancy. Her results show that labour pains mainly derive from the cervix, where the number of pain-related nerve fibres and receptors is much greater than in the uterus at full-term pregnancy. Her thesis also shows that uterine pain sensitivity differs markedly between pregnant and non-pregnant women. In the latter, the entire uterus is pain-sensitive, while in the former, the pain-sensitive nerve fibres disappear almost completely from the main body of the uterus, but remain in the cervix.

Association between low birth weight, excessive weight gain and heart problems in later life - study suggests inflammation may be the cause

Researchers who have followed 5,840 people from before birth to the age of 31 have found evidence suggesting that small size at birth and excessive weight gain during adolescence and young adulthood may lead to low grade inflammation, which, in turn, is associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease. Previous epidemiological studies have linked environmental factors in early life with the risk of disease in adulthood, and this study identifies a possible causal mechanism. The study, which is published in Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal [1] today (Thursday 10 April), underlines the important role of healthy lifestyles, from the foetal period, through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, in preventing heart problems. The researchers used a protein called C-reactive protein (CRP) as a marker for general inflammation. CRP is secreted from the liver, is present in blood, and slightly elevated levels can indicate a chronic inflammatory state (low grade inflammation, as opposed to acute inflammation).

Babies placed in incubators decrease risk of depression as adults

Babies who receive incubator care after birth are two to three times less likely to suffer depression as adults according to a new study published in the journal Pyschiatry Research. The surprising discovery was made by scientists from the Université de Montréal and Sainte Justine Hospital Research Center in collaboration with researchers from McGill University, the Douglas Hospital Research Centre and the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in the U.K. "In mammals, separation between mother and child after birth has always been considered a major stressor that can cause behavioural problems well into adulthood," says coauthor Richard E. Tremblay a professor of psychology, pediatrics and psychiatry at the Université de Montréal and director of the Research Unit on Children's Psycho-Social Maladjustment at the Sainte Justine Hospital Research Center. "Our hypothesis was that mother-baby separation resulting from incubator care could heighten depression in adolescence or adulthood. Instead, we found that incubator care could decrease the risk of depression two-to-threefold by the age of 21." For this study – the first to examine the impact of incubator care on adult depression – the research team studied a subsample of 1212 children recruited from a longitudinal study launched in 1986. Children were recruited from Quebec kindergartens and facts on birth condition, obstetrical complications and incubator care were obtained through hospital medical records. Participants received psychiatric assessments when they were 15 and 21 years old.

Babies born to native high-altitude mothers have decreased risk of low birth weight

Pregnant women who are indigenous to the Andes Mountains deliver more blood and oxygen to their fetuses at high altitude than do women of European descent. The study helps explain why babies of Andean descent born at high altitude weigh more than European babies born at altitude. The research, published in The American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology found that at high altitude - the uterine artery of Andean women delivered more blood and oxygen to the fetus compared to women of European descent, the babies of Andean women weighed an average of nine ounces more at birth, the greater the mother’s Andean heritage, the greater the uterine artery blood flow, the greater the oxygen delivery to the fetus and the greater the baby’s birth weight These differences between the Andean and European women and their babies did not exist at low altitude. The question of why babies born at high altitude are smaller is not an academic one. Low birthweight is associated with higher rates of illness and mortality. By understanding this physiology, researchers hope to find out how to protect from reductions in fetal growth even in low-oxygen environments.

Newborn weights affected by environmental contaminants

Recent epidemiological studies have revealed an increase in the frequency of genital malformations in male newborns (e.g., un-descended testes) and a decrease in male fertility. The role played by the growing presence in our environment of contaminants that reduce male hormone action could explain this phenomenon. It is known that the birth weight of males is higher than that of females due to the action of male hormones on the male fetus.If the exposure of pregnant women to environmental contaminants that diminish the action of male hormones has increased over the years, one would expect to see a decrease in the sex difference in birth weight. This is exactly what a new study published in the July 2009 issue of Epidemiology shows. Investigators analyzed the Public Health Agency of Canada's database on the birth weights of more than five million children born in Canada between 1981 and 2003. Using statistical methods that control for changes over time of mother's age and parity, the investigators effectively show a sustained decrease in birth weight differences between boys and girls, which supports the hypothesis of growing endocrine disruption related to environmental contaminants. Contaminants found in plastic materials represent lausible candidates, since they are known to diminish the action of male hormones. "Our study underlines the importance of probing the impact of environmental contaminants on the health of mothers and fetuses and on the reproductive potential of future generations," says lead researcher Dr. Guy Van Vliet, a pediatric endocrinologist and investigator at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center and a professor at the Department of Pediatrics of the Université de Montréal.

Mental health linked to stillbirth and newborn deaths

Women with a history of serious mental illness are much more likely to have babies that are stillborn or die within the first month of life, new research reveals. Researchers at the Centre for Women's Mental Health at The University of Manchester studied almost 1.5 million births in Denmark between 1973 and 1998, including 7,021 stillbirths. The risk of stillbirth and newborn deaths from any cause was at least twice as high for mothers admitted with a serious psychiatric illness than for women with no such history. Lead researcher Dr Kathryn Abel, working with Danish colleagues at Arhus University, said: "We found that the chances of stillborn or newborn death from all causes were greater for babies whose mothers had a serious mental-health illness. "The risk of stillbirth for women with schizophrenia was twice as high than healthy mothers, while women with affective disorders were also more than twice as likely to give birth to stillborn babies."

New study identifies risk factors in severity of 'flat head syndrome' in babies

A new study by physician researchers from Hasbro Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston identifies risk factors for the severity of asymmetrical head shapes, known as deformational plagiocephaly (DP), or more commonly as flat head syndrome. The study was published in the March 2009 edition of the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. Since the 1992 campaign by the American Academy of Pediatrics, many parents have been placing babies on their backs to sleep, as it is believed to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). As a result, there has been a 40% reduction in the incidence of SIDS. At the same time, there has been a noted increase in the incidence of DP, affecting as many as one in six infants, which may be connected with the change to the supine sleeping position in children. DP, however, can also occur with prone positioning as well. Many researchers have published reports of risk factors for the development of DP, which include supine positioning, firstborn infants, prematurity, developmental delay and others. While these variables seem to be associated to some extent with the development of DP, the influence of each of those variables on the degree of asymmetry in DP has not been determined to date. With this in mind, physician researchers from Hasbro Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston developed a study to determine the relationship between predisposing factors for DP and the severity of the flattening. The researchers looked at a number of factors in the infants as well as maternal variables associated with pregnancy. Of particular note in their findings is the severity of flattening was not associated with infant sleep position.

Healthy growth in womb tied to higher IQ scores

Babies that have healthy growth before they're born -- leading to higher birth weights, longer birth lengths and large head circumference within the normal range - are likely to have higher IQ scores.

Experts Report Progress in Food Allergy Prevention and Diet Restrictions

Dr. Wood has the following recommendations for children at high risk of allergic diseases - avoidance of peanut and tree nuts in pregnancy and while breast feeding, Supplement breast feeding with a hypoallergenic formula (extensively or partially hydrolyzed), delay solid foods until age six months, delay introduction of milk and egg until age 1 and peanut and tree nuts until age 3, early intervention when signs of food allergy appear (secondary prevention).

Drug therapy for premature infants destroys brain cells in mice

A class of drugs that are used in premature infants to treat chronic lung damage can cause damage in the brain. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the drugs may cause cognitive and motor-control problems even when they are given before birth.

Moderate drinking during pregnancy could cause serious childhood disorders

Moderate drinking during pregnancy could be the hidden cause of thousands of serious childhood disorders including autism, Scotland's leading authority on alcohol and health warned last night.

Extreme nausea and vomiting varies among pregnant women from different countries

Mothers born in India and Sri Lanka are three times more likely to suffer from extreme nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (hyperemesis gravidarum) than ethnic Norwegians. This finding comes from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health's study of 900,000 first-time pregnancies registered in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway over a 40-year period. The study is published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.

Alcohol dependence among women is linked to delayed childbearing

Alcohol use during the teen years can not only lead to subsequent alcohol problems, it can also lead to risky sexual behavior and a greater risk of early childbearing. An examination of the relationship between a lifetime history of alcohol dependence (AD) and timing of first childbirth across reproductive development has found that AD in women is associated with delayed reproduction. Results will be published in the November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

Alcohol consumption can cause too much cell death, fetal abnormalities

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. They have good evidence that just a few glasses of wine over an hour in the first few weeks of fetal life, typically before a woman knows she's pregnant, increases cell death. Too few cells are then left to properly form the face and possibly the brain and spinal cord. "It’s well known that when you drink, you get a buzz. But a couple of hours later, that initial impact, at least, is gone," says Dr. Erhard Bieberich, biochemist in the Medical College of Georgia Schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies. "But, your fetus may have experienced irreversible damage."

Fall babies - Born to wheeze?

It is said that timing is everything and that certainly appears to be true for autumn infants. Children who are born four months before the height of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma than children born at any other time of year, according to new research.

Fewer Injuries to Mothers and Newborns During Childbirth but More Could be Prevented

Injuries to mothers during childbirth decreased significantly between 2000 and 2006, according to the latest news and numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The number of mothers who experienced injuries while giving birth vaginally without the use of forceps or other instruments dropped by 30 percent. For mothers giving birth vaginally with the use of instruments and by cesarean section, injuries declined about 20 percent. Despite the declines, nearly 158,000 potentially preventable injuries occurred to mothers and infants during childbirth in U.S. hospitals in 2006.

Three to six months to lose weight gained in pregnancy is normal

Once the baby arrives, many new mothers want to return to their former weight quickly – just like film stars who appear in the media in bikinis just weeks after giving birth. But according to the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), women should not put themselves under too much pressure straight away. In information published today on Informed Health Online, the Institute also warns that overdoing early weight loss attempts could have a negative impact on breastfeeding.

Chocolate may be boon to pregnant women, Yale study shows

Women who eat chocolate are at decreased risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy, a Yale study suggests.

Premature children four times more likely to have behavioural disorders

A team led by the University’s Department of Psychology and Warwick Medical School examined the behaviour of 200 six-year-old children who had been born below 26 weeks gestation, known as ‘extremely pre-term’. The researchers attempted to contact the family of every child born in the UK and Ireland at 25 weeks or earlier, between March and December 1995. From a possible 308 children who survived the first 6 years, the parents of 241 responded to the study. The team compared the behaviour of these extremely pre-term children with a control group of a similar age. They used reports filed by parents and teachers to test whether extremely pre-term children had more pervasive behaviour problems (described by both teachers and parents). The researchers found 30.6% of pre-term children were hyperactive, compared to 8.8% in the full-term group, and 33.3% of pre-term children displayed attention problems, compared to 6.8%.

Caesarean babies more likely to develop diabetes

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. The team, led by Dr Chris Cardwell and Dr Chris Patterson, examined 20 published studies from 16 countries including around 10,000 children with Type 1 diabetes and over a million control children. They found a 20 per cent increase in the risk of children born by Caesarean section developing the disease. The increase could not be explained by factors such as birth weight, the age of the mother, order of birth, gestational diabetes and whether the baby was breast-fed or not, all factors associated with childhood diabetes in previous studies. Dr Cardwell, from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, said: "This study revealed a consistent 20 per cent increase in the risk of Type 1 diabetes. It is important to stress that the reason for this is still not understood. It is possible that children born by Caesarean section differ from other children with respect to some unknown characteristic which consequently increases their risk of diabetes, but it is also possible that Caesarean section itself is responsible.

Virus Weaves Itself into the DNA Transferred from Parents to Babies

Parents expect to pass on their eye or hair color, their knobby knees or their big feet to their children through their genes. But they don’t expect to pass on viruses through those same genes. New research from the University of Rochester Medical Center 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. This unique mode of congenital infection may be occurring in as many as 1 of every 116 newborns, and the long-term consequences for a child’s development and immune system are unknown. “At this point, we know very little about the implications of this type of infection, but the section of the chromosome into which the virus appears to integrate is important to the maintenance of normal immune function,” said Caroline Breese Hall, M.D., professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and author of the study which publishes in Pediatrics this month. “With further study, we hope to discern whether this type of infection affects children differently than children infected after birth.” HHV-6 causes roseola, an infection that is nearly universal by 3 years of age. The typical roseola syndrome produces several days and up to a week of a high fever and may have variable other symptoms including mild respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms. With roseola, just as the fever breaks, the child may briefly develop a rash. A congenital infection of HHV-6 – or one that is present at birth – produces high levels of virus in the body but scientists (doctors) do not know whether it produces any developmental or immune system problems.

Low maternal cholesterol tied to premature birth

Pregnant women who have very low cholesterol may face a greater risk of delivering their babies prematurely than women with more moderate cholesterol levels, a team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute reported today. In a study published in the October Pediatrics, the researchers found that low maternal cholesterol levels also may lead to adverse birth outcomes, including premature birth and low birth weight.

National Study Shows Magnesium Sulfate Reduces Risk of Cerebral Palsy in Premature Births

Results of a 10-year study published in the August 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that magnesium sulfate administered to women delivering before 32 weeks of gestation reduced the risk of cerebral palsy by 50 percent. The Beneficial Effects of Antenatal Magnesium Sulfate (BEAM) trial was conducted in 18 centers in the U.S., including Northwestern Memorial, and is the first prenatal intervention ever found to reduce the instance of cerebral palsy related to premature birth. Magnesium sulfate is traditionally used in obstetrics to stop premature labor and prevent seizures in women with hypertension. The BEAM trial studied the link between magnesium sulfate and cerebral palsy by identifying 2,240 women who were likely to give birth more than two months premature. Half of the women intravenously received magnesium sulfate while the other half received a placebo. Children born to the women in the study were examined at two-years-old, and results found that the children in the magnesium group were 50 percent less likely to develop cerebral palsy compared to children in the placebo group. “This is a substantial breakthrough in maternal fetal medicine that could positively impact the health of thousands of babies,” said Alan Peaceman, MD, chair of the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and an investigator in the study. “After 10 years of studying the effects of magnesium sulfate, it has proven to be a successful method of reducing the outcome of cerebral palsy in premature births.”

Stop eating for two - obese moms-to-be should gain less weight than currently recommended

A new St. Louis University study suggests current guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy should be revised.

New Data Show Drinking While Pregnant Still a Problem

The number of women who drink alcohol while pregnant is not decreasing, according to a 15 year-study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 1 in 8 women drank any amount of alcohol while pregnant, the study says. The drinking patterns persisted despite repeated warnings from surgeons general about the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant. The surgeons general have told pregnant women, and women who may become pregnant to abstain from alcohol consumption in order to eliminate the chance of giving birth to a baby with alcohol related birth defects.The CDC analysis, as well as a study also published today by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows that far too many women use substances (especially alcohol) during their pregnancies. The CDC study, “Alcohol Use Among Women of Childbearing Age, United States, 1991-2005,” is in the CDC?s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.The CDC study also found that 1 of every 50 pregnant women engaged in binge drinking each year during the 15 years. “Exposure to alcohol can cause lifelong physical and mental disabilities that are preventable by avoiding alcoholic drinks while pregnant,” said Edwin Trevathan, director of the CDC?s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. “All women should know that there is no known safe amount of alcohol to drink or safe time to drink it during pregnancy. We encourage all women to pay attention to the surgeon general warnings.”The study found that pregnant women most likely to report any alcohol use were 35-44 years of age (17.7 percent), college graduates (14.4 percent), employed (13.7 percent), and unmarried (13.4 percent). Pregnant women who binge drink were more likely to be employed and unmarried than were pregnant women who did not binge drink. This study did not examine the reasons why women are still drinking while pregnant.

Preterm Birth Rate Drops

The nation’s preterm birth rate declined slightly in 2007 – a finding that the March of Dimes hopes will prove to be the start of a new trend in improved maternal and infant health. The preterm birth rate declined for babies born at 34-36 weeks gestation (late preterm) and among babies born to African American and white women. “We’re encouraged by this drop in the preterm birth rate, and hope that the emphasis we’ve put on the problem of late preterm birth is beginning to make a difference,” said Jennifer L. Howse, Ph.D., president of the March of Dimes. “Through our Prematurity Campaign, we can build on this success and begin to give more babies a healthy start in life.” The rate of preterm births (less than 37 weeks gestation) dropped to 12.7 percent from 12.8 percent in 2006, a small but statistically significant decrease, according to preliminary birth data for 2007 released by the National Center for Health Statistics.

New treatment could reduce chronic lung disease in premature babies

A less traumatic way of delivering surfactant, a lung lubricant that premature babies need to help them breathe, could reduce the incidence of respiratory problems they'll have later, Medical College of Georgia physicians say.

Vaginal progesterone gel may improve infant outcomes and reduce the rate of preterm birth in women with a short cervix in mid-pregnan

A study just published in the October issue of The White Journal supports findings from last month's New England Journal of Medicine that progesterone reduces preterm birth among women with a short cervix. This is the first and only preterm birth prevention study associated with significant improvements in clinical measures of infant outcome -- with a reduction in newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care units, as well as shorter stays in the NICU for babies whose mothers were treated with vaginal progesterone gel.

ISU study finds link between a mother's stress and her child becoming overweight

A mother's stress may contribute to her young children being overweight in low income households with sufficient food, according to a new Iowa State University study that is published in the September issue of Pediatrics, the professional journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study analyzed data collected from 841 children in 425 households in the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Growth in German children

German children are taller than 30 years ago, but the increase in height observed during the last century has become slower. In the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106(23): 377-82), Bettina Gohlke and Joachim Woelfle of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Bonn summarize the current state of knowledge of changes in height and of the physical development of young people.7- to 10-year olds are 1 to 1.5 cm taller than in the 1970s, whereas length at birth only slightly increased between 1984 and 1997, by 0.2 cm. This implies that the rate of growth during childhood has increased. This trend is less marked after puberty. There has also been little change in physical maturation. Thus, the age at menarche in young women has remained constant at about 13 years since the early 1960s. The correlation between growth and socioeconomic status has been well established. For this reason, body growth is accepted as an important indicator of the socioeconomic conditions of a society. However, the biological mechanism through which this acts is still unknown.

Infections linked to cot deaths

The Archives of Disease in Childhood study found samples from babies who had died for no apparent reason often carried potentially-harmful bacteria.

Researchers Test First Universal Newborn Screening for Fragile X Syndrome

ush University Medical Center will be launching the first systematic newborn screening program for the genetic mutation that results in fragile X syndrome – the single most common known genetic cause of autism and mental retardation. For the first time, a blood test has been developed that can identify the fragile X mutation using small drops of blood collected from infants after birth. The test developed by researchers at UC Davis in Sacramento Calif., and validated by researchers at Rush, is part of a $2.3 million study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). All newborns at Rush and UC Davis will undergo the screening with the goal of screening as many as 30,000 infants during the next five years. The NIH-funded study will lay the groundwork for universal newborn screening of all infants in the U.S. for early detection of the fragile X mutation.“The study will allow families to learn in early infancy whether their child will have the disorder,” said Dr. Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, one of the world’s leading experts on fragile X and related conditions, pediatric neurologist at Rush and study co-investigator. “This new test could potentially pave the way for early identification and intervention for all children diagnosed with fragile X.”

