Pregnancy News and Research

Latest Pregnancy News and Research

Nicotine replacement and behavioral therapy for smoking cessation in pregnancy

Pregnant women trying to quit smoking could find it easier with help from nicotine replacement therapy, a new study finds, despite safety concerns about the risk of early delivery.

26 Sep 2007

WHO essential emergency training to save lives and prevent disability

WHO is expanding its programme to train health care staff in low- and middle-income countries in essential emergency, basic surgery and anaesthesia skills.

25 Sep 2007

Maternal weight gain appears to favor the birth of boys

A slightly greater number of males than females are born worldwide every year.

25 Sep 2007

Experts discuss pioneering non-invasive test to determine the blood type of unborn babies

Experts from across the world will meet to discuss the implementation of a pioneering non-invasive test to determine the blood type of unborn babies at an event hosted by the University of Warwick.

25 Sep 2007

Trop-2 new target for anti-tumour therapy in cancer

Italian scientists announced (Monday September 24) that they have found a new and promising target for anti-tumour therapy in cancer.

25 Sep 2007

Why teen mums are at risk of having low birthweight babies

The UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe. In Scotland, one in ten babies are born to a teenage mother.

24 Sep 2007

Genetic risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder identified

New research in primates suggests that infants and children who carry a certain gene variant may be more vulnerable to the ill effects of fetal alcohol exposure.

24 Sep 2007

Modulating fat levels essential for successful pregnancy

New data, generated in mice by Richard Proia and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, provides a potential reason for early pregnancy loss in humans.

21 Sep 2007

Secondhand smoke exposure could interfere with academic test performance

Teens exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at increased risk of test failure in school, suggests a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

20 Sep 2007

Pregnancy may slow AIDS progression

A new study may help put to rest fears that pregnancy accelerates progression to full-blown AIDS in women with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy.

20 Sep 2007

Researchers question genetic screening programs

The study by a team at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem, is the first to examine what couples actually did when they learned their unborn child had a condition called Gaucher disease, an inherited condition which can be effectively treated.

20 Sep 2007

Teaching adolescents to use condoms when abstinence fails

Teaching adolescents to use condoms when abstinence fails is a reasonable strategy for preventing HIV, according to a new research study in PLoS Medicine.

18 Sep 2007

Study examines implications of genetic screening for disease that can be less serious, treatable

Some couples in Israel whose fetus screened positive for Gaucher disease, which can range from being mild and treatable to being a severe disease, decided to have the pregnancy terminated, raising questions concerning the appropriateness of certain types of genetic screenings, according to a study in the September 19 issue of JAMA.

18 Sep 2007

Maternal depression and controlling behavior associated with increased stress response in infants

Teenage pregnancy is widely recognized to be a major public health concern.

18 Sep 2007

FDA accepts Sucampo's sNDA for Lubiprostone for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has announced that the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for lubiprostone (8 mcg, oral gel capsules, twice daily) for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) has been accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

18 Sep 2007

Women prescribed drugs linked to birth defects not often advised to use birth control

Although prescription medications that may increase the risk of birth defects are commonly used by women in their childbearing years, only about half receive contraceptive counseling from their health care providers, according to a large-scale study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine reported in the Sept. 18 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

18 Sep 2007

Life on Mars experiment launched

Key components of a new approach to discover life on Mars were successfully launched into space Friday as part of a twelve-day, low-Earth orbit experiment to assess their survivability in the space radiation environment - a prelude future journeys to Mars.

18 Sep 2007