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.

Pet exposure may lower risks of allergy and obesity in children

If you need a reason to become a dog lover, how about their ability to help protect kids from allergies and obesity? A new University of Alberta study showed that babies from families with pets--70 per cent of which were dogs--showed higher levels of two types of microbes associated with lower risks of allergic disease and obesity.

6 Apr 2017

Pioneering IVF technique offers hope to families with inheritable mitochondrial disorders

Details of a pioneering IVF technique using mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) have been revealed, giving hope to those families with inheritable mitochondrial disorders that they may be able to have healthy children in the future.

3 Apr 2017

Prenatal ultrasound exposure can weaken thigh bones, animal study shows

Young rabbits exposed to ultrasound during fetal development had weaker thighbones than unexposed rabbits, according to a study published in the Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology.

29 Mar 2017

Researchers identify new gene mutation that leads to infertility in women

It has been estimated that more than 80 million people in the world have an unfulfilled desire to have children. But for every 10th couple, the reasons therefor remain unclear.

28 Mar 2017

Maternal infections during pregnancy may alter genes key to prenatal brain development

If a mother picks up an infection during pregnancy, her immune system will kick into action to clear the infection - but this self-defence mechanism may also have a small influence how her child's brain develops in the womb, in ways that are similar to how the brain develops in autism spectrum disorders.

21 Mar 2017

Exposure to EDCs alters thyroid hormone signalling, early brain development in frog embryos

Findings published today provide evidence that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) causes changes in thyroid hormone signalling, which disturbs brain development.

13 Mar 2017

WHO report: 1.7 million children die every year due to unhealthy environments

More than 1 in 4 deaths of children under 5 years are attributable to unhealthy environments. Every year, environmental risks – such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, second-hand smoke, unsafe water, lack of sanitation and inadequate hygiene – take the lives of 1.7 million children under 5 years, say two new World Health Organization reports.

9 Mar 2017

Birth-weights of babies have not increased over last 150 years, research reveals

Despite dramatic improvements in human health, babies' average birth-weights have not increased over the last 150 years reveals new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

6 Mar 2017

Stem cells strictly abide by innate developmental clocks, study shows

The mystery of what controls the range of developmental clocks in mammals — from 22 months for an elephant to 12 days for an opossum — may lie in the strict time-keeping of pluripotent stem cells for each unique species.

28 Feb 2017

Scientists gain new insight into early brain pathology of schizophrenia using adult skin cells

The skin cells of four adults with schizophrenia have provided an unprecedented "window" into how the disease began while they were still in the womb, according to a recent paper in Schizophrenia Research.

27 Feb 2017

NIH workshop: Zika-affected infants may face complex health and developmental problems

Children exposed to Zika virus in the womb may face complex health and developmental problems as they grow older, according to discussions at a National Institutes of Health workshop.

21 Feb 2017

Researchers provide insight into causes of left or right-handedness

A preference for the left or the right hand might be traced back to that asymmetry. "These results fundamentally change our understanding of the cause of hemispheric asymmetries," conclude the authors. The team report about their study in the journal eLife.

17 Feb 2017

Millions of preterm births linked to outdoor air pollution

Scientists have published a major study which links outdoor air pollution with 2.7 million preterm births per year.

16 Feb 2017

Study focuses on sound exposure for premature babies in neonatal intensive care units

Premature babies often spend the first several weeks of life in neonatal intensive care units, where, ideally, they are protected from too much noise stimulation. However, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that preemies may be exposed to noise levels higher than those deemed safe by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

8 Feb 2017

New pregnancy recommendations offer road map to help women with congenital heart disease

For generations, doctors told women who were born with complex congenital heart defects that the physical demands of pregnancy and delivery would be too difficult for them, and that they should not have babies.

7 Feb 2017

New Finnish study confirms harmful effects of maternal licorice consumption during pregnancy

A new Finnish study supports food recommendations for families with children in that women should avoid consuming large amounts of liquorice during pregnancy. The limit for safe consumption is not known.

3 Feb 2017

TSRI study offers first look at early stages of brain development in patients with Fragile X syndrome

A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute is giving researchers a first look at the early stages of brain development in patients with Fragile X syndrome, a disorder that causes mild to severe intellectual disability and is the most common genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder.

31 Jan 2017

Scientists decode genetic profile of rare inherited disorder that can cause genital ambiguity

A complete clinical and genetic profile of a rare inherited disorder, steroid 11-hydroxylase deficiency, which can cause genital masculinization in females, is being reported by an international group of researchers led by investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

30 Jan 2017

Marginal deficiency of vitamin A in fetus or newborns may lead to Alzheimer's disease in later life

Biochemical reactions that cause Alzheimer's disease could begin in the womb or just after birth if the fetus or newborn does not get enough vitamin A, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.

27 Jan 2017

Brain shape can provide surprising clues to personality differences, FSU research reveals

New research reveals the shape of our brain can provide surprising clues about how we behave and our risk of developing mental health disorders.

25 Jan 2017