Australian team reveals world-first discovery in a 'floppy baby' syndrome

In a world first, West Australian scientists have cured mice of a devastating muscle disease that causes a Floppy Baby Syndrome – a breakthrough that could ultimately help thousands of families across the globe. The research, published online today in the Journal of Cell Biology, reveals how a team at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) has restored muscle function in mice with one type of Floppy Baby Syndrome – a congenital myopathy disorder that causes babies to be born without the ability to properly use their muscles. The currently incurable genetic diseases render most of the affected children severely paralysed and take the lives of the majority of these children before the age of one. Dr Kristen Nowak, lead author on the publication, said the team was extremely encouraged that it had been able to cure a group of mice born with the condition. "The mice with Floppy Baby Syndrome were only expected to live for about nine days, but we managed to cure them so they were born with normal muscle function, allowing them to live naturally and very actively into old age," she said. "This is an important step towards one day hopefully being able to better the lives of human patients – mice who were cured of the disease lived more than two years, which is very old age for a mouse." Dr Nowak said the team was able to cure the mice with the recessive form of the genetic condition by replacing missing skeletal muscle actin – a protein integral in allowing muscles to contract – with similar actin found in the heart. "Earlier in our search to tackle these diseases, we discovered a number of children who, despite having no skeletal muscle actin in their skeletal muscle due to their genetic mutation, were not totally paralysed at birth," she said. "On closer inspection, we found it was because heart actin – another form of the protein – was abnormally "switched on" in their skeletal muscles. "We had already begun investigating whether we could use heart actin to treat skeletal muscle actin disease, so that discovery spurred us on, and we've now proved it can be done – we can use heart actin to overcome the absence of skeletal muscle actin in mice." Heart actin is found in cardiac muscle and, during foetal development, it also works in skeletal muscles in the body, but by birth, heart actin has almost completely disappeared within skeletal muscle. Using genetic techniques, the WAIMR research team has reactivated the heart actin after birth in place of skeletal muscle actin, reversing the effects of the congenital myopathy.Head of the WAIMR research group Professor Nigel Laing said the team's next step was to apply their findings to human patients. "We are now screening more than a thousand already-approved medications looking for one that might increase heart actin in skeletal muscles, which could potentially offer a treatment for many patients," he said. "Current therapies only target the effects of these conditions, not the condition itself – we hope our approach could lead to a much greater improvement for a range of muscle diseases." This discovery is the latest for the team which has been investigating debilitating muscle diseases for more than 20 years.

Mom’s mood, baby’s sleep - What’s the connection?

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 University of Michigan sleep experts who study the issue. They will present data from their study next week at the European Sleep Research Society meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. Babies whose mothers experienced depression any time before they became pregnant, or developed mood problems while they were pregnant, are much more prone to having chaotic sleep patterns in the first half-year of life than babies born to non-depressed moms, the team has found.

'No proof' for filling baby teeth

Filling rotten baby teeth may be an unnecessary trial for children to endure, experts say.

C-section improves survival of preemies

UTMB’s Dr. Michael H. Malloy has published a study on how Cesarean section seems to improve the survival of most infants delivered prematurely (at 22 to 25 weeks of pregnancy, instead of 40 weeks). “Although the choice of cesarean section for the most immature of these infants may offer survival advantages, consideration of the neurodevelopmental risks associated with survival at this early age and consideration of the maternal costs of cesarean section also must be taken into account.”

Acupuncture may hold promise for women with hormone disorder

Getting pregnant with her first child was difficult, but when Rebecca Killmeyer of Charlottesville, Va., experienced a miscarriage during her second pregnancy, she wasn't sure if she would ever have another baby. When she decided to enter a study testing the impact of acupuncture on women with polycystic ovary syndrome at the University of Virginia Health System, she came out with a miracle.

Some neural tube defects in mice linked to enzyme deficiency

Women of childbearing age can reduce the risk of having a child born with a neural tube defect such as spina bifida by eating enough folate or folic acid. However, folate prevents only about 70 percent of these defects. New research using mice at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis confirms the importance of another nutrient, inositol, to protect against the development of neural tube defects. A research team led by Monita Wilson, Ph.D., found neural tube defects in some mouse embryos from female mice genetically modified to have low levels of ITPK1, an enzyme involved in the metabolism of inositol, a compound important for neural development and function. The finding suggests that inositol depletion is linked to these birth defects. The research is published May 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. In humans, neural tube defects usually occur during the first three to four weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant. Certain cells in an embryo form the neural tube, which becomes the foundation of the brain, spinal cord and the bone and tissue surrounding it. A defect forms if the tube does not close properly. The two most common neural tube defects are spina bifida and anencephaly. Spina bifida affects 1,500 to 2,000 babies born in the United States annually, causing paralysis, spine abnormalities, incontinence and other problems. Anencephaly occurs when the head end of the neural tube fails to close, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull and scalp. That condition is fatal. Wilson, research assistant professor of medicine, and her collaborators created genetically modified mice to have low levels of one of the inositol kinases, then took a close look at their embryos during each day of the 21-day gestation period. "Because of the short gestation period, a mouse embryo looks very, very different from day to day," Wilson says. "When we looked at the mutant embryos, between the ninth and 12th days of gestation, we noticed that about 12 percent to 15 percent had spina bifida and exencephaly, similar to anencephaly in humans."

Baby allergy to cow’s milk often missed

Cow’s milk is falsely blamed for a host of symptoms among babies and young children while severe cow’s milk protein allergy is under-diagnosed.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a national coalition of nonprofit health and environmental organizations. Our collective goal is to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the personal care products industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other serious health concerns, and replace them with safer alternatives. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is working with endorsing organizations, responsible businesses and thousands of citizen activists to shift the cosmetics market toward safer products and to advocate for smarter laws that protect our health from toxic chemicals and encourage innovation of safer alternatives.

Smoking during pregnancy can put mothers and babies at risk

Pregnant women who suffer from the high risk condition pre-eclampsia -- which leads to the death of hundreds of babies every year -- are putting the lives of their unborn children at significantly increased risk if they continue to smoke during pregnancy.

Pregnant women who smoke, urged to give up before 15-week 'deadline'

Women who stop smoking before week 15 of pregnancy cut their risk of spontaneous premature birth and having small babies to the same as non-smokers, according to research published on bmj.com today. Women who do not quit by 15 weeks, are three times more likely to give birth prematurely and twice as likely to have small babies compared to women who have stopped smoking, say the researchers. The lead author, Dr Lesley McCowan at the University of Auckland, says that maternity care providers need to emphasise to women the major benefits of giving up smoking before 15 weeks in pregnancy with the goal of becoming smoke free as early in pregnancy as possible. While it is well established that smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, premature birth, small babies, stillbirth and neonatal death, say the authors, no study has yet determined whether stopping smoking in early pregnancy reduces the risks of small babies and premature births. The authors surveyed over 2,500 pregnant women participating in the SCOPE study in Australia and New Zealand at 15 weeks gestation. The participants were divided into three groups: non smoker, stopped smoker and current smoker. The 'stopped smoker' group all gave up before 15 weeks of pregnancy.The results show that there were no differences between the rates of premature birth between stopped smokers and non-smokers, whereas current smokers had much higher risk. Similar results were revealed for expected baby size. Another important finding was that women who stopped smoking were not more stressed than women who continued to smoke.

Premature births linked to physical abuse

Premature birth can have serious effects on the development and growth of children. In many parts of the world, preterm deliveries are increasing in frequency. In a study published in the February 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers from the University of Porto Medical School and the Hospital S. Joao, Porto, Portugal, found that there was a strong link between physical abuse during pregnancy and premature births.

Association between Local Traffic-Generated Air Pollution and Preeclampsia and Preterm Delivery

Exposure to local traffic-generated air pollution during pregnancy increases the risk of preeclampsia and preterm birth in Southern Californian women. Environmental Health Perspectives.

Women more likely than men to reject unattractive babies

Women are more likely than men to reject unattractive-looking babies, according to a study by researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, possibly reflecting an evolutionary-derived need for diverting limited resources towards the nurturing of healthy offspring. The findings also challenge the idea of unconditional maternal love.

Botox for newborns

Botox, is best known as one of the most commonly used molecules to reduce wrinkles. It is also known as one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances. Now, thanks to Dr. Sam Daniel it has become an effective method to save newborns suffering from CHARGE Syndrome from devastating tracheotomies.

Natural Childbirth Linked to Stronger Baby Bonding Than C-Sections

The bonds that tie a mother to her newborn may be stronger in women who deliver naturally than in those who deliver by cesarean section, according to a study published by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the October issue of Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The researchers, led by Yale Child Study Center Assistant Professor James Swain, M.D., recruited two groups of parents from postpartum wards. One group of 12 mothers had cesarean sections and the other delivered naturally (vaginally). All women were interviewed and given brain scans two to three weeks after giving birth. During the brain scans, parents listened to recordings of their own baby’s cry during the discomfort of a diaper change. The researchers then conducted interviews to assess the mothers’ mood as well as their thoughts and parenting. The team found that compared to mothers who delivered by cesarean section, those who delivered vaginally had greater activity in certain brain regions in response to their own baby’s cry as measured by fMRI. These brain areas included cortical regions that regulate emotions and empathy, as well as deeper brain structures that contribute to motivation, and habitual thoughts and behaviors. The responses to their own baby’s cry in some of these regions varied according to mood and anxiety.

Time of conception linked to birth defects in United States

A study published in the April 2009 issue of the medical journal Acta Pædiatrica is the first to report that birth defect rates in the United States were highest for women conceiving in the spring and summer. The researchers also found that this period of increase risk correlated with increased levels of pesticides in surface water across the United States. Studying all 30.1 million births which occurred in the U.S. between 1996 and 2002, the researchers found a strong association between the increased number of birth defects in children of women whose last menstrual period occurred in April, May, June or July and elevated levels of nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides in surface water during the same months. While many of these chemicals, including the herbicide atrazine which is banned in European countries but permitted in the U.S., are suspected to be harmful to the developing embryo, this is the first study to link their increased seasonal concentration in surface water with the peak in birth defects in infants conceived in the same months. The correlation between the month of last menstrual period and higher rates of birth defects was statistically significant for half of the 22 categories of birth defects reported in a Centers for Disease Control database from 1996 to 2002 including spina bifida, cleft lip, clubfoot and Down's syndrome. "Elevated concentrations of pesticides and other agrochemicals in surface water during April through July coincided with significantly higher risk of birth defects in live births conceived by women whose last menstrual period began in the same months. While our study didn't prove a cause and effect link, the fact that birth defects and pesticides in surface water peak during the same four months makes us suspect that the two are related," said Paul Winchester, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine professor of clinical pediatrics, the first author of the study. "Birth defects, which affect about 3 out of 100 newborns in the U.S., are one of the leading causes of infant death. What we are most excited about is that if our suspicions are right and pesticides are contributing to birth defect risk, we can reverse or modify the factors that are causing these lifelong and often very serious medical problems," said Dr. Winchester, a Riley Hospital for Children neonatalogist. Birth defects are known to be associated with risk factors such as alcohol, smoking, diabetes or advanced age. However, the researchers found that even mothers who didn't report these risk factors had higher overall birth defect rates for babies conceived from April to July. The study relies on findings by U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies on the seasonal variations in nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides in the surface water.

Weight at birth tied to heart disease and diabetes risk in adulthood

Lower weight at birth may increase inflammatory processes in adulthood, which are associated with chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Both the fetal and infancy periods are sensitive, critical stages of growth and development. Studies have previously suggested babies with lower weight at birth are at a higher risk for developing chronic diseases but until now, there has been little understanding to explain why. This study suggests an association between lower weight at birth and inflammation in adulthood may provide that explanation. Inflammation is a normal physiologic response of the body, and serves as a host defense which provides protective response to infection or tissue injury. If the source of infection or injury is not repressed, low-grade inflammation can persist and may promote the development of heart disease or diabetes. Earlier studies have found that babies born small for gestational age have weak immune systems, but at six years old have more white blood cells than babies born at a normal weight. White blood cells are cells of the immune system that defend the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials. These findings suggest that age might amplify the association between early growth and inflammatory processes. In this study, researchers followed 5,619 children born in 1966 and followed them up until they reached adulthood. As compared to children with 'normal' weight in the first year of life, researchers observed that babies born relatively smaller and gained the least weight during infancy had a higher number of white blood cells, an indicator of inflammation, in adulthood.

Herpes virus link to complications in pregnancy

Researchers at Adelaide's Women's & Children's Hospital and the University of Adelaide, Australia, have made a world-first discovery that links viral infection with high blood pressure during pregnancy and preterm birth.

Balancing hormones may help prevent preterm births

The relationship between two different types of estrogen and a hormone produced in the placenta may serve as the mechanism for signaling labor, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). This finding may help doctors intervene and prevent preterm birth much more effectively. "The trigger for the onset of labor in women has been a puzzle for a long time," says Dr. Roger Smith, MD, PhD, of John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, Australia and lead author of the study. "Our findings show we may have an answer, and furthermore may be able to delay or advance labor." Humans have two types of estrogen called estradiol (E2) and estriol (E3). When E2 and E3 are in roughly equal amounts there is no drive to labor, but the opposite holds true once one becomes in greater excess than the other. This study evaluated the ratio of E3 to E2 in 500 pregnant women and found that it went up rapidly as labor approached indicating that E3 could stimulate the onset of labor. Dr. Smith and his colleagues then sought to understand what was causing the increase in E3 and they believe they found an answer. In a previous study they showed that a hormone in the placenta, called corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), rises rapidly through pregnancy, peaking at the time of labor. CRH levels rise earlier in women who deliver prematurely and later in women who deliver late, forming a biological clock that regulates the length of pregnancy. Researchers also showed that CRH can act on the adrenal glands of the fetus to stimulate the production of a steroid hormone which the placenta uses to make E3. This study showed a strong relationship between CRH levels in the mother's blood in the weeks before birth and the levels of E3 supporting the view that CRH increases E3. "CRH may be the catalyst for the onset of labor, by driving steroid hormone production in the fetus, which then leads to an increase in E3 so that it exceeds E2," said Dr. Smith. "If this progression is correct, it may explain why women with a baby who dies in utero can still go into labor. In this scenario, levels of E3 would drop making E2 more dominant and triggering the onset of labor."

The Hidden Health Threats in Baby Food

baby foods that are made for babies and toddlers can contain as much as 29 percent of sugar and also contain dangerous trans fats (which have been linked to heart disease).

Chemicals in shower curtains and children's toys linked to underweight babies

Gender-bending chemicals in shower curtains, vinyl flooring and children's toys could increase the risk of having a baby with a low birth weight, scientists say.

More preemies born in neighborhoods with heavy pollution from cars, trucks

Women exposed to air pollution from freeways and congested roads are much more likely to give birth to premature babies and suffer from preeclampsia, according to a study by California scientists published Wednesday. The findings, based on births in the Long Beach/Orange County region, add to the growing evidence that car and truck exhaust can jeopardize the health of babies while they are in the womb.

Heavy exercise miscarriage link

Strenuous exercise early in pregnancy could triple the risk of miscarriage, according to Danish researchers.

Level of oxytocin in pregnant women predicts mother-child bond

In animals, oxytocin, dubbed 'the hormone of love and bonding,' is critically important for the development of parenting, is elicited during sexual intercourse, and is involved in maintaining close relationships. These findings implicate oxytocin in the bonding process, but little research has been done on this relationship in humans. Ruth Feldman conducted the first study to demonstrate the links between oxytocin and bonding in human mothers.

UNC study - parenting can override effect of genes in how babies respond to stress

Now, it appears how infants respond to stress is linked to if they have a particular form of a certain gene, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Just as significantly, researchers say they have also found that good parenting – as early as within the first year of a child’s life – can counter the effect the gene has in babies who initially do not respond well to stressful situations. “Infancy is an important time for developing behavioral and biological processes,” said the study’s lead author, Cathi Propper, Ph.D., research scientist at UNC’s Center for Developmental Science. “Although these processes will continue to change over time, parenting can have important positive effects even when children have inherited a genetic vulnerability to problematic behaviors.”

Pregnancy and tobacco a 'smoking gun' for baby

Monash University researchers have shown that babies born to a mother who smokes are more likely to be slower to wake or respond to stimulation – and this may explain their increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Scientific director of the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research Associate Professor Rosemary Horne and PhD student Heidi Richardson compared babies of mothers who smoked both during the pregnancy and after the baby was born, with babies who lived in a smoke-free environment.Professor Horne said the study suggested that maternal smoking can impair a baby's ability to respond to external stimuli, which may explain their increased risk of SIDS. "Those babies whose mothers smoked did not have as many arousals overall and the progression of the arousal response through the brain was also impaired. Mothers who smoked while pregnant and continued to smoke afterward significantly increased their baby's chances of succumbing to SIDS," Professor Horne said.Although the exact cause of SIDS is unknown, research suggests that an impairment of the arousal process from sleep in response to a life-threatening situation is involved. Autopsies of SIDS victims have revealed brainstem abnormalities in key areas that are required for arousal and cardio respiratory control. The study involved 12 healthy, full-term infants born to mothers who smoked an average of 15 cigarettes per day. Their arousal responses during daytime sleep were monitored and compared with that of healthy infants who were born to non-smoking mothers. The study was performed on each child on three occasions: at two to four weeks, two to three months and five to six months. Arousals were induced without compromising the infants' natural sleep cycles by delivering a pulsatile air-jet for five seconds at the infants' nostrils through a hand-held cannula.

Folic Acid Supplementation and Spontaneous Preterm Birth

Does Bukowski and colleagues' study provide additional impetus for an increase in the recommended dose of folic acid [19]? No, that would be premature in the absence of intervention studies to substantiate folic acid reducing very preterm birth. This is particularly important given the experience with cardiovascular disease, where epidemiological evidence suggested protective effects of folic acid supplementation that were not borne out in subsequent randomized trials [21]. In the interim, super-supplementation can be justified entirely on the basis that it would double the number of NTDs prevented.

Earlier depressive mood linked with preterm birth

Both black and white women with symptoms of depressive mood prior to becoming pregnant have increased risk for preterm birth; but black women have twice the risk as white women, researchers report in the Journal of Women's Health.

Music may improve feeding, reduce pain in premature babies

As long as there have been babies, adults have crooned lullabies to soothe them. But research suggests music might also help premature infants learn to suckle better and reduce their pain. If confirmed, this would be a simple, low-cost way to help these tiny babies feed on their own faster and move them out of neonatal units sooner, says Dr. Manoj Kumar, an assistant clinical professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's Department of Pediatrics. "If you can get them to feed earlier then you can save health-care resources," Kumar says. Music also appears to reduce infants' pain during circumcision and some medical procedures, he says. Music is increasingly being played in neonatal units on an informal basis because parents and caregivers have a perception that it's beneficial for the infants. Kumar, a clinical epidemiologist who also has training in health economics – and several of his colleagues associated with the Alberta Research Centre for Child Health Evidence (ARCHE) in the Pediatrics Department – decided to conduct a rigorous, systematic review of medical literature to see what research has shown. The results of their review are being published online ahead of print on May 28, 2009, in the London-based journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, Fetal and Neonatal Edition. Of 180 studies the U of A team examined, nine randomly controlled trials published between 1989 and 2006 met the review criteria and were included. These nine studies were all so different that the review team says it was not possible to reach any definitive conclusion. But the team did find much "preliminary evidence that music may have beneficial effects in terms of physiological parameters, behavioural states and pain reduction during painful medical procedures.""Music may also improve oral feeding among premature infants," the U of A authors say.

Scientists find predisposition to bronchiolitis in some babies

Scientists have found that a large proportion of infants who suffer from bronchiolitis have an inherent predisposition to the disease.

Some moms quit cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol during pregnancy, but dads don't

Despite public health campaigns, a surprising number of women continue to use substances such as tobacco, marijuana and alcohol during pregnancy and their usage rebounds to pre-pregnancy levels within two years of having a baby, according to a new University of Washington study. Men's patterns of substance use during their partners' pregnancies were even bleaker. Men typically are not targeted by these campaigns, and their levels of binge drinking, daily smoking and marijuana use remained fairly stable before, during and after pregnancy, the study showed. This is important, according to the study's lead authors Jennifer Bailey and Karl Hill, because men's substance use may make it harder for women to stop using while they're pregnant and may make it more likely that mothers will resume smoking or drinking after their child is born. Bailey and Hill are affiliated with the Social Development Research Group in the UW's School of Social Work. "The months after childbirth are critical for intervening with mothers," said Bailey, who is a UW research scientist. "For example, many already have done the hard work of quitting smoking and haven't smoked a cigarette in six months or more. We should support that effort so that they can continue as nonsmokers. However, we know if dad is smoking or drinking it is more likely that mom will resume smoking or drinking."

Baby boys are more likely to die than baby girls

Male infants in developed nations are more likely to die than female infants, a fact that is partially responsible for men's shorter lifespans, reveals a new study by researchers from University of Pennsylvania and University of Southern California.

