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Preventing the spread of Zika: an interview with Professor John Oxford

The link between the Zika virus and Guillain-Barré on the one hand, and pregnancy and the virus affecting the fetus in terms of microcephaly on the other, is still not confirmed conclusively.

1 Mar 2016

CHLA cardiologists perform rare fetal cardiac intervention procedure

Last August, when Children's Hospital Los Angeles cardiologists confirmed that the heart of a 27-week-old fetus suffered from a critical cardiac condition that prevented blood returning from the fetus's lungs from circulating back into the body, they told the parents that their child faced certain open-heart surgery after birth. Even worse, babies born with this very rare condition—hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) with restrictive atrial septum—have a 50 percent neonatal mortality rate.

27 Feb 2016

NAU researcher calls for greater public awareness of cytomegalovirus

As the Zika virus continues to spread across the globe, and gain worldwide attention for its' potential birth defects, an NAU researcher is calling for greater public awareness of cytomegalovirus—the most common viral cause of birth defects in the United States.

16 Feb 2016

Variations in Tie2 gene play significant role in patient responses to infections

Major infections such as influenza and bacterial sepsis kill millions of people each year, often resulting fro dangerous complications that impair the body's blood vessels. But the reasons why some patients experience these dramatic responses to infections -- and others don't -- have been unclear.

16 Feb 2016

UTHealth researchers demonstrate new way to reduce preterm birth

Using nanoparticles to engineer a special drug, a team of researchers from McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has demonstrated in pre-clinical trials a new way to both reduce preterm birth and avoid the risks of medication in pregnancy to unborn babies.

5 Feb 2016

Height affects risk of major non-communicable diseases

Height is largely genetically determined, but in recent decades the height of children and adults has steadily increased throughout the world: In adulthood the children are almost always significantly taller than their parents.

3 Feb 2016

Children born to obese women with diabetes at higher risk of developing autism

Children born to obese women with diabetes are more than four times as likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder than children of healthy weight mothers without diabetes, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

30 Jan 2016

IDEAL study holds new hope for children exposed to methamphetamine in the womb

Despite continuing reports that methamphetamine abuse during pregnancy can lead to behavioral and emotional problems in children, pregnant women continue to abuse the illicit drug. Nearly one-fourth of pregnant women seeking treatment at federal facilities were methamphetamine users.

22 Jan 2016

RIKEN researchers discover how to reverse abnormal axonal development

Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have discovered how to reverse the abnormal axonal development characteristic of CFEOM3, a congenital disease that affects the muscles that control eye movements.

19 Jan 2016

Buprenorphine superior to methadone in reducing duration of treatment for babies born in drug withdrawal

A study of two opioids used to wean babies born in withdrawal from drugs their mothers have taken shows that buprenorphine is superior to methadone in reducing duration of treatment and length of hospital stay.

6 Jan 2016

Researchers suggest microorganisms in the womb set stage for health problems later in life

Researchers review importance of microorganisms that exist in the gut, suggesting perturbation of the environment during pregnancy, delivery and early infancy could impact the developing baby's early microbiome and set the stage for health problems later in life. The term "microbiome" refers to the trillions of organisms we harbor, on our skin and within our respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.

30 Dec 2015

Using antidepressants during pregnancy greatly increases autism risk

Using antidepressants during pregnancy greatly increases the risk of autism, Professor Anick Bérard of the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital revealed today. Prof. Bérard, an internationally renowned expert in the fields of pharmaceutical safety during pregnancy, came to her conclusions after reviewing data covering 145,456 pregnancies.

15 Dec 2015

Environmental and lifestyle factors damage men's reproductive health

Environmental and lifestyle factors are damaging men's reproductive health and may be playing a large role in decreasing fertility rates in industrialized countries, a new study in Physiological Reviews reports. Socioeconomic influences and female reproductive health cannot solely be blamed for higher incidences of infertility, the study supports.

10 Dec 2015

Prenatal smoking exposure can potentially affect someone's health for years after birth

New Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research finds that blood taken from children up to the age of five contains molecular evidence about whether their mothers smoked during pregnancy.

23 Nov 2015

Weight-loss surgery improves metabolic health of mothers, but harms offspring later in life

Studies show that weight-loss surgery can boost fertility in women and reduce the risk of pregnancy complications that commonly occur in obese women, such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. While weight loss surgery improves the metabolic health of mothers, new findings to be presented at Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic Diseases: Physiology and Gender support that such surgery has negative consequences on children born after the procedure.

20 Nov 2015

Drinking moderate amounts of caffeine during pregnancy does not harm baby's intelligence

Women drinking and eating moderate amounts of caffeine during pregnancy should be reassured that they are not harming their child's intelligence, according to a study from The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital that was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

20 Nov 2015

Arsenic exposure during pregnancy may increase risk of infections, respiratory symptoms in children

Children born to women who were exposed to higher arsenic during pregnancy have a greater risk of infections and respiratory symptoms within their first year of life, a Dartmouth College-led study shows.

10 Nov 2015

New computer-based modeling may help improve outcomes for babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome

Computer-based modeling is helping to further reduce length of hospital stay and duration of treatment with opioids that are used therapeutically to wean babies born in withdrawal from drugs their mothers have taken. This condition is known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

30 Oct 2015

Strensiq approved for treatment of patients with juvenile-onset HPP

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Strensiq (asfotase alfa) as the first approved treatment for perinatal, infantile and juvenile-onset hypophosphatasia (HPP).

24 Oct 2015

$Cesarean delivery does not reduce fracture risk in newborns with rare bone disorder$

Cesarean delivery does not reduce fracture risk in newborns with rare bone disorder

Cesarean delivery was not associated with decrease in the at-birth fracture rates in infants with osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare bone disorder, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine.

23 Oct 2015