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Multi-center study finds causes for neonatal mortality in infants with HLHS

A first-of-its-kind study led by Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, published online in the journal, Circulation, found that infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome born far from a hospital providing neonatal cardiac surgery for HLHS have increased neonatal mortality, with most deaths occurring before surgery.

24 Oct 2013

Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases infant hospitalizations and death

Maternal smoking is associated with both respiratory and non-respiratory infections in infants, resulting in increased risk for hospitalization and death, according to an abstract to be presented Sunday, Oct. 27, at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando.

22 Oct 2013

WHO, Health Care without Harm to launch Mercury-Free Healthcare by 2020

WHO and Health Care without Harm have joined forces to launch a new initiative to get mercury removed from all medical measuring devices by 2020.

11 Oct 2013

Contaminated drinking water breeds low-weight or premature babies

Pregnant women living in areas with contaminated drinking water may be more likely to have babies that are premature or with low birth weights (considered less than 5.5 pounds), according to a study based at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

9 Oct 2013

Smoking during pregnancy may affect child’s immune system on molecular level

The Leipzig Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research has gained new insights on the influence of tobacco smoke in utero. For the first time, it could be demonstrated with smoking pregnant women and their children, how exposure to tobacco smoke affects the development of human immune system on molecular level.

8 Oct 2013

Maternal smoking during pregnancy associated with twofold increased risk of BD in offspring

A study published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests an association between smoking during pregnancy and increased risk for developing bipolar disorder in adult children.

2 Oct 2013

Exposure to cocaine during in utero development causes disruptions in normal brain development

Prenatal cocaine exposure affects both behavior and brain. Animal studies have shown that exposure to cocaine during in utero development causes numerous disruptions in normal brain development and negatively affects behavior from birth and into adulthood.

25 Sep 2013

International team of scientists discover new disease related to inability to process Vitamin B12

An international team of scientists, including University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado researchers, has discovered a new disease related to an inability to process Vitamin B12.

6 Sep 2013

Problems with key enzymes potentially lead to autism spectrum disorder

Problems with a key group of enzymes called topoisomerases can have profound effects on the genetic machinery behind brain development and potentially lead to autism spectrum disorder, according to research announced today in the journal Nature.

29 Aug 2013

Researchers discover link between epilepsy drug and risk of having baby with birth defects

In a world first, new Australian medical research has given pregnant women with epilepsy new hope of reducing their chance of having a baby with physical birth defects.

26 Aug 2013

Clinical study to investigate effects of prenatal chromosomal abnormalities through microarray analysis

Reproductive genetics researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) are leading a multicenter prospective clinical study investigating the effects of chromosomal abnormalities (duplicative or missing material) found prenatally through microarray analysis.

22 Aug 2013

Research links high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in the American South with economic conditions

The strikingly high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in the American South can be partially traced to rapid economic growth between 1950 and 1980, new research suggests.

6 Aug 2013

Women who feel less attached to their fetus are going to smoke more

A small new study suggests that pregnant smokers with low scores on a scale that rates emotional attachment to their fetuses may be inclined to smoke more than pregnant smokers who feel more attached to their future babies.

6 Aug 2013

Study reveals epigenetic mechanisms contribute to chronic disease susceptibility prior to birth

If you think stress is killing you, you may be right, but what you don't know is that stress might have harmed your health even before you were born. In a new report appearing in the August 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal, Harvard researchers find that epigenetic disruptions, which are associated with chronic disease later in life, are already common at birth.

2 Aug 2013

Children exposed to AEDs in womb at risk of early development issues: Study

Children whose mothers took antiepileptic drugs while pregnant are at increased risk of early development issues, according to a new study published in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy.

18 Jul 2013

Adverse fetal growth, exposure to maternal smoking correlated with lower measures of sperm quality

Studies over the past 20 years have suggested (though not unequivocally confirmed) that semen quality is in decline, reflected most evidently in falling sperm counts and reduced sperm motility.

8 Jul 2013

Researchers identify structural anomalies that may increase risk of ADHD in premature newborns

In the first study of its kind, Natasha Leporé, PhD, and colleagues have pinpointed structural anomalies in the developing brain that may increase the risk of cognitive disabilities, such as frontal executive dysfunction and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in premature newborns.

6 Jul 2013

Mother's exposure to environmental contaminants associated with vigorous fetal motor activity

A study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has for the first time found that a mother's higher exposure to some common environmental contaminants was associated with more frequent and vigorous fetal motor activity.

12 Jun 2013

Researcher studies mechanism of s-looping to prevent heart abnormalities in infants

Ashok Ramasubramanian, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Union College, believes that the study of the tiny tubes that make up the embryonic heart offers new hope to babies born with heart abnormalities. So, he's looking to chicken embryos for clues. Ramasubramanian's findings were published in the April 2013 issue of Developmental Dynamics.

7 Jun 2013

Study points to synergistic relationship between lead exposure and schizophrenia gene

Mice engineered with a human gene for schizophrenia and exposed to lead during early life exhibited behaviors and structural changes in their brains consistent with schizophrenia.

1 Jun 2013