New, less invasive genetic test greatly improves pregnancy rates in older women with poor prognosis

A new test examining chromosomes in human eggs a few hours after fertilisation can identify those that are capable of forming a healthy baby, a researcher told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday 29 June). Dr. Elpida Fragouli, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, UK, and Reprogenetics UK, said that her team's work had already enabled seven ongoing pregnancies in a group of older women with a history of multiple failed IVF attempts. "Out of 35 patients who had embryo transfers after the test, we achieved a pregnancy rate of 20%, which is exceptional considering the extremely poor prognosis of the women involved." she said. "This represents a doubling of the usual pregnancy rate for women who fall into this category, which is otherwise, at best, under 10% and, at worst, zero. To date, we have two live births from this group, and all the other women who became pregnant have maintained their pregnancies. The study is continuing, and we believe that we will achieve more pregnancies with the help of this technology in the future." The scientists used the Comparative Genomic Hybridisation (CGH) technique to count the chromosomes in each egg. Unlike conventional screening strategies, using the fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) method, which allows less than half of the chromosomes of an embryonic cell to be examined, CGH enables the evaluation of the entire chromosome complement. CGH was used to examine the fertilised eggs by looking at polar bodies, tiny cells that are a by-product of egg development. The chromosomes of polar bodies provide an indication of whether the corresponding egg is normal or abnormal; if the polar bodies have the wrong number of chromosomes, so does the egg. Looking at polar bodies is a less invasive way of obtaining information about the chromosome content of an egg and its resulting embryo than other alternatives, such as day-three biopsy, which take place during conventional screening strategies involving the use of the FISH technique. The removal of the polar bodies does not adversely affect the subsequent development of the embryo. Additionally, the results obtained after CGH analysis of polar bodies are not affected by the presence of chromosomal mosaicism (the presence of two populations of cells with different genotypes) and therefore may be more accurate than conventional methods based upon screening of cells removed from embryos.

Dangerous Psych Drugs and Pregnancy - help Stop the Mothers Act

The Senate is about to approve legislation Mothers Act – S.1375 (http://www.naturalnews.com/022853.html) which mandates the indoctrination of pregnant and nursing mothers into the use of extremely dangerous psychiatric medication. We already know this class of medication poses serious health risks to both mother and baby. Consequences to the baby are now proven to cause nerve-related changes that can adversely affect health for a lifetime.

Debate on administration of magnesium sulfate to pregnant women to prevent cerebral palsy in preterm infant

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most prevalent chronic childhood motor disability with an estimated lifetime cost of nearly $1 million per individual. There is evidence that magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) can reduce the incidence of CP for very early preterm infants. Many thousands of pregnant women and their fetuses are exposed to MgSO4 every year in the United States for a variety of indications, and most obstetricians are comfortable with its use. Yet, there is still some controversy over whether magnesium sulfate is truly protective against CP. In three articles published in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the authors shed some light on the debate. Investigators from the Perinatology Research Branch (Division of Intramural Research), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, of the NIH, Bethesda, and Detroit, and the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials involving 4796 women and 5357 infants. Writing in the article, Dr. Roberto Romero and Dr. Agustin Conde-Agudelo concluded that "Antenatal magnesium sulfate should be considered for use in women at high risk of delivery before 34 weeks of gestation, mainly in those with premature rupture of membranes, labor in active phase, and planned delivery within 24 hours." They found persuasive evidence that administration of magnesium sulfate significantly reduces the risk of cerebral palsy in children at risk. Continuing the debate, in an article summarizing a roundtable discussion at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal–Fetal Medicine, San Diego, CA, January 30, 2009, two researchers from the Division of Maternal–Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University–St. Louis,, and the Division of Maternal–Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California–San Francisco, enumerate the pros and cons of magnesium sulfate use for CP prevention. In a spirited conversation, they each talk about the available trials and observational studies and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Participating in the roundtable, Alison G. Cahill, MD, MSCI, and Aaron B. Caughey, MD, PhD, observe, "Despite well-designed and executed studies, the answer to the question of whether evidence-based medicine supports the use of magnesium for neuroprophylaxis in all preterm pregnancies remains unclear." Dwight J. Rouse, MD, of the Center for Women's Reproductive Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, offers his clinical opinion on the use of MgSO4 to prevent cerebral palsy. He notes that "three large, randomized placebo-controlled trials of antenatal magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) for fetal neuroprotection have recently been conducted and reported. The results of these trials provide strong support for the utilization of MgSO4 to lower the risk of cerebral palsy among the survivors of early preterm birth. In the United States, the use of MgSO4 for fetal neuroprotection has the potential to prevent 1000 cases of handicapping cerebral palsy annually."

New, less invasive genetic test greatly improves pregnancy rates in older women with poor prognosis

A new test examining chromosomes in human eggs a few hours after fertilisation can identify those that are capable of forming a healthy baby, a researcher told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday 29 June). Dr. Elpida Fragouli, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, UK, and Reprogenetics UK, said that her team’s work had already enabled seven ongoing pregnancies in a group of older women with a history of multiple failed IVF attempts. “Out of 35 patients who had embryo transfers after the test, we achieved a pregnancy rate of 20%, which is exceptional considering the extremely poor prognosis of the women involved.” she said. “This represents a doubling of the usual pregnancy rate for women who fall into this category, which is otherwise, at best, under 10% and, at worst, zero. To date, we have two live births from this group, and all the other women who became pregnant have maintained their pregnancies. The study is continuing, and we believe that we will achieve more pregnancies with the help of this technology in the future.” The scientists used the Comparative Genomic Hybridisation (CGH) technique to count the chromosomes in each egg. Unlike conventional screening strategies, using the fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) method, which allows less than half of the chromosomes of an embryonic cell to be examined, CGH enables the evaluation of the entire chromosome complement. CGH was used to examine the fertilised eggs by looking at polar bodies, tiny cells that are a by-product of egg development. The chromosomes of polar bodies provide an indication of whether the corresponding egg is normal or abnormal; if the polar bodies have the wrong number of chromosomes, so does the egg.

Are Doctors Causing Infant Brain Damage by Clamping the Umbilical Cord Prematurely?

Newborn lungs exist in a "compacted state" suitable for the womb. When the infant is born, the placenta and cord pulse for up to 20 minutes, delivering a burst of blood volume to the infant's system. This blood burst is just what is needed for the lungs of the newborn to expand.

Dutch researchers find first evidence that female human embryos adjust the balance of X

Dutch researchers have found the first evidence that a process of inactivating the X chromosome during embryo development and implantation, which was known to occur in mice but unknown in humans, does, in fact, take place in human female embryos prior to implantation in the womb. Ms Ilse van den Berg told the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam today (Monday) that her findings may have implications for the laboratory cultures that embryos are grown in before transfer to a woman’s womb during fertility treatment, as well as for embryo stem cell research. Males and females have two sex chromosomes: X and Y. While females have two X chromosomes and no Y chromosome, males have one of each. As the X chromosome is much larger then the Y chromosome, males and females also differ in their numbers of genes and gene expression. To equalise this difference in gene expression, females need to silence one X chromosome in every cell – a process known as X chromosome inactivation (or XCI).

C-section births cause genetic changes that may increase odds for developing diseases in later life

Swedish researchers have discovered that babies born by Caesarean section experience changes to the DNA pool in their white blood cells, which could be connected to altered stress levels during this method of delivery, according to the July issue of Acta Paediatrica. It is thought that these genetic changes, which differ from normal vaginal deliveries, could explain why people delivered by C-section are more susceptible to immunological diseases such as diabetes and asthma in later life, when those genetic changes combine with environmental triggers. Blood was sampled from the umbilical cords of 37 newborn infants just after delivery and then three to five days after the birth. It was analysed to see the degree of DNA-methylation in the white blood cells - a vital part of the immune system. This showed that the 16 babies born by C-section exhibited higher DNA-methylation rates immediately after delivery than the 21 born by vaginal delivery. Three to five days after birth, DNA-methylation levels had dropped in infants delivered by C-section so that there were no longer significant differences between the two groups. “Delivery by C-section has been associated with increased allergy, diabetes and leukaemia risks” says Professor Mikael Norman, who specialises in paediatrics at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. “Although the underlying cause is unknown, our theory is that altered birth conditions could cause a genetic imprint in the immune cells that could play a role later in life.

Poor nutrition in the womb causes permanent genetic changes in the offspring

The new science of epigenetics explains how genes can be modified by the environment, and a prime result of epigenetic inquiry has just been published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org): You are what your mother did not eat during pregnancy. In the research report, scientists from the University of Utah show that rat fetuses receiving poor nutrition in the womb become genetically primed to be born into an environment lacking proper nutrition. As a result of this genetic adaptation, the rats were likely to grow to smaller sizes than their normal counterparts. At the same time, they were also at higher risk for a host of health problems throughout their lives, such as diabetes, growth retardation, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and neurodevelopmental delays, among others. Although the study involved rats, the genes and cellular mechanisms involved are the same as those in humans. "Our study emphasizes that maternal–fetal health influences multiple healthcare issues across generations," said Robert Lane, professor of pediatric neonatology at the University of Utah, and one of the senior researchers involved in the study. "To reduce adult diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, we need to understand how the maternal–fetal environment influences the health of offspring." The scientists made this discovery through experiments involving two groups of rats. The first group was normal. The second group had the delivery of nutrients from their mothers' placentas restricted in a way that is equivalent to preeclampsia. The rats were examined right after birth and again at 21 days (21 days is essentially a preadolescent rat) to measure the amount of a protein, called IGF-1, that promotes normal development and growth in rats and humans. They found that the lack of nutrients caused the gene responsible for IGF-1 to significantly reduce the amount of IGF-1 produced in the body before and after birth.

Researchers identify how PCBs may alter in utero, neonatal brain development

In three new studies — including one appearing online today in the Public Library of Science - Biology (PLoS - Biology) — UC Davis researchers provide compelling evidence of how low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) alter the way brain cells develop. The findings could explain at last — some 30 years after the toxic chemicals were banned in the United States — the associations between exposure of the developing nervous system to PCBs and behavioral deficits in children. "We've never really understood the mechanism by which PCBs produce neurobehavioral problems in children," said Isaac N. Pessah, professor of molecular biosciences, director of the UC Davis Center for Children's Environmental Health and co-author of all three studies. "With these studies we have now shown — from the whole animal level to the molecular level — how PCBs alter the development and excitability of brain cells. And that could explain why PCBs are associated with higher rates of neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders," said Pessah, who is also a researcher with the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute. Together, the studies — published within one month of each other — make a compelling case for the mechanism behind PCBs' harmful effects on human neurological development.

Scientists Find “Redesigned Hammer” That Forged Evolution of Pregnancy in Mammals

Yale researchers have shown that the origin and evolution of the placenta and uterus in mammals is associated with evolutionary changes in a single regulatory protein, according to a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Yale researchers have shown that the origin and evolution of the placenta and uterus in mammals is associated with evolutionary changes in a single regulatory protein, according to a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Many past studies have shown that genes are regulated and altered by changes within their own structures. This is the first work suggesting that the evolution of transcription factors — separate regulatory proteins — may play an active role in the origin and evolution of structural innovations like the placenta and uterus,” said senior author Gunter Wagner, the Alison Richard Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Yale.

Hairballed bacteria stick to skin, triggering infection in preemies

Skin, the human body's largest organ, is an effective barrier against bacteria. But the extremely delicate skin of a premature baby can be the ultimate breeding ground for organisms triggering certain infectious diseases. A Swedish team of researchers, writing in the journal of Pediatric Research, has discovered that a specific kind of staphylococcus can attach itself to the skin by using its tufted, self-adhesive hairballs and cause infection. The researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden stated that staphylococcus establishes itself on the child's skin and mucous membranes directly after birth. In general, no problems emerge between the bacteria and the host organism. However, troubles can occur for premature babies or sick adults, they said, adding that the bacteria can cause sepsis (blood poisoning). The researchers discovered that the bacteria's hairballs help them stick to the host's cells and that is when the infections kick in. 'Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are major skin commensals in humans. Within the first few hours of life colonisation occurs and, by one day of age, 84% of all healthy neonates have their skin colonised,' the authors wrote in the paper. 'Among the CoNS, particular attention has been focused on Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) since it is the most common species responsible for infection, causing significant morbidity, mortality and incurring healthcare costs worldwide.' Based on the latest data, CoNS are considered as being some of the most significant pathogens that cause late-onset sepsis in infants with very low birth weight (LBW). CoNS are also connected with the origin and development of erythema toxicum, an immunological skin reaction commonly found in otherwise healthy newborns. The team discovered that the human cathelicidin peptide LL37, an antimicrobial substance, is capable of inhibiting bacterial growth and probably contributes to the stability of bacterial flora and curbs their uncontrolled proliferation. 'Here we identify, by negative staining transmission electron microscopy, two different types of pilus-like structures commonly expressed on S. epidermidis isolated from newborn infants,' they wrote. 'We also show that the cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide LL37, constitutively expressed in the skin barrier of the newborn, significantly inhibited growth of S. epidermidis indicating its importance for the ecological stability of the skin microbiota [the microorganisms that typically inhabit a bodily organ or part].'

Chemicals in Shampoos and Toys 'Could Lead to Low Birth Weight'

Chemicals widely used in shampoos, toys, hairspray and cosmetics could harm the growth of unborn babies, a new study suggests.

Pregnant women at risk for unnecessary operations due to misdiagnosis of appendicitis

New research published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons suggests that pregnant women suspected of having appendicitis are often misdiagnosed and undergo unnecessary appendectomies (removal of the appendix) that can result in early delivery or loss of the fetus. The study points to the need to require more accurate diagnosis to avoid unnecessary operations and the potential for fetal loss.

Trans Fat Consumption Linked to Miscarriages

A new study shows that eating trans fat may increase the risk of fetal death during pregnancy. This study discovered that the risk of miscarriage increased 52 percent for women who consumed a diet high in trans fat, about 4.7 percent of their total calories. Women, who ate less trans fast, about 2.2 percent of their total calories, had a 30 percent risk.

Snacking on high GI foods during late pregnancy may lead to the birth of a heavier baby with an increased risk of childhood obesity, says new research

Mothers who snack on high GI (Glycaemic Index) foods like chocolate and white bread during later pregnancy may give birth to heavier babies with a greater risk of childhood obesity, according to new research published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The research by scientists from the UCD Conway Institute at University College Dublin, Ireland, and the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) in Dublin, Ireland, into sheep models of pregnancy discovered that high GI snack diets among ewes during the third trimester of pregnancy resulted in a heavier birth weight and postnatal growth rate of newborn lambs. According to the scientists, the sheep model used in the scientific study is instructive of the relationship between a human mothers’ diet, the birth weight of their child, and the risk of childhood obesity. In previous scientific studies, the sheep model has been shown to share many elements of pregnancy with the human model including metabolic function and nutrient transport. For the past 40 years, sheep models have been used to investigate maternal–fetal interactions in humans because sheep have a body weight of 65 to 85 kg, a 17 day (average) reproductive cycle, and they usually have 1 or 2 lambs per pregnancy with a relatively long gestation period of 147 days. Sheep models are also amenable to reproduction, nutritional and surgical manipulation and can tolerate observations like ultrasound and tissue collections such as blood sampling. “For the first time, in a sheep model, the findings show that ewes fed high glycaemic foods twice daily in addition to their normal meals, during the last trimester of pregnancy, gave birth to heavier lambs with a faster postnatal growth rate,” says Professor Alex Evans, Associate Professor of Animal Physiology at the UCD School of Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Medicine, at University College Dublin, one of the co-authors of the study.

Don't ask, don't tell doesn't work in prenatal care

While obstetrical care providers are doing a good job working with their patients on smoking cessation, they are not doing as well on abuse of other substances that can harm a woman's unborn baby. A new study appearing in the September 2008 issue of the journal Patient Education and Counseling reports that patients don't volunteer information about substance abuse unless specifically queried.During the course of the study, actual conversations between the doctors or midwives and their pregnant patients were audiotaped. Listening to the tapes, the researchers found that prenatal care providers were not comfortable talking with their patients about dealing with drug and alcohol abuse in spite of routinely mentioning health risks of such behavior on the unborn infant."The methodology of this study is important," said Richard Frankel, Ph.D, a co-author of the study. "Studies that simply rely on questionnaires for data may not get to the level of specificity needed to understand the mechanisms by which physicians and patients communicate. We were able to describe in detail the moment by moment communication behaviors involved in the prenatal conversations we studied. That's good news because previous studies have shown that one minute of a doctor's time for tobacco counseling has a measureable effect on attempts to quit smoking." Dr. Frankel is professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, a research scientist with the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. and an investigator at the Roudebush VA Center of Excellence for Implementing Evidence Based Practice.

Stress raises risk of having babies with behavioural problems

MOTHERS who are stressed during pregnancy could be at risk of giving birth to babies with a higher chance of learning difficulties and behavioural problems. Scientists have found stress caused by violent or abusive relationships could have a particularly harmful effect on an unborn child and may have an adverse effect on the development of a baby's brain.

Exercise-Exposed Fetuses Have Improved Breathing Movements In Utero, A Marker For Healthy Development

Exercise has many benefits for adults, teens, and youngsters. It is less clear what benefit, if any, exercise may have during fetal growth during gestation. Now that scientists have determined that, generally speaking, maternal exercise poses no significant risk to a fetus, studies are underway to examine the mother/fetus/exercise/health connection. One important study is now complete. Entitled The Effects of Maternal Exercise on Fetal Breathing Movements, it was conducted by Stephanie Million and Linda E. May, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB), Kansas City, MO; and Kathleen M. Gustafson, University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC), Kansas City, KS. The researchers will discuss their findings at the 122nd Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS; www.the-aps.org/press), which is part of the Experimental Biology 2009 scientific conference. The meeting will be held April 18-22, 2009 in New Orleans.

Differences Among Exercisers And Non-Exercisers During Pregnancy

No one doubts that mothers – especially pregnant mothers – are among the busiest people on earth. And while the benefits of exercise for these women and their developing fetuses are widely known, many expectant mothers do not exercise. A survey examining daily activities of moms-to-be will soon be released as part of a larger study looking at the effect of maternal exercise on fetal development. The results suggest, among other things, that exercising during pregnancy does not require “stealing” time from other activities. The study was conducted by Linda E. May, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB), Kansas City, MO; Alan Glaros, KCUMB, and Kathleen M. Gustafson, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS and is entitled Differences Among Exercisers and Non-Exercisers During Pregnancy.

Effectiveness of Progesterone in Reducing Preterm Births May Be Altered By Genetic Predisposition

New research that may explain why taking progesterone to prevent preterm birth is only effective for some women was unveiled today at the 29th Annual Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) meeting – The Pregnancy Meeting™. The drug, 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (or 17P), a synthetic form of the progesterone hormone naturally produced during pregnancy, has been demonstrated in clinical trials to prevent some recurrent preterm births – but not all. “This study helps strengthen the theory that genetic variation in the human progesterone receptor plays an important role in the effectiveness of 17P,” states Tracy Manuck, M.D., study author and SMFM member. Women who have a spontaneous preterm delivery are at greatly increased risk of preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies. Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant death in the United States and babies who survive face serious lifelong health problems. More than 543,000 babies are born too soon each year and recent federal statistics show that the nation’s preterm birth rate has risen to 12.8 percent -- a 36 percent increase since the early 1980s.

Childbirth drink danger revealed

Women who drink too much water during labour are at greater than normal risk of a potentially dangerous condition, say scientists.

Lower drinking age tied to pregnancy complications

While there have been calls to lower the legal drinking age from 21 in the United States, a new study suggests such a move could result in more unplanned pregnancies and premature births among young women.

Post-term pregnancies risk infant’s life and health, UCSF studies show

Infants born more than one week past their due dates have a higher risk of both impaired health and death, according to two new studies by authors from the University of California’s San Francisco and Berkeley campuses. The studies compared more than 2.5 million normal-weight births from healthy pregnancies of 37 to 42 weeks gestation, the range that is considered to be full-term. Findings appear in the October, 2008 issue of the “American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology” and also can be found online at www.ajog.org.

The Magnitude of Increased Levothyroxine Requirements in Hypothyroid Pregnant Women Depends upon the Etiology of the Hypothyroidism

Conclusions: The etiology of hypothyroidism plays a pivotal role in determining the timing and magnitude of thyroid hormone adjustments during pregnancy. Patients require vigilant monitoring of thyroid function upon confirmation of conception and anticipatory adjustments to LT4 dosing based on the etiology of their hypothyroidism.

Colicky babies have depressed dads

Despite the blame for colicky babies falling on mothers, a new study reveals that the father's emotions and behavior during pregnancy are also important.

