Placenta News and Research

RSS

Omega-3 fats fail to reduce risk of chronic lung disease in pre-term babies, study finds

THE long-held belief that Omega-3 fats can help reduce chronic lung disease in pre-term babies has been debunked by researchers.

31 Mar 2017

Maternal overweight and obesity linked to increased risk of child’s cerebral palsy

Being overweight or obese during pregnancy increases the chance of having a child with cerebral palsy, according to new research led by the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

7 Mar 2017

Scientists establish framework for understanding mechanics that underlie vesicle formation

Engineers at Carnegie Mellon University and biomedical researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Magee-Womens Research Institute have established a framework for understanding the mechanics that underlie vesicle formation.

7 Mar 2017

New report expresses ethical concerns about use of non-invasive prenatal testing

A new report on non-invasive prenatal testing by the UK's Nuffield Council on Bioethics expresses concerns about the way the test is being sold by private providers.

1 Mar 2017

Study reveals mechanisms behind Zika transmission to fetus and adverse perinatal outcomes

Johns Hopkins researchers say that in early pregnancy in mice with complete immune systems, Zika virus can cross the placenta -- intended to protect the developing fetus -- and appears to lead to a high percentage of miscarriages and to babies born with thin brain tissue and inflammation in brain cells.

23 Feb 2017

Listeria may pose severe risk of miscarriage in early stages of pregnancy

Listeria, a common food-borne bacterium, may pose a greater risk of miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy than appreciated, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine studying how pathogens affect fetal development and change the outcome of pregnancy.

21 Feb 2017

Upstate opens new public cord blood bank in New York

Upstate Medical University opens the Upstate Cord Blood Bank, only the second public cord blood bank in New York and one of only 32 in the US.

20 Feb 2017

Researchers explore effects of preeclampsia on risk of developing ROP in premature infants

Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, MD, and colleagues at the John A. Moran Center and Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, were looking for a way to tease apart the effects of preeclampsia on the risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), an eye disease found in premature infants. Their results, and the model they developed, were published February 14, 2017, in Scientific Reports.

15 Feb 2017

Baby’s sex linked to pregnant women's immune responses, study shows

Women have claimed for years that their bodies react differently whether they're pregnant with a male or female baby. Some studies suggest that a baby's sex could play a role in why some women report differences with morning sickness, cravings and other symptoms based on the sex of their baby.

10 Feb 2017

New pregnancy recommendations offer road map to help women with congenital heart disease

For generations, doctors told women who were born with complex congenital heart defects that the physical demands of pregnancy and delivery would be too difficult for them, and that they should not have babies.

7 Feb 2017

TSRI researchers uncover details behind Zika virus's unique ability to cause birth defects

The most frightening aspect of Zika virus has been its ability to produce severe fetal birth defects during pregnancy, especially microcephaly—a small head.

7 Feb 2017

New study explores patient and physician perspectives toward maternal placentophagy

Placentophagy--maternal consumption of the placenta--has become increasingly prevalent in the past decade among women seeking to promote health and healing during the postpartum period.

2 Feb 2017

Children exposed to complications before or during birth more likely to develop ASD, study finds

Children who were exposed to complications shortly before or during birth, including birth asphyxia and preeclampsia, were more likely to develop autism spectrum disorder, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the American Journal of Perinatology.

31 Jan 2017

Study looks at use of evolutionary triangulation to refine results from genetic studies of preterm birth

In a study to be presented Thursday, Jan. 26, in the oral concurrent session at 1:15 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, researchers verified genetic results from one large study of women with spontaneous preterm birth, and highlighted 13 key genes in both mothers and babies which may be involved in preterm birth while also identifying 123 genes as top candidates for further study.

23 Jan 2017

Penn researchers discover antimicrobial that thwarts Zika viral entry into human cells

A panel of small molecules that inhibit Zika virus infection, including one that stands out as a potent inhibitor of Zika viral entry into relevant human cell types, was discovered by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

17 Jan 2017

Delayed cord clamping prevents anaemia in infants up to six months of age

When clamping of the umbilical cord is delayed, iron deficiency up to six months of age can be prevented, according to a new study from Uppsala University, published in JAMA Pediatrics. The study was conducted in Nepal.

17 Jan 2017

Childhood obesity starts in the womb?

There is incontrovertible evidence that some harmful drugs and toxins can affect lifelong health. For example, if women take certain drugs in pregnancy, such as thalidomide, there are well documented effects on lifelong health. These have obvious and dramatic effects on the child...

11 Jan 2017