Oxytocin News and Research

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Oxytocin is a small but potent nine-amino acid hormone secreted within the brain, from the hypothalamus.

Racial and ethnic disparities exist for adverse obstetric outcomes

In a study to be presented on February 14 between 1:15 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting -, in San Francisco, California, researchers will present data showing racial and ethnic disparities exist for adverse obstetric outcomes.

13 Feb 2013

Biologic changes after delivery may prevent development of chronic pain

Chronic pain from childbirth is remarkably rare, according to a study from the January issue of Anesthesiology. Additionally, in a second study, researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C., found the biologic changes after delivery may prevent the development of pain.

19 Dec 2012

Study investigates biology of emotional sharing

Therapists have long known that people who've had a traumatic experience feel the need to talk about what they've been through. This process is called 'social sharing' and can take place for days, weeks, months or years after the event.

19 Dec 2012

Misoprostol helps prevent postpartum haemorrhage after home births

Research brings together evidence about the potential for misoprostol to prevent bleeding after home births in low resource countries.

18 Dec 2012

Drugs that bind to specific serotonin receptors can improve and impair female sexual function

Drugs that bind to specific serotonin receptors in the brain can both improve and impair female sexual function in non-human primates.

12 Dec 2012

Oxytocin administration to fathers increases parental engagement with their infants

A large body of research has focused on the ability of oxytocin to facilitate social bonding in both marital and parenting relationships in human females. A new laboratory study, led by Dr. Ruth Feldman from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, has found that oxytocin administration to fathers increases their parental engagement, with parallel effects observed in their infants.

11 Dec 2012

Somnogen induces sleep in patients with primary hypersomnia

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered that dozens of adults with an elevated need for sleep have a substance in their cerebrospinal fluid that acts like a sleeping pill.

22 Nov 2012

Oxytocin regulates social distance between women and men

Flirting brings women and men closer. But the "social distance" ensures that they will keep a certain spatial distance from each other. Researchers under the leadership of the University of Bonn studied whether this distance can be diminished by the so-called love hormone, oxytocin.

16 Nov 2012

Soy-rich diet can mitigate effects of bisphenol A

New research led by researchers at North Carolina State University shows that exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) early in life results in high levels of anxiety by causing significant gene expression changes in a specific region of the brain called the amygdala. The researchers also found that a soy-rich diet can mitigate these effects.

10 Sep 2012

Two UNC autism researchers receive $12.6 million in grants from ACE program

Two autism researchers in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have each been awarded $12.6 million grants in the latest round of funding from the National Institutes of Health's Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) research program.

6 Sep 2012

Breastfeeding may lower risk for depression in adulthood

A study published in the last issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics examines the relationship between breastfeeding and onset of depression in adulthood.

5 Sep 2012

Acute stress modifies DNA methylation and activity of certain genes

Acute stress alters the methylation of the DNA and thus the activity of certain genes. This is reported by researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with colleagues from Basel, Trier and London for the first time in the journal Translational Psychiatry. "The results provide evidence how stress could be related to a higher risk of mental or physical illness", says Prof. Dr. Gunther Meinlschmidt from the Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the LWL University Hospital of the RUB.

16 Aug 2012

Oxytocin levels linked to medication dose, symptoms in schizophrenia

Higher doses of second-generation antipsychotics and more severe negative symptoms are associated with lower levels of oxytocin in cerebrospinal fluid among patients with schizophrenia, researchers report.

29 Jun 2012

Reproductive hormone helps regulate food intake, energy metabolism without adverse effects

A reproductive hormone helps regulate food intake and energy metabolism without causing adverse effects, a new animal study finds. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

26 Jun 2012

Oxytocin hormone plays an important role in Williams syndrome

The hormone oxytocin - often referred to as the "trust" hormone or "love hormone" for its role in stimulating emotional responses - plays an important role in Williams syndrome (WS), according to a study published June 12, 2012, in PLoS One.

23 Jun 2012

U.N. SG Ban praises commission on life-saving commodities, says more effort needed to improve maternal, child mortality rates

At the opening of the U.N. Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the commission but "said that much remains to be done to save the lives of the 800 women and more than 20,000 children who die every day from preventable causes," the U.N. News Centre reports.

24 May 2012

Oxytocin increases brain activations in children and adolescents with ASD

Preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study by Yale School of Medicine researchers shows that oxytocin - a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body- increased brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

21 May 2012

Doctor claims to have found the elusive G spot

In an article published Wednesday by the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the semi-retired Florida gynecologist declared that he had found it. For his study he conducted a postmortem examination of an 83-year-old woman in Warsaw Medical University's Department of Forensic Medicine. Unlike the United States, which strictly regulates the research use of cadavers, Poland allows the dissection of human remains soon after death, when fine distinctions in tissue remain easy to see.

26 Apr 2012

Niceness is gene deep

Researchers at the University of Buffalo and University of California, Irvine, found a connection between people being nice and versions of receptor genes for two hormones, oxytocin and vasopressin, that have been associated with niceness in past studies.

12 Apr 2012

Oxytocin may offer hope for male sexual dysfunction

The hormone oxytocin that is also called the “love hormone” since it plays a role in the bond between a mother and baby may also improve sexual function - at least in men with Asperger’s syndrome - according to a published case report.

10 Apr 2012