Newborn ICUs Seeing More Antibiotic-Resistant Staph Infections

The rate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in U.S. neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) has more than tripled in recent years, reports a study in the July issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. The study highlights the need for redoubled efforts to follow routine infection control steps to prevent MRSA transmission to infants in NICUs, according to Dr. Fernanda C. Lessa and colleagues of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Breakthrough in birth-defect research

Scientists have discovered how to prevent certain craniofacial disorders in what could ultimately lead to at-risk babies being treated in the womb.

Father's depression may affect infant's colic

Excessive crying in infants, otherwise known as colic, has been linked to symptoms of depression in the mother. Now a study conducted in the Netherlands links infant colic to depression in the father as well.

Pregnancy hormone predicts postpartum depression

Women who have higher levels of a hormone produced by the placenta midway through pregnancy appear more likely to develop postpartum depression, a study authored by a UC Irvine researcher finds. The discovery could help identify and treat women at risk for postpartum depression long before the onset of symptoms. Ilona Yim, psychology and social behavior assistant professor, and colleagues found that women whose levels of corticotrophin-releasing hormone started to increase more rapidly around 25 weeks of gestation had a higher incidence of postpartum depression. Normally secreted in very small amounts by the hypothalamus, this hormone regulates the body's response to stress. During pregnancy, large amounts are produced in the placenta and are associated with delivery."The hormone we studied plays an important part in pregnancy and has been linked to depression," Yim said. "Many factors may cause some women's bodies to produce more of this hormone during pregnancy. Evidence suggests that stress early in pregnancy could play a role."

Mutations in the insulin gene can cause neonatal diabetes

Insulin gene mutations can cause permanent neonatal diabetes, a rare form of diabetes that affects very young children. This is the first time that an insulin mutation has been connected to severe early onset diabetes. The researchers describe 10 mutations. These alter the way insulin folds. Misfolded insulin may interfere with cellular processes in ways that kill cells that produce insulin. The finding suggests new approaches to treatment.

Stress in the womb can last a lifetime, say researchers behind new exhibit

Visitors can see how their stress levels could affect the heart rate of their unborn baby and find out why pregnant women should reduce their anxiety, at a new exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.The researchers behind the exhibit, from Imperial College London, hope that it will raise families’ awareness of the importance of reducing levels of stress and anxiety in expectant mothers. They say that reducing stress during pregnancy could help prevent thousands of children from developing emotional and behavioural problems. Visitors to the Exhibition will have the chance to play a game that shows how a mother’s stress can increase the heart rate of her unborn baby. They will also be able to touch a real placenta, encased safely in plastic. The placenta is crucial for fetal development and it usually protects the unborn baby from the stress hormone cortisol. However, when the mother is stressed, the placenta becomes less protective and the mother’s cortisol may have an effect on the fetus.

New test could help catch serious infections in babies

A simple blood test may help detect serious bacterial infections (SBIs) like urinary tract infections and blood stream infections in young infants who come to the emergency department (ED) with fevers that have no clear cause. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, collaborating with investigators at George Washington University, show that a new diagnostic marker called procalcitonin can help identify infants at high risk for SBIs while potentially reducing unnecessary and aggressive testing, medication and hospitalization in low risk infants. The study, published in the October Pediatrics, is the first to examine procalcitonin as a tool for evaluating infant fever in an emergency situation. The researchers used a novel procalcitonin test, recently approved by the FDA, in 234 feverish babies under 3 months of age, of whom 18 percent had definite or possible SBIs confirmed by independent clinical criteria. The results showed that procalcitonin not only detected all cases of SBIs in feverous infants but proved sensitive enough to establish a threshold value that would identify infants at low risk for serious infections. Indeed, its overall performance as a single clinical marker of infection approached that of current strategies that involve a variety of laboratory tests and clinical evaluations.

Aging well starts in womb, as mom's choices affect whole life

by getting good prenatal care, eating nutrient-packed vegetables and avoiding alcohol, tobacco and caffeine — may help her baby long after birth.

SPEEDY babies – a new behavioural syndrome

Children’s speech and language disorders caused by unknown factors are common. The disorders vary in type and manifest themselves differently in different ages. Delayed motor development is widely known to coexist with speech and language disorders. However, hardly any attention has been paid to children in whom delayed speech development is associated with learning to walk unassisted at an early stage. Dr Marja-Leena Haapanen from the Phoniatric Division of the Helsinki University Central Hospital has studied and described these children and observed a recurrent pattern in their behavioural phenotype. The children were examined by a multi-disciplinary research group over an extensive period in time. Usually these children, known as SPEEDY babies, have good language comprehension skills, but their speech is very unclear, although they may start speaking early on and can be quite talkative. In some cases, the speech production is delayed, the child speaks less, and the speech maybe unclear, especially when speaking long sentences. What makes the child’s speech unintelligible are words and sentences that are produced incorrectly, but each time in a different way, in addition to consistent sound distortion. Consistent sound distortions are associated with tongue dysfunction and are manifest in sounds in which the tip of the tongue is used. SPEEDY babies develop motor skills early, and often start walking unassisted at ten months. They are often avid runners, climbers and eager to jump and skip, and all in all, are quite agile and physically active. They are usually in good physical health, and do not typically suffer from respiratory infections, ear infections or allergies. The intellectual skills structure is usually divided so that their vision-based performance is above the average for their age group and better than their linguistic performance.

Smoking in pregnancy cuts blood flow to the fetus

Smoking during pregnancy reduces blood flow to the developing fetus and, in turn, retards growth, new research suggests.

Mom’s Weight During Pregnancy Affects Her Daughter’s Risk of Being Obese

A mother’s weight and the amount she gains during pregnancy both impact her daughter’s risk of obesity decades later, according to a new study by Alison Stuebe, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. “The findings are especially important because of the growing epidemic of obesity in women,” Stuebe says. “If we can help women reach a healthy weight before they start a family, we can make a difference for two generations.” Stuebe analyzed data on mothers’ recalled weights and weight gain for more than 24,000 mother-daughter pairs. The heavier a mother was before her pregnancy, the more likely her daughter was to be obese in later life. For instance, an average-height mother who weighed 150 pounds before pregnancy was twice as likely to have a daughter who was obese at age 18 as a mother who weighed 125 pounds before pregnancy. Weight gain during pregnancy mattered, too – both too little and too much weight gain increased a daughter’s risk of becoming obese, especially if a mother was overweight before she got pregnant. “Women should aim for a healthy weight before they get pregnant, and then gain a moderate amount,” Stuebe said.

Brain Malformations Significantly Associated with Preterm Birth

New research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine provides for the first time a solid scientific answer for the long-standing question of whether there is an association between preterm birth and brain malformations. In a study of more than 1,000 preterm infant autopsies, researchers found that there is a strong association between congenital brain defects and preterm birth, leading investigators to believe that something about the brain malformations may be causing preterm birth and providing a possible study path toward a better understanding of the problem. The study appears in the June issue of Pediatric Research. It is the first to investigate the risk of being born preterm for infants who have a variety of congenital brain defects. “The most important thing about this study is that to-date, it is still unknown why there are so many preterm births. This study suggests that one way to look for the causes of preterm birth is to look at those types of brain malformations that have very strong association with preterm birth, and see if there is some sort of difference between those babies and full-term babies – some sort of soluble factor or an increased amount of something in the preterm babies that is not found in other babies,” said William R. Brown, Ph.D., a research associate professor of radiologic sciences and author/investigator for the study. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and the Pratt Family Foundation, Brown’s research on brain malformations and preterm birth grew out of a study of bleeds in the brains of babies, where researchers found that a large percentage of the babies being studied had small, unrecognized types of brain malformations that warranted further investigation.

MSU professor helps federal government adopt first-ever physical activity guidelines

Moderate physical activity during pregnancy does not contribute to low birth weight, premature birth or miscarriage and may actually reduce the risk of complications, according to a Michigan State University professor who contributed to the U.S. government's first-ever guidelines on physical activity.

Weight determines the future cognitive development of children born very premature

Researchers of the Department of Neuroscience and Health Sciences of the University of Almería and Hospital Torrecárdenas are carrying out an assessment of the physical neuropsychological characteristics of children born before 32 weeks' gestation or whose weight is lower than 1500 grams -very premature-. The main aim of this project, coordinated by Mª Dolores Roldán Tapia, from the UAL, is to accurately define the origin of brain damage, so as to stimulate the affected area early thus causing the adequate cognitive and motric development of the individual. The commonest differences between premature babies and those born after a nine-month pregnancy are mainly related to visoperceptive skills, memory and movement which eventually translate into learning and spatial orientation difficulties. That is why these difficulties that these children have in their cognitive performance and the development of perceptual and executive functions are being studied. A population sample of 35 very premature children is being taken for this project, together with the same number of healthy children, all of them born between 2000 and 2001, with their parents' authorisation. Special attention has been paid to the fact that both the children and their parents have similar educational and social levels, as the stimulation they get in the early stages of their lives has a decisive influence in their later development.

Chemicals in common consumer products may play a role in pre-term births

A new study of expectant mothers suggests that a group of common environmental contaminants called phthalates, which are present in many industrial and consumer products including everyday personal care items, may contribute to the country's alarming rise in premature births. Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health found that women who deliver prematurely have, on average, up to three times the phthalate level in their urine compared to women who carry to term. Professors John Meeker, Rita Loch-Caruso and Howard Hu of the SPH Department of Environmental Health Sciences and collaborators from the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from a larger study directed by Hu, which follows a cohort of Mexican women recruited during pre-natal visits at one of four clinics of the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Mexico City.

Scientific nursing top gives breastfeeding babies a brain workout

Breastfeeding babies could become smarter thanks to a scientifically designed 'clever baby' nursing top revealed by the University of Portsmouth this week.The new nursing top incorporates the latest research in infant cognitive development by using patterns designed to stimulate babies' vision.

Study examines radiation dose estimates for pregnant women undergoing therapeutic ERCP

Pregnant women with gallstone disease may require immediate endoscopic intervention because of potentially life-threatening cholangitis (infection in the bile ducts) or gallstone pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). The radiation exposure in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), which is used to treat these conditions, is a concern because fetal tissues are more susceptible to radiation injury. Researchers from Greece found that the radiation risks associated with ERCP procedures are not trivial and that accurate fetal dose estimation is now available regardless of patient body size, operating parameters, equipment used and gestational stage. The study appears in the April issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is a specialized technique used to study and treat problems of the ducts that drain the liver and pancreas. To reach the ducts, an endoscope is passed through the mouth, beyond the stomach and into the small intestine (duodenum). A thin tube is then inserted through the endoscope into the common bile duct and pancreatic duct connecting the liver and pancreas to the intestine. A contrast material (dye) is injected through the tube outlining those ducts as X-rays are taken. The X-rays can show narrowing or blockages in the ducts that may be due to a cancer, gallstones or other abnormalities. Radiation exposure is of obvious concern as developing fetal tissues are more susceptible to radiation injury. During pregnancy, the most common indication for ERCP is treatment of choledocholithiasis (gallstones in the common bile duct). The occurrence of choledocholithiasis can reach up to 12 percent of the pregnant population and increases with gestational age. Given that symptomatic gallstone disease increases the risk of morbidity and mortality of both the fetus and mother, medical intervention often cannot be postponed pending delivery. Previous case series have demonstrated ERCP to be safe and effective during pregnancy.

Alarming increase in drug affected newborns

A new Australian study has found that the number of newborns suffering serious drug withdrawal symptoms is now more than 40 times higher than in 1980. The research, published in the latest edition of the international journal Pediatrics, also found that these infants were at greater risk of neglect and of being taken into care. The data analysis revealed that of 637195 live births in Western Australia between 1980 and 2005, 906 were diagnosed with Neonatal Withdrawal Syndrome. For every year, there was an average 16.4% increase in children born with the syndrome. Report co?author, Professor Fiona Stanley from Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, said the study identified a range of factors that should assist with the early identification of children at risk. “It is clear that if we are to reduce the number of these children suffering from abuse and neglect, then there is a need to start working with their mothers before these babies are born, and ideally, pre?conception,” Professor Stanley said. “Our data show that the majority of the mothers had already had contact with hospitals for mental health and substance use issues which suggests there could have been numerous opportunities to intervene to prevent unplanned pregnancy and provide intensive support with antenatal care and substance abuse treatment.”

Shaking may cause brain damage and serious long-term effects to infants

A group of interns of the Teaching Maternity Unit of the University College of Health Care of the UGR has carried out a bibliographic review of the shaken baby syndrome. Many of the diagnosed cases which produce internal damage to the infant have been caused by mistreatment or abuse.

Babies 'with no love or affection develop poor social skills'

Babies who do not receive love and affection in their first year are at risk of poor brain development and social skills, a child health expert has warned.

Protect children from environmental health risks

All countries around the globe should exert greater efforts to eliminate environmental risks threatening the health of children, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said. Korea Times, South Korea.

Tufted bacteria cause infection in premature babies

Bacteria that normally reside on the skin of healthy people can cause serious infections in premature babies. A group of researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now found an explanation for why a certain kind of staphylococcus can attach itself to the skin and quickly develop dynamic ecosystems: the bacteria are like tufted, self-adhesive hairballs. Staphylococcus establishes itself on the child's skin and mucous membranes directly after birth. In healthy adults and children, these bacteria normally live in harmony with the host organism. However, in sick adults or premature babies, they can cause blood poisoning. The scientists believe that the hair-like protrusions on the surface of the bacteria that have now been identified serve to adhere the bacteria to the host's cells, whereupon they cause infection. They also found that the antimicrobial substance LL37, which is found on the skin (amongst other places) can inhibit the growth of the bacteria, and probably plays an important part in keeping the bacteria flora stable and inhibiting their uncontrolled proliferation.

Clue to Genetic Cause of Fatal Birth Defect

A novel enzyme may play a major role in anencephaly, offering hope for a genetic test or even therapy for the rare fatal birth defect in which the brain fails to develop, according to a study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. In the U.S., 1,000 to 2,000 children are born with anencephaly each year. Most do not survive more than a day or two. Although anencephaly can sometimes be diagnosed through ultrasound, which picks up the malformation of the head, there is no genetic test, and its cause is unknown. By breeding special "knockout" mice that were missing the gene for the enzyme called HSD17b7, UIC researchers found that such mice died on the tenth day of gestation with the severe lack of brain development that characterizes the human birth defect. The failure of the mice to develop, as well as the extreme nature of the changes in the formation of the animals, was very surprising, said Geula Gibori, UIC distinguished professor of physiology and biophysics and principal investigator of the study. Mice that lack enzymes of similar function are born with subtle changes in their cognitive ability, but they survive. The UIC researchers had previously discovered this novel enzyme and were focused on its role in converting the weak hormone estrogen into the more potent estradiol in the ovaries and its possible role in breast cancer.

International researchers tackle stillbirth taboo

Every year there are more than 3 million stillbirths. Yet despite advances and, at times, information overload in the medical world, stillbirths remain underreported and either are not found in data records or are not recognised in national policymaking, which suggests that stillbirths are a taboo subject. In a BMC-published journal, researchers from around the globe examined the problem, in an attempt to improve knowledge and help put a stop to the problem. Data show that more than 3 million stillbirths occur worldwide, and 98% of those are found in low- to middle-income countries. Intrapartum stillbirths, which are stillbirths that occur during labour, stand at around 1 million and are also usually found in low- and middle-income countries. Experts say stillbirth cases number more than malaria-based child deaths worldwide. Stillbirth cases are 3 to 4 per 1 000 full-term births in western European countries, while the US reports 7 per 1 000 full-term births.

Low birth weight linked to long-term respiratory problems

Infants who weigh less than five and a half pounds at birth often enter the world with a host of medical complications, including respiratory problems. New research shows that these respiratory problems may persist well beyond their infancy and childhood and into adulthood. "We report a previously unrecognized excess risk of hospitalization for respiratory illnesses in young adults with a history of low birth weight," wrote lead researcher Eric C. Walter, M.D., of the University of Washington Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care. "Our findings suggest that not only are [low birth weight] survivors at increased risk for long-term respiratory disorders, but that these disorders are clinically significant and associated with increased health care utilization." The study appears in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The researchers used hospitalization records from the Washington State Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System's discharge database between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2007. They selected as potential cases any person who was 18 years old at the time of hospitalization and who was discharged with a respiratory code listed among the top four diagnoses. They then linked these cases to birth weight data listed on birth certificates where possible. Control subjects were randomly selected from birth certificate data.They found that individuals with very low birth weight (less than 1.5 kg, or 3.3 lbs.) or moderately low birth weight (1.5 to 2.5 kg or 3.3 to 5.5 pounds) had a 83 and 34 percent higher risk of hospitalization for respiratory diagnoses respectively. Those who had a history of very low birth weight had twice the risk of being hospitalized for asthma or respiratory infection and 2.6 times the risk of respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation.

Cesarean section - Local anesthetic reduces need for painkillers post-op

Giving a local anaesthetic during a Caesarean section helps manage pain after the operation and can reduce consumption of painkillers, according to Cochrane Researchers. The researchers recommend local anaesthetics as part of integrated pain management strategies for Caesarean section operations, provided that consideration is given to the cost. "This review is particularly important in light of the growing number of women giving birth by Caesarean section," says lead researcher, Anthony Bamigboye, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. "Improved pain relief allows mothers to bond with their babies and begin breastfeeding more quickly." Caesarean sections account for around a quarter of all births in the US, Canada and the UK. Local anaesthetics can be given, in addition to general or regional anaesthetics, to help manage pain during and after operations. The anaesthetic is either injected to block nerves in the abdominal wall or applied directly to the wound as an anaesthetic solution. The researchers reviewed data from 20 studies that together involved 1,150 women who gave birth by Caesarean section in both developing and developed countries. They found that women treated with local anaesthetic as well as local or regional anaesthesia did not require as much morphine or other opioid drugs for pain relief after their operations. When non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were also given, pain was reduced further. One concern, however, is the additional cost of giving local anaesthetic. "None of the trials in this review addressed the cost implications of increasing use of local anaesthetic," says Bamigboye. "A cost benefit analysis is needed to find out whether increased expenditure on theatre time and local anaesthetic can be offset by reductions in postoperative painkillers."

BUSM researchers find prenatal cocaine exposure may compromise neurocognitive development

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that heavier intrauterine cocaine exposure (IUCE) is associated with mild compromise on selective areas of neurocognitive development during middle childhood. The BUSM study appears in the May issue of Neurotoxicology and Teratology. BUSM researchers evaluated whether the level of IUCE or the interaction between IUCE and contextual variables was related during middle childhood to executive functioning as measured by two neuropsychological assessments. The Stroop Color-Word Test measures verbal inhibitory control while the Rey Osterrieth Organizational score evaluates skills such as planning, organization and perception. BUSM researchers classified subjects as either unexposed, lighter, or heavier IUCE by positive maternal reports and/or biological assay. Examiners who did not know the children's history or group status assessed 143 children at 9 and 11 years of age (74 with IUCE and 69 demographically similar children without IUCE). After controlling for contextual variables including intrauterine exposures to other licit and illicit substances, level of IUCE was not significantly associated with either assessment scores. However, the heavier cocaine-exposed group of children had significantly lower Stroop scores compared to the combined lighter/unexposed group.

Embryology Study Offers Clues to Birth Defects

Gregg Duester, Ph.D., professor of developmental biology at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), along with Xianling Zhao, Ph.D., and colleagues, have clarified the role that retinoic acid plays in limb development. The study showed that retinoic acid controls the development (or budding) of forelimbs, but not hindlimbs, and that retinoic acid is not responsible for patterning (or differentiation of the parts) of limbs. This research corrects longstanding misconceptions about limb development and provides new insights into congenital limb defects. The study was published online in the journal Current Biology on May 21.

