Womb News and Research

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The womb is the small, hollow, pear-shaped organ in a woman's pelvis. This is the organ in which a baby grows. Also called uterus.

Activation of pregnant mother's immune system can affect baby's brain development, study reveals

A landmark study published in the Journal of Neuroscience on February 26 reveals that activation of a pregnant mother's immune system can affect her baby's brain development.

28 Feb 2018

Diabetes drug use during pregnancy may increase risk of obesity or overweight in children

When women take the common diabetes medication metformin during pregnancy, it may put their children at increased risk of having obesity or overweight.

28 Feb 2018

Scientists pinpoint fertility hormone that could support early pregnancy

The hormone helps prime cells for implantation, a vital stage in early pregnancy when a fertilized egg attaches to the womb lining, the study suggests.

21 Feb 2018

Researchers identify fifteen genes that determine our facial features

Researchers from KU Leuven and the universities of Pittsburgh, Stanford, and Penn State have identified fifteen genes that determine our facial features. The findings were published in Nature Genetics.

19 Feb 2018

Multi-spectral imaging shows promise for improving uterine transplant surgery

Future Science Group today announced the publication of an article in Future Science OA demonstrating the first use of multispectral imaging in gynecology, in a uterine transplant setting.

12 Feb 2018

Undernutrition in preschool years linked to hearing loss later in life

Young adults who were undernourished as preschool children were approximately twice as likely to suffer from hearing loss as their better-nourished peers, a new study suggests.

8 Feb 2018

As marijuana laws relax, doctors say pregnant women shouldn’t partake

Two-year-old Maverick Hawkins sits on a red, plastic car in his grandmother’s living room in the picturesque town of Nevada City, Calif., in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. His playpal Delilah Smith, a fellow 2-year-old, snacks on hummus and cashews and delights over the sounds of her Princess Peppa Pig stuffie.

31 Jan 2018

Changes in bacterial environment may predict risk of preterm birth

A recent study has found that changes in microbial communities within the reproductive tract of pregnant women were strongly linked to premature birth.

26 Jan 2018

Children with cochlear implant learn words faster than kids with normal hearing

For many years scientists tinkered to find a perfect replacement for the damaged or dysplastic inner ear. Cochlear implants receive a sound, convert it into electrical stimuli and send these impulses directly to the auditory nerve, thereby giving hearing impaired children the chance to connect to the world of sounds and noises.

23 Jan 2018

Research shows how Zika virus damages placenta to cause malformations in babies

Though the Zika virus is widely known for a recent outbreak that caused children to be born with microencephaly, or having a small head, and other malformations, scientists have struggled to explain how the virus affects a baby as it grows in the womb.

19 Jan 2018

Research reveals cost-effectiveness of whole-population screening for breast, ovarian cancer gene mutations

Screening the entire population for breast and ovarian cancer gene mutations, as opposed to just those at high-risk of carrying this mutation, is cost effective and could prevent more ovarian and breast cancers than the current clinical approach, according to research published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

18 Jan 2018

Preterm babies likely to experience delays in auditory brain development, study reveals

Preterm babies born early in the third trimester of pregnancy are likely to experience delays in the development of the auditory cortex, a brain region essential to hearing and understanding sound, a new study reveals.

15 Jan 2018

Neonatology experts examine effects of new intravenous nutrition for extremely low birth weight preemies

At the neonatology ward of the Vienna General Hospital, physicians compared two mixtures of intravenous lipids for nutrition with support coming from the FWF. The researchers found no amelioration with respect to bile-flow complications in extremely low birth weight preterm babies in incubators, but they did discover more mature brain waves.

5 Jan 2018

African-American women with a common form of hair loss linked to greater risk for uterine fibroids

In a study of medical records gathered on hundreds of thousands of African-American women, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have evidence that women with a common form of hair loss have an increased chance of developing uterine leiomyomas, or fibroids.

29 Dec 2017

Folic acid supplementation during late pregnancy may increase risk of allergies in offspring

A new study suggests that taking folic acid in late pregnancy may increase the risk of allergies in offspring affected by intrauterine growth restriction.

21 Dec 2017

Scientists use imaging techniques to understand reason for early labor in some pregnant women

Scientists are using the latest imaging techniques usually used to map the brain to try and understand why some pregnant women miscarry or go into early labor.

20 Dec 2017

Researchers identify previously unknown functions of natural killer cells in the womb

For the first time the functions of natural killer cells in the womb have been identified. Researchers at the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust have discovered the role that they play in preparing the womb for pregnancy.

14 Dec 2017

Traffic pollution linked to low birth weight of unborn babies, study reveals

A new study published yesterday by The BMJ states that air pollution caused by road traffic in London has a harmful impact on babies’ health while still in the womb.

6 Dec 2017

Hand preference well defined at 18th week of gestation, study says

Are you born or do you become right-handed or left-handed? A study led by Valentina Parma, researcher at the International School for Advanced Studies - SISSA of Trieste, and Professor Umberto Castiello of the University of Padua, just published on Scientific Reports, shows that hand preference is already well defined at the 18th week of gestation.

4 Dec 2017

Study finds altered blood flow in brains of preterm newborns

According to a new prospective and observational study published today in The Journal of Pediatrics, very premature infants suffer from an altered cerebral blood flow (CBF) of key regions of the brain which may help to warn of complications in brain maturation, far sooner than conventional imaging could visually reveal.