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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

First primate model can help researchers to study mother-to-fetus CMV infections

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading infectious cause of birth defects worldwide, but scientists have been frustrated in their efforts to develop a vaccine to protect against infections.

20 Oct 2015

Melatonin and the circadian rhythm: an interview with Professor Kennaway, University of Adelaide

The production of melatonin is controlled by a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and its timing fine-tuned by our exposure to light during the morning.

20 Oct 2015

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation to honor nine scientists with Outstanding Achievement Prizes

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation will honor nine scientists with its 2015 Outstanding Achievement Prizes for their work in schizophrenia, mood disorders, child and adolescent psychiatry, and cognitive neuroscience.

9 Oct 2015

Study demonstrates potential of FCPCs as new source for cartilage regeneration

The self-repair of injured cartilage is difficult for several reasons, foremost of which is the lack of blood supply to the tissue. Therapeutic efforts aimed at cartilage repair are often not optimal. Surgical repair techniques often lead to the formation of fibrocartilage, which is weaker and less durable. Although cell transplantation aimed at cartilage repair has been carried out using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), varying outcomes have resulted, despite the propensity of MSCs to proliferate and differentiate.

23 Sep 2015

Fetuses with enlarged ventricles are not ideal candidates for fetal spina bifida surgery

Fetuses with enlarged ventricles--the fluid-filled cavities inside the brain--may be less likely than other fetuses to benefit from surgery in the womb to treat spina bifida, according to a study co-authored by researchers at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco.

16 Sep 2015

New treatment protocol can improve outcomes for babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome

A new protocol to treat babies born in withdrawal from drugs can be used widely to improve outcomes for these babies. The protocol reduces length of stay and the duration of treatment with opioids that are used therapeutically to wean babies off of drugs.

14 Sep 2015

Pre-birth arsenic exposure associated with early puberty, obesity in mice

Female mice exposed in utero, or in the womb, to low levels of arsenic through drinking water displayed signs of early puberty and became obese as adults, according to scientists from the National Institutes of Health.

27 Aug 2015

Animal study shows children exposed to famine grow smaller, become susceptible to metabolic diseases

Starvation early in life can alter an organism for generations to come, according to a new study in roundworms. The effects are what Duke University biologist Ryan Baugh terms a "bet-hedging strategy."

3 Aug 2015

Newborn's first stool can signal future cognitive problems

A newborn's first stool can signal the child may struggle with persistent cognitive problems, according to Case Western Reserve University Project Newborn researchers.

14 Jul 2015

UMass Amherst scientist to study how estrogen-mimicking chemicals in the womb can increase breast cancer risk

Much attention has been paid to genetics in breast cancer as disease rates rise, but most women have no family history of the disease, suggesting that there is an environmental risk we don't yet understand, says environmental health scientist Laura Vandenberg in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

13 Jul 2015

WSU researcher secures $1.25 million NIH grant to study role of rosiglitazone drug in reversing preeclampsia

Sascha Drewlo, Ph.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has secured a $1.25 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to study the role of approved drugs to improve placental function.

8 Jul 2015

IDIBELL researchers identify potential treatment for type 2 diabetes

Currently, there are more than 350 million type 2 diabetics and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) by 2030 it will be the 7th leading cause of death worldwide.

19 Jun 2015