Pregnancy and the flu - A link to schizophrenia

When mothers become infected with influenza during their pregnancy, it may increase the risk for schizophrenia in their offspring. Influenza is a very common virus and so there has been substantial concern about this association. A new study in the June 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier suggests that the observed association depends upon a pre-existing vulnerability in the fetus. Specifically, Dr. Lauren Ellman and colleagues determined that fetal exposure to influenza leads to cognitive problems at age 7 among children who later develop a psychotic disorder in adulthood, but fetal exposure to influenza does not lead to cognitive problems among children who do not later develop a psychotic disorder. It is important to note that these results were dependent upon the type of influenza, with this association present only after fetal exposure to influenza B as opposed to influenza A. This research was conducted as part of the Collaborative Perinatal Project, which followed pregnant women and their offspring in the 1950's and 60's, collecting blood throughout pregnancies for later analyses. A series of cognitive assessments were conducted with the children of study participants and then psychotic diagnoses were determined in adulthood. The findings from this study suggest that a genetic and/or an additional environmental factor associated with psychosis likely is necessary for the fetal brain to be vulnerable to the effects of influenza, given that decreases in cognitive performance were only observed in influenza-exposed children who developed a psychotic disorder in adulthood. "The good news is that most fetuses exposed to influenza virus while in the womb will not go on to develop schizophrenia. The bad news is that the prior association between influenza infection and later development of psychotic disorders was supported," comments John Krystal, M.D., the editor of Biological Psychiatry. This finding has the potential to influence efforts to develop prevention, early intervention and treatment strategies, such as taking steps to maintain careful hygiene and, if clinically appropriate, administration of the influenza vaccination to reduce infection among women prior to pregnancy. Dr. Krystal notes, "It also raises an important unanswered question: How does influenza virus affect the vulnerable developing brain and how can we prevent or reverse the consequence of fetal influenza infection in vulnerable individuals before they develop schizophrenia?" More research is needed to elicit answers to these vital issues.

Children of Lesbian Couples Are Doing Well

A study of families in the Netherlands indicates that children raised by lesbian couples “do not differ in well being or child adjustment compared with their counterparts in heterosexual-parent families.” The partners of lesbian biological mothers “are more committed as parents than are heterosexual fathers.”

New study to explore link between mother's diet and risk of heart disease in her child

A pioneering study into the effects of a mother's fat intake during pregnancy on her child's health when he or she grows up is being launched at the University of Southampton. The research will investigate whether the type and amount of fat a mother eats during pregnancy influences the risk of heart disease, including high blood pressure, in her child when he or she reaches adulthood. Although the link between high fat diets and high blood pressure is well known, there has been limited research into the connection between a woman's diet and her child's risk of hypertension. The University of Southampton is leading research into the links between poor diet in mothers and the risk of ill-health in their children. The study, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation, is led by Dr Graham Burdge, Reader in Human Nutrition at the University's School of Medicine, together with Southampton colleagues Drs Karen Lillycrop and Christopher Torrens, Professor Philip Calder and Mark Hanson, British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Science. The award of this prestigious grant is part of a £3.5 million boost for heart research in the UK by the British Heart Foundation. The charity's special grants are made to fund research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, the UK's biggest killer.

Irish-led research team rule out link between specific antibodies and spina bifida

New research, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that a woman's risk of having a child with a neural tube defect (NTD), such as Spina Bifida, is not linked to folic acid related auto-antibodies. The findings refute a well publicised study in 2004, which had indicated a link between the presence of these auto-antibodies in the circulation of mothers who had children with Spina Bifida compared to those who did not. Within an embryo, folate is essential for many developmental processes including the closure of the neural tube to make the spinal column. Folate receptors enable the uptake of the folate into cells and the research in 2004 indicated that folic acid auto-antibodies obstructed this process. The new study conducted by a team in Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, the Health Research Board, the State University of New York and the National Institutes of Health in the US shows that folic acid related auto-antibodies are quite common throughout the Irish population, and that they are no more common in affected mothers than in other groups, including men. The study was much larger, involving 140 mothers of affected children who were recruited through the Irish Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrochephalus and 238 additional Irish participants. 'It was critical to determine whether these antibodies were, or were not, a contributory factor in NTDs that need to be screened for in the mother, because previous and current health policies concentrate on improving maternal status,' says Prof John Scott, Trinity School of Biochemistry and Immunology and a member of the National Committee on Folic Acid Food Fortification. 'We conclude with good confidence that these antibodies are not a factor in NTD risk'. Dr Anne Molloy, School of Medicine, Trinity and lead author says; 'Since intervention trials in the early 1990s it was accepted that extra folate, either as synthetic folic acid supplements or by way of fortification, prevented the occurrence of almost all NTD births by improving maternal folate status. Our own earlier work very much agreed with this showing that even small improvements in status gave a directly proportionate reduction in NTD risk. The other well publicised research in 2004 suggested that a radically different mechanism was at work, namely the ability of a mother to absorb folic acid was at risk if these antibodies were present. In line with our original findings, we have confirmed that this is not the case.'

Fruit and vegetable intake in pregnant women reduces risk of upper respiratory tract infection

Boston University School of Medicine researchers (BUSM) have observed in a study of pregnant women that consumption of at least seven servings per day of fruits and vegetables moderately reduced the risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). The BUSM study appears online in the journal Public Health Nutrition. URTIs include the common cold and sinus infections, which can lead to lower respiratory problems, such as asthma or pneumonia. Even though the majority of URTIs are uncomplicated colds, identifying ways to prevent their occurrence is important because colds are the most common reason for school and work absences. Eating nutritious foods, especially fruits and vegetables, improves immunity but hadn't previously been associated with reducing the risk of URTIs in pregnant women. BUSM researchers studied more than 1,000 pregnant women and found those who ate the most fruits and vegetables were 26 percent less likely to have URTI relative to those who ate the least amount. Neither fruit nor vegetable intake alone was found to be associated with the five-month risk of URTI. The patterns observed for total fruit and vegetable intake and either fruit or vegetable intake alone in relation to the three-month risk of URTI were consistent with those when assessing the five-month risk of URTI. Women in the highest quartile of fruit and vegetable intake had a stronger reduced three-month risk than the five-month risk of URTI. Moreover, there was a significant decreasing linear trend for the three-month risk of URTI with consumption of fruits and vegetables. Pregnant women have been recommended to consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This study showed that intake of higher levels, 6.71 servings per day, was associated with a moderate risk reduction for URTI.

Weight gain between first and second pregnancies associated with increased odds of male second child

A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health and Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, found that mothers who experienced an increase in weight from the beginning of the first pregnancy to the beginning of the second pregnancy may be slightly more likely to give birth to a baby boy during their second pregnancy.

Quitting smoking in pregnancy boosts chances of easygoing child

Giving up smoking during pregnancy may boost the chances of giving birth to an easy going child, indicates research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

If you want more babies, find a man with a deep voice

Men who have lower-pitched voices have more children than do men with high-pitched voices, researchers have found. And their study suggests that for reproductive-minded women, mate selection favors men with low-pitched voices.

Study of babies reveals clues to potential adult diseases

The University of Iowa Children's Hospital has assembled a program that focuses on the connection between early events in life and the development of disease later on. Fairly recently, it has become clear that babies that are born small have earlier onset of cardiovascular disease as adults.

Pre-pregnancy depressed mood may heighten risk for premature birth

Researchers trying to uncover why premature birth is a growing problem in the United States and one that disproportionately affects black women have found that pre-pregnancy depressive mood appears to be a risk factor in preterm birth among both blacks and whites. Black women, however, have nearly two times the odds of having a preterm birth compared to white women, according to Amelia Gavin, a University of Washington assistant professor of social work and lead author of a new study that appears online in the June issue of the Journal of Women's Health. "Preterm births are one of the most significant health disparities in the United States and the overall number of these births increased from 10.6 percent in 2000 to 12.8 percent in 2005," she said. While there appears to be some sort of link between giving birth prematurely and depressed mood, the study found no cause and effect, said Gavin, who studies health disparities. She believes the higher preterm birth rate among blacks may be the result of declining health over time among black women. For this study, premature birth referred to any child born after less than 37 weeks of gestation. Normal gestation ranges from 38 to 42 weeks. Data for the study was drawn from a larger longitudinal investigation looking at the risks for cardiovascular disease among more than 5,000 young adults in four metropolitan areas. The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study also collected information about mental health and pregnancy outcomes. Between 1990 and 1996, 555 women in the larger study gave birth. These women were the subjects in the depression-premature birth study. "At this point we can't say that pre-pregnancy depressive mood is a cause of preterm birth or how race effects this association," said Gavin. "But it seems to be a risk factor in giving birth prematurely and higher pre-pregnancy depressive mood among black women compared to white women may indirectly contribute to the greater odds of preterm birth found among black women."

Pregnant women consuming flaxseed oil have high risk of premature birth

The risks of a premature birth quadruple if flaxseed oil is consumed in the last two trimesters of pregnancy, according to a new study from the Université de Montréal and the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center.

First-Time Moms’ Exhaustion May Be Caused by Sleep Fragmentation, Rather than Timing of Sleep

Contrary to popular belief, the timing of sleep in new mothers is preserved after giving birth, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Researchers state that while postpartum mothers did experience sleep disruption and daytime consequences, their sleep/wake times remained aligned with self-reported preferred sleep/wake times. The exception was mothers with multiple children; these women’s actual awakening times were earlier than desired. The study, authored by Megan Clegg-Kraynok, M.S., and Hawley Montgomery-Downs, PhD, of West Virginia University in Morgantown, W. Va., involved 24 women with an average age of 30.5 years and average yearly income of $65,808. Of the participants, 92 percent were white, 96 percent were married/cohabitating, 50 percent were first-time mothers and 67 percent were breastfeeding. According to Montgomery-Downs, postpartum moms may not suffer sleep deprivation at all. Findings of the study support the hypothesis that the exhaustion new moms experience is likely due to sleep fragmentation, rather than not sleeping enough or sleeping at the wrong times. “We found that although our participants are quite fatigued, and their sleep at night is highly interrupted, first-time mothers of newborns go to sleep at night and awaken in the morning at the times they report are their preferred sleep and wake times,” said Clegg-Kraynok. “Mothers of newborns who have other children also fell asleep at their preferred time but awoke for the day earlier than their preferred time. We expect this is because they are awakened by the older child.”

Stress during pregnancy has detrimental effect on offspring

That stress during a mother's pregnancy can cause developmental and emotional problems for offspring has long been observed by behavioral and biological researchers, but the objective measuring and timing of that stress and its results are difficult to prove objectively in humans. However, Prof. Marta Weinstock-Rosin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem School of Pharmacy, in her experimental work with rats, has been able to demonstrate that relationship in a conclusive, laboratory-tested manner.

Treatment for extreme nausea, vomiting during pregnancy

Nausea and vomiting are telltale indicators of pregnancy, affecting more than 80 percent of future mothers. For a few moms-to-be, symptoms can become so severe that hospitalization is required. Yet a new medication protocol, introduced by the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center, appears effective in improving symptoms more quickly and provides a safer option than those previously available. The findings, which are good news for moms and babies, are published in a recent edition of the European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. "In 2002, we had to quickly change the medication protocol to treat hyperemisis gravidarum (HG), or severe nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, due to a FDA and Health Canada warnings," says senior researcher Anick Bérard, a professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Pharmacy and director of the Research Unit on Medications and Pregnancy of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center."The warning found that a previously used anti-vomiting medication might cause adverse cardiovascular effects in mothers. We had to quickly choose another treatment, which was safer. The current study looks back at the data to evaluate the effectiveness of this treatment."

Babies brainier than many imagine

A new study from Northwestern University shows what many mothers already know: their babies are a lot smarter than others may realize. Though only five months old, the study's cuties indicated through their curious stares that they could differentiate water in a glass from solid blue material that looked very much like water in a similar glass. The finding that infants can distinguish between solids and liquids at such an early age builds upon a growing body of research that strongly suggests that babies are not blank slates who primarily depend on others for acquiring knowledge. That's a common assumption of researchers in the not too distant past. "Rather, our research shows that babies are amazing little experimenters with innate knowledge," Susan Hespos said. "They're collecting data all the time." Hespos, an assistant professor of psychology at Northwestern, is lead author of the study, which will appear in the May 2009 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. In a test with one group of infants in the study, a researcher tilted a glass filled with blue water back and forth to emphasize the physical characteristics of the substance inside. Another group of babies looked at a glass filled with a blue solid resembling water, which also was moved back and forth to demonstrate its physical properties. Next all the infants were presented with test trials that alternated between the liquid or solid being transferred between two glasses. According to the well-established looking-time test, babies, like adults, look significantly longer at something that is new, unexpected or unpredictable.

When children are upset, mothers and fathers make a difference

When a young child experiences negative emotions -- anger, anxiety, or distress -- can his parents respond in a way that fosters the child's emotional development? A new University of Illinois study in the September/October issue of Child Development suggests that young children benefit when mothers and fathers differ in their reactions to their child's negative emotions.

First evidence that prenatal exposure to famine may lead to persistent epigenetic changes

A study initiated by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands suggests that prenatal exposure to famine can lead to epigenetic changes that may affect a person's health into midlife. The findings show a trickle-down effect from pregnant women to the DNA of their unborn children and the timeframe over which such early damage can operate. While previous studies have suggested that adult disease risk may be associated with adverse environmental conditions early in development, these data are the first to show that early-life environmental conditions can cause epigenetic changes in humans that persist throughout life. The full study findings are published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The research indicates that children conceived during the Dutch Hunger Winter in 1944-45, caused by a food embargo on the Netherlands in World War II, experienced persistent detrimental health effects six decades later. The authors found that the children exposed to the famine during the first 10 weeks after conception had less DNA methylation of the imprinted IGF2 gene than their unexposed same-sex siblings. By contrast, children exposed to the famine at the end of pregnancy showed no difference in methylation compared to their unexposed siblings. These findings support the conclusion that very early development is a crucial period in establishing and maintaining epigenetic marks. Epigenetic changes, while not altering the DNA sequence, can alter which genes are expressed. Genes that might otherwise be activated could be silenced by epigenetic changes or vice versa, and this could impact an individual's risk for adverse health outcomes later in life.

Prenatal factors may up diabetes risk late in life

Elderly twins, whether identical or fraternal, seem to have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes -- suggesting, researchers say, that certain prenatal factors may contribute to the disease even late in life.

Hotter planet means more underweight babies

If current projections of a warming planet prove accurate, researchers say the percentage of dangerously underweight newborns will increase significantly in the U.S. by the end of the century. Miller-McCune.

Illicit drugs 'modify placenta'

Health professionals must ensure pregnant women taking the heroin substitute methadone avoid any illicit drugs, a Swiss study suggests.

Acupuncture treats pregnancy-related heartburn

A new study finds acupuncture helps alleviate indigestion and heartburn - complications commonly experienced in pregnant women.

Study highlights new drug risk in pregnancy

Pregnant women who use cocaine or heroin while taking methadone to beat their addiction may weaken their placenta, opening the door to dangerous infections that could further harm an unborn baby, researchers said on Thursday.

UT Houston Researchers Find Aggressive Phototherapy Can Improve Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Some Preemies

Researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston say the use of aggressive phototherapy reduces the odds that tiny premature infants will develop neurodevelopmental impairment such as cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness or physical or mental challenges. The study, titled “Aggressive Versus Conservative Phototherapy for Infants with Extremely Low Birth Weight,” is published in the Oct. 30, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was a multi-center clinical trial funded by the Neonatal Research Network of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the UT Medical School at Houston was the lead center in designing and conducting it.

Hush Little Baby... Linking Genes, Brain, and Behavior in Children

It comes as no surprise that some babies are more difficult to soothe than others but frustrated parents may be relieved to know that this is not necessarily an indication of their parenting skills. According to a new report in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, children's temperament may be due in part to a combination of a certain gene and a specific pattern of brain activity. The pattern of brain activity in the frontal cortex of the brain has been associated with various types of temperament in children. For example, infants who have more activity in the left frontal cortex are characterized as temperamentally "easy" and are easily calmed down. Conversely, infants with greater activity in the right half of the frontal cortex are temperamentally "negative" and are easily distressed and more difficult to soothe. In this study, Louis Schmidt from McMaster University and his colleagues investigated the interaction between brain activity and the DRD4 gene to see if it predicted children's temperament. In a number of previous studies, the longer version (or allele) of this gene had been linked to increased sensory responsiveness, risk-seeking behavior, and attention problems in children. In the present study, brain activity was measured in 9-month-old infants via electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. When the children were 48 months old, their mothers completed questionnaires regarding their behavior and DNA samples were taken from the children for analysis of the DRD4 gene.

Taking folic acid for a year before pregnancy may reduce risk of preterm birth

Women who take folic acid supplements for at least one year before they become pregnant may cut their risk of having a premature baby by half, according to research published this week in the online journal, PLoS Medicine. The study links pre-conceptional folate supplementation of at least one year to reduced early premature delivery rates of 50 to 70 percent, regardless of age, race or other factors. Of particular note is the drop in very early premature births, those babies who are at the greatest risk of complications such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, chronic lung disease, and blindness. The study is an observational analysis based on the self-reporting of folate supplementation by 38,033 participants in an earlier trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH.) The current study only examined singleton pregnancies and excluded pregnancies with medical or obstetrical complications such as preeclampsia, chronic hypertension, or other abnormalities. "Through the NIH trials, we received highly accurate evidence of gestational age enabling us to determine that folate supplementation for at least one year is linked to a 70 percent decrease in very early preterm deliveries (20 to 28 weeks gestation) and up to a 50 percent reduction in early preterm deliveries of 28 to 32 weeks," said Radek Bukowski, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the lead study author.

Trauma experienced by a mother even before pregnancy will influence her offspring's behavior

A new study in rats at the University of Haifa reveals: Trauma experienced by a mother even before pregnancy will influence her offspring's behavior. *"The findings show that trauma from a mother's past, which does not directly impact her pregnancy, will affect her offspring's emotional and social behavior. We should consider whether such effects occur in humans too," stated Prof. Micah Leshem who carried out the study.* A mother who experienced trauma prior to becoming pregnant affects the emotional and social behavior of her offspring. This was discovered for the first time in a new study that was carried out at the University of Haifa and published in the journal Developmental Psychology in a Special Section on "The Interplay of Biology and the Environment Broadly Defined." The effects of trauma that a mother experienced in the course of pregnancy are known from earlier research, but until now the influence of adversity before conception has not been examined. The present research, carried out by Prof. Micah Leshem and Alice Shachar-Dadon of the University of Haifa and Prof. Jay Schulkin of the Georgetown University School of Medicine, is the first to examine these influences. The researchers chose to investigate rats, as social mammals with cerebral activity that is similar in many ways to that of humans. The present study examined three groups of rats: one group was put through a series of stress-inducing activities two weeks before mating, allowing the female time to recover before becoming pregnant; the second group was similarly treated over the course of a week immediately prior to mating; and the third, control group, were not given any form of stress. When the rats' offspring reached maturity (at 60 days), the researchers examined their emotional behavior – anxiety and depression – and social behavior. The main finding revealed that trauma experienced by the females prior to conception had varied effects on the offspring. According to Prof. Leshem, these effects varied between groups and between male and female offspring; but their behavior was without doubt different from that of the rats from the control group.

Gaining too much weight during pregnancy nearly doubles risk of having a heavy baby

A study by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research of more than 40,000 women and their babies found that women who gained more than 40 pounds during their pregnancies were nearly twice as likely to have a heavy baby. Published in the November issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the study found that more than one in five women gains excessive weight during pregnancy, doubling her chances of having a baby that weighs 9 pounds or more. "Too many women gain too much weight during pregnancy. This extra weight puts them at higher risk for having heavy babies, and these babies are programmed to become overweight or obese later in life," said study lead author Teresa Hillier, MD, MS, an endocrinologist and senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Oregon and Hawaii. "A big baby also poses serious risks for both mom and baby at birth--for mothers, vaginal tearing, bleeding, and often C-sections, and for the babies, stuck shoulders and broken collar bones. " While researchers have known for some time about the link between diabetes during pregnancy and heavier birth weights, and recently have learned how maternal weight gain affects the birth weight, this is the first study to determine that women who gain excessive weight are even more likely to have heavy babies than women who are treated for gestational diabetes. "This is one more good reason to counsel women to gain the ideal amount of weight when they are pregnant," said study co-author Kim Vesco, MD, MPH, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Kaiser Permanente in Portand, Oregon. "From a practical standpoint, women who gain too much weight during pregnancy can have a very difficult time losing the weight after the baby is born." The study followed 41,540 women who gave birth in Washington, Oregon and Hawaii from 1995-2003. More than 20 percent of the women who gained more than 40 pounds—which is the maximum recommended pregnancy weight gain--- gave birth to heavy babies. In contrast, less than 12 percent of women with normal weight gain had heavy babies. At greatest risk were the women who gained more than 40 pounds and also had gestational diabetes; nearly 30 percent of them had heavy babies. That risk was significantly reduced-- to only 13 percent-- when women with gestational diabetes gained less than 40 pounds.

