Birth Defects News and Research

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Study: Number of babies born with cytomegalovirus decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic

Published in JAMA, University of Minnesota Medical School researchers discovered the number of babies born in Minnesota with cytomegalovirus (CMV) decreased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

6 Sep 2022

Mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid has potential to prevent neural tube defects

The UK Government's current proposal to fortify one type of flour with folic acid is inadequate as it suggests a low dose that would fail to prevent hundreds of cases of severe birth defects each year, according to a new paper by UCL's Professor Sir Nicholas Wald.

22 Aug 2022

SARS-CoV-2 infection in mothers does not have a significant teratogenic effect

Scientists determine that infection with SARS-CoV-2 during the first trimester of pregnancy does not increase the risk of any specific congenital malformations.

9 Aug 2022

Researchers find mechanisms behind the development of congenital birth defect

About one percent of the world population is born with a congenital heart defect, which affects about 40,000 U.S. births each year, but how these particular birth defects come about is largely unknown.

1 Aug 2022

UC San Francisco neurologists focus on the hazards of abortion restrictions for women of reproductive age

UCSF Perspective Article Says New Ruling May Result in Increased Risk of Deaths, Disability.

14 Jul 2022

East African newborns nearly five times more likely to have neural tube defects

Newborns, whose brains, spines or spinal cords do not properly develop in utero, can be born with neural tube defects (NTD), increasing their risk of physical disabilities, intellectual impairments and death.

30 Jun 2022

NUS researchers discover a new way to interpret unsolved Mendelian diseases

The development of an embryo is a well-orchestrated string of processes, ensuring correct formation and positioning of vital organs of the growing organism.

29 Jun 2022

Researchers continue a national study to evaluate COVID-19 vaccination safety pre-and post-delivery

With the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic ongoing, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in collaboration with the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, will continue a national study to evaluate the safety of COVID-19 vaccinations during pregnancy, and monitor immune response for mother and baby following vaccinations.

23 Jun 2022

Study provides a crucial reference for fetal tissue generation in the lab

Scientists have identified the biochemical signals that control the emergence of the body pattern in the primate embryo.

16 Jun 2022

Taking valproic acid during pregnancy can cause birth defects, study shows

Valproic acid-; a drug used to treat epilepsy, migraine, and bipolar disorder-; can cause birth defects when taken during pregnancy.

14 Jun 2022

Study reveals the benefits of using thalidomide in patients with severe arteriovenous malformations

The same properties that caused birth defects when it was given to pregnant women, the inhibition of blood vessel formation (anti-angiogenesis), have led to an interest in thalidomide's therapeutic utility in other fields.

10 Jun 2022

New study counters claims that COVID-19 vaccines reduce fertility and affect fetal growth

New experiments conducted in mice add to mounting evidence in opposition to a popular claim that COVID-19 vaccination during early pregnancy may cause birth defects or fetal growth problems.

24 May 2022

Clemson researchers discover a promising therapy for people suffering from toxoplasmosis

Many doctors caution their pregnant patients to avoid cat feces; even the family pet's litter box is off-limits. Now, a group of researchers from Clemson University have discovered a promising therapy for those who suffer from toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the microscopic protozoa Toxoplasma gondii.

11 May 2022

Zika virus can mutate to become more infective and dangerous, finds study

LA JOLLA, CA-;Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have found that Zika virus can mutate to become more infective-;and potentially break through pre-existing immunity.

13 Apr 2022

COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy not associated with any observable birth defects on ultrasound

In our latest interview, News Medical speaks to Dr. Rachel Ruderman about her current research, which reveals no detectable link on ultrasound scans between COVID-19 vaccination and birth defects.

12 Apr 2022

Paternal use of diabetes drug associated with genital birth defects in boys

Boys were more likely to be born with genital birth defects if their fathers took the commonly prescribed diabetes drug metformin in the three months before conception, according to a new study by Stanford Medicine investigators and their collaborators in Denmark.

6 Apr 2022

UW Medicine responds to social media posts about specimens of fetuses with anomalies

The following statement is in response to social media posts made by an anti-abortion group that shared photos taken in the Birth Defects and Research Laboratory at the University of Washington.

1 Apr 2022

BGI discovery could pave the way for advances in organ regeneration and synthetic biology

In a world-first, scientists from BGI-Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a group of partners published a study in Nature, announcing the discovery of a transgene-free, rapid, and controllable method to convert pluripotent stem-cells into bona fide 8-cell totipotent embryo-like cells, paving the way for advances in organ regeneration and synthetic biology.

22 Mar 2022

Penn State professor receives $2.8 million NIH grant to investigate lower jaw development

How the lower jaw -; mandible -; develops and consequently how and why some developmental birth defects occur is the focus of a five-year, $2.8 million grant to Joan Richtsmeier, distinguished professor of anthropology, Penn State, from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research.

16 Mar 2022

High blood pressure genes improve outcomes after congenital heart defect repair surgery

Children with a genetic makeup that predicts high blood pressure as adults are more likely to survive congenital heart defect repair surgery, according to a new study published in Circulation Research.

15 Mar 2022