Pregnancy News and Research

Latest Pregnancy News and Research

Study identifies link between autism spectrum disorder risk and prenatal weight gain

New research from the University of Utah shows the answer to that question may be yes in some situations. Researchers have uncovered an association between autism spectrum disorders and a small increase in the amount of weight a mother gains during pregnancy. The results of the new study, "Maternal Prenatal Weight Gain and Autism Spectrum Disorders," are published in November edition of the journal Pediatrics.

28 Oct 2013

Biomarker may predict poor pregnancy outcomes in lupus patients

Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City have identified a biomarker that may predict poor pregnancy outcomes in lupus patients.

28 Oct 2013

Facebook chats provide new venue to get health information about lupus

Using Facebook chats to convey health information is becoming more common. A study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City set out to find the best way to boost participation in the chats to raise awareness of lupus, an autoimmune disease.

28 Oct 2013

Children born to mothers with lupus have twice the risk of autism spectrum disorders

According to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting in San Diego, children born to mothers with lupus may be at twice the risk of autism spectrum disorders than those born to mothers without the disease.

28 Oct 2013

World Bank must define life expectancy, say international public health experts

The World Bank must define life expectancy, its key poverty indicator, as starting at the time of conception and not at the time of birth if millions of lives are to be saved from injury or death. International public health experts, writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, said that definitional oversight, in which the life of the child is inadvertently cut into two, ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the womb, covers up risks to the fetus and is particularly unfair to children born in areas increasingly at risk to disasters and already disadvantaged by poverty, hunger and social deprivation.

25 Oct 2013

Endocrine Society issues Clinical Practice Guideline for polycystic ovary syndrome

The Endocrine Society today issued a Clinical Practice Guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome, the most common hormone disorder in women of reproductive age and a leading cause of infertility.

25 Oct 2013

Lupus disparities: Young, black women have highest rate of developing lupus

Young, black women have the highest rate of developing lupus and are most likely to be diagnosed at a younger age than whites and during childbearing years, according to a new University of Michigan study of lupus in Southeastern Michigan.

25 Oct 2013

Multi-center study finds causes for neonatal mortality in infants with HLHS

A first-of-its-kind study led by Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, published online in the journal, Circulation, found that infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome born far from a hospital providing neonatal cardiac surgery for HLHS have increased neonatal mortality, with most deaths occurring before surgery.

24 Oct 2013

Fetal exposure to mycophenolic acid products may increase risk of birth defects

Research suggests that fetal exposure to mycophenolic acid products (MPA)—which are drugs taken by transplant recipients to prevent rejection—may increase the risk of birth defects and spontaneous abortions. Results of this study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2013 November 5-10 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA.

24 Oct 2013

Findings shed light on the impact, treatment concerns related to uterine fibroids

Uterine fibroids cause significant fear and morbidity and can compromise workplace performance, according to a recently published survey of nearly 1,000 women in the U.S. The results were published this month in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Journal of Women's Health.

24 Oct 2013

Postpartum diagnostic switches likely in depressed women

Women with major depression should be monitored for emerging symptoms of hypomania during the postpartum period, say researchers.

23 Oct 2013

Researchers find relationship between solar intensity and ADHD prevalence

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is the most common childhood psychiatric disorder. Scientists do not know what causes it, but genetics play a clear role. Other risk factors have also been identified, including premature birth, low birth weight, a mother's use of alcohol or tobacco during pregnancy, and environmental exposures to toxins like lead.

23 Oct 2013

IPM receives US$40M from USAID to advance new HIV prevention tools for women

The International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) announced today that it has received two competitive five-year awards with a combined US$40 million ceiling from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

23 Oct 2013

Loyola Center for Fitness to host free women's health and wellness day

Loyola Center for Fitness will host a free women's health and wellness day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 2160 S. First Ave., Maywood.

23 Oct 2013

Breast milk may protect babies from acquiring HIV infection, say researchers

A substance in breast milk that neutralizes HIV and may protect babies from acquiring HIV from their infected mothers has been identified for the first time by researchers at Duke Medicine.

22 Oct 2013

Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases infant hospitalizations and death

Maternal smoking is associated with both respiratory and non-respiratory infections in infants, resulting in increased risk for hospitalization and death, according to an abstract to be presented Sunday, Oct. 27, at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando.

22 Oct 2013

FDA approves SC formulation of Genentech's Actemra for rheumatoid arthritis

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a subcutaneous formulation of Actemra (tocilizumab) for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have used one or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, such as methotrexate, that did not provide enough relief.

22 Oct 2013

Researchers receive NIH grant to conduct Vitamin D and Type 2 diabetes study

A research team led by Anastassios G. Pittas, MD, MS, Endocrinologist and Co-Director of the Diabetes Center at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, has received a National Institutes of Health grant of more than $40 million over five years to conduct the Vitamin D and Type 2 diabetes study.

22 Oct 2013

Adolescents vaccination for pertussis linked with lower rates of infant hospitalizations

Widespread vaccination of adolescents for pertussis was associated with lower rates of infant hospitalizations for the respiratory infection than would have been expected had teens not been inoculated according to new research in Pediatrics.

21 Oct 2013

Opsumit drug receives FDA approval to treat adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Opsumit (macitentan), a new drug to treat adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a chronic, progressive and debilitating disease that can lead to death or the need for lung transplantation.

19 Oct 2013