Leading pathogen in newborns can suppress immune cell function

Group B Streptococcus (GBS), a bacterial pathogen that causes sepsis and meningitis in newborn infants, is able to shut down immune cell function in order to promote its own survival, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Their study, published online July 13 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, offers insight into GBS infection – information that may lead to new medical therapies for invasive infectious diseases that affect nearly 3,500 newborns in the United States each year. The UC San Diego researchers describe how GBS fools the immune system into reducing production of antibiotic molecules. "We have discovered that the bacteria have evolved to use a trick we call 'molecular mimicry,'" said Victor Nizet, MD, UC San Diego professor of pediatrics and pharmacy. "Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, GBS can enter our body without activating the immune cells that are normally programmed to kill foreign invaders." The findings represent a collaborative effort between the laboratories of senior authors Nizet and Ajit Varki, MD, distinguished professor of medicine and cellular and molecular medicine. Varki is also co-director of the UCSD Glycobiology Research and Training Center, where the investigators have been exploring the interaction of bacterial pathogens with the innate immune system. Their most recent focus has been on the special role of Siglecs (short for sialic acid binding Ig-like lectins), members of the immunoglobulin family of antibodies.

Study reveals conflict between doctors, midwives over homebirth

Two Oregon State University researchers have uncovered a pattern of distrust – and sometimes outright antagonism – among physicians at hospitals and midwives who are transporting their home-birth clients to the hospital because of complications. Oregon State University assistant professor Melissa Cheyney and doctoral student Courtney Everson said their work revealed an ongoing conflict between physicians and midwives that is reflective of discord across the country. The pair recently examined birth records in Oregon's Jackson County from 1998 through 2003, a period when that county saw higher-than-expected rates of prematurity and low birth weight in some populations. The researchers wanted to assess whether those rates were linked to idwife-attended homebirths. The findings revealed that assisted homebirths did not appear to be contributing to the lower-than-average health outcomes and, in fact, that the homebirths documented all had successful outcomes. But even more importantly to Cheyney, discussions with doctors and midwives uncovered a deep gulf between the two groups of birthing providers, with doctors expressing the firm belief that only hospital births are safe, while midwives felt marginalized, mocked and put on the defensive when in contact with physicians. "We've been getting insight into their world view, and it's been quite illuminating," Cheyney said. Cheyney, who is a practicing midwife in addition to being an assistant professor of medical anthropology and reproductive biology, said she was surprised that physicians, when presented with scientifically conducted research that indicates homebirths do not increase infant mortality rates, still refuse to believe that births outside of the hospital are safe."Medicine is a social construct, and it's heavily politicized," she said.

Common drug for stopping preterm labor may be harmful for babies

A drug commonly used to halt premature labor may be associated with brain damage and intestinal issues in premature babies, according to a new analysis of studies on the issue published today in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

New test could cut unnecessary treatment for blood disorder in pregnancy

A new test for identifying a mismatch between the blood of a pregnant woman and her baby is accurate, feasible, and could substantially reduce unnecessary treatment, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

TV may do no harm or good to babies

Whether watching television hurts or helps babies' development has divided researchers and parents. A study released on Monday concluded it does neither.

Snoring pregnant women at higher risk for gestational diabetes

If you are pregnant and your mate complains your frequent snoring is rattling the bedroom windows, you may have bigger problems than an annoyed, sleep-deprived partner. A new study from researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has found that women who reported frequent snoring during their pregnancy were more likely to develop gestational diabetes -- a condition than can cause health problems for the mother and baby. The study also found pregnancy increases the likelihood that a woman will snore. This is the first study to report a link between snoring and gestational diabetes. For the study, 189 healthy women completed a sleep survey at the time of enrollment (six to 20 weeks gestation) and in the third trimester. Pregnant women who were frequent snorers had a 14.3 percent chance of developing gestational diabetes, while women who did not snore had a 3.3 percent chance. Even when researchers controlled for other factors that could contribute to gestational diabetes such as body mass index, age, race and ethnicity, frequent snoring was still associated with the disease. Principal investigator Francesca Facco, M.D., a fellow at Northwestern's Feinberg School, will present her findings at the SLEEP 2009 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies June 11.

Shanxi has top birth-defect rate

Many infants born in the province had defects, such as cleft lips, spina bifida, fluid on the brain and heart deformities, which could be linked to environmental pollution or local residents' poor diet and vitamin intake, China Central Television reported over the weekend.

Doctors endorse vegan and vegetarian diets for healthy pregnancies

Well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful choices for pregnant women and their children, and vitamin B12 needs can be easily met with fortified foods or any common multivitamin, say doctors and dietitians with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). PCRM nutrition experts are available for comment in response to a new Pediatrics study showing that low levels of vitamin B12 may increase the risk for neural tube defects. The Pediatrics study is based on analysis of stored blood samples originally collected during pregnancy from three groups of Irish women between 1983 and 1990. It's not clear if any of the women were vegan, but the study clearly states that this population was deliberately chosen because vitamin supplementation and food fortification were rare at that time. The women lived in a region of traditionally high neural tube defects prevalence, suggesting a moderately high genetic predisposition. Experts agree that pregnant women can thrive on vegan diets. The American Dietetic Association, the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, states that "well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence." Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol and higher levels of fiber, folate, and cancer-fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals. "Women who follow vegan diets not only have healthy pregnancies, they are often healthier than moms who consume meat," says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., staff dietitian with PCRM. "By eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other healthful vegetarian foods and including breakfast cereals or other foods fortified with vitamin B12, mothers and their children can obtain all the nutrients they need to thrive."

Moms' smoking linked to increased risk of birth defects

Babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were more than twice as likely to have a cleft palate or lip as those whose mothers didn't, according to research results released today. Although the study confirms earlier findings, it is unique because it did not rely on women's self-reported smoking habits during pregnancy. Instead, researchers used the more reliable method of measuring the levels of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, in the blood from about 500 pregnant women. "This research is the first time we've been able to measure something – in this case cotinine – and determine the risk of smoking during pregnancy for oral-facial birth defects," Gary M. Shaw, PhD, research director and senior epidemiologist of the March of Dimes California Research Division, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland, Calif. Nearly 7,000 babies are born annually with an oral-facial cleft in the United States. Children with oral clefts often have difficulty feeding, frequent ear infections, hearing loss, speech difficulties, and dental problems. Surgery often can repair these birth defects, which typically occur by the seventh week of pregnancy. "The message to women is simple and clear: Don't smoke during pregnancy or even if you are considering becoming pregnant," said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes. "This research supports our 2008 Petition for Preemies, which calls on federal and state officials to include smoking cessation programs as part of maternity care. If we can help mothers quit smoking, we can help give more babies a healthy start in life," Dr. Howse continued.

Hormone worries halt plastic baby bottle sales

Canadian retailers have begun pulling plastic baby bottles containing bisphenol A from their shelves as demand dries up from health-conscious customers.

Impaired Reproductive Development in Sons of Women Occupationally Exposed to Pesticides during Pregnancy

Boys of pesticide-exposed mothers showed decreased penile length, testicular volume, serum concentrations of testosterone, and inhibin B. Serum concentrations of sex hormone-binding globulin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and the luteinizing hormone-testosterone ratio were increased compared with boys of nonexposed mothers. For individual parameters, only the decreased penile length was statistically significant (p = 0.04) . However, all observed effects were in the anticipated direction, and a joint multivariate test showed that this finding had a p-value of 0.012.

Study highlights new drug risk in pregnancy

Pregnant women who use cocaine or heroin while taking methadone to beat their addiction may weaken their placenta, opening the door to dangerous infections that could further harm an unborn baby.

Mice can teach about possible causes of birth defects

Patricia Hunt is a genetics expert who investigates how and why older moms are more likely to give birth to babies with birth defects.

Pregnancy diabetes doubles the risk of language delay in children

Children born to mothers with pregnancy-related diabetes run twice the risk of language development problems, according to a research team directed by Professor Ginette Dionne of Université Laval's School of Psychology. Details of this discovery are published in the most recent issue of the scientific journal Pediatrics. Researchers compared the vocabulary and grammar skills of 221 children whose mothers were diagnosed with gestational diabetes to those of 2,612 children from a control group. These tests were conducted at different intervals between ages 18 months and 7 years. Results showed that children born to mothers with gestational diabetes achieve poorer scores on tests of spoken vocabulary and grammar than children of healthy mothers. The differences between the two groups are probably due to the effects of gestational diabetes on the brain development of babies. The study shows that these effects persist even after the children start school. This study is the first to isolate the effect of gestational diabetes from other factors including family socioeconomic status, alcohol and tobacco consumption as well as maternal hypertension during pregnancy.

Your baby's brain on drugs (and alcohol and tobacco)

Over 1 million babies born annually in the United States are exposed to drugs, alcohol or tobacco while in utero. New research published in the April issue of Pediatrics suggests that prenatal exposure to these substances (alone or in combination) may have effects on the baby's brain structure that persist into adolescence.

Pregnant women pass on the effects of smoking

Smoking during pregnancy has many adverse effects on fetal development. A new study in mice has now added the possibility that smoking before pregnancy or while breast-feeding might substantially decrease the fertility of female offspring to the long list of possible negative outcomes.

Babies protect mothers against breast cancer

Having children could reduce the risk of getting breast cancer because cells with strong protective characteristics are transferred from the baby in the womb to the mother, a study showed Tuesday.

Eating fish while pregnant, longer breastfeeding, lead to better infant development

Both higher fish consumption and longer breastfeeding are linked to better physical and cognitive development in infants, according to a study of mothers and infants from Denmark. Maternal fish consumption and longer breastfeeding were independently beneficial. "These results, together with findings from other studies of women in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, provide additional evidence that moderate maternal fish intake during pregnancy does not harm child development and may on balance be beneficial," said Assistant Professor Emily Oken, lead author of the study. The study, which appeared in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was conducted by researchers from the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and the Maternal Nutrition Group from the Department of Epidemiology at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. These findings provide further evidence that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and compounds in breast milk are beneficial to infant development. The study team looked at 25,446 children born to mothers participating in the Danish Birth Cohort, a study that includes pregnant women enrolled from 1997-2002. Mothers were interviewed about child development markers at 6 and 18 months postpartum and asked about their breastfeeding at 6 months postpartum. Prenatal diet, including amounts and types of fish consumed weekly, was assessed by a detailed food frequency questionnaire administered when they were six months pregnant. During the interviews mothers were asked about specific physical and cognitive developmental milestones such as whether the child at six months could hold up his/her head, sit with a straight back, sit unsupported, respond to sound or voices, imitate sounds, or crawl. At 18 months, they were asked about more advanced milestones such as whether the child could climb stairs, remove his/her socks, drink from a cup, write or draw, use word-like sounds and put words together, and whether they could walk unassisted. The children whose mothers ate the most fish during pregnancy were more likely to have better motor and cognitive skills. For example, among mothers who ate the least fish, 5.7% of their children had the lowest developmental scores at 18 months, compared with only 3.7% of children whose mothers had the highest fish intake. Compared with women who ate the least fish, women with the highest fish intake (about 60 grams - 2 ounces - per day on average) had children 25% more likely to have higher developmental scores at 6 months and almost 30% more likely to have higher scores at 18 months. Longer duration of breastfeeding was also associated with better infant development, especially at 18 months. Breastmilk also contains omega-3 fatty acids. The benefit of fish consumption was similar among infants breastfed for shorter or longer durations.

Newly discovered role of thyroid hormone during pregnancy

Thyroid hormone deficiencies in early pregnancy can cause locomotor underdevelopment in the child, according to research from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. The results bring new insights into brain development and could affect routine pregnancy testing.

Rodent Studies Suggest Mother's Diet Can Affect Genes and Offspring's Risk of Allergic Asthma

A pregnant mouse's diet can induce epigenetic changes that increase the risk her offspring will develop allergic asthma, according to researchers at National Jewish Health and Duke University Medical Center. Pregnant mice that consumed diets high in supplements containing methyl-donors, such as folic acid, had offspring with more severe allergic airway disease than offspring from mice that consumed diets low in methyl-containing foods. The results of the study are being published Sept. 18, 2008, in the online version of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and will appear in the October print issue.

Fishy diet in early infancy cuts eczema risk

An infant diet that includes fish before the age of 9 months curbs the risk of developing eczema, indicates research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. The prevalence of atopic eczema and other allergic disease has risen sharply in developed countries in recent decades, say the authors. Environmental and dietary factors are thought to play a part. The researchers quizzed the parents of 6 month old babies born in western Sweden in 2003 about their child's diet and any evidence of allergic eczema. They were quizzed again when the children reached the age of 12 months. The children were all part of an ongoing health study, Infants of Western Sweden, which is tracking the long term health of almost 17000 babies.

Overweight toddlers and those not in day care at risk for iron deficiency

A study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has found that overweight toddlers and those not enrolled in day care are at high risk for iron deficiency.

Depression during pregnancy can double risk of preterm delivery

Depressed pregnant women have twice the risk of preterm delivery than pregnant women with no symptoms of depression, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The study is published online in the Oxford University Press's journal Human Reproduction on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. The study found that pregnant women with symptoms of depression have an increased risk of preterm delivery, and that the risk grows with the severity of the depressive symptoms. These findings also provide preliminary evidence that social and reproductive risk factors, obesity, and stressful events may exacerbate the depression-preterm delivery link, according to the researchers. Because the majority of the women in the study did not use anti-depressants, the study provides a clear look at the link between depression and preterm delivery. The study -- which is among the first to examine depression and pre-term delivery in a representative and diverse population in the United States -- looked at 791 pregnant Kaiser Permanente members in San Francisco city and county from October 1996 through October 1998.

Breastfeeding boost IQ in infants with 'helpful' genetic variant

Breastfeeding boost IQ in infants with 'helpful' genetic variantBreastfeeding boosts IQ in infants who have a genetic variant that enhances their metabolism of breast milk.

Consuming small amounts of caffeine when pregnant may affect the growth of an unborn child

Consuming caffeine at any time during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction (low birth weight), according to research published on bmj.com today. Although some previous studies have also shown this, this BMJ study additionally shows that any amount and type of caffeine intake—from tea, cola, chocolate, cocoa, and some prescription drugs, as well as coffee—is linked with relatively slower fetal growth. Dr Justin Konje and colleagues from the University of Leicester as well as collaborators from the University of Leeds, examined the association of maternal caffeine intake and individual caffeine metabolism on birth weight. >From two large teaching hospitals in the UK between September 2003 and June 2006 the authors recruited 2645 low risk pregnant women of average age 30, who were between 8-12 weeks pregnant. They used a caffeine assessment tool (CAT) to record caffeine intake from all possible dietary sources in the four weeks before and throughout pregnancy, and also used a saliva sample test to calculate individual caffeine metabolism. The researchers report that the average caffeine intake during pregnancy was 159mg/day, much lower than the limit of 300mg/day recommended by the UK government's Food Standards Agency. Interestingly, 62% of the caffeine use reported came from tea. Other sources were coffee (14%), cola (12%), chocolate (8%), and soft drinks (2%).

Pregnant women told to avoid BPA packaging

A US health-advocacy group has warned that pregnant women should reduce their exposure to packaging that contains bisphenol A (BPA) to avoid passing the controversial chemical to their unborn children.

Pregnancy disorder signals need to screen for heart disease, study shows

High blood pressure experienced during pregnancy could be a woman's earliest warning that she is at risk of developing heart disease - the number one killer of Canadian women - says Queen's University professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graeme Smith. Called pre-eclampsia, this type of high blood pressure occurs in 5-10 per cent of all pregnancies. But because most practicing physicians are unaware of the connection between pre-eclampsia and the risk for future cardiovascular problems, they fail to follow up with screening tests. As a result, their patients aren't taking proactive steps to avoid potential heart attacks and strokes.

Iron deficiency in womb may delay brain maturation in preemies

Iron plays a large role in brain development in the womb, and new University of Rochester Medical Center research shows an iron deficiency may delay the development of auditory nervous system in preemies. This delay could affect babies ability to process sound which is critical for later language development in early childhood. The study evaluated 80 infants over 18 months, testing their cord blood for iron levels and using a non-invasive tool -- auditory brainstem-evoked response (ABR) -- to measure the maturity of the brain's auditory nervous system soon after birth. The study found that the brains of infants with low iron levels in their cord blood had abnormal maturation of auditory system compared to infants with normal cord iron levels. "Sound isn't transmitted as well through the immature auditory pathway in the brains of premature babies who are deficient in iron as compared to premature babies who have enough iron," said Sanjiv Amin, M.D., associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and author of the abstract presented today at the Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Baltimore. "We suspect that if the auditory neural system is affected during developmental phase, then other parts of the brain could also be affected in the presence of iron deficiency." As many as 20 to 30 percent of pregnant women with lower socio-economic status are iron deficient. Iron deficiency in pregnant woman can cause anemia, a condition in which there are not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body. Anemia can cause a range of problems in pregnancy from exhaustion to preterm labor and low birth weight. But physicians didn't know that an iron deficiency in a fetus may also delay auditory neural maturation. which could lead to language problems. "We are concerned by these findings because of its potential implications for language development," Amin said. "More study is needed to fully understand what this delay in maturation means. This finding at least underscores an already understood need to monitor iron levels in pregnant women."

Ultrasound Fetal Response To Alcohol Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Public domain video clip from www.timesonline.co.uk/sundaytimes. Royalty free music from the Music Bakery. SCIENTISTS have captured graphic ultrasound images of the damage done to unborn babies as a result of women drinking during pregnancy. Just one glass of wine a week can make babies "jump" in the womb throughout a nine-month pregnancy. Experts believe this abnormal hyperactive behavior is the result of alcohol slowing or retarding the formation of the central nervous system. Doctors have warned for decades that women who consume large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can affect their child's mental development. However, the new research suggests even moderate alcohol consumption makes a baby 3½ times more likely to suffer from abnormal spasms in the womb. The findings, by Peter Hepper, a professor at Belfast University's fetal behavior research unit, appear to back the view that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Hepper's findings have surprised child neurology experts. Between conception and 18 weeks, babies display a primitive "startle reflex" which causes babies to jump involuntarily in the womb at loud noises and other stimuli. However, once the nervous system is fully formed at 18 weeks, the reflex disappears in healthy babies and is replaced by a calmer "adult" reflex. Hepper found that the babies of mothers who drank — whether one unit a week or four — all continued to display a "startle reflex" throughout their pregnancy. The reflex in the babies of the non-drinking mothers tailed off at 18 weeks. The professor also found that the babies of women who drank suffered more "startles" during the first 18 weeks. Hepper, who published his findings in the Journal of Physiology and Behaviour, concluded that even moderate consumption of alcohol had a serious effect on the formation of a baby's central nervous system. He explained: "This indicates that the nerve pathways in the brain have been damaged." Hepper concluded: "Our study shows that alcohol is having an effect on the baby even at low levels and that is quite disturbing. We don't think there is a safe limit for alcohol consumption in pregnancy." Hepper's study appears to corroborate US research, conducted after birth, which has shown that drinking during pregnancy lowers a child's IQ and increases hyperactivity. Some doctors believe the babies scanned by Hepper are showing the early signs of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) which is thought to cause a range of behavioral and neurological disorders in children. The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Trust estimates that between 6,000 to 12,000 babies are affected in the UK each year. Margaret Burrows, a clinical geneticist at Leicester royal infirmary, said: "The startle movement (in the womb) is clearly not normal and would seem to indicate the child has the traits of fidgeting which we see in attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). "We believe that a proportion of children who have ADHD may have developed it as a result of their mother's drinking during pregnancy." The next stage of Hepper's study will monitor whether the babies go on to suffer mental and behavioral problems. Hepper presented the findings of his study of 40 pregnant women from the Royal Maternity hospital, Belfast, to the Royal Society of Medicine on Wednesday. None of the mothers was asked to drink but 20 admitted that they would continue to drink during their pregnancy. The other 20 drank no alcohol. Researchers questioned the 20 pregnant drinkers and found they consumed between one and four units of alcohol (four glasses of wine) a week. In the first half of the study all the women underwent three ultrasound scans during the first 18 weeks of their pregnancy. In the second half, the women had four more scans at 20, 25, 30 and 35 weeks. The scans lasted up to 45 minutes to try to capture hyperactivity. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE), Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (pFAS), Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ARND), Static Encephalopathy Alcohol Exposed (SEAE) and Alcohol Related Birth Defects (ARBD) are all names for a spectrum of disorders caused when a pregnant woman consumes alcohol. FASD is 100% preventable. If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, don't drink any beverage alcohol. There is no known safe level. To ignore the facts does not change the facts.

