Labor News and Research

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Comprehensive care for complex, high-risk pregnancies

As many as 3 percent of all pregnancies result in the birth of a baby with chromosomal anomalies like Down syndrome or structural anomalies such as congenital heart disease.

23 May 2006

Inducing labor increases risk of developing chorioamnionitis

Women who have their labor induced or are given medication to stimulate contractions are at greater risk of developing chorioamnionitis

16 May 2006

Labor can be longer for obese pregnant women

It takes obese pregnant women who are given medication to induce labor longer to deliver their babies than women of normal body weight.

16 May 2006

Many pregnant not tested for HIV

Despite state laws requiring that every pregnant woman be offered HIV testing multiple times during pregnancy, about 20 percent of women reach their third trimester without it, according to a review of Florida women from 2003-04, researchers say.

9 May 2006

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

A comprehensive review of all phase III clinical trials supported by one Federal agency finds that, estimated conservatively, the economic benefit in the United States from just eight of these trials exceeded $15 billion over the course of 10 years. The study also found that new discoveries from the trials were responsible for an estimated additional 470,000 healthy years of life. The clinical trials were sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

28 Apr 2006

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

28 Apr 2006

Music may be a good complement to pain-relief drugs

Medication is the best, first choice to treat pain following surgery, but music may be a good complement to pain-relief drugs, according to a new review of clinical studies.

18 Apr 2006

Oral misoprostol for induction of labour

A popular anti-ulcer pill used around the world for inducing labor and preventing post-delivery bleeding appears to be as effective as more expensive drugs but still must be used with caution, according to an updated systematic review of studies.

18 Apr 2006

Nurses encouraged to practice family-centered maternity care

The March issue of Journal of Obstetric Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing is challenging nurses who care for pregnant and laboring women to reconsider family centered maternity care.

18 Apr 2006

Federal monitoring system underestimates work-related injury and illness

The current national surveillance system may miss two-thirds of the total number of occupational injuries and illnesses, suggests a study in the April Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

17 Apr 2006

Birth order has no effect on intelligence

This new study, based on a large, nationwide sample, suggests a critical flaw in that previous research, said Aaron Wichman, lead author of the new study and a teaching fellow in psychology at Ohio State University.

11 Apr 2006

Link between bacteria found in the mouth and the amniotic fluid of a woman in preterm labor

A 37-year-old-mother, who gave birth to a low-weight preemie at 24 weeks, exhibited the first-found link in a human between bacteria found in the mouth and the amniotic fluid of a woman in preterm labor.

6 Apr 2006

ICG value accurately predicts outcomes in adult living-donor liver transplantation

A new study on identifying which patients were likely to have poor outcomes following a living-donor liver transplant (LDLT) found that measuring how a certain non-toxic dye was eliminated by the liver shortly after surgery was an accurate indicator of liver function, and therefore a reliable indicator of the outcome of the procedure.

4 Apr 2006

Nigeria approves misoprostol for use in hospitals and clinics

An old drug will gain a new use in Nigeria when misoprostol will be distributed for prevention and control of post-partum hemorrhage, the life-threatening bleeding after childbirth that commonly occurs in developing countries.

3 Apr 2006

Modification of O'Connor's technique for the treatment of vesico-vaginal fistula repair described

Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) is a distressing disease with social, hygienic, and psychosexual consequences.

30 Mar 2006

Patent filed for method to prevent early labor and premature delivery of low-birth-weight babies

The discovery is an incremental step in an area of obstetrics that has seen little improvement in 20 years.

28 Mar 2006

African conference to look at preventing postpartum hemorrhage deaths

A meeting in Uganda in early April will address ways to prevent deaths from postpartum hemorrhage, a leading contributor to Africa's maternal death rate, the highest in the world.

27 Mar 2006

Average pregnancy in the U.S. is now 39 weeks

The most common length of pregnancy in the United States is now 39 weeks, a week shorter than the traditional definition of a full-term pregnancy. This shift occurred between 1992 and 2002, according to a new analysis by the March of Dimes published this month in a special supplement of the journal "Seminars in Perinatology."

23 Mar 2006

New technology - desorption electrospray ionization detects the boundaries of cancerous tumors

Researchers at Purdue University have shown how a new ultra-fast chemical-analysis tool has numerous promising uses for detecting everything from cancer in the liver to explosives residues on luggage and "biomarkers" in urine that provide an early warning for diseases.

21 Mar 2006

Troubling increase in repeat cesarean delivery

A survey conducted to determine the basis for the increased number of repeat cesarean births in the United States found that nearly 10 percent of women had undocumented reasons for the surgery.

8 Mar 2006