Placenta News and Research

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Nitric oxide helps pregnant women with hypertension

Nitric oxide (NO) is best known as an air pollutant produced by vehicle emissions and power plants but for pregnant women it is a crucial compound required to avoid hypertension and pre-eclampsia.

21 Sep 2006

New research could help women facing high risk of stillbirth

The risk of stillbirth is particularly high for women with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes who suffer four times as many stillbirths as non-diabetic women.

5 Sep 2006

Vaccine for severe malaria

The most severe form of malaria hits pregnant women and children the hardest.

1 Sep 2006

All pregnant women have at least one kind of pesticide in their placenta

Human beings are directly responsible for more than 110,000 chemical substances which have been generated since the Industrial Revolution.

1 Sep 2006

Prenatal diagnostic tests have low risk of miscarriage

Pregnant women who seek prenatal diagnostic testing to identify genetic or chromosomal abnormalities have a lower risk of miscarriage than previously believed, according to a UCSF study.

31 Aug 2006

Natural mechanism protecting tissue allografts from rejection

A molecule expressed during pregnancy seems to turn down the immune system, making it more tolerant of welcome visitors such as a fetus or maybe a transplanted heart, researchers say.

10 Jul 2006

For years, doctors have puzzled over why pregnant women are 20 times more likely than others to be infected by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, now think they have the answer, and it isn't pretty.

3 Jul 2006

Early marker for autism found in the placenta

A team from Yale School of Medicine have found an abnormality in the placenta which could be the first indication of autism and they believe the discovery could lead to a diagnosis of the condition at birth, rather than the standard age of two or older.

27 Jun 2006

New technique will screen embryos for almost 6,000 inherited diseases

A powerful new method of testing embryos for inherited diseases, has been developed by fertility specialists in Britain.

19 Jun 2006

Delayed umbilical cord clamping can prevent anemia

Just a two-minute delay in clamping a baby's umbilical cord can boost the child's iron reserves and prevent anemia for months, report nutritionists at the University of California, Davis.

18 Jun 2006

Discovery of protein associated with severe preeclampsia

Researchers have identified a second protein which, in combination with sFlt1, escalates preeclampsia to a severe - and life-threatening - state.

6 Jun 2006

Working too much as bad as smoking for pregnant mums

New research says that pregnant women who work more than 32 hours a week in stressful jobs risk the health of their unborn child.

30 May 2006

IVF puts woman and fetus at risk of placenta disorder

Researchers say that women who have IVF treatment are more likely to suffer a potentially life-threatening condition than those who conceive naturally.

25 May 2006

Australian scientists tackle deadly Q fever

Scientists at James Cook University have taken the lead in developing a new vaccine against a highly infectious cattleyard disease caused by a bacteria which has the potential to be developed as a bioterrorist weapon.

20 Apr 2006

Scientists identify a new gene that causes the spread of cancer

Professor Philip Rudland, Dr Guozheng Wang and Dr Roger Barraclough from Liverpool University's Cancer and Polio Research Fund Laboratories have discovered an additional member of the S100 family of protein genes - S100P - that causes the spread of cancerous cells from an original tumour to other parts of the body.

11 Apr 2006

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy as an indicator of liver and biliary diseases

A retrospective case-control study of 21,008 women in Finland has found that those with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), an itchy skin condition when bile gets backed up in the liver, are significantly more likely to suffer other liver diseases later in life.

7 Apr 2006

Link between bacteria found in the mouth and the amniotic fluid of a woman in preterm labor

A 37-year-old-mother, who gave birth to a low-weight preemie at 24 weeks, exhibited the first-found link in a human between bacteria found in the mouth and the amniotic fluid of a woman in preterm labor.

6 Apr 2006

Antioxidant therapy will be useful for women with pre-eclampsia

The antioxidant tempol prevents the onset of pre-eclampsia in pregnant mice, a finding that further implicates oxidative stress in the illness, which is widespread among pregnant women.

4 Apr 2006

Nigeria approves misoprostol for use in hospitals and clinics

An old drug will gain a new use in Nigeria when misoprostol will be distributed for prevention and control of post-partum hemorrhage, the life-threatening bleeding after childbirth that commonly occurs in developing countries.

3 Apr 2006

Scientists identify a new gene that causes the spread of cancer

Professor Philip Rudland, Dr Guozheng Wang and Dr Roger Barraclough from the University’s Cancer and Polio Research Fund Laboratories have discovered an additional member of the S100 family of protein genes - S100P - that causes the spread of cancerous cells from an original tumour to other parts of the body.

30 Mar 2006