Late preterm births present serious risks to newborns

More than half a million babies are born preterm in the United States each year and preterm births are on the rise. Late preterm births, or births that occur between 34 and 36 weeks (approximately 4 to 6 weeks before the mother's due date), account for more than 70 percent of preterm births. A new study and an accompanying editorial soon to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics investigate the serious neurological problems associated with late preterm births.

Why the U.S. Needs Pre-Conception Healthcare

In this Inner Circle interview, Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD explains why the U.S. needs pre-conception healthcare.

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Lees uitgebreide adviezen voor vrouwen die moeder willen worden

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Prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke raises blood pressure in infants

Infants whose mothers smoke during pregnancy have substantially higher blood pressures in their first months of life, Dutch researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Anti-clotting drug thins risk to pregnancy and surgery patients with blood disorder

Pregnancy and surgery patients with a serious blood disorder that causes excessive clotting have responded well to treatment with a man-made anti-clotting protein. Results from a study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine and other institutions were presented December 6 at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Francisco. The phase III, multi-center clinical trial focused on patients with the blood disorder known as hereditary antithrombin deficiency. Those who received the protein recombinant human antithrombin reported no excessive clotting during treatment or seven days after treatment. "This is a remarkable technologic feat," said study investigator Michael Paidas, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, and director of the Women and Children's Center for Blood Disorders at Yale. "We've shown that this genetically engineered protein can prevent complications linked to antithrombin deficiency. Ours is the first team in the United States to use the protein in a clinical trial with pregnant patients."

Low blood pressure in preterm infants

Scientists from Monash University, Melbourne have shown that infants born prematurely have lower blood pressure during sleep in the first six months of life, compared to healthy, full-term infants. Scientists at the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research, Monash Institute of Medical Research, believe this may be one reason premature infants are at an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Chief Investigator, Associate Professor Rosemary Horne, said that previous studies have shown that prematurely-born babies are at a significantly increased risk of SIDS; approximately 20 percent of all SIDS cases occur in preterm babies, though preterm babies comprise only 8-10 percent of infants born. "It has been hypothesised that the underlying mechanism of SIDS involves a fall in blood pressure during sleep combined with a failure of the baby to arouse from sleep which would normally restore blood pressure," Associate Professor Horne said. "Our study has now provided evidence as to why preterm babies are at a higher risk for SIDS."

Cholesterol Drugs Tied to Birth Defects

If you’re pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant, there’s one more group of medications to add to the long list of drugs you shouldn’t take because they can harm your baby: the cholesterol-lowering medications called statins.

Unmarried Dads' Involvement with Child Secured during Pregnancy, Study Says

The best chance of "reeling-in" an unmarried father and building the foundations for a stable family life are the critical months of pregnancy, says new research from the University of Maryland. "Unmarried dads are less likely to drift away if they are involved during this vital period when a family can begin to bond," says University of Maryland human development professor Natasha Cabrera, the principal investigator and a researcher at the school's Maryland Population Research Center.

Discovery could improve the lives of premature babies

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have identified a potential new avenue for altering lung development in the embryo which may help to improve the outcome for very premature babies. The researchers at Cardiff University, in collaboration with those at the Saban Research Institute at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, have discovered a key player in early lung development which is a potential drug target for treating very premature babies with small, immature lungs. The research is published today (12 December 2008) in The Journal of Physiology. The work was carried out in the laboratories of Dr Daniela Riccardi and Professor Paul Kemp (School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK) in collaboration with Professor David Warburton (Saban Research Institute, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, USA).

A low dose of caffeine when pregnant may damage the heart of offspring for a lifetime

A new study published online in The FASEB Journal shows that the equivalent of one dose of caffeine (just two cups of coffee) ingested during pregnancy may be enough to affect fetal heart development and then reduce heart function over the entire lifespan of the child. In addition, the researchers also found that this relatively minimal amount of exposure may lead to higher body fat among males, when compared to those who were not exposed to caffeine. Although the study was in mice, the biological cause and effect described in the research paper is plausible in humans. According to Scott Rivkees, Yale's Associate Chair of Pediatric Research and a senior researcher on the study, "Our studies raise potential concerns about caffeine exposure during very early pregnancy, but further studies are necessary to evaluate caffeine's safety during pregnancy." To reach their conclusion researchers studied four groups of pregnant mice under two sets of conditions for 48 hours. The first two groups were studied in "room air," with one group having been injected with caffeine and another injected with saline solution. The second two groups were studied under conditions where ambient oxygen levels were halved, with one group receiving caffeine and the other receiving saline solution. They found that under both circumstances, mice given caffeine produced embryos with a thinner layer of tissue separating some of the heart's chambers than the group that was not given caffeine. The researchers then examined the mice born from these groups to determine what long-term effects, if any, caffeine had on the offspring. They found that all of the adult males exposed to caffeine as fetuses had an increase in body fat of about 20 percent, and decreased cardiac function of 35?? percent when compared to mice not exposed to caffeine."Caffeine is everywhere: in what we drink, in what we eat, in pills that we use to relieve pain, and even in candy," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "This report shows that despite popular notions of safety, there's one place it probably shouldn't be: in the diet of an expectant mother."

New Kaiser Permanente study fortifies caffeine's link to miscarriage

A new study by Kaiser Permanente offers the strongest evidence to date linking caffeine consumption during pregnancy to miscarriage because it's the first study to thoroughly control for pregnancy-related caffeine aversion. Appearing in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the study of 1,063 pregnant women found that women who consumed 200 mg or more of caffeine per day doubled their miscarriage risk.

Prenatal alcohol exposure damages white matter, the brain's connective network

One part of the prenatal brain that may be particularly sensitive to alcohol's effects is white matter, nerve fibers through which information is exchanged between different areas of the central nervous system. A recent study has demonstrated that alcohol consumption during pregnancy can alter the microstructural integrity of developing fetal cerebral white matter in the frontal and occipital lobes of the brain. These anomalies may help to explain the executive dysfunction and visual processing deficits that are associated with gestational alcohol exposure. "The brain's white matter is made up of nerve bundles that transfer information between brain regions," explained Susanna L. Fryer, a researcher at San Diego State University's Center for Behavioral Teratology and corresponding author for the study. "Optimal white-matter integrity is thought to support efficient cognition. So the finding that prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with altered white-matter integrity may help explain aspects of the cognitive and behavioral problems that individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) commonly face." "Several studies of FASD within the last three years have used a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to examine the brain's connective network – also known as white matter –in ways not previously possible," added Jeffrey R. Wozniak, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota.

First trimester smoking linked to oral clefts

Smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy is clearly linked with an increased risk of cleft lip in newborns. Genes that play a role in detoxification of cigarette smoke do not appear to be involved. This is shown in a new study published in the journal Epidemiology.

Common infant virus may trigger type 1 diabetes

Human parechovirus is a harmless virus which is encountered by most infants and displays few symptoms. Suspected of triggering type 1 diabetes in susceptible people, research methods need to take this “silent” virus into consideration. This comes from findings in a study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. This study was part of a long-term project at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health to investigate if environmental risk factors affect type 1 diabetes. Faecal samples and questionnaires about the health of 102 children were sent in monthly by their parents for closer study. Researchers wanted to see how common human parechovirus infections were among Norwegian infants. Existing research indicates that a related virus which only affects rodents, Ljungan virus, has been linked to the development of rodent diabetes.

Mutant gene puts mothers of babies with cancer at risk

Thousands of mothers whose children have cancer could be at increased risk of developing breast cancer themselves, a study has found.

Is ultrasound as useful as we think?

In a recent article published in Ultrasound, the Journal of the British Medical Ultrasound Society (Vol. 15, No. 3, 2007), Dr. Hylton Meire raises the possibility that ultrasound is not as useful as has been suggested. He particularly emphasises the lack of scientific data to support the use of fetal "nuchal thickness" measurements in routine clinical ultrasound practice to ascertain the presence of Down's syndrome.

Newborns in ICUs often undergo painful procedures, most without pain medication

An examination of newborn intensive care finds that newborns undergo numerous procedures that are associated with pain and stress, and that many of these procedures are performed without medication or therapy to relieve pain, according to a study in the July 2 issue of JAMA.

Heavy birthweight increases risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis

People who have a birthweight over 10 pounds are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis when they are adults compared to individuals born with an average birthweight, according to a study published by researchers from Hospital for Special Surgery online in advance of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. While the mechanism for this association is unclear, the study identifies a potentially modifiable risk factor and highlights a potential way to decrease the incidence of the disease.

Fetal alcohol research

In the lab, Smith focuses on a small sub-population of fetal cells called neural crest cells that contribute to the formation of parts of the nervous system, face and heart. These cells are damaged and sometimes killed by alcohol, and children with fetal alcohol exposure can suffer damage to those organs, including visible facial malformations. Studying the effect of alcohol on chicken embryos, Smith was able to show that alcohol somehow directs the neural crest cells to end their own lives. "Cell death is an active process," explains Smith. "A cellular switch has to be turned on for cell death to occur. Usually the switch is suppressed, or kept silent. Alcohol is toxic because it can turn that switch on, and it does so by causing cells to release calcium."

Eating junk while pregnant can harm your baby

We all know that smoking and drinking when pregnant can harm the baby, but new research published in the Journal of Physiology suggests that poor diet may also cause long-lasting, irreversible damage in offspring from heart disease to diabetes.

Hebrew University scientists succeed through stem cell therapy in reversing brain birth defects

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have succeeded in reversing brain birth defects in animal models, using stem cells to replace defective brain cells. The work of Prof. Joseph Yanai and his associates at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School was presented at the Tel Aviv Stem Cells Conference last spring and is expected to be presented and published nest year at the seventh annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Barcelona, Spain.Involved in the project with Prof. Yanai are Prof. Tamir Ben-Hur, head of the Department of Neurology at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, and his group, as well as Prof. Ted Slotkin at Duke University in North Carolina, where Prof. Yanai is an adjunct professor.

Brain imbalance 'cot death key'

More evidence has emerged that a chemical imbalance in the brain may play a key role in cot deaths.

Neuropsychologic Analysis of Prenatal PCB Effects

Prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been shown to affect cognitive development of children, but the cognitive functions that are particularly affected have not yet been identified. Boucher et al. (p. 7) reviewed data from nine prospective longitudinal birth cohorts to investigate the cognitive profile associated with prenatal PCB exposure. They found that prenatal exposure to environmental levels of PCBs appears to be related to a relatively specific profile of cognitive impairments.

Air Pollution and Perinatal Mortality

Scientific evidence has correlated low birth weight and preterm birth—both important determinants of perinatal death—with air pollution. de Medeiros et al. (p. 127) examined the association between traffic-related pollution and perinatal mortality. Logistic regression revealed a gradient of increasing early neonatal death with higher exposure to traffic-related air pollution. Associations with fetal mortality were less consistent. The results suggest that motor vehicle exhaust exposures may be a risk factor for perinatal mortality.

Infant Formula Cans Lined With Toxic Chemical BPA

An investigation by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has found that nearly all infant formulas are packaged in containers that contain the dangerous toxin bisphenol A.

New research explores newborn in-hospital weight loss

Healthy, full-term newborn babies tend to lose weight during the first few days after their birth. A groundbreaking new study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Human Lactation explores the reasons why certain newborns lose more (or less) than others and what conclusions can be drawn from the research.

TAU Researchers Discover Correlation Between Birth Month and Short-Sightedness

Forming a large multi-center Israeli team, the scientists took data on Israeli youth aged 16-23 and retroactively correlated the incidence of myopia (short-sightedness) with their month of birth. The results were astonishing. Babies born in June and July had a 24% greater chance of becoming severely myopic than those born in December and January the group with the least number of severely myopic individuals. The investigators say that this evidence is likely applicable to babies born anywhere in the world.

Newborn Vitamin A Reduces Infant Mortality

A single, oral dose of vitamin A, given to infants shortly after birth in the developing world can reduce their risk of death by 15 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is published in the July 2008 edition of the journal Pediatrics.

Could infant formulas be a risk factor for SIDS?

Many epidemiologic studies have associated use of infant formulas with increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). A review study found those who were formula-fed were 2.11 times more likely to suffer SIDS than those who were breastfed.

Treating diabetes during pregnancy can break link to childhood obesity

New Kaiser Permanente study shows treating gestational diabetes can break the link to childhood obesity. The largest study of its kind, this research shows that childhood obesity risk rises with a pregnant woman's blood sugar level and untreated gestational diabetes doubles a child's risk of obesity. Authors looked at 20,000 mothers and children, and found treating gestational diabetes lowers the child's risk of obesity to same level of a mother with normal blood sugar levels.

Studies link maternity leave with fewer C-sections and increased breastfeeding

Two new studies led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that taking maternity leave before and after the birth of a baby is a good investment in terms of health benefits for both mothers and newborns. One study found that women who started their leave in the last month of pregnancy were less likely to have cesarean deliveries, while another found that new mothers were more likely to establish breastfeeding the longer they delayed their return to work. Both papers were part of the Juggling Work and Life During Pregnancy study, funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration and led by Sylvia Guendelman, professor of maternal and child health at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. The research takes a rare look into whether taking maternity leave can affect health outcomes in the United States. "In the public health field, we'd like to decrease the rate of C-sections (cesarean deliveries) and increase the rate of breastfeeding," said Guendelman. "C-sections are really a costly procedure, leading to extended hospital stays and increased risks of complications from surgery, as well as longer recovery times for the mother. For babies, it is known that breastfeeding protects them from infection and may decrease the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), allergies and obesity. What we're trying to say here is that taking maternity leave may make good health sense, as well as good economic sense."

Smoking during pregnancy may impair thyroid function of mom and fetus

Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with potentially harmful changes in both maternal and fetal thyroid function, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). "We studied the influence of cigarette smoking on thyroid function of two groups of women at different stages of pregnancy – one in the first trimester and the other in the third trimester," said Dr. Bijay Vaidya, Ph.D., of Peninsula Medical School at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in the United Kingdom, and coauthor of the study. "In both groups we found that smoking during pregnancy is associated with changes in the mothers' thyroid hormone levels." Optimal maternal thyroid function during pregnancy is vital for a successful pregnancy outcome, said Dr. Vaidya. The adverse outcomes associated with thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy include increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight and impaired neuropsychological development of the baby. Dr. Vaidya and his colleagues also measured thyroid hormone levels in the umbilical cord of babies born to smoking mothers and found that smoking-related changes in thyroid function extend to the fetus. Dr. Vaidya believes that impaired thyroid function in the fetus could have potentially harmful biological consequences. The study also found that in mothers who stopped smoking during pregnancy their thyroid hormone levels were comparable to levels found in non-smokers, which suggests that changes in thyroid function are rapidly reversible. There is currently no definitive explanation for how smoking affects thyroid function, but Dr. Vaidya suggests that smoking may influence thyroid hormone levels by affecting the enzyme which converts the active form of thyroid hormone to an inactive form.

According to EU funded researchers, taking fish oil supplements in late pregnancy might reduce the risk of children developing asthma

In the context of European research on early nutritional programming, a team of researchers has traced the children born from mothers who had taken part in a trial. According to their work, the risk of developing asthma was reduced by 63% in those whose mothers had been given fish oil supplements during the last trimester of their pregnancy. This study is part of the EU funded EARNEST project with scientists from 38 institutions in 16 European countries. It is published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Mothers’ baby cradling habits are indicator of stress, suggests new research

Mothers who cradle their baby to their right hand side are displaying signs of extreme stress, a new study suggests. Although most mums feel stressed in the early stages of their baby’s life, the study by Durham University researchers suggests their baby cradling habits are a key indicator of whether this stress could become overwhelming and lead to depression. Previous research has already shown that the majority of mothers prefer to cradle their baby to their left regardless of whether they are left or right handed. As at least one in ten women develop post-natal depression, studying non-verbal cues such as baby cradling could potentially help doctors and health visitors identify which mothers are in need of extra professional support before it gets too late.

Omega-3s in baby formula aid vision, skills

A series of studies, funded by the National Institutes of Health, revealed that when omega-3s were added to the diets of preemies, their visual development was the same as that of a breast-fed infant's.

Early childhood diet may influence future health

If you have trouble keeping weight off and you're wondering why – the surprising answer may well be the cheeseburgers you ate – when you were a toddler. Surprising new research by University of Calgary, Faculty of Kinesiology researcher Dr. Raylene Reimer, published in an international journal, indicates a direct connection between an adult's propensity to put on weight and our early childhood diet. Reimer is a leader in a growing field of study that examines the developmental origins of health and disease. Researchers in this area believe our pre-natal and early childhood environment influences our future risk of developing conditions like cardio vascular disease, obesity and diabetes. "My research has shown that the food we eat changes how active certain genes in our body are – what we call genetic expression. In particular we believe that our diet has a direct influence on the genes that control how our bodies store and use nutrients," says Reimer. "There's a growing body of work that indicates a relationship between our health as adults and our early diet, and even our mother's diet. This research shows for the first time that our early childhood diet may have a huge impact on our health as adults."

World breakthrough in treating premature babies

Adelaide researchers have made a world breakthrough in treating premature babies at risk of developmental disorders. A six-year study led by Dr Maria Makrides from the Women's & Children's Health Research Institute and Professor Bob Gibson from the University of Adelaide has demonstrated that high doses of fatty acids administered to pre-term infants via their mother's breast milk or infant formula can help their mental development. The findings were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Researchers found that a major lipid in the brain - the omega-3 fatty acid known as Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - is not developed sufficiently in babies born before 33 weeks' gestation, leading to possible impaired mental development.

Alcohol exposure in the womb affects 'teenage' booze behavior

Rats whose mothers were fed alcohol during pregnancy are more attracted to the smell of liquor during puberty. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions have shown that rats exposed during gestation find the smell of alcohol on another rat's breath during adolescence more attractive than animals with no prior fetal exposure. Professor Steven Youngentob from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, USA, led a team of researchers who investigated the social and behavioral effects of fetal ethanol exposure in adolescent and adult rats. He said, "The findings by Amber Eade in my lab reveal that fetal ethanol exposure influences adolescent re-exposure, in part, by promoting interactions with intoxicated peers. These results highlight an important relationship between fetal and adolescent experiences that appears essential to the progressive development of alcohol abuse." Fetal ethanol experience is believed to train the developing sense of smell to find ethanol odor more attractive. The authors describe how, in both rats and humans, fetal exposure changes how the odor and flavor of ethanol are perceived. They write, " Such learning may be a fundamental feature of all mammalian species because it is important (from a survival standpoint) for the pre-weanling animal to accept and be attracted to the food sources consumed by the mother". In this study the authors found that rats unexposed to ethanol were significantly less likely to follow an intoxicated peer than those with gestational experience.

Scientists uncover evolutionary keys to common birth disorders

The work of Forsyth scientist Peter Jezewski, DDS, Ph.D., has revealed that duplication and diversification of protein regions ('modules') within ancient master control genes is key to the understanding of certain birth disorders. Tracing the history of these changes within the proteins coded by the Msx gene family over the past 600 million years has also provided additional evidence for the ancient origin of the human mouth. Dr. Jezewski has published an important study examining the Msx family that has ancient roots as a master control gene for patterned embryonic growth. Previous work by Dr. Jezewski, and other groups, identified mutations within the human MSX1 gene in two different birth disorders: either cleft lip and palate or skin derivative disorders ('ectodermal dysplasias') that include tooth and nail malformations. The mutations associated with the more severe clefting disorder are found within unique portions of the MSX protein, thus providing the first molecular explanation for this disease pattern. This work may eventually enable genetically susceptible families with environmental risk factors to prevent these common birth disorders.

