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Smoking pregnant mums have smaller unhealthier babies

Professor Nick Macklon of Southampton University says even though most women now understand there is “overwhelming evidence” that smoking during pregnancy is harmful to the developing child, they continue to do so.

7 Jul 2011

Half-matched transplants widen donor pool for leukemia and lymphoma

Identifying a suitable donor for leukemia and lymphoma patients who need bone marrow transplants may be far easier now that results of two clinical trials show transplant results with half-matched bone marrow or umbilical cord blood are comparable to fully matched tissue, thanks in large part to the availability of effective antirejection drugs and special post-transplant chemotherapy. The finding means that nearly all patients in need of a transplant can find donors, according to Johns Hopkins scientists who participated in the trials.

7 Jul 2011

Frozen embryo transfer may not adversely affect neonatal outcome

In the first study, French scientists looked at neonatal outcome in terms of mode of delivery, gestational age, preterm birth rate (less than 37 weeks of gestation), mean child measurements, low birth weight (less than 2,500g) and perinatal mortality. When comparing the cryo singletons to the fresh cohort, the scientists showed that mean birth weight, mean height and head circumference were lower in the fresh population.

6 Jul 2011

Air traffic pollution impacts growth and development of unborn children

A UK academic is calling for a nationwide study into the effects traffic pollution has on asthma sufferers after his own research in Cairo highlighted health problems in children who may even be affected while still in the womb.

6 Jul 2011

Researchers investigate predictors for adverse outcome in IVF singletons

In Sweden almost 40 000 children have now been born after IVF, around 3 500 each year, and IVF children constitute 3% of all newborns. "This represents a large number of children and any adverse outcomes related to IVF are therefore a major public health issue," said Dr. Antonina Sazonova, from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden, who carried out the research with colleagues from the hospital and from Lund University.

6 Jul 2011

Cleavage stage embryo with aneuploidy can undergo genetic normalisation process

Professor William G. Kearns told the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that a three-day-old embryo with an incorrect number of chromosomes was capable of undergoing "a dynamic process of genetic normalisation" so that by day five, when it had developed to the blastocyst stage, it had become euploid, with the correct number of chromosomes.

5 Jul 2011

Primiparity, maternal smoking and BMI linked to risk of pre-term birth

4 Jul 2011

Study examines reasons for rise in cesarean delivery

In one of the first studies to examine the reasons for the rising number of women delivering their babies by cesarean section, Yale School of Medicine researchers found that while half of the increase was attributable to a rise in repeat cesarean delivery in women with a prior cesarean birth, an equal proportion was due to a rise in first time cesarean delivery.

23 Jun 2011

More frequent use of ultrasound recommended in twin pregnancies

Featured in the June edition of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada is a new clinical practice guideline which suggests that carrying twins requires greater monitoring and, therefore, the more frequent use of ultrasound technology to conduct the ongoing assessment of twin pregnancies.

23 Jun 2011

Mothers receiving influenza vaccination during pregnancy also protect infants

Infants born to mothers who received the influenza (flu) vaccine while pregnant are nearly 50 percent less likely to be hospitalized for the flu than infants born to mothers who did not receive the vaccine while pregnant, according to a new collaborative study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.

23 Jun 2011

Lethal malaria parasite has biochemical weakness

Every year, 10,000 pregnant women and up to 200,000 newborn babies are killed by the malaria parasite. Doctors all around the globe have for years been looking in vain for a medical protection, and now researchers from the University of Copenhagen have found the biochemically weakness of the lethal malaria parasite, and will now start developing a vaccine to combat pregnancy related malaria.

8 Jun 2011

ImaginAb, Oxford BioMedicaplc enter research deal to develop in vivo diagnostic imaging agent

Oxford BioMedicaplc, a leading gene therapy company, today announces that it has signed a research collaboration agreement with ImaginAb, Inc., a biotechnology company specialising in the development of engineered antibody fragments for diagnostic imaging and novel therapeutic applications, to engineer an in vivo diagnostic imaging agent using an antibody targeting the Company's proprietary 5T4 tumour antigen.

7 Jun 2011

Combinations of mother's body size, placental size can predict heart disease in men in later life: Study

Researchers investigating the foetal origins of chronic disease have discovered that combinations of a mother's body size and the shape and size of her baby's placenta can predict heart disease in men in later life.

4 Jun 2011

Fatty diet during pregnancy linked to increased risk of placental inflammation, stillbirth

Eating a high-fat diet during pregnancy increases the chance of stillbirth, according to new research at Oregon Health & Science University. The new data show eating a typical American diet, which is high in fat, decreases blood flow from the mother to the placenta, the temporary organ that nourishes the unborn fetus.

3 Jun 2011

First fetoscopic laser procedure to correct Twin-Twin Transfusion syndrome performed in Dallas

Jessica and Chad Browning were ecstatic last fall when they learned they were expecting twins. They had two children already, but wanted a third to round out their family. Twins were a bonus.

16 May 2011

Adalimumab remains in newborn's bloodstream for at least three months

Adalimumab, a drug often prescribed for women with Crohn's disease, actively crosses the placenta during the final trimester of pregnancy and remains in a newborn's bloodstream for at least three months, researchers at the University of California San Francisco have found.

9 May 2011

Breast cancer cells utilize tissue stem cell EMT for tumor metastasis

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, after isolating normal stem cells that form the developing placenta, have given them the same properties of stem cells associated with an aggressive type of breast cancer.

7 May 2011

Babies born to obese mothers may face risk of iron deficiency

Babies born to obese mothers are at risk for iron deficiency, which could affect infant brain development, according to a study to be presented Saturday, April 30, at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver.

30 Apr 2011

Dactinomycin more effective for low-risk gestational tumor treatment

A clinical trial has sifted out the most effective single-drug chemotherapy regimen for quick-growing but highly curable cancers that arise from the placentas of pregnant women.

26 Apr 2011

Human placenta plays an active role in serotonin synthesis

Research at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California's Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute shows for the first time that the human placenta plays an active role in synthesizing serotonin, paving the way to new treatment strategies that could mitigate health impacts such as cardiovascular disease and mental illness.

22 Apr 2011