Placenta News and Research

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"More aggressive" nutrition improves growth and development of tiny premature babies

On New Year's Day this coming Sunday, we will once again be waiting to see whereabouts in Austria the first baby is born safe and sound to be our "New Year's Baby 2017".

30 Dec 2016

New SFU research could revolutionize IVF success rates

Over the past three years, Canadian women desperate to conceive a child endured more than 82,000 attempts to become impregnated using in vitro fertilization (IVF), a reproductive technique that fertilizes a woman's eggs outside of her body.

7 Dec 2016

Scientists create 3-D virtual reality models that may help better visualize unborn babies

Parents may soon be able to watch their unborn babies grow in realistic 3-D immersive visualizations, thanks to new technology that transforms MRI and ultrasound data into a 3-D virtual reality model of a fetus, according to research being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

21 Nov 2016

Experts develop new method to quantify syncytial knots in placenta

Identifying potential risk factors that may harm placental development is a primary objective of pregnancy screenings. To help ensure healthy pregnancies and, in turn, healthy newborns, researchers and clinicians continue to develop new and innovative testing methods to monitor fetal development.

17 Nov 2016

Congenital CMV infection highly common among children with cerebral palsy, study finds

Cytomegalovirus is a common herpesvirus that can cross the placenta, infect the fetus and cause damage to the developing brain.

15 Nov 2016

Prenatal exposure to mother's stress causes microbial changes that persist into adulthood

Prenatal exposure to a mother's stress contributes to anxiety and cognitive problems that persist into adulthood, a phenomenon that could be explained by lasting - and potentially damaging - changes in the microbiome, according to new research in mice.

15 Nov 2016

Researchers discover antibody that can protect fetus from Zika virus in pregnant mice

The most devastating consequence of Zika virus infection is the development of microcephaly, or an abnormally small head, in babies who were infected in utero.

7 Nov 2016

Encapsulated placenta may not be good source of dietary iron for postpartum mothers, study finds

Hey new moms, don't put down that can of spinach just yet. A research team led by UNLV medical anthropologists found that eating encapsulated human placenta, a practice known as placentophagy, may not be as good a source of dietary iron for postpartum mothers as proponents suggest.

7 Nov 2016

Research highlights need to improve post mortem techniques to better detect cause of stillbirth

Analysis by a Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) led team looking at the effectiveness of different elements of the post mortem process shows that, despite full standard investigation, in the majority of cases of stillbirth the cause remains unknown. The papers highlight the need for further research to improve post mortem techniques to better detect a cause of death.

26 Oct 2016

ESCMID Study Group for Vaccines calls on all pregnant women to sign up for flu vaccine

The flu season is almost here and The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) and its specialist vaccine study group, the ESCMID Study Group for Vaccines (EVASG) is calling on all pregnant women to sign up for their flu vaccine.

25 Oct 2016

Small RNA molecules could contribute to serious pregnancy complication, study finds

A family of small RNA molecules affects the development of cells that give rise to the placenta - an organ that transfers oxygen and nutrients from mother to fetus -- in ways that could contribute to a serious pregnancy complication, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

24 Oct 2016

Researchers develop new technique to image functional activity in the brains of fetuses

NIBIB-funded researchers at the University of Washington have pioneered an approach to image functional activity in the brains of individual fetuses, allowing a better look at how functional networks within the brain develop.

13 Oct 2016

Researchers suggest need for human studies to examine effects of cannabinoid use during pregnancy

In this new era of legalized marijuana, far too little research has been conducted on the effect of cannabis on the development of human embryos, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center who scoured medical literature on the topic and found what they say is worrisome animal research.

30 Sep 2016

Harvard symposium highlights health impact of gut microbiota and probiotics throughout lifespan

Danone Nutricia Research, one of the key sponsors of the September 15th and 16th Harvard Medical School Division of Nutrition symposium on gut microbiota, probiotics and their impact throughout the lifespan, announces its continued support of research in the emerging field of the microbiome and its interactions with body functions.

30 Sep 2016

Research shows how placenta umpires fight for nutrients between pregnant mother and foetus

New research provides the first clear evidence that the amount of nutrients transported to the foetus by the placenta adjusts according to both the foetal drive for growth, and the mother's physical ability to provide.

13 Sep 2016

Research reveals how Zika virus arrests fetal brain development in pigtail macaque

For the first time, abnormal brain development following a Zika infection during pregnancy has been documented experimentally in the offspring of a non-human primate.

12 Sep 2016

Steroids for treating infertility in women may have harmful effects on pregnancy and child

Researchers at the University of Adelaide are urging doctors and patients to refrain from using a specific steroid treatment to treat infertility in women unless clinically indicated, because of its links to miscarriage, preterm birth and birth defects.

9 Sep 2016

Researchers isolate cord blood factor that helps fight harmful inflammation

A factor found in umbilical cord blood could become the basis for developing a new therapy to fight harmful inflammation, University of Utah School of Medicine researchers report.

7 Sep 2016

Transplantation of placenta-derived MSCs can prevent diabetes-related CLI in rats

In an effort to determine if stem cell therapy can prevent or improve a condition called "diabetic foot" caused by poor blood flow in patients with diabetes, a team of researchers in China has found that transplanting human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into rats modeled with diabetes can affect blood vessel growth, potentially improving blood flow and preventing critical limb ischemia (CLI), a condition that results in diabetic foot and frequently leads to amputation.

30 Aug 2016

Study suggests autologous EPC transfusion may prevent miscarriage in high-risk pregnancies

In a study focusing on the role of self-donated (autologous) bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in placental vascular development, researchers in Japan have discovered that when transplanted into pregnant mice, EPCs can contribute to better blood vessel growth that helps in forming "normalized" placental vascularization, leading, in turn, to reduced recurrent miscarriages by providing a healthier fetal environment during gestation.