Probiotics prevent IgE-associated allergy until age 5 in cesarean-delivered children but not in total cohort

According to a recent study from the University and the University Central Hospital of Helsinki, Finland, no allergy-preventive effect is extended to age 5 years by perinatal supplementation with probiotics in babies at risk for developing allergies; protection is conferred only to Cesarean section babies Childhood allergies have increased significantly in industrialized countries during the past few decades. Researchers theorize that this rising incidence is the result of a lowered exposure to bacteria in early childhood. This exposure to microbes appears to be essential in jump-starting the immune system to develop healthy pathways that do not result in allergic conditions. Additionally, it’s been observed that infants who develop allergies have intestinal bacteria that are distinctly different from those of non-allergic infants, suggesting that the type of intestinal microflora is an important factor in forming allergic conditions. In a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (online January 2009) researchers from the University and University Central Hospital of Helsinki conducted a clinical trial of more than 1200 mothers whose infants would be at high risk to develop allergies. During the last month of their pregnancies, the mothers took daily doses of a probiotic mixture or a placebo, and their infants were given the same probiotic mixture plus a prebiotic or a placebo for the first 6 months of their lives. The children were followed for 5 years and evaluated for incidence of allergic diseases. The authors found that the frequencies of allergic and IgE-associated allergic disease and sensitization were similar in the children who had received probiotic and those who’d gotten placebo. Although there appeared to be a preventive effect at age 2, there was none noted at age 5. Interestingly, in babies born by cesarean section, the researchers found less IgE-associated allergic disease in those who had received the probiotic.

Study identifies warning signs of pregnancy danger

Warnings signs such as increased stress could indicate that pregnancy-induced hypertension is reaching life-threatening levels. The condition is variable and can change quickly. A higher number of symptoms, such as headaches and dizziness, could also mean the condition is getting worse.

Passive smoking increases sleep disturbance among pregnant women

Pregnant women exposed to passive smoking are more likely to have sleep disturbances such as subjective insufficient sleep, difficulty in initiating sleep, short sleep duration, and snoring loudly or breathing uncomfortably, according to a study published in the September 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

Fetal health affected by mother's diet

In the United States, there has been a recent dramatic rise in the number of children classified as obese and diagnosed with obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). One factor thought to contribute to this rise is obesity of the mother during pregnancy. However, a team of researchers, at Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, have found the offspring of both lean and obese nonhuman primate mothers chronically consuming a high-fat diet exhibited an increased risk of developing NAFLD. Importantly, if mothers fed a high-fat diet were reverted to a low-fat diet during a subsequent pregnancy, this second offspring exhibited fewer signs of NAFLD. The team, led by Kevin Grove and Jacob Friedman, therefore suggests that a developing fetus is highly susceptible to maternal consumption of excess fat, whether or not the mother is obese, and that a healthy maternal diet is most important for the obesity-related health of a developing fetus.

Research exposes the risk to infants from the chemicals used in liquid medicines

A team of medical scientists from the University of Leicester has published research which looks into the harmful substances in liquid medicines that premature babies are being exposed to. Research published today (Jan 20) ahead of print in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood documents the non-drug ingredients (excipients) present in liquid medicines given to premature infants as part of their medical care. The study led by Dr Hitesh Pandya, Senior Lecturer in Child Health in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Leicester and Consultant Paediatrician at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, revealed that the chemicals added to medicines to improve their taste, absorption and to prolong their shelf-life could be potentially harmful to very small babies. The chemicals generally used are ethanol, sorbitol and Ponceaau 4R (a colouring agent). The study revealed that premature babies are exposed to these potentially harmful excipients in amounts equivalent to over three pints of beer per week.

Water-diffusion technology identifies brain regions damaged by prenatal alcohol exposure

Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder often have structural brain damage. Recent findings show that several specific white matter regions, as well as deep gray matter areas, of the brain are particularly sensitive to prenatal alcohol exposure. These abnormalities likely underlie the cognitive, motor, behavioral and emotional difficulties that are associated with FASD.

Research exposes the risk to infants from the chemicals used in liquid medicines

A team of medical scientists from the University of Leicester has published research which looks into the harmful substances in liquid medicines that premature babies are being exposed to. Research published today (Jan 20) ahead of print in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood documents the non-drug ingredients (excipients) present in liquid medicines given to premature infants as part of their medical care. The study led by Dr Hitesh Pandya, Senior Lecturer in Child Health in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Leicester and Consultant Paediatrician at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, revealed that the chemicals added to medicines to improve their taste, absorption and to prolong their shelf-life could be potentially harmful to very small babies. The chemicals generally used are ethanol, sorbitol and Ponceaau 4R (a colouring agent). The study revealed that premature babies are exposed to these potentially harmful excipients in amounts equivalent to over three pints of beer per week.

Binge drinking leads to a greater risk of preterm birth

A new study from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has revealed the consequences of heavy and binge drinking on pregnancy even after these drinking patterns have stopped. The study, to be published in BJOG - An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, investigated the relationship between prenatal exposure to alcohol and the effects on fetal growth and preterm birth.A random sample of 4,719 women who gave birth in Western Australia between 1995 and 1997 took part in a survey. Data such as how often participants drank alcohol, the amount of alcohol consumed in each occasion and the types of alcoholic beverage consumed were collated. The researcher team from the Institute with the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford found that, on average, levels of alcohol intake decreased from the pre-pregnancy period to the second and third trimester. There was no difference in outcomes for women who drank low levels of alcohol during their pregnancy and those that abstained. The incidence of preterm birth was highest amongst women who binged (9.5%) or drank heavily, even if the mother stopped drinking prior to the second trimester (13.6%), compared with less than 6% in women who did not drink during pregnancy. There was a 2.3-fold increased odds of preterm birth in women who drank heavily in early pregnancy but then stopped (CI 0.7, 7.7) after taking into account maternal smoking, drug use, socioeconomic status and maternal health. Researchers suggest that a possible reason why this occurs is because the cessation of alcohol consumption before the second trimester may trigger a metabolic or inflammatory response resulting in preterm birth. There was no evidence of an increased likelihood of preterm birth at low levels of alcohol consumption.

Expecting Mothers Should “Brush Up” on Their Oral Hygiene Routine

Researchers have long speculated that women with periodontal diseases may have an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. One study of 3,576 Turkish women found that those with periodontal disease were at a greater risk for having a low birth weight and preterm birth babies than those without periodontal disease. In addition, a second study found that nonsurgical treatments for periodontal disease can actually reduce a woman’s risk for delivering preterm.“Our study found that treating a woman’s periodontal disease decreased her chances of having her baby early by almost 50%,” explained study author Fouzia Tarannum, BDS, M.R. Ambedkar Dental College and Hospital, India. “Our research suggests that treatment of periodontal diseases can help the health of the mother and her baby.”

Hungry mothers risk addiction in their adult children

Babies conceived during a period of famine are at risk of developing addictions later in life, according to new research published in the international journal Addiction. Researchers from the Dutch mental health care organisation, Bouman GGZ, and Erasmus University Rotterdam studied men and women born in Rotterdam during the Dutch "hunger winter." Those whose mothers had suffered severe food shortages and starvation during their early pregnancy were significantly more likely to be receiving treatment for addictive disorders.

Leading cause of death in 'preemies' might be controlled by resetting a molecular switch

Blocking signals from a key molecular receptor that normally switches on the intestine's immune response but instead becomes too intense in the presence of stress and toxins may help reverse necrotizing enterocolitis, a leading cause of death in premature newborns.

Children's Hospital researchers identify molecular 'switch' that could save very young lives

A team of researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a molecular 'switch' that, when blocked, may help reverse necrotizing enterocolitis, a leading cause of death in premature infants.

Newly discovered proteins in seminal fluid transferred during mating may affect odds of producing offspring

crickets to primates. In fruit flies, for instance, seminal fluid proteins influence the competitive ability of a male's sperm, and alter the female's post-mating behavior by dampening her interest in other males and cueing her to lay eggs. There is also some speculation, not yet proven, that having the wrong seminal fluid proteins might be one of several barriers to cross-breeding between closely related species. Although several seminal fluid proteins have been characterized, little has been known about the exact kinds of transferred male proteins present in the female shortly after mating -- how many there are, their relative abundance, their structure, specific functions, and interactions with proteins from either the female or the seminal fluid of other males who mate with the same female. Gathering such information involves proteomics, the large-scale study of the nature and actions of proteins in living systems.

Agency warns of chemical found in cans of baby formula

The Environmental Working Group, the non-profit agency that warned consumers about a chemical found in plastic baby bottles, is out with new research which claims the chemical is also found in cans of baby formula.

New research explains link between smoking and SIDS

A new study from McMaster University in Hamilton sheds light on the relationship between women who smoke while pregnant -- or are exposed to secondhand smoke -- and an increased risk of SIDS to their babies. Researchers found that an infant's ability to respond to oxygen deprivation is dramatically compromised by exposure to nicotine in the womb, even light to moderate amounts.

Pre-eclampsia may be autoimmune disease

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.

Mothers from affluent neighborhoods near highways increase odds of low weight babies by 81 percent

Living near city expressways is associated with adverse birth effects on expectant mothers and their newborns, according to a novel study with global implications. In the August edition of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, scientists from the Université de Montréal and the University of South Australia reveal that women living closest to expressways are more vulnerable to highway pollution -- especially affluent mothers.

Viruses for a healthy pregnancy

Sequences of DNA in the human genome that originated from ancient viral infections have some surprising effects on our bodies and are even essential for a healthy pregnancy, according to an article in the February issue of Microbiology Today.Retrovirus infections represent the most intimate host-pathogen relationship. The virus inserts a copy of its genome into the DNA of the host cell, resulting in an irreversible, stable and sometimes lifelong infection. If a sperm or egg cell is infected, the virus DNA can be passed down generations, permanently fixed in the germ line. As a result, an endogenous retrovirus (ERV) can exist for millions of years.

Experts urge complete global access to iodized salt; prevents IQ loss and brain damage in babies

The Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency at the UN Wednesday will urge renewed international commitment to prevent loss of IQ due to fetal brain damage by facilitating access to iodized salt for the final 30 percent of world households that don’t yet have it -- most of them found in just 20 countries.

Study Reveals Use of Cleaning Products During Pregnancy Increases Risk of Asthma in Young Children

Women who use a lot of household cleaning products when they are pregnant, or shortly after giving birth, are increasing their child’s risk of developing asthma. That’s according to the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents of Children (ALSPAC, also known as Children of the Nineties), that recruited over 13,000 children from before birth and has followed them to post 16.

Likely cause of postpartum blues and depression identified

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. That crosstalk allows the mother's blood to flow out of the uterine artery and get just a single cell layer away from the fetus' blood, says Dr. Puttur D. Prasad, biochemist in the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine. That controlled exchange between the blood of mother and fetus is courtesy of the placenta regulating levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter commonly associated with depression. But platelets that enable blood clotting also secrete serotonin which prompts platelets to aggregate and the placenta to want to get rid of it.

Certain diseases, birth defects may be linked to failure of protein recycling system

A group of signaling proteins known as Wnt -- which help build the human body's skin, bone, muscle and other tissues -- depend on a complex delivery and recycling system to ensure their transport to tissue-building cell sites. Failure of this system may be a mechanism of cancer, heart disease or birth defects related to Wnt proteins, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Large reservoir of mitochondrial DNA mutations identified in humans

Clinical analysis of blood samples from almost 3,000 infants showed that at least 1 in 200 individuals in the general public harbor mitochondrial DNA mutations that may lead to disease.

New finding may help explain development of preeclampsia

In a study of pregnant women, those with pregnancy-induced high blood pressure were found to have higher levels of a peptide that raises blood pressure in the pieces of tissue linking mother and fetus, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The finding, reported online in the journal Hypertension, may help explain how the disorder develops.

Acupuncture May Boost Pregnancy

It sounds far-fetched — sticking needles in women to help them become pregnant — but a scientific review suggests that acupuncture might improve the odds of conceiving if done right before or after embryos are placed in the womb.

Baby care products raise dangerous chemicals

Baby lotion, powder and shampoo can lead to higher concentrations in an infant's body of phthalates, chemicals linked to allergies and altered reproductive development, a study showed Monday.

Homocysteine concentration, related B vitamins, and betaine in pregnant women recruited to the Seychelles Child Development Study

The current study reports 2 important findings. First, fetal requirements for folate are paramount, such that cord blood folate status is maintained, even when maternal status is low. Second, betaine is a significant predictor of tHcy in pregnant women with low serum folate and low serum methionine concentrations.

Mom's obesity during conception phase may set the stage for offspring's obesity risk

Researchers have examined whether fetal exposure to gestational obesity leads to a self-reinforcing viscious cycle of excessive weight gain and body fat which passes from mother to child. The results of a new study suggest they do.

Hairspray is linked to common genital birth defect, says study

Women who are exposed to hairspray in the workplace during pregnancy have more than double the risk of having a son with the genital birth defect hypospadias, according to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.The study is the first to show a significant link between hairspray and hypospadias, one of the most common birth defects of the male genitalia, where the urinary opening is displaced to the underside of the penis. The causes of the condition are poorly understood.

Pregnancy study finds strong association between two antidepressants and heart anomalies

Women who took the antidepressant fluoxetine during the first three months of pregnancy gave birth to four times as many babies with heart problems as women who did not and the levels were three times higher in women taking paroxetine. Although some of the conditions were serious, others were not severe and resolved themselves without the need for medical intervention, according to a three-country study in the November issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Researchers have advised women taking the drugs to continue unless they are advised to stop by their doctor or consultant. But they are being urged to give up smoking, as the study also found that more than ten cigarettes a day was associated with a five-fold increase in babies with major heart problems. The team has also suggested that women on fluoxetine should be given a foetal echocardiogram in their second trimester to diagnose possible heart anomalies. International researchers from Israel, Italy and Germany followed the pregnancies of 2,191 women - 410 who had taken paroxetine during pregnancy, 314 who had taken fluoxetine and 1,467 controls who hadn't taken either of the drugs. "After we excluded genetic and cytogenic anomalies, we found a higher rate of major heart anomalies in the women who had been taking the antidepressants" says lead author Professor Asher Ornoy from the Israeli Teratology Information Service in Jerusalem, Israel. "Further analysis showed a strong association between major heart anomalies and taking fluoxetine in the first trimester. Women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day also had more babies with heart anomalies."

Bacterial infections in premature babies more common than previously realized

Premature babies are subject to a host of threats that can result in fetal/neonatal disease. In a study published in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers found that genital mycoplasmas are a frequent cause of congenital fetal infection. 23 percent of neonates born between 23 and 32 weeks of gestation have positive umbilical blood cultures for two genital mycoplasmas (bacteria lacking cell walls): Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis.

Stanford/Packard study shows no benefit from drug widely used to prevent premature births

When a pregnant woman goes into early labor, her obstetrician may give her drugs to quiet the woman's uterus and prevent premature birth. New research shows, however, that one popular drug works no better than a placebo at maintaining pregnancy after the initial bout of preterm labor is halted.

Pollution shrinks fetus size - Brisbane study finds

Exposure to air pollution significantly reduces fetus size during pregnancy, according to a new study by Brisbane scientists. Queensland University of Technology senior research fellow Dr. Adrian Barnett said the study compared the fetus sizes of more than 15,000 ultrasound scans in Brisbane to air pollution levels within a 14km radius of the city.

Newborns exposed to maternal smoking more irritable, difficult to soothe

Previous studies have shown that babies exposed to tobacco in utero are more likely to have a low birth weight and are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Now new research by The Miriam Hospital reveals that these babies are also less likely to self-soothe and are more aroused and excitable than newborns whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy. Researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine say early identification and targeted intervention efforts aimed at both infants and parents may help prevent possible disruption in early maternal-infant bonding and, ultimately, long-term adverse outcomes. The study is published online by the Journal of Pediatrics. "A baby who is harder to soothe and more irritable could be more difficult to take care of and could potentially affect the developing mother-child relationship, especially for mothers who are already stressed and have fewer resources," says lead author Laura Stroud, PhD, a psychologist with The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. "We need better treatment programs to help women not smoke during pregnancy, to keep them from starting smoking after the baby is born, and to help them take care of an excitable or colicky baby." Between 11 and 30 percent of women continue to smoke during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to the physical side effects, tobacco exposure in utero has also been linked to long-term adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in children, including conduct disorder and hyperactivity. However, researchers say relatively less attention has focused on the effects of maternal smoking on newborn neurobehavior. In the study, Stroud and colleagues from Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, RI, and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University focused on newborns between 10 and 27 days old. The researchers decided on this infant age range because it is well past the half-life of nicotine, meaning the acute effects of nicotine withdrawal were unlikely to be a factor in the study. All 56 babies – 28 smoking-exposed and 28 unexposed – were healthy and full-term. Maternal social class, age and alcohol use were similar in each group.

High levels of prenatal smoking exposure affect sleep patterns in preterm neonates

A study in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Sleep is the first to show that high levels of prenatal smoking exposure strongly modify sleep patterns in preterm neonates, which places infants at a higher risk for developmental difficulties that could persist throughout early and middle childhood.

Simple test accurately predicts risk of serious jaundice in newborns

A simple test can accurately identify which newborn babies are at risk for developing dangerous levels of jaundice, according to researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Individual Air Monitoring Predicts Prenatal Exposure to PAHs

Scientists studying human exposure to air pollutants have traditionally had to rely on data from stations monitoring ambient pollution levels. These stations are unable to account for neighborhood variation of or indoor exposure to pollutants such as tobacco smoke, and thus do not capture personal exposures. An international group of researchers studying pregnant women in Krakow, Poland, found they could accurately predict individual exposures by using data from personal air monitors, allowing the development of a predictive model of exposure that may be generalizable to pregnant women in similar exposure settings [EHP 116-1509–1518; Choi et al.]. Moreover, they found most of the women's exposure was to outdoor pollutants that penetrated indoors.

Cutting the cord to determine babies' health risk from toxic exposure

Despite the well-known dangers of first- and secondhand smoke, an estimated ten percent of pregnant women in the U.S. are smokers. Exposure of a developing baby to harmful cigarette byproducts from mothers who smoke affects an estimated 420,000 newborns each year and poses a significant health care burden. Now, in the first study of its kind, a team of researchers has completed a global assessment of newborns' umbilical cord blood to better understand the fetal health risks from smoking mothers. The research was led by Johns Hopkins University and included Rolf Halden, a researcher from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. "Cigarette smoking is a massive onslaught on human physiology," said Halden, who works in the institute's Center for Environmental Biotechnology. Cigarette smoke is known to contain more than 4,000 chemicals, potentially affecting the health of a newborn baby on multiple levels, including low birth weight, premature delivery and small size for gestational age. The exact cause of these health effects continues to be the subject of investigation. "Unfortunately, maternal cigarette smoking puts babies at risk of adverse birth outcomes and increases susceptibility to other diseases later in life," said Halden.

Statin warning for pregnant women

Pregnant women or those hoping to start or extend a family should avoid using the cholesterol-lowering drugs statins, say scientists. Current clinical guidelines already recommend that women who are pregnant should stop taking statins but the advice is based on the knowledge that cholesterol is essential for normal fetal development. Indeed, a 2007 study examining the risk of congenital anomalies in children of pregnant women using statins suggested that the detrimental effects of the drugs may be restricted to fat-soluble or 'lipophilic' statins only. But new research from The University of Manchester has shown that even water-soluble or 'hydrophilic' statins, such as pravastatin, can affect placental development leading to worse pregnancy outcomes. "The rapid rise in obesity and type-2 diabetes is a major health issue and affected individuals are often treated with statins to lower circulating cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease," said Dr Melissa Westwood, a Senior Lecturer in Endocrinology based at the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester."Given the evolving demographic profile of these conditions, such drugs are increasingly prescribed to women of reproductive age but the actions of statins are not limited to the regulation of cholesterol levels, as they can affect the production of other chemicals in the body too.

Clue to cause of womb condition

Scientists have identified a possible cause of the painful womb condition endometriosis.

Infants with birthmarks received less oxygen in womb

A hemangioma is a benign tumor of cells that line blood vessels, appearing during the first few weeks of life as a large birthmark or lesion. A study published in Pediatric Dermatology reveals that a disturbance of oxygen depletion was found in placentas of babies who developed infantile hemangioma.