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PAS 2021: Plenary session on prenatal environmental contaminants and childhood disease

A state of the art plenary session during the Pediatric Academic Societies 2021 Virtual Meeting discussed prenatal environmental contaminants and childhood disease, and the latest evidence for epigenetic mechanisms associated with transgenerational disease and public policy implications.

5 May 2021

Prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke and pollution associated with child behavioral problems

A pregnant woman's exposure to tobacco smoke and pollution from road traffic can influence the development of behavioral outcomes in early childhood.

27 Apr 2021

PNA-based gene editing technique can advance gene discovery

In an article published in the April 8 issue of Nature, the National Institutes of Health's Somatic Cell Gene Editing Consortium provided a detailed update on the progress of their nationwide effort to develop safer and more effective methods to edit the genomes of disease-relevant somatic cells and reduce the burden of disease caused by genetic changes.

8 Apr 2021

Prime editing enables more precise correction of genetic problems than traditional CRISPR

The latest gene editing technology, prime editing, expands the "genetic toolbox" for more precisely creating disease models and correcting genetic problems, scientists say.

30 Mar 2021

Researchers discover a novel marker of adult human neural stem cells

The mammalian center for learning and memory, hippocampus, has a remarkable capacity to generate new neurons throughout life. Newborn neurons are produced by neural stem cells (NSCs) and they are crucial for forming neural circuits required for learning and memory, and mood control.

24 Mar 2021

Exposure to endocrine disruptors in utero associated with poorer sperm quality in adulthood

A growing number of studies show that the environmental factors and lifestyle habits of pregnant women play an important role in the health of their child. But how about the semen quality of young men?

19 Mar 2021

Study: COVID-19 pandemic can affect mothers and infants through immune pathways

If past natural disasters have taught us anything about their effects on pregnant women and developing babies, it is to pay close attention, for the added stress will surely have an impact on them.

10 Mar 2021

UH pharmacologist to explore cause and treatment for left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy

University of Houston pharmacologist Mingfu Wu has been awarded $2.5 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to explore the cause of and therapeutic treatment for left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC).

5 Mar 2021

Study lays the groundwork for developing novel strategies to treat neurological diseases

A research team from the School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong has recently discovered that SOX9 protein is an essential regulatory factor of choroid plexus function that ensures the correct composition of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

24 Feb 2021

Caffeine exposure in utero can cause structural brain alterations in children

New research finds caffeine consumed during pregnancy can change important brain pathways that could lead to behavioral problems later in life.

8 Feb 2021

FISH technique can be used to probe sperm DNA for chromosomal defects

Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are known to cause harsh side effects that patients can see or feel throughout their bodies.

19 Jan 2021

Midwife’s research included in new national guidance on harms caused by alcohol in pregnancy

As thousands of people are committing to giving up alcohol during Dry January, research from a midwifery lecturer at Northumbria University has been included in new national guidance on the harms of consuming alcohol both before and during pregnancy.

18 Jan 2021

Zika infection affects fetal retinal development during pregnancy but not after birth

While the SARS-CoV-2 virus has dominated the news this past year, researchers continue to study the health effects of the Zika virus, which has been reported in 86 countries globally.

18 Dec 2020

Researchers examine whether regenerative patch for spina bifida defect can promote healing

Researchers are investigating whether a human umbilical cord patch placed on the spina bifida defect could improve healing after minimally invasive fetoscopic surgery in a clinical trial at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

14 Dec 2020

Maternal stress may lead to preterm births, accelerate child's biological aging

Why do some people age faster than others? One potential answer, a new UCLA-led study indicates, is that a mother's stress prior to giving birth may accelerate her child's biological aging.

30 Nov 2020

USask researchers to study how cannabis use during pregnancy affects fetus' brain development

University of Saskatchewan pharmacologist Robert Laprairie will use a Brain Canada research grant to determine how a mother's use of cannabis during pregnancy affects the brain of the developing fetus she's carrying.

9 Nov 2020

Researchers explore how different birth experience affect the developing nervous system

It is an experience we all share, as miraculous as it is mysterious. Birth. Today, roughly one in three births in the United States occurs via cesarean section or C-section.

5 Nov 2020

Mothers' vitamin D levels during pregnancy positively associated with their children's IQ

Vitamin D is a critical nutrient and has many important functions in the body. A mother's vitamin D supply is passed to her baby in utero and helps regulate processes including brain development.

2 Nov 2020

Neuroscientists show how the brain manages to adapt in people born without a corpus callosum

One in 4,000 people is born without a corpus callosum, a brain structure consisting of neural fibers that are used to transfer information from one hemisphere to the other.

30 Oct 2020

Exposure to ancient parasites may be linked to humans’ response to coronavirus

Why are some people more resilient to viruses than others? The answer has eluded scientists for centuries and, in the age of COVID-19, has come to represent one of the holy grails of biomedical research.

16 Oct 2020