Pregnancy News and Research

Latest Pregnancy News and Research

Judge OKs administration plan on 'morning after' pill

A federal judge Wednesday accepted the Obama administration's plan to make the Plan B One-Step "morning after pill" available over the counter to buyers of all ages, winding down a decade-long fight over the pill.

14 Jun 2013

House panel votes to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy

An aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said a vote by the full House is planned later this month. Rep. Trent Frank, R-Ariz., one of the bill's sponsors on the House Judiciary Committee, drew criticism for arguing against an amendment to exclude victims of rape and incest by saying that the pregnancy rate from rape is "very low."

14 Jun 2013

First Edition: June 13, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how employers are preparing for some parts of the health law to kick in.

13 Jun 2013

Study: Stress felt by dad leaves lasting impression on his sperm

Sperm doesn't appear to forget anything. Stress felt by dad-whether as a preadolescent or adult-leaves a lasting impression on his sperm that gives sons and daughters a blunted reaction to stress, a response linked to several mental disorders.

13 Jun 2013

Pregnancy carried to childbirth increases risk of ACPA-negative RA

Epidemiological data presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate that pregnancy carried to childbirth (parity) increases the risk of ACPA-negative rheumatoid arthritis.

13 Jun 2013

Researchers discover TTC7A gene that causes multiple intestinal atresia in newborns

Physicians and researchers from Sherbrooke, Montreal and Quebec City have conducted a study that has led to the discovery of a gene that causes multiple intestinal atresia (MIA), a rare and life-threatening hereditary disorder that affects newborns.

12 Jun 2013

Obesity and maternal overweight during pregnancy linked to highest risk of preterm deliveries

In a study that included more than 1.5 million deliveries in Sweden, maternal overweight and obesity during pregnancy were associated with increased risk for preterm delivery, with the highest risks observed for extremely preterm deliveries, according to a study in the June 12 issue of JAMA.

12 Jun 2013

Mother's exposure to environmental contaminants associated with vigorous fetal motor activity

A study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has for the first time found that a mother's higher exposure to some common environmental contaminants was associated with more frequent and vigorous fetal motor activity.

12 Jun 2013

Sequenom CMM completes build-out, validation of additional lab facility in Raleigh-Durham, NC

Sequenom, Inc., a life sciences company providing innovative genetic analysis solutions, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, the Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine, has completed the build-out and validation of an additional laboratory location in Raleigh-Durham, NC, and is now processing patient samples commercially.

12 Jun 2013

State highlights: Medi-Cal rate cuts loom; Latin American docs help meet need

In an office decorated with Chinese art and diagrams of body parts, Dr. George Ma cares for more than 4,000 patients. Nearly three-quarters are covered by Medi-Cal, the state's public insurance program for low-income Californians, and Ma said he receives $10 a month to treat most of them (Gorman and York, 6/10).

12 Jun 2013

Research could lead to new ways to combat chlamydia

A protein secreted by the chlamydia bug has a very unusual structure, according to scientists in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. The discovery of the protein's shape could lead to novel strategies for diagnosing and treating chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that infects an estimated 2.8 million people in the U.S. each year.

12 Jun 2013

UC Irvine researchers to study how maternal signals and care impact adolescent cognitive behaviors

With $10 million in new federal funding, UC Irvine researchers will study how maternal signals and care before and after birth may increase an infant's vulnerability to adolescent cognitive and emotional problems, such as risky behaviors, addiction and depression.

12 Jun 2013

Growth patterns in 2 months old infants help predict child's weight by age 5

Infants as young as two months old already exhibit growth patterns that can predict the child's weight by age 5, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and Tennessee State University.

11 Jun 2013

Obesity in pregnancy can program kids to develop metabolic problems

Scientists in Sydney, Australia, have discovered that obesity and type 2 diabetes in pregnancy can program children to develop metabolic problems later in life. The good news is, this legacy is not set in stone-if children of obese mothers are careful about what they eat, it can be overturned.

11 Jun 2013

Findings link antihistamine use to adverse pregnancy outcomes

Women with a severe form of morning sickness who take antihistamines to help them sleep through their debilitating nausea are significantly more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, including low birth weight babies and premature births, a UCLA study has found.

11 Jun 2013

State roundup: Calif. inches to budget deal; Iowa's Medicaid abortions may need gov. OK

The U.S. Supreme Court says women in America can terminate a pregnancy and that every citizen has an individual right to own a firearm, but those rulings have done little to settle political arguments over abortion and guns. The result is an uneven medley of state laws, which means that just how you can exercise those constitutional rights depends on where you live, and the differences often turn on whether a state is run by Democrats or Republicans (Barrow, 6/8).

11 Jun 2013

Nation's leading experts join forces to accelerate effective treatments for brain tumors

The nation's leading brain tumor and biotech industry experts again joined forces Friday, June 7, in a bid to accelerate more effective treatments for brain tumors and promote funding for the latest emerging therapies, as the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center and Voices Against Brain Cancer hosted its second annual Brain Tumor Biotech Summit.

10 Jun 2013

Research roundup: Health spending on kids with special needs

Between 2008 and 2010, the rate of growth for health care spending declined. The recession, many researchers believe, was a key contributor to this decline. In this study, researchers explored whether the recession also had an impact on health care spending for children, especially those with special health care needs.

10 Jun 2013

Study: Non-invasive blood test could reshape standards in prenatal testing

New research has found that routine screening using a non-invasive test that analyzes fetal DNA in a pregnant woman's blood can accurately detect Down's syndrome and other genetic fetal abnormalities in the first trimester. Published early online in Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, the results suggest that the test is superior to currently available screening strategies and could reshape standards in prenatal testing.

10 Jun 2013

Study sheds light on origin of wide range of brain disorders

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have uncovered a mechanism that guides the exquisite wiring of neural circuits in a developing brain -- gaining unprecedented insight into the faulty circuits that may lead to brain disorders ranging from autism to mental retardation.

10 Jun 2013