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.

Chemicals in food packaging linked to breast cancer

Chemicals found in some food packaging materials have been shown in a new study to affect the development of breast tissue in mice, which suggests, say scientists, that women exposed to such chemicals, which mimic female hormones, may be at increased risk of breast cancer.

30 May 2005

Type 2 diabetes may begin with Grandma's diet, study suggests

An innovative study published in the latest online edition of the Journal of Physiology provides the first evidence that the insulin resistance typical of type 2 diabetes can be "programmed" across two generations by poor nutrition during a grandmother’s pregnancy and lactation.

11 May 2005

New discovery could improve IVF results

Scientists in the U.S. think they may have solved the puzzle of why some embryos fail to implant in their mother's womb, which is one of the main causes of IVF failures.

4 May 2005

HRT now linked to cancer of the womb

A new study of more than 700,000 women has found, say the researchers, that Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can increase the risk of cancer of the womb, depending on the form of HRT used.

1 May 2005

Prenatal exposure to cocaine effects problem-solving later in life

Children exposed to cocaine before birth show subtle but discernible differences in their ability to plan and problem-solve once they reach school age, University of Florida researchers report.

1 May 2005

Pollutants appear to have an affect on sex chromosome

A team of researchers from Lund University in Sweden have found that exposure to a class of environmental pollutants can change the ratio of sperm carrying male and female chromosomes.

1 May 2005

Risk of womb cancer now linked to some hormone-replacement therapy

Researchers in the UK say that certain types of hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) increase a woman’s risk of womb cancer while others do not. The study found that though many post-menopausal women, who have not had a hysterectomy, use combined HRT because oestrogen only are thought to increase the risk of womb cancer, little information exists on the incidence of womb cancer in users of these other therapies.

1 May 2005

Quintuplets born to surrogate mother

In what is believed to be a world first, a surrogate mother has given birth to quintuplets.

26 Apr 2005

Baby gene tests safety should be checked

Experts are warning that the long-term safety of screening embryos for genetic diseases is going unchecked.

26 Apr 2005

Grandmother smoking can cause childrens asthma

Scientists from the University of Southern California are saying that smoking could have a longer-lasting impact on families' health than ever before realised.

12 Apr 2005

Lack of aftercare support for mothers of twins

New research by the Twins and Multiple Births Association (Tamba) has found that nearly 50 per cent of parents are left struggling unsupported after the birth.

4 Apr 2005

The facts on prenatal care

The nine months of pregnancy come complete with a rich folklore, from guessing at a baby’s sex by the expectant mother’s shape to home remedies for morning sickness. Along with these ageless stories and advice, women also face a variety of recommendations from the modern world of medicine on how best to take care of themselves during pregnancy.

3 Apr 2005

Time for ethical reflection is before experimentation begins

The time for ethical reflection is before experimentation begins, especially in the case of potential new methods for creating human embryos for research, according to bioethicists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the Mayo Clinic in the spring issue of Ethics & Medicine.

16 Mar 2005

A man's index finger length relative to ring finger length can predict how physically aggressive that man might be

Dr. Peter Hurd a psychologist at the University of Alberta, and his graduate student Allison Bailey, have found that a man's index finger length relative to ring finger length can predict how physically aggressive that man might be.

3 Mar 2005

Pollution exposure during pregnancy can cause chromosomal abnormalities in fetal tissues

A new study of newborns in New York City reveals that prenatal exposure to combustion-related urban air pollutants alters the structure of chromosomes (the carriers of genes) of babies in the womb.

23 Feb 2005

As little as one drink per week may harm your baby

Expectant mothers should be advised not to drink alcohol, as this may pose health risks to the foetus, argues an editorial in this week's BMJ.

20 Feb 2005

New technique to identify fetal genetic material from amniotic fluid

A preliminary report suggests that cell-free fetal messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid) can be extracted from amniotic fluid (fluid around the fetus), and then be analyzed to study gene expression changes that may reflect the well-being of the fetus, according to a paper in the February 16 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on medical applications of biotechnology.

15 Feb 2005